Monday, 20 July 2026

War Ledger - Campaign Management for Fantasy Tabletop Games

If you are thinking of running a fantasy campaign, this site is well worth checking out as it provides the tools for just such an undertaking  :)

https://war-ledger.com/

Tuesday, 17 March 2026

Battlegroup NORTHAG - INDEX, ERRATA, FAQ & HOUSE RULES + Other Files & Interesting Links

For its Cold War period gaming, my gaming group has shifted from using the Battlefront 'Team Yankee' rules to using the 'Battlegroup NORTHAG' rules published by the Plastic Soldier Company (PSC).  On balance we prefer them to Team Yankee as they are more armour focused.

Below is a listing of files, some of which I have created, and some of which I have downloaded off the Battlegroup NORTHAG Facebook group.  I hope you find them useful/interesting :) 
(The relevant authors permission has been obtained).

There are five sections:
-  Rules Related                       (files and links to videos)
-  Scenario and Campaigns     (files)
-  Terrain Generator                 (file)
-  Army Lists & Unit Cards     (files)
-  After Action Reports            (files and links to videos)

I have created a Dropbox Folder (Link) from where the files can be downloaded. 

Latest files added/updated since April 2026 are: 
20)   Forces & Scenarios Availability Summary - updated to version 1-4
35)   Unofficial - Scenario - 'Destroy The Engineers'  (currently at v1-0-1)  (By Chaz Richards)  (NEW)
36)   Unofficial - Scenario - Cut Off ! - updated to v1-8 - adjustment to Brit deployment.
37)   Unofficial - Scenario - NATO Counter-Attack - DRAFT v-05
41)   Unofficial - Terrain - Roadsigns to print. (currently at v2) (by Simon Tyler) 
71)   Unofficial - Belgium Army Battlegroup - v1-8 
72)   Unofficial - Belgium Army Unit Cards - v1-2  (by Ian Garbutt)   (NEW)
73)   Unofficial - Allied Berlin Brigade Battlegroup - (currently at v5) (by Markus Weber ) 


New To Northag or Returning To Northag After A Break
 ?

If you haven't played your first game yet or are struggling to get your head round the rules I highly recommend starting out with the Introductory Scenarios that Tom Egan an Infantry Officer with the Irish Army has written.  This is file No 30.  There are complimentary unit cards as file No 30a.

  • The first scenario (platoon size) introduces the basic core mechanics and just involves vehicles.
  • The second scenario (platoon size) brings in Infantry and Artillery.
  • The third scenario (company size) increases the size of the forces involved and brings in the possibility of Gunship support.

Tom, an active wargamer across multiple periods and scales can be followed on X at https://x.com/tomjmegan

Notes on Errata
NorthAG - 2020 Hardcopy edition, the latest version is errata version 9.
NorthAG - 2025 Print On Demand edition.  There is no errata for this version. 
CentAG - 2023 Hardcopy edition, the latest errata is version 2a.   
CentAG - 2025 Print On Demand edition.  There is no errata for this version.
NorthAG Omnibus - 2025 Hardcopy edition. There is no errata for this version (yet).
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RULES RELATED

01)  Official - Quick Reference Sheet.

01a)  Unofficial - Quick Reference Sheet - Printer Friendly  (Daniel William Lee)

02)  Official - NorthAG Errata for 2020 print version  (currently at v9)  (by Ian Garbutt)

03)  Official - CentAG Errata for the 2023 print version - (currently at v2a)  (by Ian Garbutt)

03a)  Official - NorthAG Omnibus Errata for 2025 print version  (currently at v1a)  (by Ian Garbutt)
        (Currently work-in-progress - should be available to download sometime in early 2026, hopefully...)

04)  Unofficial - NorthAG & CentAG Index for the two separate books - (currently at v28)   (by Ian Garbutt)

04a  Official - NorthAG & CentAG Index for the two separate books - (currently at v6)   (Simon Tyler) 

04b  Unofficial - NorthAG Omnibus Index - (currently at v3)   (by Ian Garbutt)

05)  Unofficial - Supplemental QR Sheet - (currently at v1-6) (by Ian Garbutt & Ewan Clerk)

06)  Unofficial - Battle Quick Starter Sheet - (currently at v2)  (by Ewan Clerk)

07)  Unofficial - FAQ & House Rules - (currently at v4-0)  (by Ian Garbutt)

08)  Unofficial - Rule Flow Charts  (currently at version 10)   (by Ian Garbutt).
Please note due to copyright issues this file is password protected.  Look on Page 1 of the NorthAG book, the first word in the body of the txt, copy it exactly.

