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Dan M
United Kingdom
Worthing
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Well, sort of.
I've decided to shift all news about my games onto a new, non-BGG blog. This one has been great fun to log my thoughts and games on, but I've decided that moving to a site where I feel more comfortable posting commercial info about the books and games I'm working hard at producing.
I still hope to post on here from time to time about games that aren't my own designs, but for now you can keep following me here: http://merseybooks.blogspot.co.uk/
Cheers...
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Dan M
United Kingdom
Worthing
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... Our shows are formidable.
I've just received these - and many more - 28mm Wargames Foundry figures back from professional painter Matt Slade (http://glenbrookgames.co.uk). Matt's done a great job on these and I'm really pleased with them.
The figures are old Citadel ones now sold by Wargames Foundry; as a kid, I'd do the magazine equivalent of pushing my nose right up against the glass of a shop window when looking at them in a White Dwarf advert. But I never licked the page. Honest.
I'll be using these for games of Song of Blades and Heroes and my own Arthurian supplement Song of Arthur and Merlin. I still use The Lord of the Rings: Strategy Battle Game for all sorts of medieval skirmishes so they'll get a run out with those rules as well. I think they'll look pretty fine as playing pieces in Shadows over Camelot and Shadows over Camelot: Merlin's Company on the occasions I use the expansion with the main game (which isn't so often). I'd like to figure out a way to get them on the table when I play Ivanhoe and Camelot Legends but that requires a bit more thought. Any ideas?
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Dan M
United Kingdom
Worthing
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Well, I realised today that this is the first anniversary of my first blog post. How time flies. . .
I thought I’d take a step back and look at the games I’ve played over that year, just to see what’s popular on my gaming table. I’ve excluded games of Dux Bellorum and the other playtest rules that I’ve tried out (both my own and other people’s), so what you see here are published games only. I’ve also only included games that I played five or more times otherwise the list would become insufferably long.
16 plays: Cartagena II.
Well well, I wouldn't have guessed this was my top play in the past year; I picked it up on a trip to New York, having played online at youplay.it over the past few years. Cartagena benefits from being a game I can interest non-gamers in, and they pick it up pretty easily after a couple of turns.
13 plays: Axis & Allies Naval Miniatures: War at Sea, Hey, That's My Fish!.
War At Sea has been a bit of a fad game for me since I picked it up last October. I’ve always had an interest in naval games but have also struggled to find any that I’ve enjoyed, or been able to understand! WaS isn’t an in depth simulation of naval warfare, but it’s a nicely crafted game with some rather nice little toy ships - which has meant it has stacked up a fair few plays in six months. Hey That’s My Fish is a superb little filler game - nasty, brutal, short - and usually accompanies me to gaming sessions in case we finish up early and can squeeze this game in. I’ve only had it since Christmas, but it’s been one of my best value purchases in a long time.
12 plays: Memoir '44.
An old favourite that keeps me engaged. I record plays of the expansions separately, so if I lumped them all together I’d have played this more over the past year. It has plastic tanks, plastic soldiers, fun dice, and nice cards, so what’s not to like? This is a game I’ll turn to if I fancy a wargame but don't have the time or space to set a miniatures game up.
11 plays: Soccer Dice.
A fad around the end of the last football/soccer season. I was testing my theory of whether Peterborough United would remain unbeatable in the medium of boardgames. They didn’t: Peterborough United "are magic"
8 plays: De Bellis Antiquitatis, Backgammon.
DBA has been a favourite of mine for around 20 years now, and most of what I can say about it was said in these posts: De Bellis Antiquitatis: (Belated) Happy 21st Birthday Part 1 and De Bellis Antiquitatis: (Belated) Happy 21st Birthday Part 2. This year, I’ve played less Dark Ages games and concentrated on Hoplite Greeks, as I have a couple of nice armies using 15mm Xyston Miniatures. Backgammon is a favourite game of my partner, which I have so-so feelings about (game not partner!); looking at the number of games of my choice that she plays, I guess I should make more of an effort with backgammon!
7 plays: Carcassonne, Drakon (third edition), Legends of the Old West.
Carcassonne is a favourite of mine, but for some reason it’s not hit the table that much this past year; that’s possibly because we’ve played a lot of Cartgena, which occupies the same area of gaming as Carcassonne. The same goes for Drakon, although I’ve ‘rediscovered’ it recently and clocked up a few games. Legends of the Old West is a nice Wild West miniatures skirmish - it gets played because I have a chum who also enjoys the game, and we both have some wonderful minis from Black Scorpion and Artizan, so play it when we meet up.
6 plays: Song of Blades and Heroes.
Most of these plays have been with my own Song of Arthur and Merlin supplement. Songs of Blades and Heroes is a simple but tight system and allows me to play small scale skirmishes quickly and on a small table, and doesn't bog down in too much detail (unlike some other skirmish games I’ve played). If anyone asked me to recommend a good value fantasy skirmish game to them, it would be this.
