Showing posts with label TotheStrongest!. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TotheStrongest!. Show all posts

Tuesday, 26 April 2022

Even Stronger V10 published


I've just published an updated version of the Even Stronger Rules Supplement- the first in over a year. There are a handful of changes, notably a new troop type, straddle cars, which I hope will help to raise interest in the Sumerian and other Third Millennium armies. There is an interesting, significant change to javelinmen. There's an extra ammo chit for all wheeled vehicles such as chariots. I also simplified the (formerly somewhat Byzantine) rules on massed lights and supported mounted. There are sundry other minor changes. If you've previously downloaded it, I've sent you an update link. If you haven't received it you can download it here.  It's free.

Late this week I'll publish an updated version of the Ancient Army List eBook. There are three new lists, and quite a few other lists will have some revisions, in particular the Third Millennium lists which are receiving something of a spring clean.  If you've previously bought  the paid-for version, I'll send you an update or a link.

Monday, 7 March 2022

New Chits of War released

 I've just released some more lovely chits for use with To the Strongest! and For King and Parliament. Chits of War come in sheets of 80, are 20mm in diameter and are drawn from a bag and used in the place of playing cards. I've introduced two new colours, white and yellow, to complement the existing five colours (purple, dark blue, green, red and orange). 

The coloured, varnished MDF chits are double sided for speed of play, because you don't need to flip them over.  The two new sheets offer a strong contrast to the existing colours, so you won't mix them up.              


I've also had matching stratagem tokens made:


You can find them here (chits) and here (stratagems).

Monday, 28 February 2022

Updated To the Strongest! Medieval Army List eBook released


I’ve just published an updated versions of the medieval army list eBook for To the Strongest! The 211-page PDF now includes 120 Medieval army lists, including five new lists (West Slav, Old Prussian, Early Lithuanian and Samogitian, Later Feudal English and Yi Korean lists). I’ve also moved the Later Hindu Indian, Early Lombard and Avar lists here, from the Ancient List eBook, as they sit better alongside the medieval lists. Several of the existing lists have been revised, and a good deal of background information has been added.

Each list consists of a spreadsheet describing the army. Most of the lists also include details of how the army fought and a historical background, and sometimes a picture of painted miniatures.

You can find buy the army lists here.  Should you order the lists you'll receive updates roughly every three months until at least the end of 2022, with new lists and additional material added each time. The next update will be at the end of May 2022. The eBook costs £9.99.

https://bigredbatshop.co.uk/collections/all/army-lists

Alternatively, if you are outside the UK (especially if you are in the EU, where I can't sell digital products) you might like to buy it from Wargames Vault for $14.99.

https://www.wargamevault.com/product/343132/To-the-Strongest-Medieval-Army-List-eBook?term=medieval+ar

Thursday, 10 December 2020

New Activation and Stratagem Chits for To the Strongest!

The new activation and stratagem chits are in the shop. They are 20mm diameter and in glorious technicolour- it's easy to make the values out at a distance. I chose TtS! purple, green and burnt orange for the initial colours, because they contrast well with each other, so it is easy to distinguish between them if your opponent is also using chits (just so long as he's using a different colour!). 

The activation chits come in packs of 80. They are two-sided, so play is quicker than with the previous single-sided MDF chits, since you don't need to flip them.




There are also three matching sets of stratagem tokens. These have plain colours on the back. The advantage over the previous version is that it tells you what the stratagem is, rather than there being a symbol you need to look up.



You can find them in the BigRedBatShop  https://bigredbatshop.co.uk/collections/all/chits

Monday, 5 October 2020

Updated Army List books

I’ve recently (30/9/20) published updated version of the army lists for To the Strongest! There are now a total of 242 different lists, many with additional content, and some now including images. The newly published lists are:

  • Bithynian, Bosporan, Commagene, Illyrian and Tribal Hebrew lists in the Ancient army list eBook.
  • Nanzhao Chinese, Kamakura Samurai and Muromachi Samurai lists in the Medieval army list eBook.
.If you haven't received a download link, you can download the eBooks, for free, from 

Tuesday, 1 September 2020

New Medieval Army list eBook released


I've just released all of the TtS! Medieval army lists in a new, free PDF eBook, instead of the previous six separate Excel booklets. The format is much more user friendly than before, with hyperlinks from a contents page that you can use to whizz around them. The Medieval lists are now in green, to distinguish them from their purple Ancient peers. I also took the opportunity to edit the style of the lists and buff the spelling and grammar. I think you will like them! 

You can download them, for free, from here. 

You might also like to download the equivalent Ancient list eBook, if you didn't, last month, and the index which has of all the lists in chronological and alphabetical order. Enjoy!

