Torpedoes and Tides

This new set of rules for coastal warfare, based on the Galleys and Galleons system, is now available on Wargame Vault. I've been following the play testing for this for a while on The Stronghold Rebuilt blog and it looks really good. I'm going to grab a copy, print it out and see if I can dust off my old 1/600th scale early war coastal forces for a few try out games over the holidays in a couple of weeks. You can read more about the rules and how they work here:

https://wargamingraft.wordpress.com/2025/08/06/designing-torpedoes-tides/

2mm HYW Longbowmen Test Base

Fiddling about with a test base for the 2mm early HYW Anglo-Breton Army to see how I can achieve a realistic yet straightforward result. The base was given a coat of fine sand then spray undercoated with Halfords Ultra Matt Camo Brown. After this I wet brushed some very cheap and very old Earth Brown acrylic artist paint, as a basecoat, followed by a heavy dry brush in Vallejo USA Tan Earth. 

The question now is do I use fine flock to cover the whole base, leaving a few earthy patches, or do I use another wet brush / dry brush approach for the grass? In the past I've just used flock patches for my Strength and Honour bases but they were for Parthia and similar arid locations, so probably not a good option, considering the HYW project will focus on an often soggy Brittany.

I'm going to try a three stage wet brush and dry brush in Vallejo green colours, which I've tried out on my 2mm ECW units before, with a final wash of Citadel Athonian Camo Shade for definition. If this looks okay, I will then add a few patches of light grass flock to represent bushes, brambles and other foliage, just to give the whole thing a more organic look. 

If it looks rubbish...I'll have to try Plan B!

2mm HYW English / Anglo-Breton Army c1350

A slight change of plan for the next couple of weeks, as I put the Lion Rampant / Ecorcheurs army to one side and paint up this lot. Here we have an early Hundred Years War or War of Breton Succession army, using the Antonine Miniatures Strength and Honour 2mm range. 

At the front there's a single unit of mounted men at arms, with two dismounted men at arms units to the immediate left. At the back left are two units of spearmen, Welsh or otherwise, while on the right are four units of longbowmen in wedge formation. 

I'd add another unit of dismounted men at arms but I've run out of the bits I need for that, with an order placed today for some additional pieces to use for the French - Breton side. I've already put together a base of mounted knights for them but need more pieces to do the crossbows, spearmen and so on.

The rules for this are a bit sketchy to say the least, but I'll start off with Neil Thomas' One Hour Wargames, albeit tweaked to add a bit more detail or even mashed together with his Ancient and Medieval rules? I might even write my own rules, who knows? The plan is to use my neglected collection of Hexon terrain as a quick fix, so that I can try out the rules for some solo wargaming as soon as possible.

Lion Rampant Longbows Blocking In

I've completed most of the blocking in on the Perry Miniatures longbowmen, with just the leather bits, arrow sheafs and longbows to do. They look a bit odd in terms of colours but this is the basecoat and will be followed by one or two lighter shades, using my very old but still serviceable Foundry triad pots. I'm hoping things will speed up a bit after the blocking in is completed, but I'm a very slow painter, especially in 28mm having not painted anything this big for years!

Longbows in One Hour Medieval Wargames

In the One Hour Wargames rules, there are four unit types including Knights, Men at Arms, Archers and Levy. The Archers are actually crossbow equipped, gaining a +2 for missile fire but a -2 modifier for hand to hand combat. I could use this profile for English longbows, which would be a simple way to incorporate them in the system, but it doesn't seem quite right to treat crossbows and longbows as exactly the same weapon type?

Instead, I'm thinking of using the same profile but giving the longbow units an additional casualty modifier against mounted opponents, representing the use of defensive stakes - this would half the number of hits inflicted by cavalry against the longbow unit. The unit would have to be stationary to benefit from this bonus and so could not have moved in the previous turn to be eligible.

The other option is to extend the range of longbows to 18" but then remove the +2 modifier for missile fire, reflecting the lesser stopping power of longbows compared to crossbows and their greater effective range. I would also incorporate the casualty modifier for defensive stakes with this to create a bespoke option, the two things giving longbows a distinctive tactical profile.

Thoughts? 