5 plays: Axis & Allies Air Force Miniatures: Angels 20, Commands & Colors: Ancients, Letters from Whitechapel, Through the Desert.
Angels 20 and Through the Desert are both new to me since Christmas, so I expect to play more of both in the coming months. Angels 20 is a dogfighting game which covers just the right level of detail for me, rather like War at Sea. Letters from Whitechapel is a superb game but I’ve found elss takers for it, mostly due to playing time (and also because the secrecy involved means that you can't really ‘talk’ the game as you play it, which I’ve discovered is a vital part of having fun). Commands & Colors Ancients is one of those games I go through phases of playing; it sits between the complexity level of most of the Ancient miniatures games I own, and the simplicity of Memoir 44, and I am surprised I clocked up five plays.
Surprisingly, although I play a lot of miniatures games these mostly seem to be one or two games of each system each year (I own too many different sets of rules I guess!), so they never feature highly in my ‘five or more plays’. DBA usually does, as I’ve been plugging away at it for years and it’s a convenient miniatures game to play on week nights; Legends of the Old West and Songs of Blades of Heroes are simply good games so get reasonable numbers of plays. It’s probably the case that other miniatures games have been played less this year as I’ve been playtesting my own games during most miniatures sessions. Some of the other games on the list benefit from being quick games that we can play in our weekly lunchtime club at work: Lunchtime games
All in all, this feels a fairly varied list, which makes me happy that I’m not limiting myself to one genre of gaming.
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Dan M
United Kingdom
Worthing
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Chum Steve Jones, talented painting chap and one of the authors of Age of Arthur, has been rebasing his 28mm armies for Dux Bellorum, Impetus, and Basic Impetus ... one basing system fits all!
Anyhow, Steve's posted some photos of his latest Dux Bellorum game, along with a write up at his blog (which in itself is an inspirational place to hang out):
http://paintingshed.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/dux-bellorum-game...
and
http://paintingshed.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/dux-bellorum-game...
There's lots of other Dux Bellorum bits and pieces there too.
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Dan M
United Kingdom
Worthing
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I noticed the following description of my Dux Bellorum game on Amazon; I thought you might find it interesting to see what Osprey Publishing (the game's publisher) is saying about it:
The Dark Age of Britain, from the middle of the 4th century to the end of the 8th, was a time of violence and warfare, when charismatic warlords such as the fabled King Arthur could gather together armies and carve out their own kingdoms. With this new set of wargames rules, players can take on the role of these warlords and command their own armies on the tabletop. Written by the author of the popular Glutter of Ravens: Warfare in the Age of Arthur rules set, Dux Bellorum is an element-based system, where each base of figures represents 50 fighting men. Each player has a specific number of points with which to construct his force and can choose to a Late Roman, Romano-British, Welsh, Saxon, Pictish, Irish, or Sea Raider army. The game is then played out following a set of simple, fast-paced rules. A completely self-contained gaming system, Dux Bellorum is perfect for gamers who are looking for a way into fighting Dark Age battles without investing a lot of time or money in larger rulesets.
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Dan M
United Kingdom
Worthing
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As Dux Bellorum is being laid out and edited, I've used my free time to start working on a new Miniatures game. I've pulled together some of the ideas that I've been chewing over recently, and I nearly have the first play test rules ready to distribute.
This one will be a very simple game, and involves knights, pikes, bows and other assorted Medieval ruffians.
If you're interested in medieval miniatures games and have a few armies kicking around, drop me a line if you'd like to try to get in on the play testing.
More news soon...
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Dan M
United Kingdom
Worthing
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Today’s Dux Bellorum game was the classic Arthurian match up: a mounted Romano-British force against a foot-only Saxon army. The scenario was a British raid into Saxon territory, to notch up a bit of glory and maybe even earn a poem or two recited in memory the raid.
The Romano-British army was a Land Raider force lead by Cynddylan Emperor Of All Powys (not just some of Powys, ALL of Powys), and comprised of his Mounted Companions and four warbands of Noble Riders; the remaining army points were used to boost Cynddylan’s Leadership to a massive 9 points meaning that this was a small but very well motivated force.
Up against them were Osric’s Mercians, a Saxon Shieldwall army (most armies have a choice of fielding a Shieldwall or Warrior army, depending on the period and the player’s interpretation of how these armies really fought). There was nothing fancy about Osric’s force: his Foot Companions, two Noble Shieldwall warbands and five Ordinary Shieldwalls; Osric also had two warbands of Foot Skirmishers armed with bows. Although Osric had a numerical advantage, his Leadership was not boosted beyond the basic value of 6, meaning that Cynddylan would be able to outsmart the Saxons tactically throughout the game.
