For Sale

Please take a look at the for sale page. 

There will be more to come.

Proceeds from the sale will all go to charity and there are some lovely figures. 

2024 Begins.

Well I didn't manage to end the year with a game as my car broke down on Hogmanay, scuppering our plans, but we had a fine Chinese takeaway and watched Jools as the bells came in so a nice relaxing end to the year. 

We first footed the Hilditch's on the first after being picked up by Graham and whilst our better halves chatted we kicked off a game with Graham's 40mm SYW figures. Nothing planned - we just threw down some terrain and picked a force of Reichsarmee and a mix of Prussian Fusiliers, line and garrison inf and hussars.

Using Jim Purky's one page SYW rules we were soon under way with Graham's horse charging my leading unit of Fusiliers while I tried to get the rest of my infantry up the table and off the line of march into formation. My cavalry, two units of hussars had no one facing them so off the galloped hoping to get round the rear of the allied force and cause plenty mischief. 

Despite a battering my fusiliers held and despite being forced back were themselves able to drive off the Reichsarmee horse. Graham's foot, a Swiss unit and a German one were now pressing down on my Prussian line while the garrison rgt formed up, refusing its flank. A small detachment of jäger managed to get off a few shots which delayed the allied La Mark rgt and gave me a breathing space while my battalion gun shot up another unit, further blunting Graham's attack. The hussars continued their ride....

On my right I was able to get both fusilier units into line and stabilise that flank. The last of Grahams cavalry took a volley and turned for the rear. In the centre La Mark had reformed but now had a unit of my hussars on their flank which effectively pinned them. The centre was still a bit of a tangle but odds were equal. 

There we left it as the smell of cooking and rumbling tummies got the better of us. But we will continue just as soon as we're able. 

Graham's was kind enough to give us, our sons dog which we were looking after, and our bags etc a lift home yesterday since we didn't have a car (worst time to break down, thankfully it was only a couple of down yards from the flat and not on the country roads).  Now we are back I have started to put my 40th anniversary plans into action and have ordered what will become the Ziggurat and some more plastic conquistadores as I've used up all of mine making pike and shot units.

Good to get '24 off with a bang! 

Looking forward to.....

Next year is the 40th Anniversary of me starting gaming. I was 11 and although I'd come across Featherstone and Grant in local library it wasn't until I came across a copy of White Dwarf 53 in the newsagent where I did a paper round that the wheels were really put in motion.  

With the money from my paper round I bought figures from Black Donald's in Waverley Place in Aberdeen. When my Birthday came round in July it was the owner who suggested I got Warhammer I had plenty of figures to play by then. 

A trip to York for the Summer holidays meant that I stumbled across the Little Soldier in Gillygate. There I got 15mm Napoleonic Brits and French and copy of the Newbury Napoleonic rules. Whilst I liked Fantasy and Tolkien my interest in History was racing to catch up. For a while it would have to take a back seat as my mates were only interested in fantasy games and RPG's but I never looked back. 

I want to mark the anniversary and use it as a theme for my games this coming year. 

I'm going to build two small fantasy armies based on Tolkien's Middle Earth in the First Age and  Glaurung the Dragon. This ticks the fantasy box.

 I will put on a game of The Ziggurut of Doom from the first Warhammer box. Originally this featured Dwarves vs Goblins. But I will use Conquistadors and Aztecs. This ties in my fantasy gaming beginning to my desire for historical games.

I will be finishing and publishing my next Scenario Book - Feud. This has been expanded to cover Corrichie, Tillyangus, Craibstane and The Burning of Corgarff but also the intrigues of the Earls of Huntly and Errol with the Spanish, the Bridge of Dee Affair and the Battle of Glenlivet. This covers my love of history. I'm at the editing stage for the text and need to test the "what if" Bridge of Dee game between the Earls and James IV and the Glenlivet scenario. 

The other project for 2024 reflects where I am now. It will be a refight of the Battle of the Windmill during the Patriots Rebellion in Upper Canada in 1838. 

Four projects for 2024. 

As I write this we are in Lossiemouth hopefully for a bit of peace and quiet and a change of scene. Our favourite place. But there will be a game, I hope, and certainly something else to share before the year ends.

Napoleon and stuff.

 Saw it last night.

It wasn't as bad as I'd been led to believe. But it was a wasted opportunity to tell the story of Napoleon and Josephine. That's a pity because that would have been entirely possible with the components Scott had. Focusing on that story entirely without the battles would have made a better film. 

But there were too many gaps, too many flaws for me and by the sounds of it most of the folk who were talking as they left the cinema felt the same. Most groups had one or two people explaining the missing bits or highlighting the holes. That is perhaps the issue, many people going to see it will have an interest and know enough to feel it lacks something. Had it been the plot of Bridgerton no one would have minded.

