Featured

New blog: mogsymakes by James Morris

Many years ago, Big Red Bat guru Simon Miller asked me why I didn’t have a blog to support the various games that I took around wargames shows. “Why would I want a blog?” I asked him. “You’ll get followers,” came the reply. I laughed.

I don’t really do this to get followers, but I love swapping ideas and photos with other gamers around the world. I seem to post on social media every week or so, only then to find myself unable to find my own pictures, battle reports or words of advice just a few weeks later. Questions like this crop up all the time: “Have you got any size comparison pictures with different manufacturers?” “What was the paint recipe you used on your wolves?” “Has anyone had a go at converting Elf cavalry/ Cretan gendarmes/ Sikh sappers?” “How does Muskets & Tomahawks II play?” And often, I say, “Yes, but…just let me find it…” Hopefully mogsymakes will go some way towards helping out with these senior moments of social media.

My chum Scrivs claims that one of his main reasons for having a blog is to be able to find his paint recipes several years down the line; I can confirm this, having used several of his colour schemes after looking them up online! I’ve gone for something in between a blog and a website, in that I have different pages and sections where I will hopefully archive posts to make them easier to find. It is still very much in its infancy, so any helpful suggestions about improving access and layout will be quite welcome.

And so, I find myself following Simon’s sage advice: get a blog. I hope you enjoy it!

Forcing the Pass – Midgard Heroic Battles Elves vs Undead

Here’s a short report of last night’s very genial game of Midgard Heroic Battles with long term playtesting chums Paul Scrivens-Smith and Paul Welsh.

Following a fine dinner of tortellini (thank you PW), I was invited to play the (newly painted) Wood Elves against Scrivs’ Undead in the Forcing the Pass scenario from Chronicles of Midgard. Naturally, I was going to be defending the pass from the wooded hillside. I had something approaching a plan with the skirmishing archers protecting the woods on the left, spearmen and army general in the centre and the cavalry and hawk riders on the right to attempt a flanking manoeuvre.

The Undead commander issued a challenge as he approached which, uncharacteristically, I turned down, not wishing to risk critical Heroes so early in the game. The hawk riders were a great disappointment, hitting nothing with their arrows (one of the new rules that we’re testing increases the Undead’s resistance to shooting, but they barely needed it with my dice rolling!)

I did, however, manage to get the first charge in with my Army Commander. Fighting enemies with Aura of Dread is never fun, though fortunately I’d planned for this, with a Sorcerer close at hand with the Protection spell for extra support. Had I not failed my first two spell casting tests, it could have been very different!

🤣

With the centre engaged, my archers on the left in the woods came under attack from zombies and skeletons and held their own. My stag riders on the right really underachieved, initially causing some casualties but never really threatening the Undead flank. I poured Units into the critical battle into the centre but just could not break down the two Undead elite Units leading the attack.

Early in Turn 5, the Elves lost several Units and suddenly their Reputation dropped to -4. Challenging and slaying the Undead commander pulled it back to -1 (with Undead Reputation on 2) but ultimately it was all over and the Elven Force ran for the woods.

A corking game with great company and super minis, all provided by Paul & Paul. 10mm Midgard is rapidly becoming a favourite with the group due to ease of transport, storage and set up, not to mention the 3 x 4’ playing area. I’d love to have better dice, but when the game was this fun, who really cares?

Second Barons’ War Goblet-Sized Campaign forthcoming

The second Goblet-Sized Campaign for Midgard Heroic Battles has now finished play testing and will be on its way to layout soon. Having already released The Iron Valley fantasy campaign, this time around it’s a very historical affair dealing with the Second Barons’ War, covering the period 1264-65. I’ve been busy photographing Paul Scrivens-Smith’s fab collection for the campaign – here’s an out take from that session (background from the Skies book by Jon Hodgson Backdrops).

News on release date as soon as I have it!

Joy of Six event & more videos

We had a brilliant time in Sheffield on June 28th attending the Joy of Six event, a very friendly affair involving nothing but 6mm games!

Matt, Tom and I had an enjoyable day running our Battle of Grizzly Peak game set in Glorantha (the bronze-age fantasy world for the Runequest RPG) using Midgard Heroic Battles.

Rapier Miniatures 6mm Trolls painted by Tom Webster-Deakin, Jon Hodgson Backdrop

You can see our game and a short interview here on the Storm of Steel YouTube channel.

