Battle Reports and Tourism from Nancy, 2026

In a veritable cornucopia of French-themed, hastily-published content I've somehow managed to throw stuff at the wall and discover that some of it has stuck following the Team CLWC trip to the Nancy ADLG event held only last weekend - and it is already posted on this website! 

That currently includes:

• A 4-hander military tourism video of our road trip to and from Nancy, featuring:

• Reims Cathedral, 
• Fort de La Pompelle, 
• The Worlds Largest Pikelhaube Collection, 
• Hackenburg Maginot Line Fortress (and narrow gauge train), 
• Nancy, 
• Verdun, 
• An abandoned and destroyed village, 
• Vimy Ridge, 
• ..and one of Frances top abandoned underground rocket-firing Nazi Megastructures, La Coupole!

There are also 5 Video Battle reports featuring the Feudal English army in totally impetuous action against: 

• The Estonians 
• The Feudal French
• The Kingdom of Sicily
• The Feudal Scots
• The Feudal English (a Civil War!)

There is a vague possibility that there may even be additional traditional-format text-based batreps in multiple languages to come, but that may depend on how effective various free AI platforms are at transcription (or how effective I am at generating instructions for them..). 

Having said that, Le Emperor, my erstwhile Franco-Scottish opponent from game 4, has already published his own report of the game as well.

Enjoy! 

Camels in Devizes!

 The annual pilgrimage to Devizes (or, as it has been in recent years, the annual pilgrimage to stay somewhere nearish to Devizes because a load of middle aged ravers reliving their Ibiza youth book up all the hotels nearer town) came around again this past July like a well-buttered West Country scone repeating on you even before the remains of the jam has attracted a wasp.

Having fairly recently painted up a load of 3D printed camels, I had decided that this event was as good an opportunity as it comes to get them on table as the core element of a Christian Nubian army - but in the process creating the very real challenge of how to make such an army actually interesting to play, and to play against.

You too can now re-live the 5 games which were fought by thissomewhat self-hamstrung army list in the town that is the spiritual and literal home of WRG over one hot sunny weekend by following the 5 full-text battle reports through all of their painful punnery and chirpy in-picture comments.

After each report there (of course) follows a robust dose of post-match analysis from both the Christian Nubian commander (seen below), and Nasty Hannibal himself. 

As an added bonus, this report includes links to a load of photos of the Army Air Corps Museum at Middle Wallop, and a brand new music video of the viral musical hit "The Beja Camel Song".

Beja think your camels are hot like mine !! 

A few bits of Korean stuff, in 1:1 scale

 A recent holiday saw me passing through Seoul for a few days, where I was fortunate enough to stumble across some "ancient & medieval" Korean stuff along the way - and here it is 

(If you are reading this on the front page of my site, you'll need to click through to the article on the Blogger site using that link to see the videos)! 

This was a demo of Korean swordsmanship (and spearmanship?) take at the top of Namsan Mountain. During the Joseon Dynasty, Namsan was considered a sacred shamanistic site, but is now a lovely scenic park with the Seoul Tower standing atop the central hill.

There was also a bit of pike action too. 

We also visited the Korean National Museum, where it seems that most of the stuff is pottery-related, with the War Museum being where the cool wargaming-relevant bits are (of course). 

However there were a few unusual pieces - this Silla-era armour being a highlight:

For the uniform painters out there, this also looked - from a distance - like a good bit of battle planning, however on closer inspection it's actually a manual for organising a royal wedding procession! 

Slightly weirdly there is also this genuine Greek helmet. 

 

The story is that it was awarded to a Korean runner at the first modern-era Athens Olympics, when Korea was under the control of Japan, meaning that the chap was running under a Japanese flag at the time. 

Eventually, after many trials and tribulations, and many years later, he did end up with the "helmet prize" in his hands - which is now seen as a momentous moment in forming the modern Korean national psyche. 

Finally, in the ICN airport Duty Free area on our way home, a few more reenactors in costume.

I'd actually been to the Korean Military Museum a few years ago - the photos from that trip can also be seen here 

The Northern Crusades - with added Tanks!

 Earlier this year (OK, June) I headed up to Helsinki to take part in a "Northern Crusades" ADLG competition.

Admittedly the competition aspect was somewhat secondary to just grabbding the chance to go to somewhere new in the far north in Summertime, so as to find out how late it would stay light, and exactly how expensive a pint actually would be in a place like Finland.

Even so, I did manage to squeeze in some gaming, using (of course) a Feudal Scandinavian army in a medieval-themed 5-game event. 

And now, with the magic of YouTube, here are all 5 battle reports from the games I played in the event, taking on 2 Later Byzantines (nope, no idea how they fit in a "Northern Crusades" theme either..), the Hungarians (erm..), some Medieval Germans (yep, that probably works) and the Teutonic Knights (back of the net!).

All of the videos are also on YouTube in a playlist you can save and watch in fullscreen (if you so wish).

I then took advantage of having a Monday evening return flight to pop up the road to the Parola Armour Museum, one of the more unusual tank museums in the world, to see a load of really unusual Finno-Russian WW2 and post war kit they have tucked away in a forest near to a lake (OK, that's most of Finland to be fair).

 So, in a "metal-on-metal" kind of synergistic development, there is also a video of all of the photos I took at Parola which you can also access either at the end of the battle report page, or directly on  my YouTube Channel too. 

