I picked up a small Aztec army on ebay. I didn’t know the figure manufacturer but Peter Feinler kindly pointed out they are Naismith Design available from Navwar. They are compatible with Essex and Gladiator although a tad more slight that either, and a lot smaller than Falcon. I’ve also mixed in three Essex figures that I had – two painted by John Mclennan and one by me.
Medieval Warfare
Stirrups, artillery and castles. I have chosen to start the period with the sack of Rome (476 AD) and end it with the discovery of the New World (1492). Sub-categories: Reconquista, Hundred Years’ War.
Germanic Lancer versus Light Spear Cavalry in Field of Glory
I was wondering why some Germanic cavalry during the Fall of Rome and Barbarian Kingdoms are counted as lancers in Field of Glory and some as light spear. It isn’t clear to me why the Early Frankish, Alamanni, Burgundi, Rugii, Suebi or Turcilingi and the Gardingi of the Later Visigoths count as light spear rather than lancer like the rest. Or vice versa.
What I like in a campaign / multi-player game
My first ventures in campaigns were two large, 12-14 player, Ancient/Medieval DBM Campaigns. One was called Europe 1100 AD and the other Europe 1455 AD. The mechanics were fairly simple being based on DBA campaigns but I quickly found problems and the campaigns petered out when people lost interest. I now favour even snappier campaign rules and less people.
Timeline of Portuguese Medieval Africa
My timeline for Portuguese Medieval Africa. The timeline, at least initially, is largely pieced together from Wikipedia excerpts.
Portuguese in Medieval Africa
Sometime 1482-83 the Portuguese navigator Diogo Cão became the first European to reach the kingdom of Kongo (Wikipedia: Kingdom of Kongo). The Portuguese had an active presence in the region until 1975. Following Oliver and Atmore (2001) I call the early part of this period, 1250-1800, “Medieval Africa”
Kingdoms the Portuguese Encountered in Southwest Africa
Sometime 1482-83 the Portuguese navigator Diogo Cão became the first European to reach the kingdom of Kongo (Wikipedia: Kingdom of Kongo). The Portuguese had an active presence in the region until 1975.
Army Lists for Warmaster Historical
I thought I’d list all the Warmaster Historical (Ancients and Medieval) army lists with a view to seeing what I’ve got.
Steven’s Strathclyde Welsh (Northern Cymry) for Britannia 600 AD
For the Big Day of the Britannia 600 AD Campaign I (Steven Thomas) chose Strathclyde Welsh; Welsh because of my heritage and Strathclyde to remind people that all of Britain was once Welsh.
James’s Wessex Saxons for Britannia 600 AD
For the Big Day of the Britannia 600 AD Campaign James Falkus chose Wessex Saxons. James went for a fairly straight army. Not quite the DBA official list, but fairly authentic.
Rich’s Powys Welsh (Western Cymry) for Britannia 600 AD
For the Big Day of the Britannia 600 AD Campaign Rich Wilcox chose army of his wife’s homeland, Wales. Rich was the first to get the bug for Britannia 600 campaign. He painted up a historical army, but was also the one to find the reference to the Giant of Snowdon, a character that subsequently joined his ranks.
Mike’s Northumbrian Saxons (aka North Angles) for Britannia 600 AD
For the Big Day of the Britannia 600 AD Campaign Mike Lowery chose the army of his homeland, Northumbria. With time short, and having avoided paint brushes for 10 years, Mike decided to paint the minimum number of figures necessary. This meant he was short an element of Spears relative to the official DBA list; instead he took more shooters and a Hero.
John’s Mercian Saxons (aka Lords of the March) for Britannia 600 AD
For the Big Day of the Britannia 600 AD Campaign John Mclennan chose Mercian. Or more accurately Mercians were the only option left when John chose.
Mapless version of the Britannia 600 AD Campaign
I wanted to try out the Mapless Campaign system with our armies from the Britannia 600 AD Campaign and convinced Mike Lowery and Chris Harrod to give it a go.
Big Day – Playing the Britannia 600 AD Campaign
It started with an email to a bunch of my friends:
Subject: Britannia 600 Who’s interested?
https://www.balagan.org.uk/introduction-to-the-britannia-600-ad-campaign
From such small beginnings a project team was formed. Six guys spread across England started assembling and painting armies for the Britannia 600 AD Campaign.