Barons War practice run

So on Thursday night we had a practice run through of the game for Border Reiver. It wasn't ideal as we two players who were new to the game and didn't know the rules, so were guided through the game by myself and the other 2 players. One of them disregarded the objectives for his force, despite repeated reminders about his objectives. There is no battle report, though I did take a few photos of the game. It was more about seeing how it ran.

A couple of quick amendments are needed:

1. For the escort as they got pinned in their deployment zone. I'm thinking that they will automatically move each turn unless the escort commander spends a command ordering them to halt. 

2. The two small woods will need to be combined into a larger wood as all of the outlaws deployed from the same small wood. May also use tokens to represent their hidden deployment including a few blanks

3. The number of units hidden in a wood will need to be limited

4. The Church will be moved to the opposite table edge in place of a small wood, this will also give some room for a Norman Keep that Thom will be providing.

It was still a fun game even though the 'Lady' saw her 'Lover' cut down by a unit of serjeants from her own escort.

The 'Lady' and escort

The 'Lover' and companions

The 'Lover' charges into some serjeants to reach the 'Lady'

A 'Lover' is no more

Mounted serjeants crossing a field

The 'Lord' hanging back at the church

The Outlaws reveal themselves

The 'Lord' and 'Lover' troops ignoring each other

The Outlaws make an attempt on the dowry

I'll make the amendments in readiness for a run out next week.

Baron's War bits and pieces

With the upcoming Border Reiver show in March I have a planned run through of the 4 player scenario at the club next week. I did a quick set up this week which gave me an idea of what else I needed for the game. The first thing was some extra trees and shrubs for the wooded areas. I set to work on more of the 3d printed trees from Thom, 6 more added to the collection to bring me up to 7. I also created 3 small bases to act as undergrowth in the woods.

New woodland

shrubs/undergrowth

A figure for size

The trees are quite substantial, but that does help reduce the number needed as they cover a good area. I/ve got 4 more that I need to start work on. The next items on the list were some gravestones for the churchyard and a couple of benches to give the village that lived in feel. The gravestones are from Debris of war and the benches were donated by Andy, I believe they are from Wargames Atlantic.

The gravestones are probably too late for this period, but they add a little character to the table. I also spent some time organising the 4 forces to be involved. Each force is around 600 points. 

Current table layout

The 'Lady' and her escort

'The Lover' and retinue

'The Lord' awaiting his lady

'The Rogue' and his rascals

I did manage to get a few figures painted as well. A new Baron and his bannerman to command my Welsh forces. They are both from Footsore miniatures. The heraldry is loosely based on one of the shields from here Nobles of North Wales. I'm quite happy with the results. I also completed two more archers for my outlaws.

'Welsh' Baron

A pair of Outlaws

Hopefully I can get some more figures done as my output is well down at the start of the year, I've only done 7 so far, I normally aim for around 100 per month.

Barons War - Welsh

In what seems like a slow start to the year, I eventually got around to starting a new Barons War faction, the Welsh. Currently the rules for the Welsh are only for 1st edition, there will be updated rules in the forthcoming King John supplement. What this does mean is I can just collect and paint up the figures I want. I will loosely base it on the north Welsh which were predominantly spear armed over bow. So far I have picked up some of the designated early medieval Welsh figures from Footsore miniatures. With these I intend to add a few plastic Gripping Beast dark age welsh, just swap out the shields to use as javelin armed skirmishers. I'll also add in some 'English' figures as by the early 13th century there was little to differentiate between the English and Welsh forces. So this should give me a slightly unique force to help it stand out against the other retinues.

So the first 3 figures done are classed as Early medieval Welsh foot knights. They have a good mix of armour and helms. I've a 4th figure to do as well as a Baron and Standard bearer to add to the unit.

The only other thing I'm working on is some more trees after Thom dropped off so 3d printed tree trunks, however the rather wet weather is hampering the progress.

Medieval carriage

As part of my preparation for our club display game at Border Reiver in March, I needed a carriage to transport the blushing bride to be. One of the players will have the objective of ensuring her safe arrival to her betrothed. I did a bit of searching and came across this MDF kit from Warbases. Luckily I already had the two horses required. Though the model can be made for a single horse.

Just a simple paint job as I didn't want it too extravagant. All I need now for the game is a few extra outlaws which are already ordered, extra trees and a possible tower if I have time.

Overview of 2025

It’s that time of year again to look back on the output in 2025. So what were the plans for this year? I just had the two, Republican Romans and Franco Prussian War, both in 15mm.

For the Franco Prussian War, I definitely smashed this one out of the park. With 3 large linked games at the beginning of the year I found myself highly motivated to get the collection expanded. For the Prussians I added the Baden Division, a Hessian Division, Prussian Cavalry Division. This brought the army up to three full Infantry Corps and 2 Cavalry Divisions. I only need a few artillery pieces and a couple of infantry regiments to complete a 4th Corps. For the French I did a little re-organising before adding 2 more infantry divisions and 3 cavalry divisions. I could do with adding at least 1 more infantry division to the 4th Corps.

The 3 linked games were well received by the club members, so much so that Thom ended up adding the French I Corps which helped balance the numbers. On the horizon Neil B is planning another campaign so the collection should see some action in 2026.

For the Republican Romans, I didn’t really get started until around May and have been slowly building up the collection to include Carthaginians, Gauls and Italians. I even picked up the Midgard rules and after a couple of games I really like them, so definitely expect more of these next year.

Painting Totals for 2025, just under 1400 figures, this is well down on the last 2 years, but I feel those 2 years were inflated with the epic scale ECW infantry in strips.

• 10mm Scenic/building - 4

• 15mm Artillery - 14

• 15mm Foot figures - 730

• 15mm Mounted figures - 141

• 15mm Scenic/building - 13

• 15mm Vehicles - 13

• 28mm Artillery - 3

• 28mm Foot figures - 306

• 28mm Monster - 8

• 28mm Mounted figures - 19

• 28mm Scenic/building - 111

• 28mm Vehicles - 17

Overall a productive year, though I could do with actually playing a few more games myself instead of being the one running the majority of the games. For those that follow the blog and/or leave comments it is much appreciated. I hope you all have a Happy New Year and your dice roll well. Hopefully see you back in 2026

Robin's merry men

These will likely be the last figures I get completed in 2025. They've been on the painting table for a couple of weeks now, so it was time to get them finished. All 3 figures are from Footsore miniatures, representing Little John, Friar Tuck and Will Scarlet.

Friar Tuck

Little John

Will Scarlet

The whole band together

With a planned game for Border Reiver, one of the factions will be outlaws, so these will see some use added to the peasants I've already got painted up.

Merry Christmas one and all

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Also to thank you for following this blog and/or commenting. It's much appreciated. Now as the year slowly comes to an end I'm trying to clear the painting decks in readiness for 2026.

This small offering is some Numidian cavalry for my Punic Wars project. They are 3d prints that I picked up off EBay, mainly because I already had 6 figures painted and needed another 6 and most manufacturers sell them in packs of 4. These actually came as a pack of 7 so one was quickly identified as a Commander.

The figures themselves didn't have loads of details which made them both quick to paint but not very interesting which reflected in the paintwork, not my best but they are done.