Showing posts with label SELWG. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SELWG. Show all posts

Tuesday, 1 November 2022

Second Mantinea at SELWG


The weekend before last I took the Second Battle of Mantinea (362 BCE) to SELWG, and I have finally found time to post the images! Above, that's me looming like mighty Zeus above the extra deep Theban phalanx. (All pictures are clickable).
       

Here's the deployment, with the Spartan/Mantinean/Athenian force (lower left), drawn up in front of the Pelagos Wood (where many of their soldiers were enjoying a late breakfast). The Thebans and Tegeans are at the top right. The battlefield is 3m wide.

Below is the deployment plan from my current scenario, which I will likely revise when I receive the Society of Ancients Battle Day pack for their event in March. It gives a super game!



Above is a photo of the Spartans, and below of some Thessalian cavalry from the Theban army.



Above are some peltasts (possibly ex Steve Jones?). It dawned on me, recently, that I don't have nearly enough peltasts, and I'm currently raising several more units. Few will be as nice as the above unit, though! Below is the rear of the extra-deep Theban phalanx (currently 6 ranks deep- I'd love to add another rank or two).



Here are a couple more shots of some of the Greek hoplites. These are mostly Foundry Athenians, lovely sculpts, beautifully painted by various people who are far more competent, than I. I'm planning to add another block this winter, from my "reserves" boxes. Below, the Spartans have been flanked and are in deep trouble!



I was always a bit doubtful whether hoplite battles would work well on a grid, but they certainly do! We enjoyed a couple of cracking games, both narrowly won by the Thebans, and each in under two hours.

Many thanks to Ian Notter (who took most of the above photos), Tim Thompson, Shaun McTague and David Millett who helped to run the game.


In other news, yesterday I published the latest quarterly release of the TtS! Ancient Army List eBook. This new release includes two new lists: Early Macedonian and Paeonian. I've also added historical backgrounds to the Illyrians, Huns and Gepid lists, and edited many of the other lists. There are now 160 army lists in the Ancient book, and 132 in the Medieval; when the next medieval release comes out, there might be as many as 300 lists in total.

Postscript- I've added a brief in-game video, here: 

Monday, 22 October 2018

Soggy Bottom at SELWG


Here are some random pictures from yesterday's game at the excellent SELWG show in Crystal Palace, mostly taken by chum Ian Notter, except for the first and last pictures, which are by the SELWG team. All will expand if clicked! 


The battle is Soggy Bottom 1643; a battle designed to illustrate the TtS! For King and Parliament rules that co-author Andrew Brentnall and I wrote, in quite possibly its last show outing. Above is a shot along the battle lines.  I love the way that the deer appear to be watching from the forest...


Above- grim-faced, hard riding Northern Horse - mostly Catholics from Yorkshire. 

Below, dragoons doing what they do best. At the end of the second game, Oliver Cromwell ordered them to mount and charge over a hedge; in a hilarious run of astonishingly lucky card play, they took out most of the Royalist left wing!



This battery was flanked by the Royalists. We spent a couple of minutes checking whether they could turn their guns, before realising they were out of gunpowder and cannon balls!  :-)  The crews legged it.


Royalist lifeguard of horse. Senior commanders often had a personal bodyguard troop. These particular flags are GMB- very crisp!


The eponymous village of Soggy Bottom. I absolutely love the Hovels buildings, and have bought a small Dutch town from them.

And finally, our efforts were crowned with success- we won Best of Show! I was completely taken aback- hadn't thought we'd win anything as there were some super games on display. Huge thanks to Ian Notter, Shaun McTague and Chris Winter and to everyone else who helped or played in the two games, or who popped by for a chat- I was very hoarse last night. Really enjoyed meeting everyone!


The SELWG team worked really hard and the event was very well organised. They were very friendly, too, and helpful. I blew a lot of money on the Bring and Buy, and with the nice people at 1st Corps. I really enjoyed the show and will certainly be back next year! 

Tuesday, 10 October 2017

With Ruspina to SELWG!

The annual SELWG show (Crystal Palace on Sunday week) is now just ten days away and I'll be putting on a rather grand game of To the Strongest!

Ruspina is one of Caesar's less well known battles, but one of my favourites because the great man came within a whisker of defeat. It is also an asymmetrical battle, with legionaries matched against masses of light troops. Here are some shots of the game as run earlier this year at the Wargames Holiday Centre; I hope to have a couple more units finished by Sunday week. All photos are clickable!


There will be Romans, Caesar and baggage...


...there will be elephants... savage Germans and proud Pompeians....


...and probably more Numidians than you will ever have seen on a gaming table!


If you are coming and want to play or help or both, please mail me or post in comments!

Monday, 10 October 2016

Raphia at SELWG

I had a very enjoyable day yesterday at SELWG, running Raphia again. Here are some shots of the game taken by mate Ian- lovely rich colours! The elephants (mostly Aventines) look brilliant.





To cap it all, SELWG awarded us best participation game! Thanks to Ian for the carrying and for taking all the photos, to Mike for his help setting up and to everyone who played or chatted! As ever, SELWG was a friendly and well-organised show- it was nice how a SELWG team came around at the start to greet us and check we had everything we needed.

Wednesday, 14 October 2015

Ally Pally to Crystal Palace

On Sunday I motored from Alexandra Palace in North London to Crystal Palace in Sarf London, for what turned out to be a very enjoyable day at the SELWG show. 

This year I took a very portable ancients game.  Instead of the usual heavy terrain boards, I brought a large rubber mat and two of the Deep-Cut studios terrain cloths that I have recently started importing. I brought a relatively modest game, too, with only around 500 Spartan and Athenian minis, around 110 each points if you know To the Strongest! This lot weighed together was less than half the weight of my usual gaming load, and still looked very satisfactory.

