The Vandal Who Saved Rome

Was given this on Sunday - it will have to go into my queue of books to be read.  Review to follow in due course.


Saturday 20th May 2017 - WDW

Napoleonic game put on by CJ - a full report will be in next week's blog!


Sunday 21st May 2017 - Gt.Houghton

3 Games of DBA-RRR...and I lost all 3. 

Game 1 - Polish v Russians - just rotten dice!
Game 2 - French v German Protestant - got creamed by Kn v Pi matchups.
Game 3 - Safavid Persians v Ottomans - my general was supporting a unit that was destroyed.

Of course this was the first time that my opponent (Ian) had played these rules!!!!


Thursday 25th May 2017

Unable to contact "Wargaming Girl" aka TamsinP.  No activity on her website since 2nd May.  Cannot read comments so maybe it's a problem with the site itself!   Has anyone had contact and can confirm that she is OK?  As one of the leading wargames bloggers in the UK her contributions to the hobby are sorely missed.

A Dragon at the Library

Saturday 13th May 2017 - Horbury Library

Played 2 games of HotT - one on the lawn at the front of the library area and one inside. 

Game One - two vaguely medieval forces - one with a dragon & hero - the other with artillery and lurker.  The dragon turned up on the second move - was shot at by some bow - and scuttled off the board.  The hero also took an early bath.  So my side was winning with a great chance of victory......NOT.   Nigel managed to batter me into submission so we packed away the 54mm figures before the rain started.

Game Two - Andrew v Nigel (Andrew won - no surprise there) plus Paul and myself.  My Garden Gnome army doesn't often get an outing and it usually looses when it does.  This time the enemy medievals/Normans came a cropper with their general biting the dust.  I could put this down to my masterful use of fliers...but maybe not.


Monday 15th May 2017 - WDW

Bolt Action - Americans v Germans - this scrap featured an AFV with 2 x flame throwers plus an Mg that couldn't hit the side of a barn.

DBM - Etruscan League v Syracusan - an actual historical match-up.  In the centre Al's C-in-C found himself in a sticky position and fell to a Warband onslaught.  Said warband almost immediately doubled the number of routing commands.  At close of play it was a 7:3 win to the Etruscans. 


Thursday 18th May 2017 

Currently de-cluttering my house.  It's amazing the stuff that gets pushed into corners or put in cupboards and drawers!  Nothing exciting has turned up yet but you never know. 

Converting DBMM lists to DBM

 A friend recently requested a copy of my 'breakdown' of a DBMM army list.  He said "Why don''t you put it on your blog?"  Well....I don't think that the actual 'breakdown' would be a problem but using an example text might be!   So here goes and let's hope no lawyers are sharpening their pencils.

Stage 1:  Mark up the DBMM army list 

This is a 'fictionalised' version of the real list.  It sticks to the correct time references but deliberate mistakes have been made. No copyright infringement is intended - this page is reproduced only as an example to show my methods.  You will need a copy of DBM Army lists Book 1 to make complete sense of the 'breakdown'.

The scribbles - (a)  Mark each paragraph with a code letter (A-H in this case)
                         (b)  Delete lines that do not apply to DBM (eg brilliant generals and strategems)
                         (c)  Correct any army point values (for DBM v3.2)
                      
The highlights - (a)  Allies
                           (b)  Clauses - usually in the bottom 'blurb'


Stage 2:  Produce a spreadsheet

In this case the resultant 'breakdown' need only be temporal.

As you can see some of the conditions are repeated - hence the ticks & crosses.  So rather than 12 separate lists there are only really 8.

Other lists can be much more complicated but I thought that I would start with an easy one (this is the folk dance  method).


Stage 3:  Look at the Allies

Some may be worth having and some not. Also consider any restrictive clauses.


Step 4:  Produce Army Lists

This is not always a matter of cramming in as many possibilities as you can - some may have very little value (like C, E or G above).


A Further Aid

The Wakefield & District Wargamers website has a link on this page:

 http://wdwgamers.weebly.com/ancients--medieval.html

to help you convert DBMM to DBM - terrain and troop type equivalents.


Hope you find this entry helpful!

Star Wars is back.....

I picked up a copy of "Scoundrels" by Timothy Zahn at the Mapplewell library:

This author is well-known within the Star Wars publishing universe so it should be a good read - at 512 pages it had better be!



Saturday 6th May 2017 - WDW

Bolt Action WW2 (yawn!)


Monday 8th May 2017 - WDW

Bolt Action WW2 - Germans v Americans
Trafalgar - naval with very pretty ships

DBM - Makkan v Achaemenid Persian.  Just goes to show how a historically successful army can fail dismally under DBM (like Assyrians and most Romans).  I held the enemy off on the Persian left flank (but probably advanced too far for comfort) but Chris's right crumbled when the Makkan warband reached it.


Thursday 9th May 2017 - Extra post

I often have to convert DBMM army lists to their  DBM equivalents.  Breaking down these lists can be tricky.  The extra post gives a, relatively, simple example of my methods.

