The Battle of Poitiers, Featherstone Ephemera.

Lockdown day God knows what; Anyway because of the weather, snow and frost and other nasties I was able to get on with some painting. I was determined to finish the commanders for my small? Wars of the Roses contingent. Again these were in the main, Grenadier Miniatures with a couple of Perry commanders thrown in.

 

One of the nice things about the digital world is occasionally one gets in contact with likeminded people, wargamers seem especially susceptible to getting in contact with other enthusiasts. Anyway the most excellent Iain Macmillan kindly sent me some Donald Featherstone ephemera that I hadnt seen. I thought it would be nice to spread it about amongst potentially other Featherstone enthusiasts. It appears to be the original documents with amendments for Featherstone's account of the Battle of Poitiers 1356.

I hope it is of interest to some Hundred Years War and Featherstone fan. I certainly enjoyed it.

I especially liked the map that gives a clear idea about the set up for the game.

 

I was also able to complete the first of two mercenary pike units for the Wars of the Roses. Normally my blocks are much bigger and denser but for Never Mind the Billhooks twelve figures will suffice. These are old Foundry figures, but still very nice sculpts.

Finally some Citadel and Grenadier early firearms skirmishers. Not very effective, but quite pretty.

Staying positive.

 I am determined to stay focused and up beat these next few months simply because otherwise one will climb into bed and pull the covers over you're head. I dont class it as a New Years resolution more something to aspire to. In these nightmare times its difficult to see past your next meal and thinking about a wargame with a real live opponent is more like a fantasy than anything else. But small stepsall that.

Luckily the post is still running and that internet thing calls like a siren to buy some more toys in anticipation of the day we can run free again. In an attempt to save myself from bankruptcy I bought some Perry plastic Wars of the Roses just before lockdown. I would imagine not many gamers enjoy sticking them together but when they are glued up they make excellent figures. These are for another Stanley ward and will be the men at arms. 

                              

These chaps are the final units of the first Stanley ward. I do like the colour combination of green and red and the lovely Pete's flag enhances their look a great deal. There are some very talented peoe kicking about and Pete is up there when he sets his mind to it, mind I dont know how he balances everything.

I deliberately sought out the old Grenadier range for my generals, simply because they are so damned nice. Prices have become ridiculous on E Bay, but luckily I managed to get a fair price for these.

I know they are over sized and exaggerated but as we all know the rule, my army my rules.

This blue and yellow chap is a Perry plastic that cried out to be promoted to a commander. Blue and yellow make great colour combinations.

Yes, he is a fantasy figure with a jousting shield but again he was too nice to ignore.

Finally my official foot commander which is a combination of a Perry plastic a Grenadier figure and a Citadel herald  which I was very kindly given several years ago. This figure was originally in the Gilder collection although I would hazard a guess Gilder didnt paint him. The flag is a generic Saint George flag.

    I like to read as much as possible around a subject but I am amazed at just how little there is about the Wars of the Roses. By that I mean a decently researched , meaty history not a small, dip your toes in the water book. Ive had to return to my Conn Iggulden fictional book series to attempt to get a 'feel' for the period. I know the history is a bit skewed but it at least has a period flavour although he clearly didnt like Richard of York whom I have a soft spot for. Still its better than that train crash on television, 'The Great.??? My wife managed to prise the controls out of my fingers as I screamed at the bollocks I was witnessing, why do they make these dreadful programmes, it makes Noggin the Nog look like a documentary.  Stay positive.... stay focussed......   

Independent Wargames Annual 2020

 

If this had been a 'normal', and I use the term loosely, year I would have created a series of soundbites regarding what stood out for me in the wargames firmament in the calendar year.

Of course 2020 was the opposite of normal and instead can have many cachets attached to describe the year. For me 2020 was and remains a living nightmare with relief barely in sight. 

 I class myself as lucky because our wonderful hobby was able to keep me occupied and allowed me to remove myself from the realities around me. A lot of people weren't so lucky and that doesn't include the thousands who have died. Many will never recover from the experience and no doubt we will witness certain fourth rate media personalities regaling us with their mental health issues and producing books etc to tell us how we can combat the effects of isolation, fear and in my case my burgeoning waistline. But I digress.

 Has anyone else found that as the months have dragged on they struggle to focus to complete even simple tasks. Procrastination is certainly an issue I repeatedly confront and finding ways to remain motivated increasingly difficult. But enough of my whining, lets talk wargames and all things positive.

This nightmare has certainly been good for most figure producers and I hope this has percolated down to the smaller one man companies as we ordered figures, paints, buildings etc via the internet. I would like to think its been a boom year for the traders.

 I read today that the share price of the mighty Games Workshop makes them richer than Marks and Spencer's. Now that could be down to the price of their figures and the numbers they have shifted, but I suspect my purchase of their Contrast Paints has gone someway towards them making piles of cash. I confess I do like using the range but find the price hard to accept, but I still buy the damned things.

 In  the early months of the lockdown I was finding myself able to paint figures by the score as I quickly built up units of ancient Persians, Greeks, Caesarean Romans and Ancient Britons. The release of the first box of the Wargames Atlantic Ancient Persian range didn't help with the numbers of figures I found myself painting, and just when I thought I had enough Persians, Victrix released their first box of Sparabara that are beautiful figures and of course they provided beautiful transfers for the shields and quivers the figures possess. Having now seen their images of their Persian cavalry and  heavy infantry I know I will need more storage boxes.

 Wargamers are really spoiled.....

                                             Wargames Atlantic, Persian Sparabara.

                                                     Victrix, Persian Sparabara.

This image is of the Persian infantry, based for both Sword and Spear and Hail Caesar. The cavalry are of equal size and numbers. Personally I know I over did the numbers, but what else could one do. 

