Sunday 10th October 2021 saw the return of Partizan, the showcase East Midlands wargames show at Newark Showground. To say that I was excited about this was an understatement. I had plans to run a game set in 1800s Alaska, but the return of Scrivs from the US with his substantial El Cid collection ofContinue reading “El Cid: the Battle of Bairen, 1097 CE”
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Jinetes for the Age of El Cid
I’ve been spending a few hours organising units from my El Cid collection this week. We’re planning to put on a version of the Battle of Bairen (1097 CE) at the Partizan show in Newark on October 10th, giving my own Midgard rules their first public run-out. Midgard uses a standard base frontage of 120mmContinue reading “Jinetes for the Age of El Cid”
‘Wounded by Pedro, stood on by a horse’: El Cid rides again
Yesterday I was able to get in a game set in medieval Spain with old mucker Scrivs. Using my own Midgard rules (now into yet more testing), we were preparing for the game that we are planning to put on at the Partizan show in Newark on October 10th. Today’s game was to be aContinue reading “‘Wounded by Pedro, stood on by a horse’: El Cid rides again”
Glorfindel gets a smiting…
…or some more Second Age scrappage from the gaming table. Paul W and I notched up another test game of my Midgard rules this week with his Elves commanded by Glorfindel versus my Orc host under Akdar, Captain of Trolls. While the basic flow of the rules is pretty much sorted, we were spending someContinue reading “Glorfindel gets a smiting…”
Greek Midgard 1: Basil and the Horn of the Minotaur
Continuing the current run of Midgard play test games, we ran a big Greek mythological battle using my rules, for which I constructed a plot line seriously inspired (i.e. ripping off) some of the most famous Greek myths (and Ray Harryhausen). Greek hero Basileus has been set three (highly dangerous, possibly fatal) tasks by theContinue reading “Greek Midgard 1: Basil and the Horn of the Minotaur”
Battle of Graus, 1063 CE – Enter El Cid!
I’ve been working on Midgard – my heroic battle wargames rules – for some time now. Medieval Spain and the age of El Cid have long been popular in my gaming circle and it wasn’t long before Tom WD (king of the pun) started cracking jokes about ‘El Cidgard’. Therefore it was only a matterContinue reading “Battle of Graus, 1063 CE – Enter El Cid!”
Celtiberians
My recent Ancients gaming gave me the push to investigate the back of the painting cupboard, where I knew I had squirrelled away one of those projects of shame – 30-odd half-painted minis from 2017. On the back of my Battle of Tribola game, I’d bought some Crusader Miniatures from Nick at Northstar – someContinue reading “Celtiberians”
A Tale of Two Caballeros
Although I’ve resisted getting a 3d printer myself, I’ve been very aware of the explosion in STL files and Patreons, and none more so than the most recent work of Spanish-based Caballero Miniatures. Sculptor and owner Marcos has been hard at work on a project that happens to be a shared passion – the ageContinue reading “A Tale of Two Caballeros”
Les Poilus
At the end of last year, I penned a short article on painting World War One French in their mid-late war horizon blue uniforms, and it has recently seen print in Wargames Illustrated magazine (Issue 403, July 2021). The theme of the issue is ‘Vive La France’ and has a wide range of articles aboutContinue reading “Les Poilus”
Second Age Scrapping
It’s fair to say that Paul W and I are enjoying playing big battles again at the moment. This week’s excursion took us back to the Second Age of Middle-earth with a scenario inspired by the Last Alliance of Elves and Men. As Gil-Galad and the Noldor march south towards Mordor, their path has beenContinue reading “Second Age Scrapping”