Tuesday, 11 August 2020

New Ancient Army list eBook released

 


I've just released all of the TtS! ancient army lists in a new, free PDF format, replacing the original Excel format. The lists are now in a single eBook, instead of 8 separate booklets. The format is much more user friendly than before, with hyperlinks from a contents page that you can use to whizz around them. I also took the opportunity to edit the style of the lists and buff the spelling and grammar.

I think you will like them, You can order from here. Enjoy!

I hope to publish the equivalent Medieval army lists eBook by the end of August.

Thursday, 25 June 2020

TtS! 1066 Online Tournament- the Final Results!

Congratulations to Andy Lyon, our new Bretwalda,  who won the TtS! 1066 online tournament, and commiserations to Antony Spencer, who came second, after a very closely fought battle last night. 


Here's a shot from late in the game (above). Antony subsequently broke Andy's centre, but the heavy casualties he took doing so, and Andy's mercenary Normans taking his camp, led to a Scottish victory (below). 



Andy wins the Harald Hardrada victor's trophy. I think the mini was painted by James Morris- I still need to flock the base.  There will be modest prizes for the runners-up, including Wyatt Traina who came fourth (I came third)- I'll post them out tomorrow.


Thanks very much to everyone who participated in the tournament!. It's been great fun meeting new players, and all very good-natured. I've played way more games than I expected I would, this year! We played 59 games, in total- almost as many as are played at the TtS! Worlds in Chalgrove.

There will be another tournament starting in 3-4 weeks time- on the theme of the Italian Wars. It'll run for a longer duration, but with people playing a single game (or at most two) per week, which I hope will benefit those players who have busy jobs. It will also have what I hope will be an interesting campaign background, running in parallel with the tournament. I'll let you know more about it as we get closer to starting.

In other news, we are in the last few days of my current sale and I have rules, bases and even some mats marked down. Parcel postage prices to the USA will increase from Sunday, so it's a particularly good time to buy if you are American.

Tuesday, 5 May 2020

TtS! Midsummer Madness


Midsummer Madness is a pop-up on-line To the Strongest! tournament designed to while away the isolated evenings of early summer 2020. The tournament will commence on Monday 11th May and finish on Wednesday 24th June- Midsummer’s Day- with a Grand Final between the two players who had recorded the highest scores on the previous Sunday (21st June). I’ll provide various prizes.

Entering
Simply email me at the address above, giving me your “Discord” handle and I will record you as a participant.  n.b. I will need to publish names and email addresses in the form “simonmiller60 at gmail dot com” so that we can contact each other to arrange games (if this is a problem for you, let me know, there may be a work around). I'm particularly keen to attract players from Europe and further afield, who can't usually make it to the UK-based tournaments. If you've not previously played TtS!, don't worry, we can teach you. I'll be gentle on you. Promise.  ;-)

Booking a Game
Any entrant will be able to arrange an online game of To the Strongest! 1066, with any other player who has registered for the event, at a mutually convenient time, using the "arrange a game" section on Discord or by email. Players are encouraged to book the games as multiplayer and publish the server name and password so that people can drop in and observe, or have a chat.

Play
Armies and terrain should be randomly selected from the 5 available armies (“1-2 I play the Normans, 3-4 etc…”) or agreed between the players. Games timings start with the roll for scouting. After 1 hour and 50 minutes have elapsed, the phasing player finishes his turn. After this, the non-phasing player gets a final turn, if he lost the scouting, so as to even out the number of turns played. Should players both prefer, though, they are welcome to battle on to a conclusion. 

Victory
A decisive victory is won when one player takes all of the other players medals. Otherwise, the player who has taken the most medals wins a tactical victory. A draw occurs when both players have taken exactly the same number of medals. Should the game have to be abandoned for technical reasons, the player who has taken the most medals wins a tactical victory.

Scoring
This is designed to encourage players to play at least one game in each week (n.b. this is subject to change at my whim- it's possible may increase the points awarded during in the latter weeks of the competition).
  • 3 points for a decisive victory/ 2 points for a tactical victory against a player on the ladder with more points than you, or during the first week (before the ladder is published), or against someone who isn't yet on the ladder.
  • 2.5 points for a decisive victory/1.5 points for a tactical victory against a player with the same points as you.
  • 2 points for a decisive victory/ 1 point for a tactical victory against a player with fewer points than you.
  • 1 point each for a draw.
  • 1 bonus point for the first game played in a week.
  • A penalty point applied to each game played, after the second, in any given week (so that people don’t play endless games!).
  • Only the first game against a particular opponent, during the period of the tournament, will count towards the competition score. This is to encourage people to play against as many opponents as possible.
Example: Macbeth plays three games in a week. 
  • Game one is a draw- 1 point plus 1 bonus point for his first game of the week, so 2 points.
  • Game two he wins, against a player above him on the ladder, scoring 3 points.  
  • Game three he loses, scoring -1 point (since it is his third game in the week).  
  • Macbeth therefore scores a total of 4 points for the week.
Results
Results should be posted in the results section on the discord forum and emailed to me (simonmiller60 at gmail dot com). Please let me know the date, players’ names, who won and whether decisively or tactically. I’ll record scores and publish an updated ladder, either late on the Sunday night or early on the Monday morning, ready for the next week's play.

