Tidying up the Arthurians

An upcoming possible big thing at the second Partizan show has kicked my backside into gear and I've spent a little time tidying up the Arthurians that I had re-based a while back.

Quite a few figures had lost their spears, and the bases were a bit messy. These figures have been re-based so many times, and this will definitely be the last for them. They are all Gripping Beast figures, mostly purchased ages ago (probably more years than I think) after reading the Cornwell Arthur books. 

They were originally based up for WAB and organised to the 'Fall of the West' supplement before James and Steve released their Arthur book.

They are all on 120mm unit bases, great for games of To The Strongest! and also for Hail Caesar or Dux Bellorum  (most of the units have integral dice frames).

Some skirmishers to finish off.. but these others are pretty ready I think.

(I'm not going to start re-painting shields and try to touch up too much)

Dux Bellorum battles

Recently Scrivs and I have played a couple of games of Dux Bellorum. They have been enjoyable affairs, but to be honest, a bit of a test of the rules too.

For me, there are aspects of these rules that I like.. but I end up feeling a little disappointed at the end of a game. Not sure if that's a case of needing to play more and learn the subtleties.. but playing until one unit is left on the table (not always going to happen I know), just feels wrong.

We wondered whether the game would work better with more or less units..

I'm happy with the basing that we've opted for - 120mm unit bases look good.. so not sure what's next.. either tinkering with the game.. or try something else.. Hail Caesar, Impetus..?

Scrivs posted great accounts of the battles on his blog so I won't repeat them here.. just a few pictures...

Scrivs uses these character figures to represent Leadership Points

British general gets stuck in a melee that he never escapes from

the lines clash

Saxons putting pressure on the British general

the sole British survivors about to meet their maker 

New Year game

Right, well happy New Year to my three 'followers' ! And anyone else who happens across this site.. I'm hoping to get much more gaming in next year and looking forward to new projects and plans. (Not least the Victrix Republican Roman release).

Our planned family board game afternoon didn't happen today, and the weather rather put me off a trip to Newark to visit the annual Toy Fair (giant swap meet). So, I thought I'd get some toys out on the dining table and have a little solo game.

I've kind of read through Dux Bellorum a couple of times, and worked through a few moves, but haven't really got the game into my head yet, so I thought I'd give that a go.

I played a straight-forward battle without any special rules to confuse myself with.. two 32 point armies, Romano British and Saxon, faced each other across the fields.

(These are all 28mm, mostly Gripping Beast, units based on 120mm frontage, so could have done with a bigger table perhaps)

I have to say that I'm not really any closer to getting my head around the rules. There are some great ideas in the book, such as the use of Leadership Points, but I do find the layout very confusing and spent a lot of time flicking through the pages, trying to clarify things. The multiple combats seem straight forward enough on paper, but I did find myself 'fudging' the odd combat here and there to keep the game moving.

I reckon I may have to play this against a real life person to properly understand it. 

Anyway, the game bogged down in a very Dark Ages toe to toe scrum, the Saxons eventually pulling off a minor victory.

Arthur re-based again

Some years ago I finished reading the Cornwell Arthur books, just as Gripping Beast put out their pretty special Arthurian ranges. I assembled a couple of small WAB armies, based around Romano British and the GB German Tribes warbands.
I used the 'Fall of the West' WAB book - probably still my favourite. When James Morris' excellent Arthur supplement came out, reading of the Saxon bucklers etc, I found that my armies seemed rather anochronistic.. the Romano British and the later Saxons.. one side needed to move back or forward a hundred years or so.
Anyway. I only played a few games of WAB. Some time later, I decided to try out some other rules.. perhaps Neil Thomas Ancient and Medieval Wargames, or Impetus.. I re-based the whole lot onto unit-sized bases. I loved the look of this, being able to organise the units into little dioramas, huddled together in a shieldwall. For one reason or another though, I didn't really take to the rules for this period and I took a breath and rebased the whole lot again for WAB.

And then put them away.

Fast forward a year or so, I'm re-discovering wargames and I buy Dux Bellorum. The group I meet with also play Hail Caesar (I haven't tried it yet)..I recently resolved to get this lot rebased again.. back to the unit sized bases. As I got them out on the table, I despaired at the thought of tearing the figures off the bases again, and the resultant inevitable breakages and damage. However, with a bit of fiddling about, I've managed to avoid doing that altogether.

What I have done is to stick the WAB- based figures directly onto 120mm x 60mm unit bases. I've used dice frames from minibits on the rear of each base. This will be for recording hits etc in either Dux Bellorum or Hail Caesar. There are a few gaps here and there, but a bit of filler and scenic material will sort that out.

The cavalry units are on two bases for depth. I'm still unsure how to base the skirmishing types, but for now, I'm happy that I can soon once again use these much-loved figures. (Will probably be one army rather than a 'matched pair')