The Sassanids are Coming!

For what might well be the first time in almost a decade I've just ordered myself a whole "new" 15mm Ancients army - Sassanid Persian - for ADLG.

To be honest I thought for a short while about just getting some Levy Spearmen, as I have plenty of "Arab" cavalry who could do service as Clibanarii at a pinch, as well as generic Light Horse and Light Infantry, and even some elephants who could be re-crewed easily enough... but a combination of really, really wanting some figures in those a-historical lightbulb hats, and the fact you can cook up an ADLG army in far fewer figures than it takes for FoG made me decide that now was the time to add one of the few truly distinctive armies to the collection. Having said that, I'll be recycling my Greek/Makedonian Cataphracts, or possible the Tibetans ones and also some of the other LF with javelins from other armies. Why go too crazy...?

The shopping list I was working to was based on being able to copy the lists currently in the ADLG Wiki (plus a bit more), which came out as about 8 bases of Clibanarii, 3 Elephants, 4 bases of Levy (going with 7 figures to a base so they can be 2 ranks of spears or 1 of Mob),  a couple of bases each of LH with Bows and Javelins and 3 Generals. So, a whole new army in about 20 bases!

After a bit of searching I have decided to go with 3 main manufacturers:

• Legio Heroica for most of the Clibanarii, Generals, and some LH and LF
• Irregular Miniatures for the Levy, the LH with Javelins and some different Generals
• Donnington, for the Elephants

I did also toy with the idea of Lurkio and Eureka as well but that would have involved splitting the order into too many small chunks - and also there is a finite amount I'm prepared to pay for Levy Spearmen figures, which Eureka, nice as they are, somewhat exceeded!

The orders are now all in, and hopefully the figures will be back and ready for priming in early October (after Derby when I pick up the Elephants from Donnington).

Painting progress will be reported here...

ADLG Army Lists from The Worlds 2016

After The Worlds this weekend, a number of the players have been kindly sending me their army lists for inclusion on the ADLG Wiki. Some who are even kinder have registered and added their list to the wiki themselves (!!) but even so, I now have a number of lists from the event available to see.

The lists I have so far are on the relevant wiki pages and are linked from these final standings for the ADLG event - hopefully its right, as I've had to guess some of the names from email addresses.

I'll update this post if / when I get more.

1 Tortosa Rafa Spain 503  - Yuan Chinese
2 Duthil Philippe France 456 - Communal Italian
3 Tahon Patrick France 442 - Han Chinese
4 Lopez Julian Spain 424 - Later Aechemenid
5 Crotteau Marc USA 419 - Normans in Sicily
6 Diaz Javier Spain 401 Late Aechemenid
7 Teulié Brice France 401 Koryo Korean
8 Tate Hugo Belgium 393 - Classical Indian
9 Lefevre Eudes France 391 - 100YW French
10 Roudil Cédric France 379 - Yuan Chinese
11 Gilles Jean-François France 366 - Burgundian Ordonnance
12 Bricault Mickael France 364 - Italian Condotta
13 Sciangula Christophe France 362 Ottoman Empire
14 Martellacci Massimiliano Italy 349 - Late Roman
15 Maistriaux Thomas Belgium 348 - Ottoman Empire
16 Hazelwood Dan USA 348 - Condotta
17 Lefebvre Patrick France 344 - Medieval German
18 Matagne Jean Belgium 344 Ottoman Empire
19 Maistriaux Jean-Louis Belgium 342 - Thematic Byzantine
20 Docremont Philippe France 341 - Classical Indian
21 Salvaderi Stefano Italy 337 - Italian Condotta
22 Piegle Olivier France 337 - Aztec
23 Martinez Lionel France 337 Italian Condotta
24 Berucci Francesco Italy 329 - Condotta Italian
25 Plouchart Stéphane France 328 Arabs in India
26 Allen David Uk 327  -100YW English
27 Abric Matthieu France 327 - Jurchen Chin
28 Webb Peter UK 301 - French Ordonnance
29 Villaescusa Frédéric France 290 Samurai
30 Gouret Corentin France 278 - Seleukid
31 Lo Moro Carmelo Andrea Italy 278 - Condotta
32 Misson Etienne Belgium 275 - Medieval Hungarian
33 Van Lersberghe Renaud Belgium 272 Warring Kingdoms
34 Sanders Dave UK 268 Condotta
35 Porter Tim UK 267- Condotta
36 Jamieson Gordon UK 263 Warring States
37 Dejoux Bruno France 262 French Ordonnance
38 Marlia Guglielmo Italy 260 Communal Italian
39 Zito Claudio Italy 250 - Warring States
40 D'addino Stefano Italy 240 Italian Condotta
41 Gomez Mattia Italy 238 - Medieval; Scots
42 Defour Florent France 232 Feudal French
43 Suárez Pablo Italy 205 - Nikephorian Byzantine
44 Impair Joueur Terre 188 - Pecheng
45 Morvan Lionel France 173 - Timurid
46 Germain Yvan France 108 - LIR

