Adventures on the Wargames Table

Recently I noticed that my local model shop stocked a range of resin dry stone walls, made by Javis. At first glance they look "ok" but perhaps a bit basic. So I wondered if they could be "enhanced" with a little effort. I bought a few pieces and tried it out ... and was delighted with the results. Therefore, I've compiled a step by step guide to how I improved these scenic pieces. Here's the starting point. Serviceable but a bit basic. The first stage is just cleaning and preparation. Soak the walls in warm soapy water and use a scrubbing brush to remove the flock. Dry thoroughly and undercoat with a matt black spray. I've used Foundry colours for the stones as they produce the excellent Slate Grey set so no mixing is required! The next shot shows the result after a heavy dry-brush** with Slate Grey 32A. ** For those not familiar with the term it's simply a process where you put a small amount of paint on your brush, then wipe most of it...

The lovely people at the Gravesend Wargamers Club have asked me to remind everyone about... War & Conquest Doubles Gaming Day Sunday 29th June 2014 Venue: The Northfleet Veterans Club, The Hill, Northfleet, Kent, DA11 9EU. There is parking outside the club and lunch is provided in the entry price of £12 Full details here: LINK Questions? Please get in contact with us via email at philturner@talktalk.net or telephone 07794908204.

As you may already know I like to decorate my gaming table with suitable 'extras' and for the Dark Ages what could be better than a few pigs, sheep, chickens, cows, etc? The pigs are from Warbases new range of livestock. These chickens are from Redoubt (maybe?). Can't have too many chickens (or Viking "reinforcements" as I've been calling them!?) I also took the opportunity to re-base some my Gripping Beast sheep and cows. They also make for excellent objective markers or baggage counters - depending upon your rules and/or scenario. All kindly painted by my lovely wife (and based by me).

A while back I ordered a heap of bases from Warbases in order to get a little further along the way to being able to play Dux Bellorum. However, my inner gaming butterfly soon flitted elsewhere and they were consigned to a storage box. But ... now that I'm in the process of applying magentic basing I've been sorting out my Saxon forces and realised that I had more than a few Early Saxons (from the superb Musketeer range, sold by Gripping Beast) mixed in with my 9-11th century fellows. So, here they are on their as-yet-to-be-sanded-and-painted movement trays. That's 1 x Companions, 2 x Noble Warriors, 3 x Ordinary Warriors and 2 x Skirmishers, giving a total of 26pts! All I need to do is paint a couple more Gedriht and 5 javelin armed Geoguth and that's an army ready to go! OK, I may also go through them and replace a few of the larger shields with bucklers as that's how I see them being equipped in the 5-6th centuries. However, it's a slightly different ...

For some time now I’ve wanted to enhance the basing of my forces with magnetic basing. I’ve been to quite a few events where players turn up with boxes of figures already on movement trays and thus can be deployed ready to play in minutes. Whereas I’ll be half an hour or more moving figures from compartmentalised carry cases on to movement trays, trying to get them to rank up nicely, etc, when I should be fighting the battle! So here’s a few tips based (no pun intended!) on my experiences. First step was to ask around and two companies were suggested. Magnetic Displays and Hasslefree Miniatures ; I can heartily recommend both in terms of service, value and product quality. For pre-cut circular magnetic discs I’ll go for HM, but for rectangular or square bases I’ll use the magnetic ‘tape’ from MD – plus they also sell the magnetic steel ‘paper’. Here’s one of my trays (please do not adjust your set!) with a mixture of metal and plastic figures. The trays are from Warbases and I...

What better way to spend a day of the recent Bank Holiday weekend than by getting a few chums to come and play some Dark Ages War & Conquest? The armies total roughly 5,000pts per side. The scenario can be found here . "Early Summer in the the year of our Lord 934, on the blessed St Walburgha's day, the cruel Pagans did form an alliance between Norseman and Dane, and make war upon our realm. Having visited much slaughter and rapine upon the good people of Mercia their numberless host crossed into Wessex. Brave Aethelstan of Wessex, with aid from the stout men of Kent, led by Uhtred Dane-Slayer, formed their shieldwalls beside the steading of Ultfun and the monastery of St Aethelbert. A great battle was fought and many good men did perish. Praise the Lord that the Heathens were stopped and their invasion crushed." Here are the armies lined up and ready to do battle. You can also see Prize-Winning Phil (did I mention that he picked up TWO prizes at Legionary!) ab...

It’s May so it must be time for another Legionary show in Exeter! This year Scarab Miniatures had arranged a modest War & Conquest competition. There were two categories; “Dark Ages” and “Classical”. I could have entered either but settled upon giving my Saxons a run out. Fellow competitors in the Dark Ages competition were fielding Picts, Vikings and more Saxons. Now, I should point out that whilst it is billed as a “competition” I can assure you that the atmosphere is very relaxed and aimed entirely at having fun games – just the ticket! Here’s a pic of the games in full swing. Round One The classic Saxons versus Vikings battle. My opponent was ‘Dave the Viking’. He’s certainly called Dave but I’m fairly sure his surname isn’t “Viking”!? Here’s a few pics This, like most games of War & Conquest, was a fairly close game right up until then end. We both had the ‘take and hold’ objective so the centre of the field saw some ferocious combat. After the allotted s...