This file is password protected, see notes below No 77. Password is the same.

09)  Unofficial - Artillery Deviation Template - (currently at v2)   (by John Elwen)

10)  Official -  BR Counters.

11)  Unofficial - BR Counters made out of mdf that I use - E-Bay.  Link
                           Reaction Tokens made out of mdf that I use - E-Bay  Link 

12)  YouTube - Overview of the rules by 'Cold War Warrior' - Link

13)  YouTube - The Future of Battlegroup NorthAG - Link

14)  YouTube - Wargames Illustrated interview with Warwick Kinrade the NorthAG author - Link

15)  YouTube - OnTableTop interview with Warwick Kinrade the NorthAG author -   Link

16)  Text Dump -  Rules Review  -  Link  

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20)  Forces & Scenarios Availability Summary - (currently at v1-4)  (by Ian Garbutt)

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SCENARIOS AND CAMPAIGNS

30)  Unofficial - Introductory Scenarios (three of them) - (currently at v2-0)  (by Tom Egan).

30a)  Unofficial - Introductory Scenario - British Unit Cards (currently at v1-2)  (by Ian Garbutt)

30b)  Unofficial - Introductory Scenario - Soviet Unit Cards (currently at v2)  (by Ian Garbutt)

Please note due to copyright issues this file is password protected.  Look on Page 1 of the NorthAG book, the first word in the body of the txt, copy it exactly.

31)  Unofficial - Mini-Campaign - 'Across The Elbe' (5 scenarios long) (currently at v1)  (by Chris Hersey).  

32)  Unofficial - Mini-Campaign - 'The Guttenburg Crack'  (currently work in progress, yet to be uploaded)  (by Ian Garbutt)

33)  Unofficial - Scenario - 'Exploitation' - (currently at v1-7 and still being refined)   (by Ian Garbutt)

34)  Unofficial - Scenario - 'Bridgehead Breakout'  (currently at v1-1)  (by Terry Ollila)  

35)  Unofficial - Scenario - 'Destroy The Engineers'  (currently at v1-0-1)  (by Chaz Richards) 

36)  Unofficial - Scenario - 'Cut Off'  (currently at v1-7) (by Ian Garbutt) (Comes with unit cards)   
Please note due to copyright issues this file is password protected.  Look on Page 1 of the NorthAG book, the first word in the body of the txt, copy it exactly.

37)  Unofficial - Scenario - 'NATO Counter-attack' (currently at v0-5) (Currently at the DRAFT stage, undergoing playtesting) (by Ian Garbutt).  
Please note due to copyright issues this file is password protected.  Look on Page 1 of the NorthAG book, the first word in the body of the txt, copy it exactly.

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TERRAIN

40)  Unofficial - Terrain Generator for games - (currently at v2)  (by Simon Tyler)   

41)  Unofficial - Roadsigns to print.  A5 PDF with the images scaled for 1/285.  For 12mm scale (1:144), print at 198%.   (currently at v2)   (by Simon Tyler) 

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ARMY LISTS & UNIT CARDS

Please note due to copyright issues many of these files are password protected.  Look on Page 1 of the NorthAG book, the first word in the body of the txt, copy it exactly.

50)  Unofficial - WARPAC Unit Cards - (currently at v8)  (by Ian Garbutt)   

51)  Unofficial - USA Unit Cards - (currently at v14)  (by Ian Garbutt)

52)  Unofficial - Canadian Unit Cards - (currently at v2-3)  (by Ian Garbutt)

52a)  Unofficial - Canadian Army List - based off the excellent book ‘First Clash’ Combat Close-Up In World War Three written by Kenneth Macksey (currently at v2-0)  (by Ian Garbutt and James Anderson) 

53)  Official - Swedish Army List - (currently at v2-8)  (by Ian Garbutt)

54)  Unofficial - Swedish Unit Cards - (currently at v2-0)  (by Ian Garbutt) 

55)  Unofficial - British Unit Cards - (currently at v1-5)  (by Ian Garbutt)

56)  Unofficial - Arab-Israeli 1967 - Supplement  (by Gord Dyck).

57)  Unofficial - Arab-Israeli 1967 - Arab Unit Cards  (by Gord Dyck).