Above: Osric's Saxons
Briton and Saxon met in a narrow pass, with hills and woods on either side; a good point for a local Saxon force to block off a mounted raiding party. The Saxons deployed simply: one long battleline with one Noble and all of the Ordinary Shieldwalls present (mixing both is an effective tactic, Ordinary units becoming braver when the professionals are with them). The Saxon Skirmishers were up the hill on the left flank, and Osric’s Companions and one of the Noble Shieldwall units sat back in reserve.
The Britons advanced down the valley, and the engagement started with Riders attacking both ends of the Saxon line at once; the Saxon Skirmishers had not got into a position to use their bows yet, and the Britons’ advantage in leadership points saw a few hits inflicted and both Saxon wings falling back. (Leadership points get used for a variety of actions, from boosting fighting ability or blocking hits, to making your units more likely to move.)
Over the next couple of turns, the battle rattled on along both flanks, the Saxon centre held, and the remaining British horsemen sat back – by attacking piecemeal, Cynddylan could use more of his Leadership points in concentrated areas. Noble Rider versus Shieldwall is an interesting match up in Dux Bellorum – the Riders attack with a decent number of dice, but the Shieldwalls are well protected (only being hit on a roll of 6); at the same time, Shieldwalls are not good on the attack, so although Riders are easier to score hits against, the Shieldwall rolls fewer dice to achieve those hits with. This is where Leadership points come into play in a big way – the Saxons can use them to boost their number of attacks, and the Britons can use them to cancel hits … or make even more attacks whilst remaining vulnerable. The cannier player will fare better in this game-within-a-game.
Above: Cynddylan's early successes
Anyway, back to the battle…
Cynddylan committed his own Companions to the battle at this point, charging forward into the Saxon centre. With 9 Leadership points, having three warbands in combat maximised the use of these (each warband may be allocated a maximum of three Leadership points each turn). The Saxons had 6 Leadership points, and chose to split these between all of the units contacted by the Riders, so that no part of the line was too weak. Throughout the battle so far, Osric stood back, waiting for a chance to bring his own Companions into battle: Foot Companions are the Chuck Norris of Dux Bellorum, dishing out damage and absorbing loads too. It’s not unusual to see a game end with the rest of an army routed or dead and the Companions surrounded but still strong. That’s how I’ve often imagined a Dark Ages battle to have been.
Above: Action on the Saxon left flank
On the Saxon left, the Skirmishers were shooting arrows from the cover of rocky ground, but with little effect. The Saxon Noble Shieldwall in reserve moved up to the left end of the line to support one of the Shieldwalls that was on the point of breaking. Over a few turns, the Britons gradually ground down the Saxon defence, with their superior number of Leadership points making more of a difference than the Saxon numerical advantage. (It’s a fine line in Dux Bellorum, some battles have gone the way of the larger force, some in favour of the force with better Leadership – this suggests that the balance is about right, although it does take experience to get your leadership point usage bang on).
In one dramatic turn, both Saxon flanks collapsed, and the centre buckled as fresh warband of British Riders came into the battleline. The last of the British Riders headed uphill and routed both of the Skirmisher units, who had little impact on the game (they rolled a lot of 1s and 2s, but in general Skirmishers are weak in Dux Bellorum – I don’t imagine that many Dark Ages battle were won by the power of Skirmishers).
Gaps started to appear in the Saxon line, and as casualties begin to mount and warbands are removed, a player’s Leadership points decrease. This means that once your army starts to lose, the battle slips away from you unless you act quickly. Osric didn’t. His Companions had stood passively behind the main battleline, and as the two warbands on the Saxon right were both destroyed in consecutive turns, Osric bagan to move his troops to protect that flank. It was too late, however, as the Saxon centre also finally collapsed. The Saxons entered their final turn with 1 Leadership left against the Britons’ untouched 9 Leadership, so with the extra dice boost this gave Cynddylan, the Saxons suffered a pretty comprehensive defeat with only the Companions and one of the Noble Shieldwalls holding their ground on the battlefield. Dux Bellorum games do invariably end in quite a bloody way, with one side almost destroyed; for me, this doesn’t mean that all of the units that have been removed have been wiped out, they’ve simply had enough and leg it back home. Cohesion is as much a warbands’ will to fight as it is a numerical assessment.
Above: The Saxons' main problem: clear gems are their Leadership Points, red are the Britons'. Oh dear.
It was a close run thing though. Cynddlyan had discreetly removed himself from the main fight, as his Companions had fought hard but had been reduced to 1 point of Cohesion (units break when they fall to 0). Three other Noble Rider units also sat at 1 point of Cohesion, with only the warband who had engaged the Skirmishers maintaining any decent level of Cohesion.
Looking at the battlefield at the end of the game, Cynddylan probably did earn his poem; shame it’s not survived in a modern, written form … one of the surviving historical poems about him ends rather less well for the warlord of Powys.
