The Peasants are revolting.....

Somewhat later than planned - a theme for the month.

Play a game and paint something to compliment it :-)

After the Excalibur outing I dug out half a box of peasants that were left over from one of the Crusader units and thought they would be useful to compliment the Knights of the Round Table and defend their homesteads against the invaders.

First up 5 missilemen and a cluster of arrows just because they were left on the sprue. A mix of greens and browns with some pretty flowers to show they are the good guys...

A bunch of spearmen ready with their wall of spears ok maybe more like a hedge of spears.

Finally a cluster of villagers with hand held weapons, the one eyed leader suggests is bark may be worse than is bite.

Nice to get these off the paint queue and table ready.

Excalibur - The Battle of Caerwyn Bridge.

Not had these out for a while. - Lion Rampant, with a little bit of Dragon Rampant thrown in.

The Battle of Caerwyn Bridge — Arthur’s knights must hold a fragile rope bridge while Mordred’s armoured knights, footmen, and missile troops advance in overwhelming numbers.

The River Taranis flows through Arthur’s western borderlands. The only crossing for leagues is the Caerwyn Rope Bridge, a narrow, swaying span of hemp rope and timber planks. 

Mordred’s host approaches from the north, intent on seizing the crossing.

A small but elite force stands ready to defend the bridge against Modred's dark human host. The Alarm bell rings and Arthur rallies his knights who rush to defend the bridge.

Mordred’s forces are grim, disciplined, and numerous — not monsters, but men hardened by war and driven by ambition.

The bridge sways under the weight of the black‑armoured knights as the advance across the bridge, the warriors are thrown backwards.

Sir Kay pushes forwards taking the fight to Mordred's forces striking down numerous warriors as they reached the far side of the bridge before the weight of numbers told.

Sir Bedivere falls backwards as Mordred and his Banner moves on to the bridge — the usurper directing the assault personally.

As Mordred advances he is met by Sir Lancelot, many years in the wilderness back to aid in Camelot's defence.

Both knights were wounded but Mordred was forced to fall back and regroup for a further assault. The Knights of the Round Table having brought valuable time for the local civilians to escape and over half their number carrying wounds, decided to retreat from the bridge, they had won a valuable victory in the opening round. 

Great fun and who knows maybe a small campaign.

Borrowing from another rule set, I rolled for the casualties on the 'Good' side.

• Sir Gawain — Recovered no ill effects
• Sir Bedivere — Recovered no ill effects
• Sir Kay — Whilst the wound is not deep - He has the Jitters for future games and tests on a -1 Courage roll.

It spurred me on to prep a bunch of Wargames Atlantic/Baron's war peasant levy which have been hanging around for a couple of years. Games like this are always a tonic to keep the paint queue moving.

Oathmark Orc Archers - Scum of the Earth.

Another quick painting session to clear some of the smaller projects sitting on the paint table.

Paul over at movealongnownothingtoseehere has issued the Wyre Forest Club a monthly painting challenge. This month it's Scum of the Earth and these felt perfect.

Having built up Modred's forces back in the Summer for the Excalibur project, I was missing some missile troops for the evil side.

These are Oathmark Orc's but a flesh tone gives them a disfigured human feel perfect for terrorising villagers before the Knights of the Round Table appear to save the day.

Dragon Rampant 2 - Homage to Blood Bath at Orc's Drift.

Every so often you stumble across something that takes you straight back to the hobby tables of the 80’s was gaming better then or did we simply have less gaming choice. I was never much of a Warhammer player but Bloodbath at Orc’s Drift was exactly that sort of thing that got the creative juices flowing.

Released back in 1985 for Warhammer 2nd Edition, the boxed set was the work of Gary Chalk, Joe Dever and Ian Page, with its roots firmly planted in the film Zulu — just swap the redcoats for Elves, Dwarves and villagers, and let the Orcs do their worst.

The box contained the scenario book, command sheets, a poster map, and those wonderful Dave Andrews cardstock buildings, which for many of us were the first “terrain” we ever owned.

The campaign itself unfolded over four linked scenarios — Kachas Pass, Ashak Rise, Linden Way, and finally Orc’s Drift — each loss or victory feeding into the next. Whilst I never played them they have always been on my long list of games I need to play.

Inspiration for tonight's game and the first outing for Dragon Rampant 2.

My good friend Paul had brought his Goblin horde out to play the savage band of green skins were laying waste to Albion. King Arthur summoned the Knights of the Round table to turn them back.

The Knights readied themselves as Goblin riders rushed forwards supported by Ogre's - nasty looking things.

The Goblin horde were many in number but King Arthur and Sir Lancelot stood firm - truly the stuff of legend.

The curse of newly painted figures plagued both sides - The Ogres fell back under the blows of Excalibur. Goblins jumped the mercenary band as they neared the wood. 

In the end the Knights beat the Goblins sending them scuttling back to their dark lands.

A cracking game of 30 points aside, Dragon Rampant really has that feel of the original Warhammer games now the conversation turns to returning to Orc’s Drift proper and converting the original game and points to Dragon Rampant. What have we done....

The buildings and the PVA glue that held them together may be long gone, but the thought of playing the linked scenario's scratches an itch that has been there for 40 years..... :-)

Happy gaming.

Excalibur - Oathmark Orcs.

I need to seriously increase my pace - time seems to be running away on projects. Another one where the last post on the blog was over 3 years ago.

With all the chatter around Dragon Rampant 2 and keeping with the theme of getting s**t done this month the focus continues to be on random stuff. 

These Oathmark Orcs, they were a Christmas present and were put together in the summer so have been on the to do list for almost a year. 

