2nd to 4th July, Knuston Hall, Northamptonshire

(meeting outdoors and empty chairs ... posterity will know this was 2021)

Yes, it's true - we've been back on the road!

WD's 2021 Conference of Wargamers, Knuston Hall, was able to take place with a reduced capacity and with Social Distancing required - which was initially very weird.  Fortunately, the weather was mostly good over the weekend, which enabled a number of outdoor sessions and masks to come off.

This will be a relatively short report, as there were only a small number of ancient and medieval games at CoW this year  - if there was a theme, it was Cold War/Terrorism and/or Cluedo respun.  But I ended up spending a lot of my weekend in the 18th Century (an unexpected collection of excellent games, from pirates to night attacks and set piece battles) ...

 

(the variety of CoW 2021 ... 18th century attacks, terrorist cluedo, tanks on the lawn and all fuelled by a kitchen excelling itself ... ) ...

 

If you want to see more of the other stuff, there are pictures on my companion blogs

 

18th Century on Phil's FoG Blog

 

20th Century on Yesthatphil's P.B.EyeCandy

 

I'm afraid I missed out on the intro session to Never Mind the Billhooks, but I got in a late night game of Trebian's latest publication, Dicing With Death ... an alternative for Gladiator fans who don't like cards or dominoes.

 

 

(a multiple combat: Dicing with Death)

 

We had a fun little session and it seemed to work OK even with three players (which was never really possible with Gladiolus - historically so, Andy would always have said, but nonetheless, players often want to do it) ...

 

We also played a learning game of 300, a board game of the Persian Invasions. I liked it - I won (GGIW).  Actually we were told that the Persiand had not actually won in any of the presenter's series of games, although the reputation is that there is a fine and fair balance.

 

(the last turn: the play completed, but the scoring still show the score before the tally-up: +1 still, to the Greeks)

... so I was happy to take the Persians and give them ago.  Indeed the odds  did seem stacked in favour of the Greeks.  Nevertheless, I managed to get through to the end without losing a King and with a good hand (and a strategy) for the last turn.

I took Athens, and, courtesy of a very useful card, managed to hang on to it and the rest of my conquests (+6 to the Persians, in the nick of time)

 

 

Not at all ancients, but I'm sure some regular readers will be interested in the pirates game, which was designed and put on by Sue Barker, and in which Phil Barker commanded the treasure ships while I and a couple of other pirates tried to engage them and steal their bags of treasure.

 

(To Sail the Spanish Main by Sue Laflin Barker)
 

Phil, of course, is getting on a bit, these days, but commanded the ships very well (and unsportingly sank most  of my pirates), getting most of his ships into port. I haven't seen Phil since before Covid, of course, so it was nice to see him well enjoying the games.

The ships Sue was using were those cut out Spanish Armada ones from Helion.

 

(Cows, silly hats, SYW flats, Treb's SCW and those paper galleons: more from Cow 2021) 

I played 9 games from Friday dinner to Sunday tea ... not bad at all.

I also put on a few pounds.

Kelmarsh, Northamptonshire, 25th July

Festival of History

'Festival of History' is the English Heritage summer event just down the road from me at Kelmarsh Hall. It it very big on the outdoor stuff - living history, re-enactment, fly pasts etc. It covers (mostly military) history through to the Twentieth Century, but with masses to entertain and inform enthusiasts of ancient and medieval warfare: a custom zone devoted to the Siege of Harfleur and Henry's French adventure, a Gladiator ring, and a Tilt Yard - in addition to scheduled displays from the coming of the Romans to the advent of gunpowder in the main arenas ...

(The main Hall vista with Roman drill demonstration taking place)

There was a large medieval component to the living history zones, and a lot of weaponry being demonstrated.
There is an extensive wargames zone run by the Phoenix Wargames Club - historical games aimed at getting visitors to see the light: 2 ancients games (Thermopylae and Caratacus - both employing Warhammer Ancient Battles) an English Civil War game, aerial action with Wings of War and a Battle of the Bulge snowscapes game.

(some of the historical games presented by the Phoenix Wargames Club)

I had an interesting chat with them over the Thermopylae game - it was apparently lasting much longer than WAB battles usually do - there was an outflanking move through the passes that was making slower than expected progress (meanwhile, frontal attacks on the Spartan position were proving virtually futile .. well, that seems OK, then ...). Good effort by the club, and plenty of kids joining in. Ancients looking by far the most popular.

(those 300 Spartans again)

Apart from the fact that there is 'ancient and medieval history and wargaming set therein' throughout the event - so any Society of Ancients enthusiast would warm to it - this is an excellent family event with plenty to do and, I thought, much better access than the similar event for which we used to do the ancient tabletop games some years back at Kirby Hall (History in Action). Expensive tickets, maybe, but more than a full day's worth of stuff to see and do, free parking, idyllic Northamptonshire and a big discount if you join English Heritage. mark it in your diaries for next year and cross your fingers for a sunny day.

