15mm War of the Roses with Midgard

The 15mm War of the Roses project slated for later this year is built around Lion Rampant, which is an obvious choice for a small battle, semi-skirmish theme, but I'm also thinking of doubling up using the Midgard rules from Reisswitz Press. I originally assumed these were early medieval, fantasy oriented rules but it was suggested that they would work well for the later medieval period by Dex McHenry, all round good bloke that he is.

I've looked into this further and he's got a very good point, especially as the author has already used the rules for exactly that, with sample army lists available to download for Mortimer's Cross. The advantage of Midgard is that it requires fewer figures than Lion Rampant, with two units of longbowmen in the latter being three units in the former, assuming eight figures per unit, although I could also just stick with the standard twelve figure units for visual effect.

https://mogsymakes.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/wars-of-the-roses-for-midgard-heroic-battles-force-13-14.pdf

This would allow me to build a couple of Lion Rampant retinues while, at the same time, building respectable armies for Midgard. I really need to take a closer look at the rules now, so will order a copy and start some number crunching. All I would need are some movement trays or sabot bases to be able to use the same figures for either set of rules, giving me the opportunity to scale up the 15mm games from semi-skirmishes to small battles.

Thanks Dex!

Medieval Naval Wargaming

I'm away in Devon for a few days which might explain the lack of activity at the workbench. Not to waste any time, I've been contemplating the potential for some medieval naval wargaming later this year, to complement my 28mm Hundred Years War and 15mm War of the Roses activities. I've looked at this before, focussing on Long Face Games Lord of the Seas rules and Ganesha Games Galleys and Galleons, the former for fleet level battles and the latter for tactical ship to ship actions.

Unfortunately, there aren't many options for miniatures, aside from some medieval cogs in 1/1200th scale from Reiver, Ral Partha and Navwar, or some STL files for 1/2400th scale multiple ship bases from Long Face Games. I'd like to use 1/1200th scale for visual impact but that would limit the scope to tactical, rather than fleet level actions like Sluys or La Rochelle. I need to give this some further thought but there may well be scope for the latter if I can find a way to print those STL bases at an affordable cost?

Ecorcheurs! Hundred Years War Historical Background

Once upon a time, in the last century no less, I studied medieval history and archaeology to postgraduate masters level, not that it's been of much use since. This might explain why I'm currently exploring some historical contextual background for my Ecorcheurs! Hundred Years War project, especially as it was my third year depth study for my first degree. 

I currently have two potential options, one in the 1420's and the other the 1440's but both with a personal connection of sorts.

As I grew up in Cornwall I thought it might be nifty to make the retinue part of Sir John Cornwall's military forces during the siege of Meaux in the winter of 1421-1422. During the siege his seventeen year old son, also named John, was tragically decapitated by a stone cannon ball. Not a nice way to go but at least he wouldn't have known what hit him!

Prior to this I thought he would be a good candidate for a retinue commander tasked with patrols, raids and counter sorties during the siege. As this occured in the deep mid winter, it would also make good use of my existing winter terrain, saving me some time and effort while allowing for some further terrain scratch building, which I really enjoy.

The second option is to focus on the retinue of Sir Thomas Hoo in Lord Talbot's forces during the expedition into France under Richard Duke of York. He served as bailiff and Captain of Mantes in 1440 and 1441, at which time one of his retained men at arms was James Jaquemin, an apparent name sake of yours truly and possibly a very distant ancestor, although that is a long shot to say the least! 

Allez Les Bleus!

In Cardiff for the rugby today and it's absolutely heaving with French supporters, including the other half and the offspring. With some time to kill I popped into Waterstones and blew a book voucher on this new paperback on the Agincourt campaign, perfect for the holiday reading this week. A bit ironic really. Allez Les Bleus!

Ecorcheurs English Retinue on the Workbench

The first half of the English Retinue for Ecorcheurs! has now been built, using the Perry Miniatures Agincourt plastic box set. There are nine longbowmen and a single man at arms in full harness, as you can see from the pictures. I have three more longbowmen to add, as well as four to six 'soldiers' with polearms, using the English archers with arms from the French infantry box set, together with two or three more fully armoured men at arms. I'm enjoying this project!

Lion Rampant 15mm Reinforcements

This has been a very slow burning project of mine, going way back to 2014 when I originally thought of doing it, but a recent birthday gift of a Peter Pig voucher is bringing it back to life. The original idea was set out here:

http://jimswargamesworkbench.blogspot.com/2014/09/lion-rampant-war-of-roses-retinues-in.html

...unfortunately scuppered when I realised there wasn't enough variety in the figure poses to make it look right. A while back, however, Peter Pig released a whole set of new packs to solve that problem, but I've been putting off getting some due to the cost factor.

With the impetus of a twenty five quid voucher this problem has now been solved. I've ordered some packs of levy, retainers and household men at arms plus Margaret of Anjou as a scenario objective (!) and Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, as a retinue commander. 

This year is now definitely going to be focussed on the medieval period, so it's yet another string to my bow to have a 15mm Lion Rampant project waiting in the wings. I'm also thinking of a naval angle for this year, air warfare not being an option for obvious reasons, but more about that at a later date!

Gladiators over Malta

I was reorganizing the book shelves last night when I found a long forgotten paper back copy of this classic account of the defence of Malta in 1940, focussing on the famous Gloster Sea Gladiators, often referred to as Faith, Hope and Charity. There were in fact six of these but only three were airworthy at any one time. This will be really useful to fill in some gaps in my Bag the Hun scenario research notes and will also be a good book to read over the half term holidays. Tally Ho!

Ecorcheurs! English Retinue

In advance of my copy of Ecorcheurs! arriving from Northstar, hopefully at the weekend, I've started planning and assembling an early fifteenth century English Retinue, using the Perry Miniatures plastic box set. Judging from the example retinues on the Ecorcheurs! website, a typical retinue mainly consists of longbowmen with a handful of men at arms in harness, so that's what I've opted for, albeit for the latter period of the Hundred Years War. The retinue will consist of eighteen or so longbowmen and about three or four men at arms, with perhaps a few extras to make up the numbers for Lion Rampant units. I've already glued together about a third of the contingent and hope to get the remainder ready for painting over the half term break. It's been a refreshing break from tiddly planes or ships and I've enjoyed it immensely already! 

Biggles and the Black Ravens Tweaks

                  

Before I sign off on the Algernon Pulls It Off! project I have a valedictory game to run at the club next month, with six players signed up and ready to go. The scenario I'm using has enough aircraft to stretch to two per player, allowing for those that get shot down to have a back up, but one RAF player would only have a single crew. To fix this, I've added a sixth DH4 and crew to the RAF flight, using an aircraft that was forced down earlier in the day. This is a simple fix and won't unbalance the game, whilst keeping the scenario historically accurate as far as possible. Bombs Away! 

Ecorcheurs!

I am looking for something completely different and suitable for solo play,  as a break from my air wargaming efforts that have taken up most of the last twelve months. Yesterday, I noticed that the new Gripping Beast small skirmish rules for the Hundred Years War are now available, so I'm going to take a dip. 

I studied the Hundred Years War for my first degree and have the Perry plastic boxed sets of French and English figures, so all I need are the rules and some terrain, of which I have just about enough for a basic set up. I can also scale up any forces I produce for Lion Rampant, which was my first option for this period. 

I've made a start on some English longbowmen already and the rules are in the post, so things are looking up as far as medieval wargaming is concerned, with The Barons' War also on the schedule for later in the year. I'm looking forward to something really different and plan to rope the boy into some games, once I've got things up and ready.