The registration code for the Wiki is "Alexander" if you want to add comments, or add an army list yourself. 

Here also are some pictures of the armies in action... 

Gordon Bennett, it's El Sid! 5 more ADLG Reports

ADLG has reinvigorated a whole host of previously little-seen armies and figures, and next up on the rehabilitation trail are some Two Dragons Normans (and dubiously Viking-esque Almughavar morphs) who take part as a Feudal Spanish army in 5 games of 300 point large-army L'Art de la Guerre 15mm action at the 2016 BHGS Challenge.

Marvel at how these brave Norman-esque warriors emerge blinking into the light after so many years with flocked (rather than more modern grass tufted) bases.

Thrill as they double-base themselves to form ADLG units.

Gasp in horror as they still appear to have learnt nothing about tactics and planning despite their years of free time in which to study the classic military manuals.

And chortle with smutty delight as El Sid James provides the General's Commentary in all 5 match reports

The Covenanter's make it to the Kings Capital!

In three fleetingly (thankfully?) brief battle reports, enlivened by some tremendous 15mm eye candy and the usual videos, the Scots Covenanter's  appear in FoGR and take on three Royalist armies in a one-day competition with pre-set terrain.

See how the forces of anti-papery did in these highly accurate historical rematches, including far more Poor quality troops than have been seen on a Renaissance battlefield for quite some time.

Burton Doubles 2016 - the Multimedia Extravaganza!

Burton, a classic and historic venue ... the ideal setting for a video and audio online multi-platform interactive assault on common sense and common decency as Madaxeman.com launches a PODCAST... and a VIDEO PODCAST to supplement the match reports!!

See (and hear) how the Triumverate Roman & Jewish army fared against the Romano-British & Patricians, 3K Chinese & Hsiung Nu, Armenians & Romans and Parthians (Elemayan) & Hatrenes in 4 separate fully detailed ADLG match reports!

Or, you can just read the damned things on the web just like in the olden days ...

Gentlemen, take your baggage....

In possibly one of the least inspiring posts on this site in quite some time, I have photographed some newly rebased Ancients baggage elements which have been re-done to better suit the L'Art de la Guerre rules.

Click and be both amazed and enthralled in equal measure ...

The Great British Bacon-Off

We're back to FoGR and some more Renaissance action as the Early Danish Army sizzles its way in several extremely bold, and a number of even rasher (see what I did there?) battles at Warfare 2015.

The army attempts to contest the leaderboard and emulate last years victory with a series of unfashionable Reiter units and some well-stuffed pikemen. Is the bacon worth the slicing - time for you to decide in these 4 battle reports

ADLG in London - 3 Reports with Hannibal in command

The inaugural Central London ADLG 1-dayer saw Hannibal commanding the Carthaginians in 3 games of L'Art de la Guerre, against the forces of India, Rome and Macedonia.