That's it- it's simpler than it sounds. :-)  I do hope you can join us- I've been playing online for three weeks, already, and it's been really great to chuck down some (virtual) cards, and enjoy the usual banter with my opponents! I hope to cross swords with you, soon!

Monday, 27 April 2020

To the Strongest! 1066, unleashed online!


I'm very pleased to announce that friends and I have been able to set up an online version of To the Strongest!, for your isolation gaming pleasure! It has been developed by Antony Unwin, with Paul Thompson sorting some of the technical and organisational aspects and me doing army lists. It enables up to six players to play a game of TtS!, very much as one would at home or in a room above a pub, but, instead, online. It doesn't have an AI, so you need to know the TtS! rules- if you don't already own them, you can buy a digital set, here.


Here's a shot of the table, from above. For the sake of simplicity (and for various technical reasons) we have started with five pre-set armies, all roughly themed to the year 1066 (Normans, Anglo-Saxons, Norwegian vikings, Scots and Welsh). Below, you can see the Norman army ; lots of hard-hitting milites lancers, some spearmen, archers and crossbowmen. Everything you'd expect to see on a TtS! table, is there, including the camp, cards and the army list. Each of the armies is divided into three commands (distinguished by slightly different base colours). Flags indicate the generals (William the Bastard) and army standards (Papal Banner), where appropriate. There's a camp, too. Dice record ammunition, and the yellow sticks are lances. The smaller medallions are heroes, and the large coins, victory medals.


There are also terrain pieces, stored in bags.



The blue bags contain individual pieces, and the ten brown bags contain completed terrain setups; there's a deck of 10 cards next to them, in case you want to pick a random set. You lift the terrain over the table, line it up carefully, lower it and then use the right mouse button to "lock" it in place.


Here's the table, above, set up with a set of terrain pulled, as if by magic, from one of the brown bags.The markers on the side are to record disorder, and there's a quick reference sheet.

I'll post some in-game shots over the next few days.

In order to play To the Strongest 1066!, you'll need a reasonably modern PC and to buy some software called Tabletop Simulator, which is available on Steam for £15. You can download a free PDF of instructions on the PC specifications and how to install it and get going from the BigRedBatShop. There's also a new online section, supporting it, on the To the Strongest! forum

I've played a few games, myself, and it's very easy to pick up and a whole lot of fun! We use Discord to chat, and there is all the usual banter, expletives, etc. that one associates with a game of TtS! Once we have a critical mass of players behind it, I'll organise some informal online tournaments; perhaps even some sort of league- I really want to keep my hand in!  I very much hope you enjoy it.

Monday, 23 September 2019

To the Strongest! in Glasgow, Part II

Here are some photos from the second day of the Glasgow To Strongest! event, starting with my third game. This was against Ian Austin and his Spartan army. Ian set up in the left corner of his side, and I set up in the left corner of mine. My flank attack failed to kill the Spartiates, largely on account of their excellent saves, and by mid-game most of my units were facing right, and most of his were facing left.


Despite our best efforts, nothing was dying. Nothing at all. I couldn't break his hoplites, frontally, and any knights that got disordered pulled back and rallied. It became a unique game with not a single unit lost, not even a measly helot. I cannot recall this in any previous game of TtS! that I've seen; it is a famously bloody set of rules.

In the penultimate turn of the game, though, I rode some light crossbowmen off of the table edge near his camp. On the final turn, I managed to bring them back onto the table, and activate them for a lucky second time, to trot into his adjacent camp, securing three points. You can make out Ian menacing the offending horsemen, in the image below. Ian had certainly picked the rules up, in only his fifth game, he was playing quite as well as I was, after well over 100.



In the final game, I found myself facing John Muir's Italo-Normans. across an open plain. This was a very different game from the previous three. Eschewing subtlety, John and I lined up opposite each other, and charged. He had more knights, but I had better-armoured knights, so it was pretty even. The battle degenerated into a single huge confused melee (below), with troops facing in all directions- charging, retiring, rallying and shooting. Slowly I was able to gain the upper hand and, eventually, cornered and killed one of his generals to win the battle 10:3. It could easily have gone the other way.