Spain's Archeology Museum in Madrid - the Military Stuff

I've just posted a YouTube video of the photos I took earlier this year at the Madrid Archeology Museum . 

Unsurprisingly they focus on objects and displays with a vaguely military theme, including Classical & Roman era Iberian armour, weapons and grave goods, Greek artworks, and Successor coinage featuring some of those famous generals you've certainly heard of before.

There's also a medieval Persian helmet, a bit of European medieval wall-art, Visigothic weapons and other stuff, Ptolemaic Egyptian funery gear and a host of other mostly "ancient history" bits and pieces too. 

Accompanying it all is my often staggeringly uneducated and ill-informed commentary, but don't let that put you off, as if it does, just turn the sound down as I also took photos of most of the caption boards that accompany each display as well!

The video is available now https://youtu.be/L1kkzKt1Gl4?si=b9Z5fBBwoQEVOcvF

Trajan's Column

On a recent trip to Rome I kinda stumbled across Trajan’s Column - rather hard to do I know given it's sort of a big stone column in the middle of Rome, but there is a lot of construction work around there at the moment due to the new Metro line, and to be honest I'd rather forgotten it was there as there is just so much other stuff to see in Rome! 

Anyways, I took the opportunity to take some photos and videos of it to share, as for wargamers and modelers, Trajan’s Column is an near-legendary goldmine of first-hand information. 

The carvings provide rare, direct insight into Roman legionary gear—such as segmentata armor, scutum shields, pila, and helmets with varying crest styles. 

They also depict auxiliary troops in distinct dress and cavalry in motion, giving hints to tactical formations and battlefield logistics. 

Importantly, the Dacians themselves are richly portrayed, often wielding the distinctive falx—a curved, two-handed weapon—and wearing flowing garments and Phrygian-style caps, setting them apart visually and culturally from their Roman foes.

Erected in 113 AD in Rome, the Column is a monumental celebration of Emperor Trajan’s victory in the Dacian Wars. 

The 30-meter-high stone column has over 150 scenes depicting Roman legions in action: constructing camps, crossing rivers, engaging in battle, and interacting with both allies and enemies. These finely detailed reliefs offer one of the most comprehensive, near-contemporary depictions of the Roman military in the early 2nd century AD.

While some artistic license may be present, especially in the repetition of certain motifs, the overall fidelity and variety of military details make the column an essential reference for reconstructing units and skirmishes on the tabletop. 

Whether you're painting an army or designing scenarios based on the Dacian campaigns, a closer look at Trajan’s Column may well be useful - so hopefully these pictures (which you can click on the blog to see full size) and videos will be of interest and use.

I could have taken more, but at some point I had to get back to my actual holiday... so enjoy! 

The Fleet Air Arm Museum - a Video Tour

On the way down to Brixham for the Devonian Classic last Deceember we popped into the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton and took a bundle of photos. 

Now, less than a mere three months later, I've combined them all into a couple of YouTube videos, one with me wittering along to attempt to describe the photos, and one that thankfully just has music as a soundtrack.

Video With Commentary:

Video Without Commentary:

Go ahead and have a look - it's all fine, even the steam catapult deck supervisor says it's all A-OK ! 

Alicante & Cartagena - the Podcast, and The Videos

The first Madaxeman podcast of the year hits the pod-shelves in both audio and video formats as the team discuss the recent expedition to Cartagena and Alicante.

To mark the new year and new start for what is hopefully some more regular podding, this episode is tentatively titled "Episode 1, Series 5" and sees 4 brave podcasting gamers hit the airwaves and chat about their trip to the South of Spain in mid January to take in the Akra Leuka tournament at the upmarket Benidorm that is Alicante.

We also take in the Worlds Largest Collection of Model Tanks, the current state of play with which 15mm metal casting companies are currently closing down, whether "Paella" is actually just "Rice" with a different postcode, if a War Wagon collapses in the forest can a Swiss Pikeman hear it fall, if anyone has ever seen a bigger chorizo nugget, whether we are all now far too old to understand this 3D printing malarkey, and if double-carbs is the missing link between Glasgow and the entire Iberian peninsula.

The guests on this podcast are Dave "From The Podcast", Dave "Ming the Marxist" and Mark "The FWC Man", all of whom you can actually see on this YouTube version of the Podcast.

The lists we all used in Alicante can be found on the Madaxeman ADLG Wiki.

• Marks Hungarians
• Tim & Daves Swiss
• Daves French Ordonnance  
• My video of the Cartagena Military Museum

Taking Germans to Germany - whatever next?!

 A few weeks back a brave band of CLWC gamers hopped in a car and headed across Europe to take part in the ADLG German Team Tourament in Braubach, on the banks of the mighty Rhine.

On our journey we encountered many strange sights....

..including a trip to the museum in Mons in Belgium...

...some heavyweight tank action at Bastogne barracks...

..a bfrief history of medieval torture in Trier ...

...which was also the capital of the Western Roman Empire for a while...

..before finally engaging in 5 games of ADLG using a Medieval German army ...

..with what admittedly was mixed success... 

..under the expert leadership of the Kaiser Gnome ...

..before heading home via a rain-soaked, beer-soaked 800 year old 4 month long drinking festival!

For a full set of military tourism, gastronomic and liquid intake excess, musical weirdness, the Gome Kaiser trading insults with Hannibal, and the occasional spot of reportage of 15mm scale Medieval wargaming head on over to the Battle & Tourism reports now !