ADLG Worlds - Al Shearer rides into Rome !

The World Championships somehow managed to shift across Europe, moving from a shed in Birmingham into a 5-star hotel in glorious Rome this year.

That of course means another overseas extravaganza for Team CLWC, and for yours truly another chance to try and craft something out of yet another of the Arab-flavoured armies I have been working through this year.

The Khurasanians - basically a poor man's Ghaznavid/Abbasid hybrid - were the lucky chaps to make it out into the hot, hot Italian sunlight this time, where they took on 6 different enemies drawn from the US, Mexico, France, Spain and somewhere else using Mongols, Han Chinese, Carolingians, Alexandrians, French Ordonnance and the Seleukids.

To track the games (and the food, and the swimming) there are many thousands of words spread across six fully illustrated, (unusually) map-annotated, kawasaki-riding battle reports in which Geordie General Al'Shearer lands yet again in the commentary position.

Guarantee yourself a Big Night Oot and read away (the lads)..

Ninja Time!

Whist my 15mm Samurai army is already too extensive to really use in one go, that doesn't stop a steady drip-drip of additional units and, well, cool toys being added to it from time to time.

The latest incremental unnecessary items are a Japanese folklore-inspired replacement Stampeding Herd ("Expendables" in ADLG terms), and some good-at-hiding Ninja ambush markers as well.

These all come from Philp Mann's recent Kickstarter project, and were obtained by "ADLG-R" guru "Aussie Simon" on my behalf.

Oni are basically Japanese Troll/Demon things, with a long tradition of being generally unsubtle and violent - and most usually bright red as well ! As such a herd of Oni seemed a great way to represent a more mythic retelling of the use of a stampeding cattle herd in the Battle of Kurikara

The Oni's flesh is all painted with the new Citadel Contrast Paints - Blood Angels Red, Akhelian Green (the blue coloured one oddly enough) and Creed Cammo for the Green ones. There's more Contrast Paint malarkey coming soon ...

Oni typically carry these types of iron clubs called kanabō. In Japan the expression "oni with an iron club" means to be invincible or undefeatable - not something my cattle herds have really achieved all that often it must be said!

The ninja figures are really nice, with a lot of variety but are a smidge large to use alongside or mix in with my Old Glory Samurai -  but being ninjas, they are good at hiding and sneaking around so I have press-ganged some into service as ambush markers. 

 I've colour-coded the three 40x40 markers using the flower grass tufts - each base also has the ninjas with a small bit of the same colour on their inner-garment sleeves

The Red markers above, and below the green ones

Here are the sets of figures next to the Old Glory Samurai for scale comparison.

As you can see, the Ninjas are not too far off, but just a bit too far for using together with the Old Glory figures for my taste.

2019 L'Art de la Guerre Worlds - The Top 5 Lists

In case you've not already spotted it, I've now posted the army lists from the top-placing players in last month's 2019 Worlds from Rome on the ADLG Wiki.

The lists are;

1st - Yuan Chinese
2nd - Timurid
3rd - Communal Italian
4th - Ottoman Empire
5th - Khurasanian

The full placings from The Worlds are on the FIW website, with a complete list of armies on the ADLG forum. The Madaxeman.com Podcast about the Yuan list was published earlier this month - other may follow!

If you are inspired by these lists, here's a couple of very nice looking Timurid/Yuan style elephants from Donnington Miniatures to be tempted by as well.