Back from my Hols...

Monday 1st May 2017 (Bank Holiday) - WDW


Saga - no details
Bolt Action - no details
HotT - no doubt practice for Saturday at Horbury library. 

DBM - Nikephorian Byzantine with Arab allies (Andy + Chris) against Ottonian.
"The arab ally was unreliable, until the moment the Germans went in, then sprang to life. There was a slaughter in the middle, of Byzantine bowmen and Ottonian knights, with the game ending a couple of casualties (on each side) short of a decision."


Tuesday 2nd May 2017 - Burnley WGC

I was last there two years ago - a touch of Deja Vu!

I struggled to find the turning off the main road (didn't help that Google maps had the wrong number for the A road).  Eventually turned into a filling station where I asked a guy working there where the college was - he didn't know.  The other guy pointed next door and said "turn right at the lights."  So I turned left and left again into Ennismore Street.

There were two guys with vehicles standing around outside the venue - it was 7.35 pm.  A few more arrived but nobody had a key!  A car was despatched and the hall opened up at 8.10 pm.

Deja Vu!  This was almost a complete re-run of two years ago.

On offer were two WW2 games (and that was it).  Normally I walk away from such games but after leaving Mytholmroyd some two hours earlier I was determined to play something. 

One table had "Bolt Action" which I have observed before and not been impressed by. 

The other was using 'home-grown' rules.  So I became the German second in command facing off against hordes of Russians.  In spite of some hairy moments we gave the Reds a pasting.  On paper the rules looked very complicated but they played well and were fun.

The Burnley lads are welcoming to guests so I would recommend visiting the club.  Maybe one proviso....don't expect to start at the advertised time (7.30 pm)....I don't think the word punctuality is in their dictionary!



Thursday 4th May 2017

Well I have unpacked and it is brilliant sunshine outside.  Plastic soldiers are going through 'chemical processing'.  My esteemed neighbours are being noisy again.  Just an ordinary day I suppose!  Must get on with de-cluttering my house. Watch this space!

Pastures New(ish)

Yes I'm on my hols in sunny Mytholmroyd|  It started to sleet just as I left Havercroft but brightened up as I reached Copley.  As I came out of the Co-op in Mytholmroyd the sky darkened and a hail storm commenced.  Since then there has been intermittent sleet.


Sunday 23rd April 2017 - Gt. Houghton

Three games of DBA versus Ian/Sonic in his underground bunker.  

First was a Dark Ages scrap (which I won by occupying a flanking steep hil).  

Second a Warring States civil war where I was annihilated 5 - 1 (including my general).  

Last was Radagaseus v Romans.  A more even game where neither of us could throw decent movement dice.  At half time we were both 2 elements down.  My situation was looking grim when the Romans came into contact but then the dice gods stepped in.  A 6-1 against a Roman psiloi opened up a flank.  Then came a 6-2 followed by another 6-1.  The surviving Romans fled the field.  

Of course it was my superior tactics that swept all before me - NOT.


Monday 24th April 2017 - WDW

The AGM tonight - yawn!!!

Bolt Action - Germans v Allies (British + Americans)
Trafalgar - ship action - models laid out and rules discussed
HotT - Orcs v Elves - Andrew & I won a game each (using the Elves); Jim didn't.


Thursday 27th April 2017 - Halifax

Took a bus trip to good old Halifax and its model shop - that wasn't there!!!  Well..the town was and, strictly speaking, so was the shop.  An empty shell with only an old sign above the door.  Disaster!

After enquiring at the newsagents next door I was told that it had moved around the corner towards the railway station.  I hot-footed it to 25, Horton Street, Halifax. HX1 1QE  (01422 349157).  The premises are much bigger with more light.  In scope it reminded me of the old premises in the Piece Hall.

Only made one purchase - Strelets M052 Turkish Army (Crimean War).  Suitably painted they will join the ranks of my colonial Egyptians to fight the Mahdist hordes.  It also occurred to me that they might work for WW1 in Mesopotamia.  Hmmm!  Just what I need another period and theatre when I am trying to de-clutter.

Friday Post

Only a day late this time.


Monday 10th April 2017 - WDW

DBM - Macbeth v West Sudanese

Our newcomer commanded the (Scottish) Islesmen allies and the cavalry. Unfortunately the horse broke under a mix of archery, expendables and spears (Norman knights) but the Islesmen were one element shy of breaking a Sudanese archer command.

On the other flank, it was touch and go whether the Tuareg allies would break before the smaller Scottish Lh command did..

An enjoyable game which could have gone either way.



 Monday 17th April 2017 - WDW

The only game in town - "Bolt Action" WW2 Americans v Germans - the flow of the rules was easy to pick up (even for a mere observer).    Some of the troops thought they were auditioning to be Star Wars baddies -  giving creditably poor performances.

Entertaining, if frustrating, fare for an evening.


In the Future

I will be on holiday as from Tuesday.  Back in the Calder valley so expect reports on 'foreign' clubs (Lancastrians) plus a vist or two to the Halifax shop.