Saturday 27 August 2011

Base fellows and a period sojurn...



Saturday morning at last! My middle daughter is off under canvas with the Guides for the first time, the garage project ( old one being demolished prior to re erection elsewhere and new one being built by joiner) needs work,I have vile work-related paperwork to do and I feel like a wargaming period holiday...



I don'y know about you but I have a core of interests I wargame/collect figures for and others I dabble in. As interest in a period waxes and wanes( 3 holidays to Denmark including a day trip to Sweden 18 years or so ago sowed the seeds of an abiding love of that part of the world,wargaming related to Scandinavia and even the formation of that country known as Tradgardland) I work on another for a bit and then another and so on. The transition one from another is often caused by what I am reading,viewing or even a chat (virtual or real) with fellow wargamers. I immerse myself for some time (days or weeks) move things forward and then go into another period/ I wonder if this rings a bell with any of you?




The core projects remain although they can be lain aside for months ,even years before being revived. Clearing out the garage has shown me the relatively big lead mountain I have and some figures caught my attention again . This combined with the reading of Scandinavian themed Ospreys on the train - catching up on holiday purchases and my ongoing interest in the history of the region,not to mention the recent medieval week postings at

http://dalauppror.blogspot.com/ has provided me with with an interesting wee task this weekend. I have decided to depict 13th century Danes....
Two other thoughts- firstly I continue to be awe struck at just how much research info a wargamer has access to on the Internet. Gone are the days of library crawling on the whole. We are blessed with being able to research the obscurest of armies from the the comfort of our own home -wow I still say!
Secondly I have browsed medieval rules of all shapes and sizes this week as well as reading your helpful reviews/useage of them. I have found them to be a very mixed bunch but none completely filled the bill. Yes I will come back to Retinue and Terry Gore's medieval warfare for other projects but not for this. So my thoughts returned to Fitzbadger's excellent post-
http://soweiterleague.blogspot.com/2010/01/we-dont-need-no-stinkin-rules.html as inspiration. So here we are at last - no/minimal rules and figs on 40mm bases ( like the look and I have loads in the spares box) we shall see what happens. Please excuse the waffling nature of this- up early and the absence of ground coffee have not helped! Enjoy your day...



4 comments:

  1. I've always fancied doing Northern Crusades in 1/72. Valdemar Miniatures have some great vignettes and personalities. Look forward to seeing the figures appear on your blog
    regards-Mike

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  2. Gosh Mike ...
    Valdemar are soooo tempting. I had never heard of them. I will definitely return to their site one day- for now I must resist. How did you hear fo them?
    Alan

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  3. Hi Alan

    Nice to read about your interest in Scandinavia:)

    13th centery Danes...what about the Swedes??? are they not god enought;) or are you planing both sides?

    Is it any specific war/conflict in the 13th centery nyou are aming at?

    How will you compose the army?

    40x40 bases sounds good, I use the same for my Kalmar Union War project, that basing size makes it possible to use them with lots of comersial games to.

    I suppouse you will use 28mm minis.

    Which minis are you planing to use?

    Many questions...looking forward to follow your project.

    Best regards Dalauppror

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  4. I do have a few periods/genres that I am interested in; some of which I have not done anything with other than collect some books. I tend to concentrate on one for quite a while, but there's nothing wrong with doing what you want when you want. It is a hobby after all.

    I'll be interested to see how your Danes project progresses.

    Lately I have been taken by Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame rules and the more recent more compact version, and the reports by him, Ross and others. Very simple rules played out on square or hex grids with small numbers of figures per unit, and fits into a small space. I'm hoping to give the rules a try one of these days. When I do I will be sure to post reports.

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