58)  Unofficial - Arab-Israeli 1967 - Israeli Unit Cards  (by Gord Dyck).

59)  Unofficial - NVA (East German) Unit Cards - (currently at v5-0)  (by Ian Garbutt)

60)  Official - French Army List -  (currently at v1-7)  (by Ian Garbutt and Mark Pullan)  

61)  Unofficial - French Unit Cards -  (currently at v1-9)  (by Ian Garbutt)  

62)  Unofficial - Listing of WARPAC Armour -  (currently at v9-2)   (by Ian Garbutt)

63)  Unofficial - Dutch Unit Cards - (currently at v1-4)  (by Ian Garbutt)

64)  Unofficial - Bundeswehr Unit Cards - (currently at v1-4)  (by Ian Garbutt)

65)  Unofficial - Danish Unit Cards - (currently as v1-3)  (by Ian Garbutt)   (Note: These match with the CentAG army list)

66)  Unofficial - Danish Force List - (Currently work-in-progress at v0.9 although available to download)  (by Poul Christian Secherv)

67)  Unofficial - VDV Soviet Airborne Unit Cards - (currently at v1-3) (by Ian Garbutt). 

68)  Unofficial - BG Middle East Supplement -1967-73 (currently at v1) (by Gord Dyck).

69)  Unofficial - Unitcards - 11ACR BlackHorse 1968-73 (by Gord Dyck).

70)  Unofficial - Unitcards - Egyptian 1970 by Gord Dyck,

71)  Unofficial - Belgium Army List - (currently at v1-8) (by Ian Garbutt).  

72)  Unofficial - Belgium Unit Cards - (currently at v1-2)  (by Ian Garbutt).

73)  Unofficial - Allied Berlin Brigade battlegroup - (currently at v5) (by Markus Weber )   

74)  Unofficial - LWP (Polish) Unit Cards - (on my 'to-do' list) (work started in Jul 26)

75)  Unofficial - CSLA - (Czechoslovak People’s Army) Unit Cards - (on my 'to-do' list)

76)  Unofficial - HA (Hungarian People's Army) Army List - (on my 'to-do' list).

77)  Unofficial - HA (Hungarian People's Army) Unit Cards - (on my 'to-do' list).

78)  Unofficial - Finish Army List - (on my 'to-do' list).

79)  Unofficial - Finish Unit Cards - (on my 'to-do' list).

Please note due to copyright issues I have been asked to password protect the Army Listing and Unit Cards I have done.  Look on Page 1 of the NorthAG book, the first word in the body of the txt, copy it exactly.

80)   Unofficial - Army Builder - (currently at v2-3) by Chriss Pagan

Notes by the author

The password is the first word from page 2 of Northag + first word from the page 2 of CentAG.
So the password is h.......+t..
Note that the password is all in lower case and has the + symbol between the two words.
The makro is to be able to expand the groups.
If you don't want to allow it you can remove the protection from the work sheet.

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AFTER ACTION REPORTS

90)   AAR - 'The Crossing' by Roger Kidd.

91)   AAR -  BadLucken, West Germany, 1983.  (YouTube - Video - Link)

92)   AAR - 'Counter-Penetration' by Roger Kidd.

93)   AAR - A couple of excellent reports are on the 'Sound Officers Call' blog. Link 

94)   AAR - 'NorthAG, DorfstraBe...' by the author himself, Warwick Kinrade.

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100)   Interesting discussion about NATO on the Quora forum:  Link 

101)   Review of the Omnibus by the 'No Dice No Glory' Blog page:   Link



Boardgames Are More Than Just Fun, Science Reveals

This interesting article on the Tabletop Gaming site about Boardgames and how useful they are in promoting cognitive health and social skills, is worth a read:

https://www.tabletopgaming.co.uk/news/boardgames-are-more-than-just-fun-science-reveals/ 




Monday, 18 November 2024

What A Tanker! - Dashboard & Dice Set

I recently purchaed Qty 4 of these Dashboard and Dice Set from Sabotage 3D for 'What A Tanker!'.  These are really excellent and especially useful if you want to rotate through diffent tanks in short order.  Highly recommended.  


