Monday, 9 December 2019

Thapsus elephants


It's been the longest time since I posted images on minis- real life stuff has kept me too busy. But normal service will henceforth, hopefully, be resumed. Here are some WIP images of one of the projects I've been busy on. Six of these beautiful Aventine elephants (along with two other beauties for another project, not shown) were painted for me by chum Kevin Lucas- I just added some highlights on the howdahs and crew. The Aventine elephants are resin with metal detail and are beautifully light. I have rebased two very nice Agema elephants from my Numidian army, to join them.


The un-textured areas of base will take the screening light infantry, which aren't yet painted. These eight will form the screen for my Pompeian army for the Salute Thapsus game. I'll take proper pictures, when they are finished in January. I think I now have 31 elephants on bases, altogether, with another 15-20 painted but not yet based, mostly intended for a projected Classical Indian army.

Thursday, 5 December 2019

TtS! Tournament in Paris


French chums are organising a To the Strongest! Tournament in Paris next summer, and say that we rosbifs would be most welcome to come along and join them. Unusually, it's in 15mm scale (the preferred scale in Mainland Europe) but they can lend armies - from what I've seen, they aren't short on miniatures!  Six games will be played over two days on a 6x4 15cm grid.  The price tag of the tournament is 25€ for the 2 days and includes the lunches.

I intend to go, travelling out Friday PM and back Sunday PM by Eurostar, and staying in a local hotel TBA, and hopefully scoffing a couple of nice French meals in the evenings. If you think you might like to come (no need for a firm commitment at this stage), then please email me at the address on the left. I'll collate the UK responses and get back to Pierre Aymeric who is organising it. 

Cheers, Simon

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.