Saumur - Taking bows and arrows to a tank fight...

As L'Art de la Guerre continues it's inexorable advance in popularity right across the world (it's set to be the biggest competition at the upcoming "The Worlds" in Belgium later this month, with almost 50% more players, drawn from more countries than any other ruleset on offer there), the opportunity to take part in an overseas holiday competition was inevitably going to come around sooner rather than later - and where better do do so than the home of the rules, France, and an event held in one of the most amazing wargaming spaces imaginable - the French Tank Museum in Saumur in the stunning Loire Valley.

I had chosen to take an Early Achaemenid Persian army, mainly on the rationale that I had a lot of Sparabara figures that hadn't seen light of day in years as well as some new cavalry from Xyston (very nice) and Forged in Battle (not quite as impressive). The competition mandated an allied contingent too, which for the Persians was an armoured hoplite Greek command.

After a "fantastique" drive down to Saumur (after getting around the brain-bender of crossing the channel and going into Europe the day after the Brexit vote..) the competition est arrive, giving me 5 games in which to see if my ADLG knowledge and skills stood up to the test of playing against French experts, in French.

The end result was plenty of good learning experiences as various French players gave my army some stiff lessons about new and different ways to play (yes, barbarian armies are more than viable in ADLG!), and the even more surprising appearance of the use of "tactics" and "maneuver" by my forces as we battled to hang on in there and not get crushed underfoot

See for yourself how the Persians did in these "incroyable" 5 fully-featured battle reports ...

New Xyston Carthaginians

    

I've just been sent some Xyston Carthaginians to review and post here. And - as usual - very nice they are too. The one's I have been sent include a pack of officers, a pack of musicians and standard bearers, some Numidian skirmishers and an Elephant (click links for pictures).

They come with separate shields, but with backs that look like they will stick onto the figures arms well enough. The officers have short stubby swords, which look a bit ineffectual, but an imposing array of headgear should compensate and frighten the Romans!

The "musicians" are actually both trumpeters, with 4 further standard bearers in various poses - they will need wire spears and the standards come as head pieces only with a hand, a horses head and some symbols making up the set of four.

The Elephant looks to be a proper "African-sized" beast, slightly smaller than many out there from other manufacturers, and comes with 1 mahout only. It will need a little filler as the two halves have gaps when glued together.

Finally the Numidian skirmishers again will need their hands drilling to take a wire javelin and would be suitable as any generic Classical-era javelin man if painted with a non-Numidian skin tone.

Pics of new Xyston Spanish and casualties

Xyston have sent me a few samples of their latest releases - an ancient Spanish range and some Greek hoplite casualties. As usual the figures have the cleanly cast, angular look of Xyston's typical style, but in a new innovation (to me) some of the Spanish have been cast with separate arms to allow greater variety in sword poses

The figures are not as huge as some Xyston ranges - maybe a concession to compatibility with other ranges, but the Spanish would still struggle to mix well with Corvus Belli's market-leading set.

It will be interesting to see if the casualty figures are a one-off, or whether Xyston will be building a range to compete with Donningtons large range of dead guys - but starting with hoplites must be a good idea, as I;ve always found that protected spearmen get disrupted very easily!

Warmodelling/Fantassin 15mm Ancients Photos

..now in the Ancients gallery, with a review, size comparison shots vs Essex, Old Glory, Xyston and Corvus Belli.

New Xyston Gaesati Photos

Reviews Now added to the Photo Gallery, including some size comparison photos vs Essex Minis Celts, and shots of the figures next to a ruler.