A weekend in Dorset

 

We've had a spell of bugs and illness over the last month, so last weekend we decided to take advantage of the long Bank Holiday weekend and take a short break away to cheer ourselves up.  We found a lovely, dog-friendly pub/small hotel near Bournemouth.  It was a lovely weekend and the perfect antidote to the Coronation.  

In amongst the cream teas in the New Forest and walking the dogs on the beach we managed to find a couple of historical things.

Mudeford Quay

One of our favourite spots has always been Mudeford.. a nice sheltered bay with short ferry trip to a huge sandbank filled with beach huts.  We've been here countless times but I'd never heard of the Battle of Mudeford.. a skirmish between 2 smugglers ships and a couple of navy cutters and a sloop.  All the details are on the plaque below but it involved a skirmish between sailors and marines trying to seize the smugglers ships before resorting to the more sensible option of using the navy ships' firepower to disperse the smugglers.  A scenario with huge gaming potential!

On the second day, after a lovely evening in the pub with 2 very well-behaved dogs (that's not always guaranteed!!) we had a wander along the beach and then stopped off in Christchurch.  This is Place Mill... a restored Anglo-Saxon mill which is now an arts centre.

And this is Christchurch Castle.  Dating back to 1107, it was attacked by supporters of King Stephen and later was seized by Parliamentary troops in the Civil War and then successfully fended off attacks by Royalists.

This is the Norman House which is a rare example of a Norman domestic building and dates from 1160... much nicer than a drafty old castle.

2 new projects

Despite my best intentions to concentrate on sorting out the figures and projects I have in the loft I've wandered into a couple of new ventures.  Obviously this is pretty standard for any gamer!

I've tried to stick to things which aren't going to require a big investment in time or money and should only require a relatively small number of figures 

#1 was inspired by going along to the Little Wars Revisited games day a couple of months ago and rediscovering my enjoyment of larger scale figures.  I've always fancied having some Three Musketeers figures so these 40mm figures have come from Steve Barber Models and are really lovely.  I also have a few coming from Eureka Miniatures... there's going to be a  delay in getting these as the guys at Eureka in Australia are on a break till June but, at the rate I paint that won't really be a problem.

The other project is one I've always wanted to do... a Mythic Greek/Jason and the Argonauts collection.  I'd been reading some stuff about Ray Harryhausen and that set me off on the trail of some figures.  Almost straight away I spotted a bargain deal on a couple of packs of Wargames Foundry figures on eBay...

When I started doing some research online I found loads of blog posts by gamers who've done similar themed projects... clearly we all have a love of Jason battling stop-motion skeletons!  Now that the Covid symptoms have subsided I've primed them all and am ready to get painting, accompanied by some inspirational listening... the audiobook of Stephen Fry's Mythos which is a great re-telling of classic Greek myths

No trip to Salute for me...

Round about now I should have been on the train to London for the annual trip to Salute but sadly...

I started feeling a bit unwell on Wednesday and by Thursday was really shaky and feeling dreadful.  Ironically I'm actually feeling quite a bit brighter this morning but I'll still be infectious so crowded tube trains and Salute are a definite no-go.  I didn't have any particular shopping plans for Salute so there's no great problem... in fact it'll stop me buying stuff I really don't need!

If I'm up to it later I'll use my free afternoon to prep some figures for a couple of new small projects.

A trio of castles...

 I posted the other day about Cadzow Castle near Glasgow.  A couple of days after getting back home from out trip back home we were off again, this time to Herefordshire and the Welsh Borders.  My wife was taking part in a days blacksmithing experience which my son and I had gifted to her for last years birthday: she loved it and I can highly recommend Oldfield Forge.  

We had a lovely day meandering up to the Forest of Dean and Ross on Wye before staying overnight at a local pub.  It's a part of the country we used to spend a lot of time in but haven't been to for years so it was a special trip.  Once I'd dropped her off at the forge I went off in search of castles.  Let's be honest, you can't move in Wales without tripping over a castle and there are the Three Castles within 15 minutes of each other a short distance from the forge.

Skenfrith Castle:

White Castle:

Grosmont Castle:

3 fantastic castles in beautiful locations.  White Castle is the most physically impressive but I loved Skenfrith with a lovely river (the Monnow) flowing past the walls and otters splashing on the bank.  I can even claim to have walked the Offa's Dyke Path, even if it was only for about 200 yards!!

Cadzow Castle

 We're just back from a week back home in Glasgow which, thanks to a horrendous gastric bug, turned out to be the week from hell!  We're all recovered now but it was a tough few days, especially for my elderly mum.  Just before we all succumbed to the lurgy, we'd taken the dogs off for a long walk at ended up at Chatelherault which is a large wooded park near Hamilton in Lanarkshire.  It was the site of a ridiculously over the top 'hunting lodge' for one of the Dukes of Hamilton

I've been there quite a few times but hadn't realised until this trip that it is also the location of the ruins of Cadzow Castle.  This is what's left of a 16thC castle, built on the site of an older Fort, dating back to David I.  This was probably also a hunting lodge but was visited by lots of Scottish Kings and eventually ended up with the Comyns who were embroiled in the Wars of Independence but picked the wrong side.