See how Hannibal fared in three fully-photographed match reports, including the usual mix of rules hints and explanations, dubious captions and withering post-game analysis from Monty Hannibal, Pirate Hannibal and Viking Hannibal

15mm Ancients - ADLG resurrects the painting urge..

Having become increasingly enamoured of ADLG, I finally got around to buying and painting up some proper Carthaginian cavalry and elephants recently, have fudged both types with dubious Greek proxies and morphs for pretty much the best part of, erm, mumble mumble years.

The 200 point format of ADLG means you have an army with just 20-25 elements (around 35-40 bases in old DBX/FoG money, with infantry being 2-bases and cavalry, elephants and psiloi being singles), so adding an odd element here or there to an existing army is a simple way to tart it up a bit.
The pictures of both are now included in the 15mm gallery - sadly Corvus Belli are no longer being produced, but I think that Martin at Vexillia still has a handful of the elephants on sale.

Both will be making an appearance this weekend at a 24-player ADLG event at Central London - how long they will appear for in the battle reports is an entirely different question!.

On the workbench....

Every now and then I remember that this website is basically a blog (and there is in fact a Blogger version of it was well), so this statement is true in a very literal sense as well), and so perhaps sometimes I should just make some entirely self-indulgent posts about what I'm up to right now.

So, in between updating this site and doing various BHGS things, I also am attempting to finish the following painting pile:

• 2-3 x 28mm Swiss / Landsnecht Kiels for FoGR (including Arquebus "wings")
• Updating some of my 15mm Greek & Cathaginian elephants with new versions for ADLG
• A 28mm Oliver Cromwell (because one can't have too many 28mm Renaissance generals..)
• 8 x 28mm Norman/Christian knights for Saga, plus a priest..
• 2 bases of baggage to go with the Landsnecht Kiels
• A pack of Mainforce 6mm modern British infantry 
• A 15mm PBI WW2 Belgian army which has been stuck at the stage of being based and undercoated for about 8 years... 
• 20-odd bases of 15mm Renaissance American Indians for FoGR
• Another 10 or so bases of Eastern shot in 15mm for FoGR 
• Casualties for the above... 
• Oh, and casualties for the Kiel..
• Boxes and barricades in 28mm for Malifaux
• 20mm WW2 Us Heavy Weapon teams, for CHain of Command or Bolt Action
• 4 x 15mm Scythed Chariots (no idea...) and 4 bases of 15mm Carthaginian Heavy Cavalry
• A full 15mm Scots Renaissance army, to be everything from Covenanters to Jacobites
• Loads of 20mm WW2 Germans, who are based and undercoated in Uniform Grey, but that's about it so far. 
• Some 10mm ACW Union troops that I was donated (I already have far too many..) 
• 5 x Modern Russian 6mm T90's - cheap GHQ in a bring and buy that I couldn't resist
• 2 x 20mm WW2 buildings (MDF) to assemble
• 16 bases of Polish/Russian Renaissance Shotte - undercoated, but now becalmed... 
• A 10mm WW2 landing craft 

and that's all before I start thinking about rebasing stuff for different rulesets, or selling things on eBay..

How on earth I find time to update this website who knows !

The Danes at Warfare 2014 - top table action!

The last event of 2014, and the Early Danes get yet another outing at FoGR down by the banks of the Thames in sunny (cold and dark) Reading.

In four thrilling match reports they take on everyone in the world, from the Indians to the English, all whilst doing their very best to shoehorn references to bacon and Carlsberg into the narrative at every opportunity....and end up doing surprisingly well !

Lots of pictures, some barely-relevant YouTube videos and some very odd things to buy from Amazon as well all grace the reports - so, grab yourself some pancakes and maple syrup, pull up a chair and dig in!

The matt varnished Shermans & Churchills

As promised in the previous post, the finished articles are here:  Plastic Soldier Company 20mm Shermans, 15mm Churchills, and Battlefront Bren Carriers all painted in Halfords cammo green.

This really has nailed that "bronze-green" effect I was hoping for!

PSC US infantryman based on a penny for scale.

