It’s now a week after Partizan on the Ground and our big El Cid Battle of Bairen game. It’s been lovely seeing all the photos circulating on the internet – despite the fact that not everyone was able to make it to the show under the circumstances (several friends of mine included), being able to go to a show and run a big game was a very life-affirming experience.
This Andalusian command stand is a mash-up of models: the Emir is a conversion of various Gripping Beast parts clipped off metal figures. How much easier this would have been with plastics, eh? The Qadi is by Artizan and I think the standard bearer may be an old Black Tree Saracen – banner by hand.
If you enjoyed the game or the blog entry, here’s a round-up of some additional material and a number of photos of individual pieces from the weekend’s gaming.
One of the boats that acted as an archer platform for the Almoravids in the battle. This one is a generic boat by Barrage Miniatures with a mast added.
Chris Breese of Notts TV was busy on Sunday morning, filming and collecting interviews from a handful of games at the show. He put together a very positive short piece for Notts TV (Partizan features at the start and then 13-16 minutes is dedicated to the show) – see here. He also then created a longer version entirely about Partizan for his Youtube channel which you can watch here, with some great video of the Bairen game near the start. I had a good laugh at myself on camera (my daughter is now referring to me as ‘teacher by day, wargamer by night’) but was very pleased with the positive press. I’m old enough to remember some of the negative press reporting on wargames and role-playing games a few decades back (a particular episode of Central Weekend sticks in my mind) so it was a pleasure to watch this instead. It’s also good to see the recognition of the input of wargaming into the local economy and its mental health benefits.
This cracking figure is another 3d print designed by Caballero Miniatures and printed for me by Fenland. I left him off his base so that I could place him wherever I liked.
My compadres from Morris & Chums have posted blog entries as well. Tom WD took so many photos (with a proper camera, so expect something better than my iphone snaps) that he’s had to make three blog entries out of them. If you want medieval eye candy, go here and here for the El Cid game and here for some of the other games at the show.
More Almoravid commanders – a Gripping Beast Imam with leader and standard bearer from Artizan.
Martin’s blog (here) has some good shots from the Bairen game plus a number of others from the show itself. As usual, it’s impossible to see everything, especially if you are presenting yourself, so well worth a look.
Boat crew detail – these two are Caballero Miniatures. The green/ black colour scheme makes them fit with my Almoravids, probably Christian mercenaries.
Alex (Storm of Steel blog) did a video round-up of the show which is well worth a watch if you want to get an idea of the scope of the games.
Here’s the crew of the other boat (a repurposed 1/72 scale Smer Viking Longship). Gripping Beast crossbowmen and banner bearer with a pair of Artizan archers.Two of the boats but out of the water!Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, Campeador! This cracking model was sculpted by Mark Copplestone for Amazon Miniatures when the El Cid WAB book was released (you can still pick up secondhand castings though). The standard bearer is from Artizan, banner by hand again.More boat crew: Caballero Miniatures commander with Gripping Beast standard bearer.‘The Rescue’ – this Caballero Minis vignette drew a lot of attention on the day. Absolutely outstanding sculpting by Marcos!Another angle of the rescue….…and another! Why not?More Moors (dad joke courtesy of Tom WD!) This is the Ben Yusuf model with an added adarga shield, plus a champion, both from Gripping Beast.Another Almoravid command stand – both riders are GB, although the Imam has been converted from a foot figure.Ibrahim Ibn Tashfin, heroic vanquisher of Pedro of Aragon! An Old Glory command model with two Gripping Beast retainers.This chap served many years as commander of my Zaragozan army in games of WAB, but on Sunday did double duty as Alvar Fanez, El Cid’s right-hand man. He didn’t last too long! The standard bearer is the original El Cid figure from Gripping Beast with some conversion and a hand-painted banner; the hero is an Artizan Designs figure.
3 thoughts on “Partizan Round-Up and El Cid Vignettes”
All round excellence! These are of you usual very high standards. If I had to pick between them I would have to say that the Caballero Miniatures vignette stands out but also “El Cid”/Roderego/Alfonso VI pointing the way in the boat is excellent too.
I love putting vignettes together. Perhaps too much as I seem to drag myself into doing them halfway between units! LOL
Lastly, boy do I wish I had been able to see the game “live” :>)
Hopefully next year. I haven’t given up! LOL I’ll have wo weigh up the risks vs benefits (sanity!) but I’m tentatively confident it will happen sometime next year.
mogsymakes 
All round excellence! These are of you usual very high standards. If I had to pick between them I would have to say that the Caballero Miniatures vignette stands out but also “El Cid”/Roderego/Alfonso VI pointing the way in the boat is excellent too.
I love putting vignettes together. Perhaps too much as I seem to drag myself into doing them halfway between units! LOL
Lastly, boy do I wish I had been able to see the game “live” :>)
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Thanks Darrell! We’ll see you again at a show, I’m sure.
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Hopefully next year. I haven’t given up! LOL I’ll have wo weigh up the risks vs benefits (sanity!) but I’m tentatively confident it will happen sometime next year.
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