Crusade at Penarth

One of the first big shows of the season is Crusade, organised by the Penarth Wargames Club in Cardiff.

Getting up at 5am on a Saturday morning is not exactly my idea of fun but on this occasion it was well worth the effort. We took along our newly completed demo game for War & Conquest - The Battle of Ashingdon. In this battle, Cnut of Denmark fought Edmund of Wessex & England for the throne.

Here's a picture of the layout. Apologies for the poor photo quality but like most sports halls the lighting is far from conducive to taking good pictures!

Here's another from behind the Danish lines.

Since W&C is very flexible about basing of characters we decided to mount all of the personalities on slightly larger round bases. This, I think, makes them stand out clearly plus they look more 'heroic'.

Here is Edmund's army drawn up around Ashingdon hill and village. For a rally point we had a Saxon Bishop with attendant monks praying around the "holy stone of St Osferth". To represent the Strategy Intervention Points we used several Hnefatafl (see here) playing pieces - you can just see them to the right of Edmund's unit on the hill.

Here are the Danes. Their rally points were made up of carts, baggage ponies, etc representing all the 'loot' they had accumulated from recent raids and battles.

Steve joined Rob, Jenny and myself to play the battle twice and both times the Danes were true to history and defeated the Saxons and wounded Edmund in to the bargain.


I took a few photos of the battles in progress (plus some of other tables) but alas my camera struggled in the variable light and the photos were mostly rather blurred!. However, Steve has some pics on his excellent blog here.

Many thanks also go to Barbara for looking after us with plenty of sandwiches, cakes and much needed coffee!

Another good show where the game of W&C generated plenty of interest and questions from the show-goers. There was also a good range of traders - so naturally I had to pick up a few "essentials" (mostly Normans for my next W&C army project). A show well worth attending.

By the way ... it's less than 3 weeks to the next Scarab War & Conquest gaming day, so please come along if you can. Details on the Scarab forum here.

Wargames Table in WSS

I'm delighted to tell you that my Early Imperial Romans and Celts (plus my 'real' Wargames Table and scenery) are featured in the current issue (64) of Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy!!!

The Battle of the New Road was the game that myself and Rob Broom (of Scarab Miniatures) devised for Colours 2012, held at the Newbury Racecourse back in September. The scenario was inspired by the story of the more modern Newbury Bypass and the eco-protest that accompanied it.

This was our (i.e. including my lovely wife) first show game for more than 10 years plus the first 'historical' battle for a show. I'm pleased to say that it was a real pleasure to be there. Many thanks to all of you who came along for chat and to find out more about the game.

As mentioned in earlier posts we hope to put on some more show games this year, where we'll be demonstrating War & Conquest featuring Saxons vs Vikings at the Battle of Ashingdon, 18th October 1016.

I hope you enjoy the scenario in WSS ... and the pictures!

Saxon Thegn and his Ceorls

Here are the latest figures from the painting table. A Saxon Thegn, his sons and his Ceorls armed and ready fight off the Danish invaders!

A mixture of Gripping Beast metal Ceorls, plastic Thegns and a Muskeeter Early Saxon horn-blower. Enjoy!

Saxon & Viking Personalities

It's been a bit quiet here on the Wargames Table recently, but now the rest of the figures are starting to roll off the production line! But first, an introduction...

Throughout this year we (my wife and I) hope to be able to present a Saxons vs Vikings demo game of "The Battle of Ashingdon" using War & Conquest. We'll be attending a number of shows - though the exact schedule has yet to be confirmed with Rob at Scarab. However, our first outing will be to Crusade 2013 in Cardiff later this month.

The Battle of Ashingdon (or Assandun) was fought on the 18th October 1016 and was to become an important - yet little acknowledged - battle in the history of England. The Saxons of King Edmund II "Ironside" and the Danish Vikings of Prince Cnut of Denmark had fought a lengthy and grueling campaign across southern England for more than a year when they met at Ashingdon on south Essex. The exact events leading up to the battle are, as is typical for the era, vague at best - even the location is disputed with Ashdown in north Essex!

The battle itself was a decisive defeat for Edmund, who may have been badly wounded during the fighting. Due to the infamous treachery of the Mercian Ealdorman Eadric Streona, the Danish triumphed and Edmund was forced to agree a treaty dividing England with Cnut with the caveat that should one die the other would rule all of England. Edmund died just weeks later on 30th November, possibly from injuries inflicted in the battle. Prince Cnut of Denmark became King Cnut (or Canute as some prefer) of England, heralding the beginning of Anglo-Danish England.

Anyway, enough waffle, here are some of personalities.

King Edmund II "Ironside"

Edmund's Draco-bearer (shown previously, but now with a larger base)

The traitor Eadric Streona (Boo! Hiss!)

Prince Cnut of Denmark

Cnut's banner bearer (or will be when I sort out some proper banners!)

All painted with the usual base colours, wash and highlights. I've based them all on larger round bases as War & Conquest is very flexible about how to represent personalities, plus I think they look better and it makes them stand out on the table.

Hope you like them. More figures to follow soon!

Gaming Plans for 2013

Happy New Year! :o)

What about the next year of gaming here at The Wargames Table? Well, I'm not going to set myself any really firm "must do" objectives, after all it's meant to be a relaxing hobby! However, I expect I'll be working on some or all of the following

Dark Ages
I've been very busy during the holidays working on a 120+ figures for my Saxon and (my wife's) Viking armies, but as most of it is still 'work in progress' I haven't got anything worth showing pics of yet - apologies! But I assure you that there will be plenty to show in a few weeks time.
It's not just about the armies - I'll be adding plenty of extras like casualty figures, vignettes of figures fighting, looting, etc, plus some civilians and animals.
I have quite a few Normans in blisters and boxes so I may begin by building a SAGA warband - break out the Camembert chaps!

Age of Arthur
The later Saxon army includes enough 'Musketeer' early Saxon figures to form the core of a 4-6th century Saxon army. I have TFL's Dux Britanniarum (still un-played!) so I may have to knock up a small Romano-British force to oppose them. I keep putting this off for the simple reason that if I start painting Arthurian figures then I  may get a little carried away!

The Great War
Plenty of options here... Add more to my 1918 BEF, paint up my 1918 Germans, may be expand my collection to include ANZACs and Johnny Turk?

Shows & Gaming Day
We will definitely be taking our Dark Age forces along to a few shows for demo games of War & Conquest, plus attending some shows purely as visitors.
Scarab already have a gaming day planned, let's hope it's the first of many this year!

Early Imperial Romans & Celts
For the Romans I'd like to add more Legion along with some Auxilia cavalry. The Celts need a bit of an overhaul and re-organisation too.

Battlefield(s) & Scenery
My old GW grass mat (attached to two 4'x3' boards) needs an update I think. The 'modelled-on' country road looks fine but is a bit limiting when placing rivers and other scenery. Also, I'd like to have a table at least 8'x4' or larger if that can be accommodated. This will have to wait until after we have moved house (if we ever move!!). Hopefully I will be able to claim one of the rooms as a 'man cave'.
I still have the part built modular boards for a western front battlefield too. This will look splendid if I ever manage to complete it. Again it will depend on available space. But if I start to collect figures for a Gallipoli campaign then I'll need a desert based table!
I also have a number of partially complete scenery projects languishing in boxes in various lofts and cupboards, e.g. Roman Fort, WW1 woods, roads, wattle fences, etc. It would be good to get a few of these finished off.

But, being a wargamer, I may see an article or a new range of figures and suddenly decide to do something completely different... 6mm ACW anyone!? Hmm, may be not.

Thanks again for your continued interest, support and comments; it is much appreciated.

Matt