With Naseby Battlefield only a mile or two away, there is always a strong ECW theme to the event - and indeed I was there to meet some of the Battlefields Trust activists in connection with a Naseby project I am engaged with for the Pike and Shot Society. Whilst the rest of us go about our normal business, making a living, supporting families, enjoying historical hobbies etc., the Battlefields Trust are waging a campaign (sometimes a rearguard action, it seems) to protect our military heritage from being concreted over as carparks, housing developments and motorways. Towton is near the top of the endangered list. The trust needs our support and help in this vital work.

There are more (ECW) pictures from Kelmarsh (and ongoing updates about my Naseby project at the ECW Battles in Miniature blog).

To find out more about the Battlefields Trust (and help with a donation if you can ...) go to their website ... (here... )

Gladiators

OK - here are the scales I like for Gladiators ....
This posting is partly to show I read the comments you send ... partly to illustrate why I'm not bothered with 28mm ... and partly just because I like gladiator figures (hey ... it's the Society of Ancients - it's allowed)...

Actually, if the brilliant Revell 90mm plastics had been available all along (and if there were more than just these two, of course) ... I think there's no doubt this would be the winning general purpose scale.. they are chunkily impressive, obviously robust, and retail for under a fiver! Come on Revell - make a few more variants!


No - they're not real people, they are toys!

Even so, the little guys still have a charm all of their own - so if you go properly big for a combat game, there's still scope for a Slave Revolt army (and no real need to be too scrupulously 'purist' ... mixing a few gladiators into the ranks tells you something about the characters, even if they are no more likely to have fought in 'costume' than Napoleon's guardsmen!...)
... and so, just for fun ... here are some of those 15s again:



Enjoy.

Birmingham, 31st May - 1st June

UK Games Expo 2008


OK ... I know - no ancients content in that photo at all - I just wanted to give you a feel for the event. This was not a regular wargames event - but a more general games fair ... so although, amongst the magic, dragon chasing, and gangster cleansings, a FoG event was being played (and Flames of War on the Sunday ...), the venue was full of families, suited-up roleplayers and self-confessing boardgame geeks ... not quite the general public we meet at Milton Keynes - but still a refreshingly diverse mix of people who don't yet know they want to play historical ancients! Edgebaston's extensive Clarendon Suites are the elegant venue for this sprawling event: lots of rooms, lots of traders, lots of demo tables and even more visitors...

So not a lot of space left over. This was our first visit to the Expo, and very much an exploratory outing. The organisers had provided us with an 'information' stand ... so somewhere on which to lay out Slingshots and games (the guts of what the Society of Ancients does ...) but no linked gaming or demonstrating table (which was OK, as, forewarned, I was covering the event solo..)..

The Expo is very much about playing, and joining in. The organisers' preferred style is for rooms centred around games to try out, with trade and information stands surrounding them - preferably sponsoring the tables in front, and selling the games being hosted on them (so the show is like a vast 'try it and buy it' bazaar...): so, a great idea, though not a model that exactly matches a non-commercial association like the Society of Ancients. Needless to say, I would have loved to have been able to set up the full 'Shows North' participation version of Gladiolus, and I think it would have gone down very well.

Remember them? They certainly draw visitors in.... They take 4' x 4', though - not an option, even if I'd had them! Fortunately, as well as 'the big fellas' I have some 15mm Gladiators (which, of course, actually fit on the board that comes in the Society Game Pack ...)..

These allow a Gladiolus game to go almost anywhere - and so I was able to set something up, and show interested browsers how the game works. Of course, I'm a big fan of the 15mm scale - and even though they are small, I still think they look OK...

Good enough to merit a few gratuitous photos, anyway. Gladiators are such a great subject for pictures ... For those of you that are bound to ask, I think these were a mixture of Museum Miniatures and Outpost(?) ...

... then mucked about a bit by me so the equipment is a reasonable match to the descriptions designer Andy Gittins gives for the (6) specific gladiators built into the game (but its a while since I did them). For 15mm figures, I think they have photographed up nicely ...
The Expo? an enjoyable weekend, and the Society's range of games proved very popular. I think sometimes we don't make a big enough play of the diverse selection of games written by our members and published by the Society of Ancients over the last 15 years: from these Gladiators to the Medieval Tournament, from Ancient naval battles in 'Corvus' to the re-issue of Paddy Griffith's rampaging 'Aquitaine' ... and in the middle? Dynastic politics, Dark Age skirmishes, battles for the lordship of the Steppes, and the innovation of Graham D Evans and the De Matrica Bellae 'matrix' game. Oh, yes ... and more gladiators ...
You can get all of these from the Society - they are listed in Slingshot, and Peter tells me the shopping option for them will soon be up on the website - but I'm wondering if here, or somewhere like it, isn't where you should 'find out more ...' I'll see if we can't get a bit more supporting material up somewhere ... the games are such a great resource.

The Expo? yes - I hope they will invite us back next year, and I hope we can play a fuller part. I understand the Field of Glory mini tournament went well - so perhaps there will be more of an ancient/historical flavour in the vibrant mix, next year.

Thanks, everyone
(for more on the UK Games Expo ... click here)