The scores...


And onto the presentations! 


Above is Liam Entwhistle, who secured third place with his beautiful ex-WAB Later Hungarian army.


And, second once again, yours truly! Always the bridesmaid, never the bride! ;-)  I received some lovely Claymore Castings minis, so I suppose I'll have to start another army, now.

Finally, below, the winner Peter Clarke whose Fatimid Egyptians had pipped me 63.5 points to 63. As well as a trophy, Dave Soutar presented him with a stunning command stand, painted and generously donated by chum David Imrie.



And finally Dave Soutar very kindly gave me some souvenirs - haggis, Scottish shortbread biccies and a limited edition Glasgow and District Wargames Society dice (!!!) tray. 

A huge thank you to Dave Soutar and the other organisers of the event, and to everyone who came along and played! It was a blast. I very much hope to come back next year. Dave and l set a provisional date, shortly.

p.s. Dave has just sent me some more photos- I'll either do a third post, tomorrow., or provide a link if he posts them online.

Sunday, 22 September 2019

To the Strongest! in Glasgow

This weekend I'm in Glasgow, where Dave Soutar of Glasgow and District Wargaming Society has organised a two day TtS! event. Dave very kindly picked me up from the station and we played the first two games, yesterday.


Above is game one vs. Balkan Dave, who I already knew of of from his excellent blog.  Predictably Dave had brought (Balkan) Dacians. I only got this one photo- You can see I've out scouted him, and am preparing to smite his right wing with the full might of Milanese chivalry. It went well for Milan, although the Sarmatians put up a tough fight. I spent the post game period trying to persuade Dave to write all the Medieval Balkan army lists that I'm lacking- Serbs, Albanians, Transylvanians.  :-)


Here's game two vs Bill. Bill had a beautifully painted Aventine Sassanid army. He outscouted me (the horror!) and started pushing his troops forward (below). I quickly found myself pinned on my side of the table, and out flanked on my left. I didn't have an answer for the Sassanid elephant, either!



It all went downhill fast and I had no time to take photos, until this shot taken about 15 minutes before the end of the game.  I am five medals to three down, and pinned like a caged beast into 1/4 of the table with my left flank totally in the air. It's never a good sign when the other player has to come round your side of the table to play his activation cards!

Luckily, shortly after this (below), I finally got my act together and launched a desperate counter-attack. Here are the last cards of the game- I managed to polish off some levy spearmen and a disordered cavalry unit and general to and snatch an 11th-hour ten-five victory from the jaws of defeat. It was one of the closest and most enjoyable games I've played.


So with two wins in my pocket; the omens are good for today!  Tomorrow, I'll post part two.

No photo description available.

GDWS is a great club- 50 years of wargaming history. I wish I was a bit more local! They are a super bunch of guys, very welcoming, indeed.  If you want to look them up, or better still, join,  you can find them here.

Sunday, 18 November 2018

To the Strongest! at Warfare


Simon Purchon and Steve Dover ran a super-looking Roman vs. Sassanid game at Warfare, yesterday, which I was sorry to miss in person. Simon says "We played two games, although neither got the end, and we had novices in both games. In the second game, three out of the four players were new to the rules."


As well as Simon's Sassanids, which I am all-to-used to seeing from the wrong end of a lance, I think I spot some Late Romans that used to be in my collection and which are now in Mark Philips' collection.

The mats are Sahara 15cm grid; they look great with a few palm trees scattered around.


A great looking game!

Thursday, 27 September 2018

2019 To the Strongest! Worlds at Chalgrove


The date of the 2019 To the Strongest! World Championship will be 23rd February 2019 and it will, again, be held in Chalgrove Village Hall, Oxfordshire (OX44 7TE). For those who haven't yet been to the Worlds, they are a friendly, one day competition, probably the largest 28mm ancient/ medieval big-battle tournament in the world, with 30 or more players expected to participate.

The rules used will be the v1.1a To the Strongest!, along with the Even Stronger V7 supplement (which be published in early October). The V7 supplement will remain substantially similar to the current V6 version, but will include some changes to mounted evades, for game-balancing purposes, and a small but helpful change for players wishing to field cataphracts.


Battles will be fought on 6' x 4' tables on a 12 x 8  6" grid. Armies will be 130 points and composed of 28mm miniatures; any of the official TtS! army lists are allowed. If you don't have a suitable army, we may be able to lend you one- please ask. Please don't submit your list yet, we'll start taking them from late November, and will need all the lists by the end of January.


