19th August, Newark

More Partizan at Newark Showground

It only seems a few weeks ago that we were at Newark for Partizan  ... oh yes .. it was ...

The second Partizan show of the year - which used to kick off the Autumn season - has migrated into August and is now a Summer show on a busy weekend of events.   Unfortunately that meant I could only do the morning shift.

Still, the History Zone was full of good stuff and familiar faces.   And the show was good.

(Partizan's History Zone: The Lance & Longbow Soc; The Pike & Shot; Waterloo Uncovered/Replayed; The Society of Ancients; The Naseby Project; The Battlefields Trust and Northampton Battlefield Society)

Wow!  Great to see all those key Societies taking centre stage ... they make this show a first class event.  And yes, maybe I am biased.

At the heart of the ancient and medieval periods, NBS were reprising the fast play Northampton 1460 historical game which was, in turn, much praised (and a number of punters picked up copies) 

(Get your copy from Northampton Battlefields Society)

Ancient?  There was also a splendid 15mm (and other) scale presentation of Magnesia, refought by Simon Miller and friends using To The Strongest.

... and a Participation/promo game of Gangs of Rome ...

(the splendidly panoramic 15mm scale - good to see at Partizan)

(28mm ... 1/1 scale pikes?  a nice addition to the Magnesia display)

(Magnesia: from the big battle ... )

Medieval?  In addition to Northampton, you could play Hedgeley Moor ...

(More 15s at Partizan in this figure-heavy Bloody Barons take on Hedgeley 1464) 

Otherwise here were some nice offerings amongst the predominantly 28mm demo tables ..

People seemed to be enjoying themselves and I did like that big ACW naval/riverine one.

... and we're kind of doing a 'lace wars' thing at the moment so this year's trends (well 'pre-modern' anyway) are quite attractive ...

Stand out amongst the Participation Games, of course, would be WD's Cliches of the Great Patriotic War and (naturally) anything using Playmobil ...

(the ever-reliable WDDTN participation game)

Apologies for such a rushed synopsis ... there was much more than this.

This rather nice waterfall caught my eye, though ... I have long wanted to do some 'Last of the Mohicans' style terrain for Quebec/Montmorency - and this is the sort of thing (will just have to be bigger though ... ) ..

But I am straying off topic.

By the time you read this, we will have done the Hereward show and I will be behind again.

Next up I will look at some of the heritage events - especially the battle of Bosworth where the battlefield is now threatened by development.  Keep reading and think about signing the petition.  Every supporter counts.

More anon.

11th August, Manchester University

Which brings us almost up to date ... August saw Britcon again ...

For me these days no longer the exhausting long weekend of DBM, Armati or FoG but a quick-fire day of DBA.  Saturday only ... five games.

Britcon is generally a themed competition and this year Simon was moved by the one thousandth anniversary of the battle of Cannae (the later one between the Byzantines and Lombards) and offered a list of Armies and enemies of 1018.

This actually fitted quite well with my tidying up programme as I have been working my way through an old Byzantine (generic) collection and it would be a useful spur to the process.  I got the new (8Bw) infantry finished and completed the army with Anatolian cavalry etc. and the previously refurbished camp.  It is all coming together ...

Now I said 5 games ... well in this case not for me ... like thousands of others that Saturday morning I fell victim to roadworks and sat on the M6 for 2 hours missing games 1 and 2.  They are building a smart motorway by means of running a thoroughly dumb one.

Fortunately the Umpire was able to stand in for those 2 games so no byes ensued and I was able to take my place for the afternoon session.  I got to play against East Franks, Early Muslim North African and Early Bulgar ...

I achieved a timed-out draw and 2 wins ... and a 4th equal finish.   Not bad for the only Byzantine in a Frank fight!  Of course I had set out to shoot my way to victory and the results were predictably random.  Against the Franks I couldn't hit anything.  Against the North Africans I probably had the right army ...

... and against the Bulgars I hit everything.  I think my averages were about on par but the 6s came all at the end against the benighted Bulgars.

Results ...

1. Mark Johnson, III/52 West Frankish;  2. Colin O'Shea, III/52 West Frankish; 3.  Tim Rogers, Fatimid Egyptian; plus ...

