Midgard at CanCon 2026

The mighty Australian gaming convention that is CanCon ran over the weekend of 24-26th January 2026 at Exhibition Park in Canberra, and I was delighted to see photos of so many Midgard Heroic Battles games running as part of the Lard Zone. My budget hasn’t allowed a trip yet but the enthusiastic game organisers have provided me with enough information to put together this post!

An array of games ran over the three days in multiple different settings – exactly what Midgard Heroic Battles was intended to do!

Faramir’s Last Charge was a 40mm spectacular battle set, of course, during The Lord of the Rings.

Middle-earth had a second visitation with a 28mm game based on John Savage’s Fords of Isen scenario, as featured in Lard Magazine 2024.

Ragnar Skwigelf (AKA Darren) and his mates have been play testing some of the new scenarios that feature in the forthcoming Chronicles of Midgard supplement and decided to showcase one. ‘Scale the Walls’ was an absolute beaut, featuring an early medieval clash with Welsh and Saxons in conflict over a superb fortified town.

Andrew Bishop and his friends ran three different games over the three days using their extensive miniature collections to produce some epic battles: Vikings vs Normans, Goblins vs Dwarves and an Arthurian fantasy mash-up . Love the big units!

Huge thanks to David Williams, Ragnar Skwigelf, Jason Dickie and Andrew Bishop who contributed photos and ran the games along with teams of their chums. To see the effort you’ve put into running these – along with the wonderful minis and terrain – is an absolute joy. Cheers!

Tlingit vs Russians – First Battle Reports & Video 26.1.26

After picking up the Tlingit vs Russians project again, I wrote a couple of scenarios for Osprey’s Rebels & Patriots. Tom, Pete and I played these through at the Soldier Shack a couple of weeks ago. R & P works brilliantly for this and we all enjoyed the two games, with the Tlingit and Russians winning one apiece.

I’ve created a short video which you can see here, and Tom has two picture battle reports available on his blog – first game and second game.

You can see the Tlingit vs Russians project page here – more to come!

Tolkien Page Update & Orc Host Video

The Tolkien’s Middle-earth page of the site has finally had an update, including the addition of a much-needed page for the Orcs! I’ve also linked some of the key Middle-earth battle reports for Midgard Heroic Battles that had been hard to find on the blog.

Not only that, but there’s also a very short video covering the Orc host! My son has helped me out with this and the website update as part of his Duke of Edinburgh’s award.

New Video: Midgard Notebook – Combat

I’ve had very little time to dedicate to the YouTube channel recently but I recently found a few hours to film a few Midgard combat situations that might be of interest to both new and regular players – you can see it here. Do let me know if there’s anything you’d like to cover in future episodes and please do like and subscribe if you’ve enjoyed any of the content.

The other news from today is that I’ve been writing the index for Chronicles of Midgard, but I didn’t think that was a very exciting headline 🙂

Midgard Moot II

Hi everyone, just a heads up! I’ve been getting the line up confirmed for the second Midgard Moot event which is due to take place at Boards And Swords Hobbies in Derby, UK on Saturday 25th April 2026. This event was terrific fun last April and we’re looking to make it even better in 2026!

Bookings don’t open till January but click here to see the details of the games and campaigns.

20251105 PJ 2468 Vikings – burning village

October Round-Up – New Videos & Crackcon 6 31.10.25

I’ve taken this week to add two more videos to the Mogsymakes YouTube channel – a report of our Agincourt game from The Other Partizan (complete with a quick making-of the terrain cloth) and also my second 10mm painting video. This one focuses on the Wargames Atlantic plastic 10mm Dwarves which I’m building up into a Midgard Heroic Battles Force.

If you haven’t already, please do have a look, and of course like, subscribe and comment if you enjoyed the videos. I know we’re all short of time nowadays so I try to keep the running time down – Agincourt comes in at under 10 minutes, with the Dwarf painting at 25 mins.

Crackcon 6 – the annual convention of the Plastic Crack Podcast – was thoroughly enjoyable as Pete and I ran two back-to-back games of ‘Over My Dead Body’, a Trojan War scenario for Midgard.

The venue (Boards and Swords Hobbies in Derby) was rammed with quality games, all being played in a great atmosphere.

The charity raffle and merchandise also raised £2000 for the Brain Tumour Trust in memory of Paul Sawyer – a wonderful gesture.

Behind the scenes, the Chronicles of Midgard supplement is currently in layout, but no news on format or release date yet – all this will follow! I’m also beavering away on various PDF ‘goblet-size campaigns’ that should see release as soon as Chronicles makes it out of the door.

Oh, and I finished the castle gates I’ve been working on – apparently I need a mini cat now to make use of the cat flap!

Over My Dead Body! Trojan Wars in 28mm with Midgard Heroic Battles

I ran this scenario for the first time at Britcon in August 2024 just as Midgard Heroic Battles was about to head to press for eventual release in November.

Scenic background by Jon Hodgson Backdrops and used with permission. You’ll note that the final Midgard logo and measuring sticks aren’t in use – we had to keep them under wraps until nearer release!

It was a big event, definitely one of the top Lardy Days on the UK circuit, and slightly nerve-wracking as I would be introducing some of the regular Lard gaming veterans to Midgard for the first time.

I needn’t have worried – it was a blast – and the response was excellent. However, on the eve of pulling the game out again for the Crackcon 6 event, I realised that I’d never shared most of these photos. So here you go!

With the death of Hector, many Trojans felt that their last hope had gone. The stone known as the Luck of Troy had been stolen away in the night by the cunning Odysseus of Ithaca.  What hope was left for the beleaguered golden city?

However, one morning, the sun burned brighter than usual; a column of armoured warriors arrived, guided by Paris himself.  These were no ordinary soldiers but Amazons, the famed warrior women who lived far away near the River Thermodon.  Bred for battle, they carried bronze spears and swords, but also shot arrows from both chariots and horseback. 

Welcomed through the gates, the Amazons were feasted and celebrated with the best provisions that Troy could muster.  Priam himself presented their Queen with a silver-hilted sword, and Penthesilea told her tale to the astonished Trojans. “We are here to aid you in your noble cause of driving off the Achaean locusts.  I, Penthesilia, daughter of Ares, will use this sword to slay Achilles himself!  Since accidentally killing my beloved sister, Hippolyta, I have no wish to live in dishonour.  Let us take up arms and fight to free Troy and gain eternal glory!”

And so, the following morning, with a blast of bronze trumpets, the Scaean Gate opened and disgorged a horde of Amazons.  Sun glinting on their helms and arrow-tips, Penthesilea led her warriors to meet Diomedes of Argos, first out of the Greek camp.  A single combat was agreed between Podarces, brother of Prothesilaus (the first Achaean to be slain in the campaign) and the Amazon champion Bremusa as the others rushed to battle. 

The chariots of Achilles and Ajax the Great could be seen in the distance.  The women of Troy watched spellbound from the towers of Ilium: who would triumph?