There will be four rounds in round robin format, as last year. The first round will feature pre-set terrain and the second, third and fourth rounds will use pre-set terrain if both players are happy, otherwise terrain will be placed as in the rulebook. Please bring terrain pieces, if able, there will be some terrain available to borrow on the day.


The final tournament ranking will be determined by how competitors did in each of the four rounds using the traditional cryptic/unfathomable formula:  Tournament points = (100 x fraction of Victory Medals you have taken from the opponent) + (50 x fraction of VM you have left from your own army) + (50 if you have scored a victory over the opponent).


There will be a £10 entry fee, payable in advance or on the day. Tea, coffee, hot chocolate and biscuits will be provided. Steve will ask the Red Lion pub whether they can supply baguettes again.


Provisional timings are as follows:


Friday evening- The Night Before Chalgrove Dinner, somewhere in the local area- please let Steve know if you are interested. Start the Worlds with a hangover!


  From 08:30 onwards, entry to the hall


  09:00 players to tables


  09:10 battle #1 starts


  10:35 current turn(s) to be completed. (N.B. the non-phasing player gets a final turn if they went second (i.e. lost the scouting), to even out the number of turns played) 


  11:00 battle #2 starts


  12:25 current turn(s) to be completed. 


  13:20 battle #3 starts

  14:45 current turn(s) to be completed.


  15:10 battle #4 starts


  16:35 current turn(s) to be completed. 


  16:50 Declaration of the winner who is then carried aloft around the room accompanied by  triumphant frenzied bellowing, ululation and chest beating, or maybe just a sedate presentation and a group photo.

There will be prizes for the winner, runner ups, good sportsmanship, best army+camp+terrain and other prizes at the whim of the organizers - not to omit the traditional dead elephant award for the player with the lowest score.

To secure a place, please email Steve at  steve.dover@3dsystems.com if you haven't already done so!



Tuesday, 25 September 2018

To the Scottest!


This weekend we enjoyed a 28mm To the Strongest! tournament in Scotland, very kindly arranged and hosted by David Imrie, and named "To the Scottest!". It was held in the Leven Sea-Scouts Hall which turns out to be a fine venue for wargaming, with bunk beds, on-site catering and its own cannon. Above is the setup- we had six tables, five 6x4's and a 6x8 for a big Wars of the Roses game that David brought. All photos will enlarge if clicked; I have "borrowed" a couple of photos that Dave Soutar kindly sent me.


Simon Purchon (above), Steve Dover and I travelled up from Kings Cross- took us around six hours, and we talked wargaming all the way. Simon used his Sassanids to proxy Sarmatians. Do not be fooled by his pleasant demeanour; he did cruel and 'orrible things to my poor Romans (10:2 victory).


Above and below, Simon is playing Howard Litton who travelled all the way from the Isles of Arran, with Philip watching sagely from the sidelines.



Chris (left, above) is playing Ken Pearce (right). Unfortunately, the way the draw went, I didn't get to play either of them which was a pity. Below Steve Dover plays David Imrie.


Below Polybians battle Carthaginians (I think).



Above Peter Mearns and David Soutar, again, sadly, I didn't get a chance to play either.


Here are a couple of shots of David Imrie's lovely Wars of the Roses collection and stunning buildings. I especially covet the latter, I need something similar for my ECW collection....



Above Simon Purchon chats with David Imrie. It was an extremely affable event- there was quite a bit of socialising, especially in the evenings. On the Sunday I was nursing a massive hangover...


Above, me in my "shirt of war" battling Philip Marshall (below). Philip (current World Champion) took my army apart with surgical precision in around 40 minutes (10:0).



My Polybian Romans were numerous and not too shabby!


Above Howard is playing Simon Purchon, and below David plays Steve Dover.



Above the final scores on the doors; I avoided the wooden spoon by one point. I had played three of the best players in the world, so I didn't feel to bad about this, but I clearly need more practice!


Above Philip Marshal was the well-deserved winner. He strangely forgot to wear the victor's laurel wreath in the pub, afterwards! Below, Howard is presented with the wooden spoon prize which he pipped yours truly to win by a mere one point.



Above are most of the players on the quarterdeck of the Sea Cadet Hall.


On the Sunday morning we played a nine-player game- the empty seat on the right was mine. 


My Polybians advance boldly (top)- far too boldly, as it turned out- since Steve Dover smashed my wing and Howard Litton routed my legions. It was a fun game though!


It was a great weekend and I'd like to think we'll do something similar next year. Huge thanks to David for suggesting the event and organising it, and to everyone for coming! We also owe a debt to the Sea Scouts who were great hosts and cooks!