Adventures on the Wargames Table

After spending several months in the Dark Ages with Saxons, Vikings and Saga (and successfully completing two large warbands), I'm now firmly back in Roman mode. One of the reasons is the forthcoming Scarab Miniatures War & Conquest Gaming Day on the 19th August. I had thought to try to get enough Saxons done for this event but (a) I can't paint that fast, (b) many of the other gamers will be bringing along suitable allies or opponents for my Romans, so Rob has persuaded me to use my Romans ... and paint some more! For details of the event please have a look here . Another important reason is my discovery of Aventine Miniatures newest Early Imperial Romans. I knew about their 160-190AD range (with Niedermörmter style helmets) but my existing range of figures had the Gallic style helmet, so imagine my delight when I saw the range had expanded to include figures with Gallic 'I' & 'J' style helmets!!! I ordered a couple of packs and Keith very kindly...

As promised here's the battle reports from a few Sundays ago when, in the glorious warm sunshine, I headed for the Bristol Biguns club in Iron Acton to enjoy a some games of SAGA against fellow Dark Ages enthusiast Dave. Our previous encounters had been close affairs and honours were even, so all was to play for! I used my 6 point Anglo-Danish warband consisting of Warlord 3 x 4 Huscarls (Hearthguard, fielded as 2 units of 6) 2 x 8 Ceorls (Warriors, fielded as a unit of 10 and a unit of 6) 1 x 12 Geburs (Levies, armed with slings) Dave has switched from Normans to playing Welsh. This definitely suits his playing style better. Interestingly Dave is using his Lord of the Rings collection of Rohan figures as Welsh, and very good they look too. He also had 6 points. Hero of the Viking Age "Maredudd ab Owain" (He wasn't the conqueror of Gwynedd and Powys for nothing!) 2 x 4 Mounted Teulu (pronounced "Taily", Hearthguard) 3 x 8 Priodaur (Warriors, fie...

Here's my Anglo-Danish Warlord in all his war-like glory! and Another Gripping Beast figure with LBMS shield transfer of course. Here's his trusty Huscarls wielding those fearsome Dane axes. More GB loveliness. and That takes my warband up to a comfortable 8 SAGA points. Later this week (or at the weekend) I'll be posting some battle reports following their exploits against Dave's Welsh warband.

I found a scrap of MDF whilst tidying the garage the other day and was inspired to create a vegetable garden for my more green-fingered Saxons to tend. That's when they're not away giving the Vikings a good thrashing! ;o) If you look at the Saga rulebook (or WAB Shieldwall) you'll see similar scenery featured in a number of pictures so it's clearly essential. However, I've no clear idea on what the Saxons grew but thankfully such knowledge it not essential for a good game! Anyway, enough rhubarb (pun intended) from me, here it is. OK, it's not all turnips, the white flowers are probably peas ... oh dear! Well, it is the Chelsea Flower Show this week after all. Normal service will be resumed soon.

With the Vikings now able to fire/throw sharp sticks at the Saxons it seemed only right and proper to give the Saxons the ability to throw a few rocks/sticks back at the Vikings. So here are 12 Saxon Levy armed mostly with slings, plus a few with javelins and bucklers. and All Gripping Beast figures. As usual, block painted on a white undercoat, dipped/washed and then quickly highlighted. I may add a few more bucklers but that was all I had ready so they will do for now. It's just a pity that Levies don't generate SAGA dice!

Hot off the painting table, here are a unit of Viking 'levies'. Ideal for Saga but I do hope to use them in games of W&C when I've got more troops painted. and All block painted over a white undercoat, then dipped/washed followed by matt varnish and some highlights of the original colours. More soon!

Last weekend saw us head south for a day in Exeter, where I attended the Legionary 2012 wargaming show run by the Exmouth Wargames Society and held at the Matford Centre. As mentioned in the previous post I was there to help top Wargames Table chum, Rob of Scarab Miniatures , to run a demo game of War & Conquest. Rob has a good over of the game (which I must say was splendid fun!) on the Scarab forum here . But here's a couple more pics anyway. This was only the second time I'd fought with Greeks and Spartans. Mostly Scarab miniatures, and lovely they are too! In the pic above you can see that my Spartans have routed a phalanx of Greeks in the centre. My chaps did very well in the early stages of the battle but the balance of power gradually swung to the Greeks who were able to claim a solid victory! Demo'ing the game to visitors, chatting with gamers, etc, was really good fun. Many thanks to all of you who came over to chat and watch. I managed to g...