The box art was lovely and I thought they would make useful additions to the forces of Mordred and the Excalibur project. They are slightly larger than the Knights but don't look to bad and will largely be in their own units on the table. A rich variety of head gear and weapons many fit that old school style which mirror that of the original Chaos Knights.

I was thinking about the origins of the Excalibur legend and lost several hours in reading Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory and thinking about the final battle at Camlann and what the foot troops might look like and these most certainly fit the bill.

I opted for a flesh tone rather than the common held green variant - They look better to my eye.

Using the mechanics of Lion Rampant or Dragon Rampant each knight from the Round Table could be a unit on there own against the mass ranks of Mordred's rebellious forces. So it should playout that heroic feel. - Let's see....

Lancelot and King Arthur find themselves in a spot of bother.

Chatting about scenario's with a buddy over a coffee he mentioned that they had a feel of the Blood Bath at Orcs Drift from the early the 80's.... it might be fun to dig out the scenario's even though the figures, booklet and buildings are long gone.

Strange how some projects just don't go away.

Dispatches from the front XXXV - Getting stuff done.

February already...

Whilst real life can often get in the way in the final quarter of the financial year, thank heavens for a hobby that keeps me occupied outside of work.

Sticking with the theme of getting stuff done it looks like February is shaping up to be another Crusade month, after the Cotswold day I still have a pile of Arab and Christian forces to get done. But first up a Sarissa Radio Station, a gift from a friend from his to do pile.

The Sarissa kits go together really well and a swift paint job and a bunch of posters to make it suitable for a number of games for Modern Africa and the Visitor mash up in Zikanga.

The Arabs are prepped and based over Christmas so time to get them on the paint table.

Meanwhile another year older a whole pile of inspiration for the year ahead.

So many plans so little time.

Dispatched from the Front XXXIV - Twixmas Projects

I do enjoy the post Christmas lull, a couple of days down time and if I am lucky some painting time.

The last few months have been have been rather hectic with very little gaming and painting time, hopefully the next couple of days will give me the opportunity of kickstarting plans for 2025 and catch back up on several of the remaining projects from this year. I managed to get some undercoating done before the mist and cold set in.

With the 250th Anniversary of Lexington & Concorde approaching in April this gives me a focus to get the rest of the 10mm off the paint table and on to the gaming table. The AWI British Light Infantry and American militia have been hanging around for months having been side-lined by the Crusader project for the Cotswold day.

Then it's back more Crusades with still a whole bunch of Arab Cavalry and Christian foot to get through.

The family have been very generous, with some wants and some nice to have, although internally I did look at the boxes and think that's a lot of gluing and so many varied projects.

In no particular order - Russians for the Russo Japanese War, the Wargames Atlantic plastics will give a real boost for the Russian forces, the project might be getting a little too large for Sharp Practice so I might need to think about a new rule set?

Then there is the additional Sergeants for the Crusaders, I was hanging on for the release of the Baron's War plastics but the Fireforge sergeants will be just as good, the pack is really good value for money enough to give me 2 heavy spear units, a warrior unit and crossbow unit especially given how much cavalry is fielded against them.

A lovely kit from Rubicon and some much needed transport for the Africa Korps 88mm - which has been lacking game time.

If I can get through that little lot, then towards the spring.... Aztecs 

I have a whole bunch of Spanish who spend more time fighting the undead than anyone else, having sold off my Irish for the Plantation of Ireland, they need a new opponent. I blame Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook.

The Rest Is History | 384. The Fall of the Aztecs: The Adventure Begins (Part 1)

It should not be too much of a stretch to get these on the game table and the positive no cavalry to do.

Then.......Orc's nope no idea what I am going to do with these.... perhaps a tweak to the Excalibur project having read a little of Geoffrey of Monmouth's history of Briton could these be Ogres from the realm of Logres and followers of the god Orcus..... that sounds like it work..... (Blimey another rabbit hole..)

Right best get on.... this lot won't paint it self.

Song of Arthur and Merlin - Ambush at the Forge

Mordred had sent forth his Knights. Looking to take down Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.

A quick and bloody affair using Song of Arthur and Merlin.

Sir Kay and Sir Bors de Ganis were at Wendels forge, the pack mule had thrown a shoe which was slowing their journey to Camelot.

Approaching from the East and West were a group of Mordred's Knights looking to take down two of King Arthur's finest.

Arthur's Knights had to hold on. If they could light the Beacon the Town Guard would be called out which would drive off Mordred's Knights.  The only near by help were Sir Palomedes and Sir Pelleas who were manning the town gate. Would 4 Knights be enough?

Good and Evil faced off against each other. Sir Kay picked up his heavy axe and readied himself for war..... Wendel was less convinced of victory and volunteered to head off and light the warning beacon, skirting across the field.

Sir Palomedes and Sir Pelleas rushed down the track from the town only to be ambushed by a number of Mordred's Knights. 

As Sir Kay carved through the evil warriors at the forge poor old Wendel's son was hacked down, these Knights really were evil.

Sir Palomedes was beaten to the ground as he fought two attackers.

But Sir Pelleas enraged by the loss of his brother Knight took out two of his attackers and with Mordred's Knights down to only three and the Blacksmith cresting the hill, the dark Knights left the field. 

A fun affair with lots of 'eavy' metal on the table... the Song of Blades and Heroes mechanism makes for a fun game. The Good Knights were hindered by their chivalry having to let their enemies stand up and being unwilling to double up in any melee... Something the lesser evil knights did not have to worry about.

A long way to go before the Knights have enough chivalry points to go on a quest for the grail.