 I couldn't help myself and bought a number of unpainted and really old Mini Fig Ethiopian infantry.

                                   My small but very effective Caesarean Roman army.

Unfortunately as we approached the autumn I began to struggle with being able to sit and paint for any length of time, well actually being able to sit per se. The pain was diagnosed as two bulging discs. I wont bore anyone with the details, but sitting for any length of time has become a debilitating issue which clearly affected my wellbeing. I've found that even surfing the internet has become tiresome, which I will use as an excuse for my lack of regular blogs. The reality is, that I had little to say, and what I could have said wouldn't have been very inspiring and probably depressing. 

 

Luckily a free set of rules has helped me combat the issues I was struggling with. 

Andy Callan's free Wars of the Roses rules offered me inspiration and a small kick up the backside. 'Never Mind the Billhooks' a diminutive booklet is a joy as a wargame. It possesses enough historical realism to make it feel right' for the period whilst flowing easily. Basically its a game that's simple to play whilst containing enough friction to reflect the historical nuances that were the Wars of the Roses.

 So having sold my WOR armies many years ago I am now slowly replacing them. Talk about Groundhog Day. Years ago my mother in law obtained details of the history of my family name and the heraldry that would have been used if my family had been influential enough to have possessed such a thing. Its all bollocks really but I will be fielding my own 'ward' resplendent in its livery, and why not.  It is keeping me amused and inspiring me to take up a brush for short intervals. 

 

This  'ward' is mainly Grenadier, Citadel and a few Perry Kern. In order to cut back on the expense I fully intend to use Perry plastics, but everyone knows about the best laid plans. The actual flag is the Stanley family as is the livery colours.  

 So thanks Andy for your work and generosity. Later this year? Andy will be releasing a further set of rules for the period with added units, rule etc. and also additional cards to frustrate the players I cant wait.

  One of the many things I have put off is actually counting the number of new figures etc that I managed to paint during this crisis. I know its a lot, but I have continually found reasons not to actually find out. Perhaps its because I know its too many and will probably never be used in battle. 

So finally I hope everyone has weathered the crisis and like me is looking forward to lots of wargames big and small with a smattering of wargames shows thrown in for good luck.

      

   

Out of the Shadows.

I thought it was time to come out of the shadows and post something. This has been the longest period of blog inactivity since I started this journey [whatever that means]. Like most I think the pernicious affects of lock-down have proven increasingly difficult to cope with as the months have dragged on. I am no different and what initially was just about bearable became something much more unpleasant as we saw Summer disappear and the dark nights encroach upon us.

  One very noticeable affect, well with me anyway was that I simply began putting things off and generally finding excuses to basically do absolutely nothing. My wargaming has suffered along with my sanity which was always a tad fragile.

 To compound the misery I ended up with a back problem involving bulging discs! [ yes it balanced out my bulging stomach]

Our wonderful NHS decided that I should simply continue with strong pain killers and failed to diagnose the disc issues and sciatica, but the pain wasnt pleasant.  Luckily I could afford to visit a private physiotherapist who had worked for Sunderland AFC in their glory years in the Premiership.

[ yes he is a bit old] He spotted the issues immediately and continued treatment has vastly improved my mobility, so I am on the mend.

So what has this to do with wargaming? 

Well it has allowed me to take up a brush again and crack off some ancient units for my Persian, Roman, Gallic and Greek armies which became my project during lock-down. As usual what were intended to be modest projects have expanded into full blown armies. I had intended to use the excellent Sword and Spear rules and base my armies around them. Naturally this changed and I continued adding units in order to use the armies in a Hail Caesar game. Best laid plans and all that.

 It has kept me relatively sane though and I thank my lucky stars that I am a wargamer first and foremost, God help the people who arent as lucky. 

During lock-down my lovely wife decided that I needed some friends and finally convinced me to obtain two kittens. I will be honest but after I lost my last two cats I couldnt contemplate going through the misery of loss again and kept putting it off. Anyway that view changed when I was sent to collect two kittens, Lola and Ayra who now run the house and my life. So Im back to holding conversations with two felines who find it a hoot to run wild around my house and pick up the odd figure and then lose it. 

 

 This is Ayra laid across the top of my wargames room door wondering what exactly is going on. We discussed this for a while before she climbed into a box of unpainted SYW infantry and fell asleep. I think she believes wargaming is daft compared to chasing her tail. Cant argue with that. I hold daily in depth conversations with them and find their viewpoint refreshing concerning all manner of things.

 Returning to this wargaming marlarky, I found the latest Miniature Wargames magazine poor, but found the Last Word article by the editor John Treadway interesting. For those who dont bother with the magazine it concerned Covid and the impact on wargames shows, should we ever return to meeting wargamers at such events.

 Clearly John has become a half pint empty man and fears that due to traders apparently having a bumper year that they will deign not to attend certain shows and naturally this will have a knock-on effect as punters stay away due to traders not attending as they count their wealth.

 Its a perfectly reasonable supposition and I can definitely see the logic in certain traders not bothering with some shows. I could also understand if some of the clubs that run said shows decide not to bother until things settle down post Covid.

I take the opposite view however [naturally] 

If there is one thing that is obvious since this social nightmare started and that's wargamers are very social creatures and NEED physical social contact and not just to wargame. Shows were becoming more of a social event for me anyway as I was in the lucky position of having plenty of stuff to be getting on with so didn't need to buy too much at a show. I dont think Im the exception and in fact believe that when things do settle down wargame shows will need to consider ticketing events to simply control numbers and yes this includes even the most basic club show. I may even consider travelling North to Scotland if that's where the shows are. 'Build it and they will come', to steal a line from a film.