Here are the Spartans in their crimson and bronze simplicity:


...and again from the other angle:



The Athenians (above) are an army that has only just reached critical mass; I'm painting more up for the coming Ancients Weekend at the Wargames Holiday Centre.


Above, I've re-flocked some hills to match the new mats- I've very pleased with them!

We played two games to completion; one lasted 90 minutes and one 2 hours. The Spartans lost their general five minutes into the first battle (stabbed in the back by the "Infamy, infamy they've all got it in for me" card) but nonetheless still came close to winning. They triumphed in the second game. Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun. I have no photos of the game in progress but there are some on Big Lee's blog, together with photos of the other games.

The SELWG club members were very helpful and friendly and I was delighted that the game was nominated in several categories, coming second in one (?) and winning "most child friendly" courtesy of  young gamers Emily, Alex and Nick (the latter has been playing TtS! since he was 8!). This was great since I felt the calibre of the games was really high this year and because I always hoped the game would be one that could lure in a new generation of gamers.

A big "hello" to everyone I met- there were so many of you! Particular thanks to those who played the game, the SELWG team for all their hard work, and to Ian for his duties as sherpa and photographer.

Wednesday, 15 October 2014

Caesar at SELWG- pukka photos!

Mate Ian Notter has sent me some decent photos of Caesar's expedition into Kent.  All are "clickable" for higher definition.


Here's the view down the table, at the start of the game.  SELWG gave me a slightly larger table than anticipated, and I couldn't resist sticking in a spare board and making it 16' long.  This would cause his nibs problems, later on... The game started with a Roman legion (the VII) deployed in a square around two baggage units, their carts groaning with stolen British grain, and several herds of fat (looted) cattle.  Many Britons, have turned up to contest ownership, and surround the VII on three sides.

The other legion (X) and Caesar was in the camp at the far end of the table (below).



Above is another view of the beleaguered VII, several of whose cohorts started the battle surprised and disordered.  Below you can make out the Roman baggage wagons, in the centre of the square. I had intended that the cohorts at the front of the square would help them to break out, but this proved to be no easy task. 


I am finally starting to get enough Britons, although a couple hundred more wouldn't go amiss.


Below is a shot of Caesar's relief force, marching to the rescue, but somewhat delayed by skirmishing chariots.  In my rules the presence of the well-handled chariots prevented the legion from using march moves, and that (and the extra long table) prevented Xth from relieving its comrades.


Finally, below is my favourite shot of the game, which conveys something of the carnage and excitement of the fighting around the Roman square; a unit of Britons has just broken through. Legio VII was, eventually, over-run in both games. Card play turns out to be quite exciting!


The various teenagers and parents who played both games really seemed to enjoy themselves.  It was also great to see Nick Speller (who has painted so many of the Celts) again, and mate Mark.  Thanks to Ian and George for helping to set up and knock down the game, and to Ian for his great photos!

Monday, 13 October 2014

SELWG


Yesterday I took Caeasar and mate Ian to SELWG. We had a very enjoyable day running my Kent 55 BC scenario, which twice turned into a sort of Roman Isandlwana. The game and rules (my "to he Strongest!") proved particularly popular with kids and their fathers (and one mother). I think at least a dozen teenagers enjoyed it, which is a Very Good Thing! One young Roman commander was called Kaiser, which had a certain symmetry. It was great to see mates including one very old mate, on my last show outing of 2014. The photo above is the only one I managed to take, but I should have some better ones in a few days time.

Friday, 10 October 2014

Caesar at SELWG

I'm bringing a big Ancients game at SELWG in Crystal on Sunday, and am keen to find a few players.


It's the follow up game to my C-Day game at Salute, and features a British counter attack against Caesar's Legions led by chariots and my new band of fanatical British warriors.  We'll be using my "To the Strongest!" rules, which will be published (initially as a PDF) next month, so it's the last chance to try before you buy.  I'll run it once in the morning at 11:00, and a second time in the afternoon at 1:30.

If you are about, please drop me a line at the address above to the right, and I'll book you in!

Monday, 14 October 2013

SELWG, or Ally Pally to Crystal Pally

I like within sight of Alexandra Palace, and yesterday made the epic journey through the rain, "sarf of the river" to Crystal Palace, where SELWG is held.  Mate Ian Notter very kindly navigated, generally lifted and ported, and helped me set the game up.

Here are shots of the game; I'm afraid I failed to take pictures of anything else, because time was at such a premium...  Happily Ian took some great closeups.  One helpful thing, there, is the light, which is better than most shows and made the photography easy.






Thapsus seemed gratifyingly popular as a participation game; we ran it twice, with novice players both times. It was larger than the colours game, with perhaps 1300 miniatures on the table. There were lots of positive comments about the look of the game. Strangely, the first game took over 3 hours to play and the second less than 90 minutes! I've fired off copies of my "To the Strongest" rules to half a dozen interested gamers. C

All in all, I had a very enjoyable day at SELWG. The event was very well organised and there were some great games on display. We came in in the top 3 participation games. It was great to see some familiar faces, including, amongst others, Big Lee, Guy Bowers, Phil Steele and Richard Lockwood.  Trevor Halsall very kindly delivered the "Best Participation game" trophy I missed at Colours. Many thanks to Nick Speller for bringing an mate and his legions, and helping to pack up at the end, and Jay and mate for playing so enthusiastically, and indeed all who dropped by for a chat.

This was Thapsus' final outing (at least for a year or so); today I need to start work on the Salute 2014 game!