He didn't listen to the critics either....

Don't bother with the forthcoming 4hr streaming version, watch this instead.

The snowball fight is more historically accurate than Ridley's battles! 

The Trailer for Ferrari looked good though. Wonder if racing/car fans will react the same way.....

As Thursday was a much needed day off I was in Banchory to play with John and Eric. Eric's scenario for Zona Alfa was very good. John and I had to infiltrate the zone to so that a Tech could retrieve some kit from the wreckage of a downed aircraft. By tying John's team down in crossfires I was able to get my man in about first and get my hands on whatever it was we were being paid to retrieve, no questions asked. ZA is a neat little system and you can go as straight or weird as you like with the Zone. I look forward to more games.

Friday is also a day off.....and I think I shall get the glue out and maybe do some Aztecs. 40 years ago a party of dwarves fought some goblins on a ziggurat when the first edition of Warhammer hit the shelves. I reckon Conquistadors vs Aztecs would make a good version of that scenario. As I was 11 when I got Warhammer the following year it will be 40yrs of Wargaming for me in 2024. A wee tribute methinks. 

Renaissance Games Continued

Two more games this week this time getting the Irish out for a test drive. 

Now I'm no expert, but I'm learning fast and so my knowledge of Irish warfare is limited to Ian Heath's 16th Century Armies and the recent Tudor Warfare Vol2 by Jonathan Davies supplemented by a wee bit of Gush's Renaissance Armies. A broad though shallow sweep. 

How to represent them on the table?

• Kern as Infantry but able to fight and move through bad terrain
• Gallowglass as Swords - no change there
• Irish Cavalry as Reiter - not Caracoling but skirmishing with darts, so no change
• No Cavalry - so can swap for loose shotte (essentially skirmishers), or more Kern or Gallowglass
• Irish can have a unit of "normal" pike and shot infantry 

Remember these are a very very simple set of rules which aim to represent warfare distilled to basics so the subtleties may be lost. But this is a tough one because Kern may be main type of Irish infantry but they don't fight in the same way as a pike unit. 

So now we have .

• National type army lists (basic but getting there)
• Card driven activation (tried last week and works well)
• Random events when the random event card was drawn (not tried yet)
• Leaders with traits which could effect the game (not tried)
• Campaign rules with casualty recovery. (not tried)

Game one - Capture the gun

Both sides tried to capture a cannon which had become bogged down in a ford. The side which held it at the end of the game won. Not very subtle and probably favouring the English but the random activation meant that either side had complete control. I've also introduced Random Events so there were a few time when things went "agley". The English were lead by an officer keen on glory and leading from the front but this was a game where shooting would be handy. The Irish on the other had had an officer who had god in his side and who could rally off hits from units he was attached to by his inspirational presence. Things were perhaps more even. 

Both sides moved up to the ford and the line of the river, but as expected the English had the upper hand. The Irish weren't able to get to grips, but their skirmishing horse did wear down the heavier English Cavalry and Border Horse and drove them off the table. This gave the English a bit of a wobble and forced one of the back. The Irish had meanwhile be somewhat restored by their inspirational leader and now had the advantage of numbers but pressing the attack was difficult. The worn out English lost another unit, now down to three. This unit had the English leader, still spoiling for a fight and he was slain and in the morale test another ran off. Suddenly there were only two English pike, a ways from the ford, leaderless and without any powder.....the Irish had won. 

The tweaks to the rules had made the game interesting, challenging and given a good player the opportunity to get the best from his troops. Most importantly everyone who played, enjoyed it. 

Game two was a scenario from the One Hour Wargames book. This time the English deployed two units just below a cross roads flanked by difficult ground (bog in our games). There was some debate about whether the Irish would drag their new cannon along.  The decided it would be worth the effort - it wasn't. It fired a shot and ran out of ammo, perhaps fitting given they weren't known for deploying them! Their men surged forward, Gallowglass moving through the bog to try and flank the English. Their first move didn't go well - after taking casualties from the Irish horse one unit drew a random event and recoiled a full move, leaving the other unit dangerously exposed.  A series of short turns however meant they were still fighting when their cavalry, weakened by the last game, but still functioning, turned up and stopped the Irish advance, the solid ground between the bogs was now a bottleneck and units had no space to deploy to shoot or turn to fight. Time was running out. One unit of English infantry were wiped out and the Irish cavalry dashed for the crossroads but they were shot down by English calivers. That was the last turn and the game was over. 

Two games so good results and the rule amendments seem to give good games too. The Irish need some work to make them a bit more skirmishy but not much. I do need some more figs. Some Irish horse and handgunners as well as that Pike a Shot unit.