I’ve decided to sell of some of my armies and figures in order to switch to new projects. First up is my French Italian Wars 15mm army, which you can find on eBay here -
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/110887464771?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649
I’ve uploaded some close-up pictures of the army here:
http://solowargamer.wordpress.com/french-renaissance-army-for-sale-pictures/
Best of luck should you decide to bid for these little chaps.
I haven’t exactly been an avid reader of historical novels. Apart from the odd dip into sci-fi (mainly the outer fringes – writers like Philip K. Dick) I’m not a big fan of “genre” fiction. I wasn’t particularly inspired by the “Sharpe” TV series either, so the works of Bernard Cornwell have pretty much passed me by. However, last year a wargaming friend suggested that I might like the Warlord Chronicles trilogy. I was sceptical, but I went out and bought a copy of the first instalment – The Winter King. I’ve been hooked ever since, and I’m currently half-way through the final book (so if you comment on this article don’t give the game away by telling me how it ends!!!).
Cornwell presents a unique take on the Arthur legend and on the Britain of that period. A gritty and detailed realism is interwoven with many of the characters from the mythos. He generally – though with some exceptions – presents them in their Celtic rather than French incarnations, sticking mostly to Welsh names. All the favourites are there – Merlin, Nimue, Guinevere, Mordred, and of course Arthur himself. The world they inhabit is riven by constant civil war, and the ever present threat of Saxon victory.
The story centres around the life and struggles of Arthur’s friend and warrior, Derfel Cadarn. Elements of the story we’ve all come to know from films and books are skilfully blended with a gripping account of the struggle for Britain. War, politics, and the minutiae of everyday life are described in convincing detail. Cornwell has described this trilogy as his favourite creation, and the writing is of a high standard throughout. Dark Age Britain fairly springs off the pages.
The trilogy is a veritable treasure trove for the wargamer, and would provide marvellous material for one or more campaigns. There is a wealth of material for both the historical gamer and for the adherent of rulesets like HoTT, which allow for semi-historical armies where Heroes fight alongside the Shieldwall. I would highly recommend these books to anyone who hasn’t already discovered them.
Solo Nexus is an excellent new blog dedicated to solo gaming, covering everything from miniatures games through boardgames to RPGs. As it says on the “About” page:
“Solo Nexus is a blog dedicated to promoting the pursuit of solo tabletop gaming. Tabletop games include board games, card games, war games, and role-playing games (RPGs). These games may or may not have been originally designed to be played solo…
Players are enthusiastically invited to share their personal stories, philosophies, reviews of new products, solo rules adaptations, actual play reports and pictures, or observations on solo play on the blog as contributed postings.”
Sections include a “Soloists Bookshelf” and a “Soloists Toybox”, and main blog articles include interviews, resources and tools for the solo player, and news about forthcoming releases.
Solo Nexus is a good read and a very welcome addition to websites catering for the solo gamer. Highly recommended!
I played this game primarily as a try-out of Richard Lee’s solo DBA variant rules (currently a work in progress). The two armies chosen were Vikings and Saxons (Anglo-Danish army list), with me running the Vikings and the NPG (non-player general) running the Saxons. The Saxons were defending, and the solo rules resulted in the following board layout, with a road (well, a dirt track really!) running down one edge of the battlefield, and a steep hill and wood making up the remaining terrain items (click on picture to upload a larger image):
The NPG camp was located as per Richard’s rules, and the NPG troop deployment determined on the same basis (Saxons are off in the distance in this picture!):
Note that the Saxons were bunched up towards the centre of the board, with their Spears protecting either flank and their Blades (including the General) in the middle of the line. The far left of the Saxon line opposite the wood was protected by their sole unit of Psiloi. I set out my Vikings in a long line, with Bows on my far right to counter the Psiloi. The battle lines arrayed (Saxons on the left):
The Saxon General’s stance was diced for, and he came up as a “defensive” commander. The NPG therefore advanced cautiously, sending his Psiloi into the woods and focusing on maintaining the cohesion of his line. As I moved forward the NPG pulled his Psiloi back a little and reinforced it with Spear supports:
Almost inevitably, the game came down to a clash of shield-walls, a hard slog which saw the NPG pushed gradually backwards as he attempted to maintain the cohesion of his line at all costs. I tried to over-ride the NPG’s default behaviour on two occasions to push the Saxons into a slightly more aggressive move, as allowed for in the rules variant – this came off the first time but failed on the second occasion. Consequently, Vikings and Saxons in the woods faced off against each other but didn’t move into contact:
Gradually the Vikings weakened the Saxon line, where first one Spear element then another was lost on the NPG’s right as the overlapping unit of Viking Blades swung round to flank the Saxons. Finally the Saxon right collapsed altogether, leaving the Vikings in possession of the battlefield without loss to their own ranks:
The defensive approach taken by the Saxons made their defeat almost inevitable, but I suspect that was a result of my uninspired interpretation of the NPG’s options rather than any flaw in Richard’s rules. The board set-up and deployment worked well, and the NPG behaved in a manner that more or less fitted the period and the contending forces. Next time though I think I’ll try a tougher match-up and a more mobile opponent, to see how well the solo variant works in those conditions.
I’ve just added links to a couple of excellent wargames blogs. First up is Mark Davies’ Hesperiana blog, which mainly features Mark’s HoTT and DBA gaming, campaigning and armies. Secondly I’ve added a link to Robin Sutton’s Wargamingnz blog, which currently showcases an inspiring ‘Lost Worlds’ HoTT campaign. Neither blog is specifically about solo wargaming but both are full of ideas and well worth a visit. Both blogs are New Zealand based – nice to see that wargaming is flourishing there!
Theme: Rubric. Blog at WordPress.com.