I also took some photos of Simon Stokes’ wonderful 6mm Battle of Lewes forces (all Baccus 6mm minis painted by Simon) and will hopefully include some of these in the forthcoming Second Barons’ War Goblet-Sized Campaign.

6mm Baccus Minis painted by Simon Stokes, Jon Hodgson Backdrop

There’s a number of new Midgard Heroic Battles videos made by Midgard fans doing the rounds at the moment – I can’t watch them all, but I did enjoy the Crusty Colonel’s solo play throughs of the From Athelney to Ethandun campaign. Not too long and gives you a good idea of the narrative within the Chronicles of Midgard campaign system. You can see his latest episode here.

Walt Leach and friends in the USA have been playing through some huge games of Midgard using 54mm figures! You can see their Battle of Bannockburn episode on Bill’s Wargames World here (beware of dodgy Scots accents!) 🙂

More Glorantha in 6mm: The Battle of Grizzly Peak

Tom WD, Matt M and I spent this afternoon sorting out our Midgard Heroic Battles game for next week’s Joy of Six show (Sheffield UK, 28th June).

Unit labelling took a while as Matt has been busy creating new troops for the game, mostly from Rapier, Baccus and Irregular Miniatures.

Terrain has been scratchbuilt by me with a Jon Hodgson Backdrop to set the whole thing off.

Once the show is out of the way, I’ll post the lists that Matt has created.

Orc Archers

I built a load of these when the Oathmark goblin slaves kit appeared, but only finished them this week!  Here are three units of Orc archers built using a mixture of plastic kits.  There are a number of GW LOTR Goblins, Orcs and Uruk-Hai in there alongside Oathmark and Wargames Atlantic Goblins and Warlord Games Orcs.

Each unit is based on a 120 x 60 mm round cornered 2mm MDF base from Warbases.  I’ve got so many individually-based Orcs that I thought I’d just make these into mini dioramas for Midgard Heroic Battles games. 

The paint job is pretty rough and ready but I wanted to get 36 done in a very short amount of time (looking back at the pics I can see a few missed mould lines, but it’s the overall effect I’m after).  

:D

Banners are from my Mogsymakes site on Wargame Vault and backgrounds by Jon Hodgson Backdrops again.

Joy of Six show in Sheffield

The next show appearance from Morris & Chums will be at Joy of Six in Sheffield, UK on Sunday 28th June 2026 (full show details here).

The show is dedicated to 6mm miniature wargaming, so we’ll be bringing along another Midgard Heroic Battles game set in Glorantha (the Runequest RPG’s fantasy world). Matt Moran and Tom WD will be providing all the minis and I’ll be on terrain duties.

Last year we presented the Battle of Pavis but this year I am busy carving polystyrene foam to move the action to another setting in Glorantha!

Midgard at Britcon 2026

I’m delighted to be part of Lard Workshop which returns to Britcon in Leicester, UK this August!

There’s a double dose of Midgard Heroic Battles available for you to come and play (no figures needed, just book a ticket). I’m running the Battle of Tumhalad from Tolkien’s Silmarillion (you can see the page on this game from Partizan 2024 here). Backgrounds by Jon Hodgson Backdrops, of course.

Matt Slade is back to the Battle of Hastings 1066 with his awesome miniature collection!

You can find out more about the event and get tickets here (not many left, I understand). Cheers!

Battle of Lewes 1264 Video Report

I’ve been long overdue to do another video, so here’s the Battle of Lewes from Partizan this year.

The Second Barons’ War is the theme of the next Goblet-Sized Campaign for Midgard Heroic Battles; it’s just in the final stages of play testing and hopefully we’ll have news in the next few months about it.

Fortunately I have no shortage of figures to photograph thanks to the ever-prolific Scrivs!

Battle of Lewes play test game for Partizan

Terrific test play of my Battle of Lewes 1264 scenario in preparation for the Partizan Show (May 17th, Newark Showground, UK) with chum Tom. Using Midgard Heroic Battles, the game went the full six turns and was full of drama.

Richard of Cornwall was captured in his first melee; Lord Edward fell foul of a Londoner’s dagger; and Simon de Montfort’s charge with his reserves carried the battle for the barons. Look out for a bigger version at Partizan!

(Nearly all Wargames Atlantic 28mm minis painted by Paul Scrivens-Smith, terrain mat by Geek Villain)