Incidentally, I'm also thinking of ways to represent bills and bows as unit types for the Wars of the Roses period, but that's another story....

2mm One Hour Wargames Early Hundred Years War

Crecy, Poitiers...

Longbowmen 

Knights / Mounted Men at Arms

Welsh Spearmen or French Levy

Genoese Crossbowmen with Pavises

 Men at Arms

The usual Sunday morning diversions, this time playing around with some Antonine Miniatures 2mm blocks in an attempt to create units for the early Hundred Years War, mid to late Fourteenth Century or so. I've been thinking about this for quite a while and I think it would work well with the One Hour Wargames rules, with some tweaks to the unit profiles to incorporate longbows alongside the existing crossbow armed archers. 

So, here we have a selection of units including the aforementioned longbows, crossbows, men at arms, mounted men at arms / knights and a spearman unit in case the Welsh are involved. The bases are 120mm x 40mm x 3mm, which just happened to be in the spare bases box, for some long forgotten purpose that now eludes me. I'd be interested to know what you think about this idea, as it's not really realistic in historical terms but fits the rules quite well, give or take the tweaks I've mentioned.

Parabellum Miniatures Trebuchet

This rather impressive 28mm 3D printed trebuchet arrived in the post today from Parabellum Miniatures, a company that I haven't ordered from before but will be doing so again, based on the quality of their models. I've dry fitted it together to show what it looks like in comparison with a Perry Miniatures figure, and I think it looks very good indeed. You can also assemble it as a launching model, with parts supplied in he kit for the sling and trough, but I'm going to build mine loaded and ready to go. The range also includes bombards and siege equipment, which allows you to assemble a full on siege line, if you wanted to have that as a theme for your scenarios. Excellent!

Spandau and Lewis Going Solo

Way back in January last year I started a First World War air wargaming project, intending to use the Spandau and Lewis hexless rules from The Stronghold blog as a simple but elegant, solo friendly system. This then morphed into the Algernon Pulls It Off! project, leaving the initial idea aside without having had the opportunity to actually try out the rules. 

I'm now going to have another crack at the Spandau and Lewis project using my 1/600th scale models and some custom made bases, so that I can try out the system and get a few solo games under my belt, eventually aiming to put on a game at the club at some point later this year. 

I may also have a go at painting some 1/300th or even 1/144th 3D printed models for this project, as they are much more visually interesting for club participation game purposes, even though people were very complementary about my Tumbling Dice planes last week, which was an unexpected but pleasant surprise.

https://hordesofthethings.blogspot.com/2025/01/spandau-lewis-v13.html?m=1

Mounted Longbowmen for Lion Rampant

I'm thinking about adding another unit to the plastic traffic jam of Lion Rampant figures that is currently sitting on my painting table. This would either be a second unit of twelve longbowmen or a unit of six mounted archers, rated as heavy cavalry in the rule book. I have a Perry Miniatures boxed set of mounted knights which includes two figures in gambeson per sprue, which will give me enough for a unit of six, especially if I use spare arms from the English and French infantry sets for added variety. I'll have a look at gluing something together at the weekend, while cracking on with painting the pedestrian equivalents.

One Hour Ancient and Medieval Skirmish Wargaming

I was having a chat about medieval wargaming projects at the club last night, primarily Lion Rampant and The Barons' War, when this set of simple, diceless skirmish rules popped up in the conversation. When I got back home for my curry and glass of plonk, I dug out my own copy and had another read through. As a fall back option for small skirmishes, patrols and raids in the Hundred Years War, or even in the Anglo Saxon era, these look really promising. I particularly like the diceless, card based activation and combat system, which is a bit different and offers a lot of player interaction. In the meantime, it's back to the work bench and on to the blocking in on the first unit of longbowmen!

Biggles and the Black Ravens Club Game

A good game of Algy at the club tonight which ended in an RAF victory, primarily due to a lack of coordination by the Jasta 18 players and some unlucky dice rolling. In the end, Ltn.Spindler went down in flames but bailed out successfully, while the RAF managed to get two aircraft off the table, with another two badly damaged and probably on the way to a forced landing behind enemy lines. One of the German pilots managed to fly off the table after failing two manoeuvre tests in a row, while another seemed to do most of the heavy lifting as Ltn.Kandt, despite ending up in a spin right at the end of the game. It's a good set of rules but definitely needs a redraft and some holes patched before it's ready for more club games!