Not quite sure what's gone awry with the varnishing on this flank of the tank, it's not as obvious in real life as on this photo.

The top decks look great to me - the "puddled" Army Painter varnish on the one in the foreground's read deck is something I'm quite happy about actually - maybe it could have been brushed out a little though?

And the Churchills... again a great result IMO

I am toying with the idea of a final drybrush, but the details already "pop" so much I'm not sure if that would be too much..?

The colour that's been achieved is pretty much perfect IMO

The early version turret AVRE. Several of the transfers have ended up showing their edges, which is annoying as this normally doesn't happen with my "two layers of clear gloss" technique - maybe my gloss poly needs replacing - or maybe they were just old transfers?

For essentially a one-piece casting these track assemblies are fantastic - well done PSC!

The drybrushing really picks out the stowage boxes too.

Morer slightly odd effects on the big blank flanks of the Shermans here - but again, not as bad in the real world, and in some ways quite good to have it so irregular (ish). The driver's face has done really well here.

 With a PSC infantryman in the foreground

The Battlefront bren carriers.

A final close-up of a rather smug chap - probably waiting for his cup of tea! Make sure you saw the first post too in this two-part series.

Using Halfords Matt Cammo Spray on WW2 vehicles

Halfords is a well known (if you are in the UK) cycle/car accessories retailer, and I am a signed-up and committed user of their range of spray paints for both white and black undercoat.

Recently they have offered a 3-tone range of "cammo" paints, including a khaki which was used as a base coat for these fellows, and also a Dark Green. The Dark Green looks pretty ideal for that difficult-to-achieve WW2 Allied AFV colour, so having some 15mm PCS Churchills, 20mm Plastic Soldier Company Shermans and a handful of Battlefront carriers to paint, I thought I'd give it a go.

Here are the Churchills - these are really well detailed kits, that go together very well and also give you options for a variety of vehicles, including cast and welded turrets and a couple of AVRE options. The Bren carriers are in the background. The spray provides a deep and very matt green finish, but as there is no matching paint pot, you have to be very thorough with getting good coverage.

These are the three PSC Shermans - I sprayed the tracks (which come separately ) with Army Painter Leather brown, which I also use as a base colour for the PSC US Infantry, which are having some heavy weapon crew added to them at the moment (in the background). The heavy weapon teams share the odd/inaccurate Y-shaped braces of the infantry..

The Sherman models are really well thought out for wargamers (as opposed to modellers) needs. They go together really easily (apart from some small gaps where the tracks join at front and back) and feel very robust - someone has thought about these as bits of kit which will get a lot of handling, and designed them accordingly. 

The "shiny" patches are where I have put a patch of gloss varnish as a base coat on which to add waterslide transfers at a later stage - adding a gloss base coat under each transfer and then sealing it in with a further gloss coat before the final matt coat really does wonders for removing the outline/edge of the transfer on he finished model.

Here they are again, this time with Allied stars on them. I think I may have gone overboard with the stars, having them on turrets and hulls, but it adds a little more life to these models anyway.

Here are the Churchills, with some fairly serious drybrushing going on. They have transfers from the Battlefront Allied Armour sticker set. The unit insignia are probably not appropriate for Churchills, but beggars can't be choosers. They will fight with my PBI PSC British Infantry

Very few of them ended up with space on the turret for one of these formation markings.

The carriers, with the little Battlefront blokes peering out.

Churchills again, showing the great detail on the rear decks.  For such simple models to make they come out really well.

I then gave the whole lot a liberal washing with Army Painter Dark tone (the strongest one). I think this will tone down a lot once I get round to doing a matt coat, but right now I am wondering if I will need to do another set of drybrushing.

The carriers - again with probably inappropriate unit markings!

Front view of the Churchills.

And the Shermans. I'm quite optimistic that the mix of base colour and Army Painter will end up as that sort of bronze green that WW2 vehicles seem to have in the real world.

About a week later I managed to Dullcote them and add the finished pictures to this site - see them in this post.