Happy New Year!

May I wish all my regular blog readers and fellow bloggers a safe and healthy 2026!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Home is where the heart (and my wargame room) is

As some of my regular blog readers have surmised, Sue and I went on a cruise over Christmas. As a result, for the past twelve days I’ve been pretty well incommunicado except when in port and able to access the internet and my emails on my iPhone. (I could have ‘bought’ a Wi-Fi package onboard, but at minimum cost of £14.00 per day for a very basic service, I didn’t think that it was value for money.)

I would therefore like to apologise to anyone who reads my blog and whose comments might not have had a reply yet as well as to those of you who have sent me emails to which I have yet to respond. Likewise, I have a long list of blogs that I need to catch-up on, and this is something I hope to do over the next few days.

One good thing; I’ve returned from the cruise with a very positive feeling about doing some wargaming and wargame-related activity, and as soon as we have finished our unpacking, the inevitable washing of the clothes that we wore, and putting the luggage away, I am itching to get upstairs to my toy/wargame room.

In the meantime, I hope to upload a blog post about our cruise as soon as I can … and for those of you who like their food, what we ate will be featured quite heavily in it!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing all my friends and fellow bloggers a Merry Christmas!

A Christmas break

As Christmas is almost upon us, I have decided to take a short break from blogging so that I can recharge my mental and physical batteries.

Getting older (I am now seventy-five years old) tends to mean that one has to inevitably slow down a bit ... but hopefully not too much! The colder, darker, and shorter days can easily bring on a dose of SADness (Seasonally Affective Disorder) and its inherent susceptibility to visits from the 'Black Dog', and I have found that the best way to cope is:

• To try to get exposure to as much gentle sunlight as possible (and/or to take vitamin D tablets).
• To eat well ... but not to overindulge.
• To rest when I feel tired (i.e. taking a short doze in the afternoon!).
• To tackle projects that are not too physically and/or mentally demanding ... although doing the odd crossword or quiz (or fighting a wargame!) in order to exercise the 'little grey cells' is no bad thing!
• To try to have as much fun as I can and to laugh as often as possible ... even if the cause of the laughter is due to my own stupidity!

None of the above are positive defences against SADness ... but they sure help to keep it at bay!

I intend to return to regular blogging in the New Year ... or possibly even before then if the mood takes me. In the meantime, may I wish my blog readers Merry Christmas and hope that they and their families all enjoy the festivities and stay fit and healthy so that they can look forward to having a great 2026.

A visit to our storage unit yields a lot of useful surprises (5)

The contents of the fifth REALLY USEFUL BOX I brought home from the storage unit included:

Three sailing vessels:

Two river/coastal passenger vessels:

A Turkish coastal gunboat and a German colonial cruiser:

NB. All of the above were made from FIMO coloured polymer clay for my British Dammallia, German Mankanika, and Sultan of Marzibar project. One vessel is currently 'missing' ... the British flatiron gunboat HMS Indolent.

A 1/1200th-scale model of the unbuilt Lion-class battleship:

It was scratchbuilt using parts from Revell models of a King George V-class battleship and a Missouri-class battleship.

A visit to our storage unit yields a lot of useful surprises (4)

The contents of the fourth REALLY USEFUL BOX I brought home from the storage unit included:

The senior commanders of the German Mankanikan armed forces.

A unit of German Schutztruppen and two units of locally-recruited native Schutztruppen.

German Schutztruppen gunners and two units of armed Native Police. In time of war, these two police units would be incorporated into the Schutztruppen.

German Navy figures.

The senior commanders of British Dammallia's armed forces.

Two units of British infantry.

Two units of British Dammallian African infantry.

A unit of British Dammallian Police and a unit of British Dammallian Native Police. In time of war, these two police units would be placed under military command.

Locally-recruited reserve troops of the Port Albert Infantry and Port Albert Artillery.

Royal Navy figures.

All of the figures shown above were manufactured by Essex Miniatures.

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The contents of these four storage boxes have given me pause for though, and in particular the contents of this and the previously featured storage box. I could rebase all the British Dammallia, German Mankanika, and Sultanate of Marzibar figures and incorporate them into my Belle Époque project ... or I could keep them as a separate project that is to all intents and purposes ready to use.

It is something that I seriously need to think about.

A visit to our storage unit yields a lot of useful surprises (3)

The contents of the third REALLY USEFUL BOX I brought home from the storage unit included:

Minifig American World War I infantry figures painted by Nick Huband.

Four Arab warbands and five Arab gunners. The figures were manufactured by Essex Miniatures and were painted for a currently-defunct Colonial imagi-nation project.

The senior commanders of the Marzibarian armed forces and two units of the Sultan of Marizibar's Guard.. These are all Essex Miniatures figures.

Two units of the Marzibarian Zouaves and some members of the Marzibarain Artillery and Navy. These are all Essex Miniatures figures

I started work on the nineteenth century colonial imagi-nations project that involved British Dammallia, German Mankanika, and the Sultanate of Marzibar over ten years ago, but over time it got relegated to storage ... which – on reflection – might have been a rather silly decision.