Big Bombers in Algernon Pulls It Off!

Hans Müller tangles with an RAF HP 0/400

In the Algy rule book there is a rule that was carried over from Bag the Hun which prohibits bombers from anything more than Easy manoeuvres. This was obviously designed for large multiple engined aircraft like the Heinkel 111 or Vickers Wellington, rather than the two seater light bombers of the First World War, many of which were pretty nimble, especially later on.

I have decided that, in the interest of both realism and game play, this rule will only apply to aircraft of Size 5 or greater, so the big multi engine types like the Handley Page, Gotha and Zeppelin strategic bombers in the main, rather than lighter aircraft like the Airco DH4, Breguet XIV and so on. I think this makes a lot more sense and avoids any unnecessary special rules tweaks or restraints.

Never Mind the Billhooks Delux

Fairly early on, when planning the medieval projects for this year, I dismissed Never Mind the Billhooks as being way too much work, requiring upwards of about 100 figures for each army. I was reading the rules for painting advice today and thought it might actually be a long term goal to assemble an English army for the Hundred Years War, after building a core from my Lion Rampant / Ecorcheurs! retinue. It's something to aspire to at least but I doubt I'll get there until much later in the process, if at all?! 

Longbowmen Blocking In

The English Retinue Assembled 

The longbowmen unit ready for blocking in

I'm kicking off the Lion Rampant retinue painting this week with a unit of twelve veteran longbowmen. The blocking in will start with the aketons, either using Foundry Moss or Foundry Cadaverous green, in two or possibly three stages. It's all a bit suck it and see but I'm going to aim for a consistent and fairly limited range of colours in the palette, together with some light ink washes to add some depth. 

Lion Rampant English Retinue Skirmisher Conversions

The attempt at some kit bashed bidets for the English Retinue worked out quite well this morning, using Perry Miniatures heads and bodies from the Agincourt English and French infantry sets, with arms from the War of the Roses infantry set. The long bows on the War of the Roses arms are shorter than the ones on the Agincourt figures, but that is actually a good thing, as they represent hunting bows rather than war bows, so perfectly useable for a self-contained skirmishing unit. I used the heads without helmets apart from the scale caps on a couple of the figures which I didn't use for the longbow archers. I also used some of the running bodies from the French infantry set to add a bit of dynamism to the poses, perfect for flighty skirmishers nipping out of the bushes for a pot shot at the enemy! 

English Retinue Skirmishers

                 

I have a two point shortfall in the line up for my Lion Rampant English Retinue, which I was going to fill up with some leadership bonus points, but I've been thinking of adding a two point unit instead. This will be either be a unit of six longbow armed bidets, using the Perry Miniatures plastic figures with bare or hooded heads and perhaps some arms from the War of the Roses infantry sprues, or possibly a unit of hand gunners. The metal hand gunner pack looks like a good option for this but I'm not sure if it's appropriate as a skirmishing unit, outside of siege warfare or garrison duties. I'll have a go at building some bidet archers as a proper skirmish unit today and see how I get on...

Skirmish Wargaming Scenarios

I've been going back to my skirmish wargaming roots lately and have been reading the classic Featherstone book on Skirmish Wargaming, with a focus on my medieval projects in 15mm and 28mm. There's a really good narrative scenario here, based on a sally by the English defenders of a besieged castle in 1429 during the Hundred Years War, the objective being to spike a French bombard in the siege lines. This would make a great scenario for Ecorcheurs! or even for Lion Rampant, giving me some ideas for my own games or even a linked campaign based on the background in the book. 

English Retinue Lion Rampant Extras

I've been busy with work the last few days so not much has moved on the work bench front, apart from a six point Lion Rampant units of six elite infantry Men at Arms, bringing the force up to a respectable twenty two points. I am still planning to add ten more longbowmen to round out the retinue but, in practical terms, it's more or less complete. I can also use these for Ecorcheurs! which is an added bonus. This weekend I'm hoping to get started on painting at least one unit...although it's going to be tricky to squeeze in some time due to family commitments.