The later castle was built in around 1530 and Mary Queen of Scots stayed there after escaping from Lochleven (because of course she did..  there isn't a castle in Scotland that MQoS hasn't stayed in!).  As a result of this it was later demolished by the Earl of Mar, leaving the ruins that are visible today. Its in a pretty poor state and you can't actually get I to the ruins as they're a bit precarious but it's worth a visit if you're in the area.

As the sites were all hunting lodges, here is a pic of our hound hunting for big game (or possibly mice) and the rabbit he completely failed to spot!

 

Kingmaker the Second

 

Very excited this week with the arrival of the new edition of the classic game Kingmaker.  Back in 2020 I somehow found myself taking part in some online playtest games of the revised system (it was lockdown and we were all desperate to find something to do!).  The kickstarter by Gibson games was really well run and refreshingly they didn't try adding lots of extras which would slow down production... their aim was to get the game produced and out to backers on time.  Most kickstarters I've backed have usually ended up being at least a year or 2 overdue. Bizarrely I also discovered that Gibson Games are based about a mile from me!

The game itself is very nicely done.  The map and cards have had a refresh and have lost that 1970s look. 

For nostalgia fans though the original map is on the reverse of the board and the original rules are included.

The game comes with the 'new' rules as well as the originals, a solo version and several player aid cards.

Handily each player now gets a full set of noble counters in their own colour scheme which should make it easier to track who belongs to which faction

The cards have had a major upgrade and there are a few changes to make the nobles more accurate and to replace some anomalies (for example the odd Saxon mercenaries have been replaced with Landsknechts)

The rules themselves especially are now explained in a more user friendly style... less of the 1970s lawyer-ese that a lot of boardgames had.  Mostly the mechanics are the same: the 2 biggest changes are around movement and how to actually win.  Games of KM often involved counting endless permutations of the small white squares on the map to work out the best route.  Now counters move within larger regions or to an adjacent region, hopefully speeding this up.

The game has some new rules for set up including making sure that forces are more balanced at the beginning and players can now start with some pre-set faction to ensure no one begins with a duff hand of cards.

The biggest problem with 'old' KM was that games often ended up with someone grabbing a king and hiding out somewhere like Calais or Ireland where they were too powerful to be attacked.  Games tended to stagnate towards the end with powerful factions glowering at each other across the map and not risking a fight.  Now there is an alternative way to win... prestige!  If you hold a King (it's the Wars of the Roses so there can be more than 1) you can win by capturing towns, holding offices and fighting battles and generally raising your profile until you win by default... no more skulking in Ireland!!  I think this is a great change and it really changed the dynamic of the game during the playtests.  It should also mean that games come to a proper conclusion and don't fizzle out.

Little Wars Revisited games day 2023

 

So I'm a little late with this post, but last weekend I finally made it along to one of the annual Little Wars Revisited 54mm gatherings which happen once a year in Woking (along with a sister event up north in Stockport).  I went to this first one of these a few years ago and then a combination of covid, work and a flat tyre have meant I've missed every one since.  The day is a small event bringing together players who frequent the Little Wars 54mm forum and who enjoy games with larger figures (40mm and upwards).  There are usually around a dozen or so players from around the UK who get the chance to catch up and play a few games over the day.  The event takes place in the very pretty upstairs room at Christchurch in the centre of Woking... definitely the nicest wargames venue I've been to!

I could only make the afternoon but games on offer included Age of Penda, The Men Who Would Be Kings, Lion Rampant and a Cornish smuggling skirmish game.  There was also an intriguing snowball fight game which somehow I neglected to take any photos of.

First up some of Mike Lewis's very impressive NWF game featuring an armoured train being attacked by Pathans...

Some pics of the medieval themed Lion Rampant game with some impressive ramparts...

I played the Age of Penda game which pitched Vikings against Saxons and uses an intriguing order board.  Players have an allocated number of orders which they can use to claim the available slots on the board... there are enough order slots for everyone to be able to move, attack etc but there are a couple of limited special tactics and initiative orders which it's important to bid for if you can.

In our game my Viking force was a small but elite army with a lot of order points available.  Facing it were some rather poor Saxons with few order points but a lot of troops.  I decided to ignore subtlety and to charge headlong for the Saxon centre, carving my way through several units but at a cost to my small army.  Eventually it came down to the last dice throw of the game which sadly didn't go my way and rubbish Saxons claimed victory.  An excellent set of rules and ideal for this kind of event where you want a relatively quick game.  It would be very feasible to play both sides in an evening.

Finally a pic of the Smuggling skirmish... this looked great and had smugglers, locals and government troops all trying to seize the booty and polish off the opposition. It looked great fun and seemed to be heavy on the role-playing aspect

I haven't done anything with 54mm figures since I painted up m North West Frontier figures and I came away inspired to have a think about some larger scale gaming.  I was particularly struck but how good some skirmish games with a handful of figures can look (eg the smuggling game) with relatively few figures.  I always struggle to paint up lots of models so thinking about this kind of game (and my recent Fist Full of Lead games) has set some new projects into motion....