A visit to our storage unit yields a lot of useful surprises (2)

The contents of the second REALLY USEFUL BOX I brought home from the storage unit included:

Four scratch-built coastal defence guns and three scratch-built Vickers Six-ton tanks. The latter were built using the hulls of Airfix Universal Carriers.

Three Minifig American Civil War gunners (painted up as Confederates), two Peter Laing Miniatures cannons, and ten painted Peter Laing Miniatures World War I figures (nine infantry and a Vickers machine gun and crewman.

A whole gun park of Peter Laing Miniatures World War I artillery pieces! Six German and nine Russian field guns.

More Peter Laing Miniatures artillery pieces ... and two Essex Miniatures guns, a field gun and a Gatling machine gun.

Eight Peter Laing Miniatures artillery limbers.

Thirty-one painted Peter Laing Miniatures draught horses!

Lots of stuff that I can use with my Belle Époque project!

A visit to our storage unit yields a lot of useful surprises (1)

In the run up to Christmas, Sue and I paid a visit to our storage unit to collect some bits and pieces we thought that we might need.

Whilst we were there, I found several REALLY USEFUL BOXES full of 15mm figures and equipment and brought them home. The contents of the first box included:

The original toy soldiers used to develop the first version of the Portable Wargame rules. They were originally painted and based for the Wargame Development's participation Matrix Game, SAVE GORDON!

Peter Pig World War II British infantry. These were painted and based by Nick Huband for use in a Wargame Development participation game.

Painted Egyptian/Sudanese troops.

The Battle of Scrobbesburh: The rules

In the recent wargame I fought with Richard Watson, I used a set of rules that were heavily based on Donald Featherstone's Ancient rules.

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FEATHERSTONE-STYLE VIKING & ANGLO-SAXON WARGAME RULES

1. SCALES AND UNITS

• Ground scale: 1" = 20 yards.
• Time scale: 1 turn = 5 to10 minutes.
• Units:
• Huscarls: 12 to 16 figures.
• Fyrd/Bondi: 16 to 20 figures.
• Archers: 8 to12 figures.
• Skirmishers: 6 to 8 figures.

2. TURN SEQUENCE

1. Movement.
2. Missile Fire.
3. Melee (Both sides take part).
4. Morale.
5. Repeat for other side.

3. MOVEMENT

• Armoured Infantry: 4”.
• Shieldwall Infantry: 3" (Cannot charge).
• Unarmoured Infantry: 6".
• Archers/Skirmishers: 8".
• Cavalry: 10".
• Routing units: 10”.
• Charge: +2” (Must roll 3 or more on a D6).

4. MISSILE FIRE

• 1D6 per 2 firing figures.
• Archery Short Range (6”): Score of 5 or 6 hits.
• Archery Long Range (12”): Score of 6 hits.
• Spear (3”): Score of 6 hits.
• -1 against shieldwall.
• 1 hit removes 1 figure.

5. MELEE

• 1D6 per 3 figures.
• Modifiers:
• +2 Huscarls.
• +1 Shieldwall (in defence).
• +1 Charge.
• +1 Uphill.
• +2 Flank/Rear.
• -1 Disordered.
• Score of 5 or 6 hits.
• Every 2 hits = 1 casualty.
• Loser tests morale.

6. SHIELDWALL RULES

• Movement: 3".
• +1 defence.
• Missile fire against it: -1.
• Breaks if flanked, loses melee, or takes 25% casualties.

7. MORALE

• Test when losing melee, taking losses, or seeing routs.
• Rolls 2D6 + modifiers:
• +2 Huscarls.
• +1 Leader within 6”.
• +1 In shieldwall.
• -1 Fyrd.
• -1 At half strength.
• Results:
• Score is 10+: No effect.
• Score is 7 to 9: Unit cannot move next turn.
• Score is 6 or less: Unit routs and leaves the battlefield at 10” per turn.
• Rallying: Leader must join the unit and rolls 2D6.
• Results:
• Score is 8 or more: Unit rallies but cannot move next turn.
• Score is 7 or less: Unit cannot be rallied and continues to rout.

8. LEADERS

• +1 morale within 6"
• +1 melee if attached.
• Risk if unit loses melee by 3 hits. Rolls a D6:
• Results:
• Score is 1: Slain.
• Score is 2: Wounded and loses all bonuses.
• Score is 3 or more: Unharmed.

9. TERRAIN

• Woods: most troops disordered.
• Rough: -2" movement; no shieldwall can enter.
• Hills: +1 to defenders.

10. OPTIONAL RULES

• Berserkers:
• Move 8".
• +2 melee on first round.
• Rout if they lose melee.
• Fyrd:
• Morale –1.
• Need leader to charge.

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It is worth noting that the battle was fought on a pair of Chessex Megamat 1" reversible blue-green squares vinyl mats. These measured 34½" x 48" and we set them up side-by-side, giving us a tabletop that was just under 6' x 4'. Using a grid meant that we didn't have to measure any distances during the game, which considerably speeded up play.