Monday, 2 December 2019

... and Godendag, too


In the run-up to the Chalgrove TtS! Worlds there is what I like to think of as the "Welsh Open", at the Godendag event in Firestorm Games in Cardiff on Saturday 8th Feb 2020. This is a super opportunity to refresh yourself with the rules and road-test your Chalgrove army.

I'm just booking my rail ticket and will be staying in Cardiff the night before, if anyone is about for a beer/curry. After all, what TtS! event would be complete, without the mild hangover and dodgy tummy experience? ;-)

https://www.thebattlefields.co.uk/events-at-the-battlefields/godendag-202-to-the-strongest-28mm-singles

There are just 8 remaining places, at time of posting. Hope to see you there!

Sunday, 1 December 2019

Chalgrove is coming!


The date of the sixth annual To the Strongest! World Championships is 22nd February 2020 - please put it in your diary - and it will, again, be held in Chalgrove Village Hall, Oxfordshire (OX44 7TE). 

For those who haven't yet been to the TtS! Worlds, it is the largest 28mm ancient/medieval big-battle tournament in the world, with 40 or more players expected to participate in the one-day event. We hope to make 2020 the biggest Chalgrove, yet.

The rules used will be the v1.1a To the Strongest!, along with the Even Stronger V8 supplement. Battles will be fought on 6' x 4' tables on a 12 x 8 box 6" grid. Armies will be 28mm and 130 points; any of the 215+ official TtS! army lists are permitted. If you don't have a suitable army, mail me, we may be able to lend you one. 


Four rounds of battles will be fought in the familiar round-robin format. 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. 

The final tournament ranking will be determined by the total of how many medals you take in a battle, how many you have left and with a bonus applied if you won, outright. It's a good-natured competition, not taken too seriously by most of the competitors.


There will be a £11 entry fee, payable in advance or on the day. Tea, coffee, hot chocolate and biscuits will be provided, and lunch can be ordered in. There will be prizes for the winner, runner ups, good sportsmanship, best army+camp+terrain and other prizes at the whim of the organisers - 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! 

We are now officially open to receive army lists! Please mail your list to tim.thompson9 at btinternet.com. The closing date for list submissions is 10th February, but we are very keen to avoid a late rush.

Any questions please mail me at simonmiller60 at gmail.com

We very much hope to see you there!

Saturday, 9 November 2019

Base camp


I realised I needed even more bases for the Salute project- here they are, something like 425-450 of the blighters. They are chamferred, magnetised and sanded to perfection, and I have spray-painted the edges so that I don't need to hand paint them, it'll save a few hours, later on. There's no point in spraying the tops brown as they are already primed and will be covered in minis and grout.


The above stands are mostly for veteran legionaries, and the below for standard and raw. I prime everything in Halfords grey, below you can see other bases before priming.
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And these are command stands, and stands for elephants and lights, and a bombard for the early Renaissance.

The bases are from my various ranges, mostly designed by myself and Ian Notter.

So I have no excuse, now, I need to get some minis on bases!

Thursday, 7 November 2019

Edgehill Cards Deployed

Here are some shots of the TtS! Edgehill scenario and cards, in action. Ian printed, laminated and cut the cards; he did a fine job.

Here's the whole battlefield, 270cm wide, from the Royalist side.
The mat is a 9' x 4' plains with a 10cm cross grid. We didn't have a large enough table available, so set it up on the floor, with books underneath, for the hills. Old Skool!

The Royalist Centrre
We used felt for the stream and cut up scouring pads for the hedges.

Royalist left- you can see the dragoons and horse holders, behind. There is even a card for John Smith.

The parliamentarian artillery and the Lifeguards that saved the day.

The Royal Lifeguard of Foote, with Royal Standard and attached gun

Prince Rupert and the Royalist right, behind a scouring-pad hedge.  :-)
It is really great to see the project come to fruition. I'm sure we will take this to one of the shows, next year. If you'd like a set, you can find the cards here.

Tuesday, 5 November 2019

Edgehill Scenario and Unit Cards published!

I've just published two exciting new downloads for use with the For King and Parliament ECW rules.


The first download is our Edgehill 1642 scenario. Edgehill 1642 was the first major battle of the English Civil War, and amongst the largest. The 18 page PDF includes a brief account of the campaign and the battle, reconstructed orders of battle for both sides, deployment diagrams and photos of beautifully painted wargames figures. It can be viewed on a tablet, or printed out and bound. The scenario, designed for the TtS! For King and Parliament English Civil War rules but could be adapted to work with other rule systems, too. It is a large and well-tested scenario that will suit two to six players.



The second download, below, is a 17 page digital file of unit cards, which can be printed, cut out and used to re-fight Edgehill, in conjunction with the scenario and the For King and Parliament rules (although the cards could be used to fight the battle with other rule systems, too).




There are cards representing all the general officers, some colonels and all the units that we have been able to identify as present at the battle. They are additional cards for Parliamentarian reinforcements that might have influenced the battle, had they arrived in time. There are also cards permitting an alternative deployment of the Royalist foot in a Thirty Years War "Swedish" style, which may have been used in the battle. There are card overlays that will indicate whether your horse is pursuing, or your foot formed up in hedgehog. Lastly, there's an explanatory booklet which explains how to prepare and use the cards.



The cards can be printed and cut out either for use with a 10cm grid (9' x 4' playing surface) or a 7.5cm grid (6' x 3' playing surface). They can also be used in conjunction with miniatures, taping each card under a unit's base, so that only the tag with the unit's name and details upon it, protrudes. A really useful way of showing which unit is in which brigade!

You can buy the Edgehill scenario and/or the Edgehill unit cards here. 

Monday, 4 November 2019

Edgehill - Unit cards - Sneak peek!

Here are a couple of images from the Edgehill Unit Cards pack. The cards are designed by my chum Ian Notter, based loosely on the images in the Streeter Naseby engraving. Here is a page from the introductory pack that accompanies the cards, and, below it, an image of a sheet of the unit cards, themselves.



These are some of the Parliamentarian Edgehill foot; large units, eight  ranks deep, so with an extra (fourth) hit. We have added uniform colours, where known (not often!), sometimes we have guessed. The flags indicate who the officer for the brigades is, and his superior general. All the information needed for play with For King and Parliament is on the card tab (save, ammo, battalion guns and so forth). If you laminate the cards, then you could use them with a whiteboard pen.

The whole Edgehill OOB, with lots of "what if" units, will be included in the download. Hopefully I'll have it in the shop on Wednesday or Thursday. If it proves popular, we will give the same treatment to some of the other battles of the ECW; perhaps we could produce a set of generic unit cards for use with the game.

Sunday, 3 November 2019

Edgehill Scenario- sneak peeks

Here are a few sample pages from the imminent Edgehill scenario booklet- due out later this week.  :)