4= Baldie Storey, III/53 East Frankish and Phil Steele, III/65 Nikephorian Byzantine; 6. Richard Pulley, III/52 West Frankish; 7= Arnaud Marmier, III/33  Early Muslim North Africa with Tuareg Allies and Malcolm Hogg, III/52 West Frankish; 9. Tamara Fordham, III/71 Georgian; 10. Chris Rigby, III/14 Early Bulgar.

Aggression 4, I attacked in all games.

It was the last day of the heat wave and it rained stair rods in the evening.   Yeah, yeah ... I know ... it rained in Manchester (big news story ... !) and I bashed my car in the car park. Eventful day.

Hoping to do it all again next year.  Partizan in a week!

13th to 15th July, County Durham

Based at Durham University, the 2018 BFT annual conference event featured a talk by Michael Jones on the Black Prince (see his new book) as well as a visit to the site of the battle of Otterburn in Redesdale ...

Another feature was the presentation of battlefield models ... in this case Mark Hornsby's stunning 6mm reconstruction of the ECW actions around Piercebridge. 

I had taken along the Northampton Battlefields stand and the Naseby model ...

But we ventured even further North to within sight of Scotland for the trip to Otterburn.

(Guide and Trustee Geoffrey Carter leads the BFT party to the battlefield)

The Battle of Otterburn was fought in 1388 between Henry Percy (the famous 'Harry Hotspur') and James Earl Douglas ... DBA enthusiasts will enjoy the fact that the Scottish camp played an important part in the battle (indeed the English raid on the Scottish baggage was the key that drew the belligerents in) ...

This is definitely worth reconstructing in miniature.

Follow the link above to the Battlefields Trust resource centre for more of what we know and can suppose ...

(the Battle of Otterburn: possible site of (part of) the Scottish camp ... )

The Conference was mostly 17th century in content, but on the way home a took a trip round the beautiful remains of Barnard Castle overlooking the River Tees ...

(Barnard Castle ... artist's reconstruction)

(overlooking the Tees: Barnard Castle - the Richard III window)

6th to 8th July, Knuston Hall, Northamptonshire

The 2018 Conference of Wargamers

Midst the 2018 heatwave it was off to Knuston for WD's annual residential event.

Ancient and Medieval content was a little sparse this year but we started off with an '8 years on' visit to nearby Northampton battlefield.   WDers had walked the battlefield on the 550th anniversary back in 2010 - which is pretty much what kicked off the Northampton Battlefield Society (of which I have subsequently become vice-Chair) ...

It was a pleasure to show people round and instructive to reflect how much our knowledge and understanding has come on over 8 years.  In itself it shows that local heritage activism works.

Not ancient and medieval but very much a project I have helped with, Saturday morning saw a very impressive run out for Trebian's War of the Spanish Succession game 'Va t'en Guerre' ...

Later, I gave another run to the Tony Bath wargame complete with some new accessions ...

(the Tony Bath wargame reconstructed with the original 1960s flats)

We are making some progress toward a playable authentic version of this classic game.

Some aspects are timeless innovations that have become mainstream - other bits have fallen out of use as better systems have been devised ... nevertheless, this is where today's ancient wargame began.

(The Tony Bath wargame: a loan surviving elephant rampages forward) ...

In this play through, archery made a bigger than usual impact, none of the light troops running way, and a group of 3 elephants being shattered by bowshooting (2 elephants killed, the last being panicked and out of control - though, it must be said, it went on to do considerable damage albeit not under the direction of its notional commander!) ..

We also added some chariots into the mix (at the far end of the table) with mixed results.

Also over the weekend I played some WWII games, tried to capture Gordon at Khartoum

(54mm scale lawn game: a big push on the Western Front)

(CoW 2018: Indian Mutiny M&T; Save Gordon; Suffragetto; Airfix Battles)

A great stress buster of a weekend in what has become a hell of a year.

Always a great event ... but book early if you fancy it.  Everyone's welcome but it sells out very quickly these days ...

WD website

(CoW 2018 Friday excursion ... looking over Northampton battlefield from the Eleanor Cross position)

DBA Special: IV/75 Timurid ... 1360 - 1506 (15mm)

 

(Phil's DBA Timurid army as used at Bakewell)

I have very muched followed tradition in the look of this army ... it is quite decorative and I think much of the inspiration for reconstructions comes from contemporary illuminations and ceramics.  So perhaps fancifully ornate?   Nice for collectors, anyway ... and a useful sort of army for players ...

It is mostly a cavalry army:

 

A general plus 5 Timurid armoured horse archers ...