The game took around 10 turns – typically I forgot to keep track of this – and lasted for about an hour, perhaps a little more. The game was played on a table surface roughly 3x3ft and units were based on 6cm wide frontages, which allowed for only limited manoeuvring (and couldn’t be much further removed from last weekend’s game of Hail Caesar!). Unlike its predecessor Glutter of Ravens: Warfare in the Age of Arthur, Dux Bellorum requires much less bookkeeping, so ticks along nicely once you know the basics. This was a cagey affair, and as usual the winning side had a lot of units only 1 point away from breaking – if the Saxons had held for another turn, it might all have been different.
I won’t tell you which army I led, but let’s just say that Osric won’t be making another appearance on my side of the table at any point soon.
All figures used in this game were painted by chum
and are 15mm Strategia e Tactica models.
Six months until the Osprey Publishing rulebook hits the streets!
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Dan M
United Kingdom
Worthing
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This weekend just gone I had two battles: one game of Hail Caesar courtesy of James Morris, and another against the snow and railway network to get from the south coast of the UK to Nottingham. The latter took twice as many trains as it should have, but the former more than made up for that as it was a fantastic day of gaming.
James' plan was to refight a Dark Ages battle at a ratio of 1:1 - quite some going. I can't say too much about it here, as the game is going to feature in a future special issue of Wargames Illustrated magazine www.wargamesillustrated.net. Instead, I'll offer up a couple of snaps of the British and Saxon armies that battered each other.
I had a cracking time and it was great to meet up with friends of old and new. A couple of their reports/photos can be found here:
Chum Andy's: http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?PHPSESSID=99582987863...
Chum Paul's: http://scrivsland.blogspot.com/2012/02/very-big-dark-ages-ga...
Note to self: stuffing jumper pockets out with gaming stuff makes you look even fatter than you are...
Hail Caesar worked really well for the Dark Ages battle. What with this game, James and Steve Jones' Age of Arthur (Steve took part in this game too), Saga, Song of Blades and Heroes, Warmaster Ancients, Hordes of the Things, my new Dux Bellorum on the way and old Glutter of Ravens: Warfare in the Age of Arthur still around, there's plenty of good - and varied - choice for Dark Ages miniatures gamers right now. Wonderful stuff!
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Dan M
United Kingdom
Worthing
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I've just had the final version of Dux Bellorum's cover sent to me by Osprey Publishing. This looks superb to me, and very much an Osprey-style cover. It oozes atmosphere.
As a game designer, it's great to see the final cover art that's going to appear on your game, especially when you've not had to draw it yourself (!); I've always been excited about how my games will look in print, from the more humble Glutter of Ravens: Warfare in the Age of Arthur right up to Andrea Sfiligoi's wonderfully colourful Song of Arthur and Merlin cover.
All. Very. Exciting.
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Dan M
United Kingdom
Worthing
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Or less than £53 if you buy the rule book too. Although the Dux Bellorum rules are noted as running up to AD793, there’s no reason why you can’t push that date a little further . . . especially if you can create a Later Saxon and (Viking) Sea Raider army from just two boxes of Gripping Beast's superb plastic figures. For around £50, players can get the two boxes (88 miniatures) plus the game book, which gives you enough goodies to make two standard 32-point armies. More details on the Gripping Beast minis here: http://grippingbeast.com/shop.php?CatID=421
Place your units on 80mm x 40mm bases. Here’s how to use the contents of those two boxes, with 6 spare Vikings added to the Saxon army to boost their numbers (there are enough Saxon heads to make this work well):
GBP01: Viking Hirdmen
Army list: Sea Raiders
Aggressor Rating: +5
Leadership Points: 8 (costing 4 points)
1 Foot Companions with leader @ 5 points (6 minis)
4 Noble Warriors @ 5 points each (24 minis)
1 Ordinary Warriors @ 3 points (6 minis)
GBP02: Saxon Thegns
Army list: Late era Saxons
Aggressor Rating: +3
Leadership Points: 6
1 Foot Companions with Leader @ 5 points (8 minis, including the standard bearers)
3 Noble Shieldwall @ 5 points each (24 minis)
3 Ordinary Shieldwall @ 3 points each (only use 6 minis per base to show they’re Ordinary, so 18 minis)
Special rule: Loyal (costing 3 points): 1 Noble unit has +1 Bravery.
And of course once you've got them glued together and based up, you can use these units for other small army sized, element-based games such as De Bellis Antiquitatis, Basic Impetus, and Armati/Armati II. If you choose to base individually and temporarily base them for Dux Bellorum, your Saxons and Vikings can be used for Gripping Beast's own Saga rules too. Over the years I've discovered that a nice collection of miniatures gives you the opportunity for trying out all sorts of wargames.
So now you just need to get gluing. . .
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