Algy Club Game

Next week I'm running a club multiplayer game of Algy that I had to postpone from a couple of weeks ago due to illness. This will be the Biggles and the Black Ravens scenario, featuring No.55 Squadron Airco DH4 bombers against the Fokker DVII scouts of Jasta 18. For this game I'm going to ignore the restriction on tricky and hard manoeuvres for bombers, as the DH4 was renowned for it's manoeuvrability, especially when not loaded with bombs as these had already been dropped in the historical action. I may also pack a formation move / fire card for the RAF, just in case someone wants to try to reformate, even though the scenario prohibits this based on actual events. Hopefully, I've thought of everything that might crop up, but you never know when multiplayer games are in full swing!

Jumping the Gun

One of the Lion Rampant scenarios I've always wanted to play is 'Defending the Indefensible', which features an objective to be defended or attacked, depending on which side you are on. The suggestion in the rules is a siege weapon of some sort, so a trebuchet seemed like a very good idea, although a bombard might be more appropriate for the Hundred Years War. Any excuse to field an impressive bit of kit!

I did some burning about and found this 3D printed model of a trebuchet from Parabellum Miniatures, for a very reasonable price tag. I'm not a massive fan of 3D printed stuff but this looks really good, if it survives the UK postal system? The idea will be to model this on a base to act as both a scenic feature in the mini-campaign I'm planning to run, but also as an objective for the aforementioned scenario. 

It's a bit extravagant but why not?

Lion Rampant Heavy Infantry Spearmen

I've just finished assembly of the extra six figures required to field a full four point unit of heavy infantry spearmen for the English Retinue. These use the English archer bodies and heads with arms from the French infantry box set. I also included a leader figure which uses the opposite, armed with a sword and buckler and equipped with a mail coif, no doubt looted from the enemy. I just need to spray undercoat the extra figures before I crack on with the ten additional longbowmen, which I'm hoping to get sorted by the end of the week.

Lion Rampant English Retinue Expansion

You can never have enough longbows!

I've decided to double up and expand the Ecorcheurs! English Retinue to a full 24 point retinue for Lion Rampant, as it only requires an additional twelve to sixteen figures. The first thing to do is to add six additional heavy infantry spearmen, using longbowmen bodies and arms from the French infantry set, to create a twelve strong unit. After that, it's either six more elite infantry men at arms in full harness or ten more longbowmen, the latter to build a second six point unit of veteran archers. Either way I'll be two points short of the full two dozen but I'll make up the difference with a special leadership bonus of +2 points. All this will take longer to prepare and then paint but I'm not in a rush, so will be painting one unit at a time. It will be good to get back to some 28mm painting after years off doing other things!

Lion Rampant Second Edition Short Cuts

I've been reading through the Lion Rampant Second Edition rule book this morning, in order to plan my 15mm War of the Roses project, when I stumbled across the expanded section on reduced size warbands (p101/104). In the original rules there was a brief paragraph on using half sized, twelve point forces but the new version goes into a bit more detail, with three different approaches suggested. These include half sized units, the twelve point retinue angle and a new system using strength points. I realised that with two more 28mm men at arms, I could field four or five half sized units, giving me a decent sized retinue for the Hundred Years War, without the need to assemble and paint another sixteen plus figures. I'll have a think about this but it would be a good way to double up my forces for Lion Rampant and Ecorcheurs! in addition to the War of the Roses 15mm stuff?

Ravenfeast Anglo Saxon Skirmish

I had a look at these free, simple small scale skirmish rules last year, designed for Viking era scenarios but flexible enough to be adapted for other things. I'd like to explore this further as it is ideal for solo skirmish wargaming with a minimal footprint and small number of figures, but I'm not so keen on the Viking bit. The plan is to shift the action back to the mid-Saxon period of the early 8th to early 9th century, using the 18mm Wiglaf Miniatures range of figures, individually based for skirmish scenarios. I've ordered a few packs that will potentially give me one or even two Anglo Saxon raiding parties, one Mercian and the other West Saxon, with the option to get some Welsh at a later date. It all fits in very well with my medieval focus for this year's wargaming, even if it's very much an early medieval project!