Adventures on the Wargames Table

One of the first big shows of the season is Crusade, organised by the Penarth Wargames Club in Cardiff. Getting up at 5am on a Saturday morning is not exactly my idea of fun but on this occasion it was well worth the effort. We took along our newly completed demo game for War & Conquest - The Battle of Ashingdon. In this battle, Cnut of Denmark fought Edmund of Wessex & England for the throne. Here's a picture of the layout. Apologies for the poor photo quality but like most sports halls the lighting is far from conducive to taking good pictures! Here's another from behind the Danish lines. Since W&C is very flexible about basing of characters we decided to mount all of the personalities on slightly larger round bases. This, I think, makes them stand out clearly plus they look more 'heroic'. Here is Edmund's army drawn up around Ashingdon hill and village. For a rally point we had a Saxon Bishop with attendant monks praying around the ...

I'm delighted to tell you that my Early Imperial Romans and Celts (plus my 'real' Wargames Table and scenery) are featured in the current issue (64) of Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy!!! The Battle of the New Road was the game that myself and Rob Broom (of Scarab Miniatures ) devised for Colours 2012, held at the Newbury Racecourse back in September. The scenario was inspired by the story of the more modern Newbury Bypass and the eco-protest that accompanied it. This was our (i.e. including my lovely wife) first show game for more than 10 years plus the first 'historical' battle for a show. I'm pleased to say that it was a real pleasure to be there. Many thanks to all of you who came along for chat and to find out more about the game. As mentioned in earlier posts we hope to put on some more show games this year, where we'll be demonstrating War & Conquest featuring Saxons vs Vikings at the Battle of Ashingdon, 18th October 1016. I hope you en...

Here are the latest figures from the painting table. A Saxon Thegn, his sons and his Ceorls armed and ready fight off the Danish invaders! A mixture of Gripping Beast metal Ceorls, plastic Thegns and a Muskeeter Early Saxon horn-blower. Enjoy!

It's been a bit quiet here on the Wargames Table recently, but now the rest of the figures are starting to roll off the production line! But first, an introduction... Throughout this year we (my wife and I) hope to be able to present a Saxons vs Vikings demo game of "The Battle of Ashingdon" using War & Conquest. We'll be attending a number of shows - though the exact schedule has yet to be confirmed with Rob at Scarab. However, our first outing will be to Crusade 2013 in Cardiff later this month. The Battle of Ashingdon (or Assandun) was fought on the 18th October 1016 and was to become an important - yet little acknowledged - battle in the history of England. The Saxons of King Edmund II "Ironside" and the Danish Vikings of Prince Cnut of Denmark had fought a lengthy and grueling campaign across southern England for more than a year when they met at Ashingdon on south Essex. The exact events leading up to the battle are, as is typical for the era,...

Happy New Year! :o) What about the next year of gaming here at The Wargames Table? Well, I'm not going to set myself any really firm "must do" objectives, after all it's meant to be a relaxing hobby! However, I expect I'll be working on some or all of the following Dark Ages I've been very busy during the holidays working on a 120+ figures for my Saxon and (my wife's) Viking armies, but as most of it is still 'work in progress' I haven't got anything worth showing pics of yet - apologies! But I assure you that there will be plenty to show in a few weeks time. It's not just about the armies - I'll be adding plenty of extras like casualty figures, vignettes of figures fighting, looting, etc, plus some civilians and animals. I have quite a few Normans in blisters and boxes so I may begin by building a SAGA warband - break out the Camembert chaps! Age of Arthur The later Saxon army includes enough 'Musketeer' early Saxon f...

It's that time of year again where we look back and take stock of our achievements… and this blog is no exception! The Good Things about my hobby this year… Great War BEF Battalion I'm delighted that this is now "complete", i.e. 1,000pts. I hope to add more in the future but at least I can now take part in most gaming days without needing to borrow figures. The Great War has real enduring appeal for me, in terms of history, modelling and gaming. So expect to see more of this sort of thing. Wargaming Shows Amazingly I've made it along to a few shows, specifically Legionary, Salute, Attack, Colours, and Warfare. At these shows I (or more usually 'we') have helped stage demo games of War & Conquest. I've really enjoyed this as it's a chance to chat to a wide range of gamers, about an equally wide range of topics, as well as tell them how good W&C is! It's also good to go along and pick up a bit of hobby "buzz" - i.e. some extra m...

I cannot recall doing this sort of thing before, plus I thought readers might find it interesting. Many of you probably don't even need any painting advice! :o) But may be there'll be the odd tip that you might find useful. As you may already know, for my Dark Ages figures I generally use a 'wash' technique with Army Painter Strong tone - although I do also use Games Workshop and Windsor & Newton inks. Most of the paints are Foundry but again I use some GW and Vallejo colours. Where a colour is important I'll mention it specifically. Step 1 - Preparation Like all projects, a good start is essential. I know it's a bit boring but time spent on good preparation pays dividends later. I undercoat all the figures using GW Skull White. I've tried other primers but this one works the best for me. I always attach any weapons, e.g. spears, bows, swords, axes, etc, before undercoating as this makes the bond as strong as possible. Super glue gel works well f...