Wargaming 2020

 

Next up will be my review of the year - a very odd compilation by the usual standards.

But, before we close the book on 2020, here are some pictures from a very rare series of games afternoons we enjoyed within the terms of the UK's Covid restrictions in a gazebo in Trebian's garden.  We played a mixture of games, but within the remit of this blog, we had a couple of goes at TFL's 'Infamy, Infamy!' using Conference supremo, Richard L,'s appropriately based 28mm Romans and Celts.

 

 

It was interesting to run through some of the ideas and mechanisms, though, in many ways it did seem a bit of a 'throw back' sort of a game: probably not aimed at the 'big battle' player who has gone through man evolutions of the ancients battle game.

 

The game has it's own internal logic and seems popular with the TFL fan base.

 

 

(Infamy, Infamy! Roman Auxiliaries check out the cover)

 

 

(Roman Legionaries lock their shields)

 

 

(more Infamy: murderous Celts burst out of a village)

 

 

 

Back in the Summer, after 5 months without face-to-face games, this was an enjoyable interlude ... it was by no means clear, however, that another 5 months would pass, making the games all the more memorable.

At home ... 1st November 2020 SoAC

 THE SOCIETY OF ANCIENTS CONFERENCE

 

DBA Special Book 1 list 7b Early Libyan

 

 

Text to come

 

 

 

DBA Special Book 1 list 28 Sea Peoples

 

Text to come 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The West Midlands Military Show (March) is another one that got away.

 

When lockdown suddenly happened,  I was in the middle of sorting out my late parents estate whilst isolating myself over a false alarm.  The last shows we went to had slipped through the net.  Hammerhead/Northern Cup I already corrected.

 

 

(WMMS 2020 ... here we are in the middle of the throng)

 

highlighted by the banner, WMMS (Alumwell) was the end of the development year for the Edgcote game which was first experimentally laid out at the show in 2019.

 

We went from the green cloth, basic units and needing guidance with Hail Caesar to a fully functioning refight.  So, from this:  

 

(Alumwell 2019 ... fixing the basics) 

 

To this:

 

(Edgecote 1469, the 2020 game)

Here's the team explaining what happened in 1469 ...

 

 

(Graham, Graham F and Phil with the Edgcote game - thanks to Graham for pic 3!)

Presenting the game on our nice round battlefield ...

 

 

 

Why round?  Well, in addition to the fact that battlefields actually have no corners, the orientation at Edgcote is (by some, at least) thought uncertain, and reinforcements could potentially have entered from almost any point on the undulating landscape, so with a circular field, you can get all round and everyone p[lays in the middle.  It was an experiment, and I think it has paid dividends.

 

Here are some scenes ...

 

(bottom left ... why twice as many dice doesn't always benefit you in Hail Caesar)

WMMS is, of course, a tradition 'multi-hobby' military show, with a strong showing from reenactment and living history, as well as modellers and wargamers.

 

(Sunday best: Alumwell 2020) 

 

(bottom right ... another example that my pioneering pasting-table battlefield idea has caught on

The last physical 'show' I was able to get to was TORM ...

The Oringinal Re-enactors Market

 

The Friends of the Newport Ship (one of  Warwick's WotR ships) were there with a stand, but mostly, of  course, it was a place to buy replica kit.

 

It is a veritable treasure house.  I was there to buy a Civil War period 'hanger' (basic sword) for us to use on the Northamptonshire Battlefields Society Stand as a handling example of the weapons used at Naseby.  I also bought a medieval arming cap.  Neither has seen any use or action because, although nobody would have predicted it at the time, we went into lockdown and related measures which wiped out the rest of the 2020 shows season.

 

Links:

Northamptonshire Battlefields Society

Friends of the Newport Ship

 

Join/Renew your Society Membership at SoA.org/join

 

 

DBA Special: III/17 Maurikian Byzantine (15mm)

 

 

 

This is the second army to emerge refurbished from my large Armati/DBM Byzantine box (which, pretty much, still has an ADLG army left in it!) ... 

 

This army is crafted around some very stylish Kavallarioi with teardrop shields by (these days, generally unfancied) Irregular Miniatures.  I like their swagger, although I have had to replace their slightly wonky cast-on spears (whilst retaining the characteristic penons and speartips) ... It meant the army spent too long on my desk in bits (but I think it worked) ...

Anyway, here's what you get:-

The general is a Museum torso grafted in, and the army banner is my usual foil and tissue lamination.  

He's a Cv element, as is the main battleline of the army ...

(Kavallarioi, 5 x CV - figures mostly by Irregular) 

 

As usual all the shields etc. are hand painted.  The dragon windsocks are actually 10mm pieces from Penrdaken (but I thought they were too big for 10mm figures so used them here instead!)

 

You can then mix and match around this cavalry core. 

 

(Byzantine Light Horse - figures by Gladiator and Essex)

 

I would usually take one of these LH but seldom all of them.

 

Instead, I would take some western-style knights ...

 

(Optimates: 1 x 3Kn - figures by Essex) 

 

All mounted options ...

 

 

 But I would usually take some of the infantry shown here, around the camp ...

 

 

The options line up like this ...

 

 

Very rarely, you might take some or all of the skirmishers

 

(mixed Ps figures by Chariot, Essex and Gladiator) 

The Camp 

... is my take on the time-honoured 'tooth-pick' stockade with a couple of waggons drawn up as the outer defence.

(DBA Byzantines: Waggon and stockade camp)

(Waggons by Gladiator, figures by Irregular and Hallmark)

My usual configuration for this army would be:

 

Cv Gen + 5 Kavallarioi (Cv), 1 x Optimates (3Kn), 1 x LH, 2 x Sp, 2 x 4Bw

It's natural opponent in my collection is Arab Conquest.

 

Lockdown luxuries ... Out and About.

 

(Northampton's Eleanor Cross; vantage point for Northampton 1460 Battlefield)

As I mentioned in the previous post, we did begin some outdoor activites in July.

10th July: Commemoration of the Battle of Northampton

 

 

(Northampton Battlefield)

24th July - the battle of Edgcote