 

(the rear corners are clipped as an unobtrusive way of clarifying the general's element)

 

The figures are mostly a mix of Essex and Museum (for the cavalry) and (for the infantry) the old Tabletop Miniatures range (now 15mm.co.uk) ... plus (to keep figure fanciers on their toes) some bits from Minifigs, Irregular and Gladiator.

 

... and ...

 

Ther's a smattering of foots option that gives you some variability ... I always like a couple of bowmen, so my choice was ...

 

... and ...

 

It is 'Steppe', aggression 4 (so you mostly invade other countries - which seems fine ... ) ...

(please click the images for a larger picture)

16th June, Bakewell

The Society of Ancients UK DBA League 2018: The Midlands DBA Open

Or ... Timur and the lads go to Derbyshire ... 

I was very pleased to complete the Timurids for this tournament.  I have various bits of Turkish/Arab/Nomad troops loosely allocated to such a project for years - actually I think originally it was an Armati project.  So a jumbled box of unpainted figures with a mental note saying 'Timurid'.

 

(2018 Midlands Open ... Simon and David C man the command desk)

... and they did OK so no lame jokes.

 

(the DBA army of Timur Lenk - or Tamburlaine as we said at school)

It's a 'medium power' army, reliant on 6 cavalry elements (5 + Gen) ... it's 'special' tweak is that it can have an elephant.

The elephant seems to die in most battles - ity's real value being that it sucks in a lot of enemy focus ... they're all bothering about the beast while your cavalry set them up and kill things.

Sometimes it works.  Here are my 6 games:-

 

 

 

The first two games were random vs players you had not played before ... thereafter 'Swiss Chess'. 

Apologies for the poor picture of the Rajputs game.  Not sure what happened there (but I included the photo for completeness.  Paul M's Hindu Rajputs are a splendid army and doubtless will feature on the DBA Yahoo site so give them a visit.

I did just a bit better than average.  I won things like this:-

(do or die vs Patrick's Lydians)

So the Lydian Kn Gen is overlapped and reared ... my Cv Gen is not overlapped but has an enemy in edge contact (4 v 3 to me but neither of us can recoil)

We both did our best ... 6 plays 6!  So the Lydian Gen goes down and the Timurids take the game.  Well, as an idea, it worked ...

Here's some scores ... 

1 Arnaud Marmier (Tamil), 2 Martin Smiith (Tamil),  3 Tony Green (Lydian), 3 Martin Myers (New Kingdom Egyptian), 5 Scott Russell (Late Tang), 6= Craig Allen (Ariarathid Kappadokian) and Phil Johnson (Palmyran), 8 Colin O'Shea (Zanj Revolt), 9= Paul Murgatroyd (Hindu Indian) and Tamara Fordham (Italian Condotta) ... that's the top of the table (well done Tamara, on breaking into the top ten!) 

The rest of us followed  ... Phil Steele (Timurid), Richard Pulley (Palmyran), Patrick Myers (Lydian), Graham Fordham (Early Achaemenid Persian), Mark Skelton (Wu), Keith Murphy (Italiot), Tim Kohler (Late Achaemenid Persian), Philip Donald (Late Roman) Keith Brown (Mongol Conquest), Simon Wilson (Early Polish), Reese Bettison (Later Carthaginian), Baldie Storey (Ancient British), Dale Needham (Norman), Tim Rogers (Alexandrian Macedonian), Rob Rush (Hatra), Nick Wright-Carter (Post-Monol Samurai), Tris Gale (Marian Roman) and Andy Wheeldon (Norman).

A splendid 28 players in all.

 

(well done Arnaud and his Tamils!)

For those of you fascinated by such stuff ...  there were 2 each of the Tamils, Lydians and Palmyrans ... the Tamils coming first and second, with one of the Lydians in third.

But otherwise it was a wide spread of army selections.  Everything from Chinese to Ancient Brits.

In addition to a prize for the winner, Simon made an award for the highest scoring 'weaker' army (based on a ratio of the scores you got to the total fighting factors of the army you selected) - Craig won that with his Kappadokians - and an award to the newcomers who gamely toughed it out with those of us who have been round the block more times than we can remember.  Well done to all of them.

And here we all are (thanks to Alison who assumed camera duties) ...

 

I will do a feature on the Timurids in a few days.

Excellent day out, Simon .. great event!

SoA UK DBA League

DBA Yahoo Group