Tuesday, 9 April 2024

Monday, 8 April 2024

York, England - A Tour Through The Most Medieval City on Earth

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I thought this was rather nice video of the city where I live.  The capital of the north situated in Gods Own County   :)
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Saturday, 6 April 2024

The last British VSTOL aircraft | Harrier Jump Jet GR9


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I used to be part of the support organisation for this fantastic aircraft, good times.  
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Sunday, 31 March 2024

Filmdeg Miniatures Channel

Quite by accident I came across this U-Tube channel called the Filmdeg Miniatures channel.

The channel is run by Tom Evans who is a tabletop wargaming fan in Nottingham. He goes by the I go by the internet handle of "Filmdegminiatures" and plays Warhammer Fantasy 6th edition and Mordheim, among others.

On his channel you will find interviews with John Blanche and Tuomas Pirinen and Rick Priestly.  Well worth a look.



Thursday, 14 March 2024

Tales From The Periphery - BattleTech Podcast

If you're interested in BattleTech I recommend you check out 'Tales From The Periphery'.  Link

It describes itself as, 'An audio podcast, news blog, events diary and resource covering the UK BattleTech scene'.

In Episode 1 Mike Whitaker is interviewing a friend of mine Andrew Dickinson who I play Alpha Strike  with at the Leeds Wargames Club once a month. 


Monday, 11 March 2024

BattleTech Alpha Strike - Hicks Hall Leeds

On Saturday joined with my regular BattleTech group at the Leeds Wargames Club in Hicks Hall in Leeds for a fun Alpha Strike game.

Click on the following Link to see a short video of it:  Link







Thursday, 1 February 2024

The Keys Of Medokh - Play-By-Mail Game

Back in the early 1990s I used to play in the Play-By-Mail (PBM) game 'The Keys Of Medokh' (TKoM) whilst it was run by Rampage Games.  I was in a total of five games, numbers: 127, 144, 160, 166 and 169.

In its day TKoM was quite something !

Did you play in the game ?  If so please leave a comment  :)


















Here's one of the original adverts  :)

I've set up a Facebook page for The Keys of Medokh as well -  Link.

The Basic rulebook can be downloaded here :)   Link


Friday, 19 January 2024

Board Games Are Good For You – The Science Behind It

There is an interesting article on this subject on the Tabletop Gaming site:  Link



 

Wednesday, 10 January 2024

Classic Battletech - The Battle Of Butternab Ridge - After Action Report

Scenario Name:  The Battle Of Butternab Ridge 
Side A:  House Liao
Side B:  House Steiner
Points Per Side:  3,200
Game Duration:  Eight turns
Map Hex Size:  34 x 22
Entry Points:  Short Edges.

Side A Forces:
Rifleman    RFL-3N 
Jenner    JR7-F   
Hunchback    HBK-4J

Side B Forces:
Thunderbolt TDR-5SE
Javelin JVN-10F
Blackjack BJ-1

Scenario Background
The god fearing clean living peaceful traders of House Steiner have been provoked into raiding into the Liao holdings.  An operative embedded deep with the Liao military industrial complex (such that it is) has obtained info that the Liao forces are experimenting with a new revolutionary powerplant for the Manticore Heavy tank.  Field trials are underway but due to poor maintenance and lack of experience the prototype vehicle is breaking down almost daily.  Current intel indicates it is abandoned awaiting recovery in the small settlement of 'Butternab Ridge'.

Scenario Objective
House Steiner - Secure the abandoned Manticore Heavy Tank.  
House Liao - Deny House Steiner their objective. 

Victory Conditions
For each turn a player had an active Mech (not shut-down or dead) within three hexes of the tank, they received one point.  Player with the most points at the game is the winner.    

The Battle
Successful suppression of Liao planetary defences saw an unopposed Lyran Dropship landing.  Steiner forces entered the battlefield from the south at the same time as a hastily assembled scratch force of Liao mechs entered from the north to intercept them.

Turn 1 
Steiner win the initiative.  Initial moves onto the Battlefield by both sides (using Blips to represent Mechs) saw no shooting as line of sight was obscured by terrain.

Turn 2
Steiner win the initiative.  The Steiner Blackjack secures a good vantage point on top of a building and commences firing with its twin ACss.   An aggressive run forward by the Steiner Javelin towards the Manticore ended in disaster when the Pilot failed his Piloting Skill Roll (PSR) when he tried to make a turn.  Skidding forward he damaged his head armour in the fall and knocked himself unconscious !  WTF !   The Capellan's making the most of this disaster rush their Jenna forward to close the range and pound the rear of the immobile prone mech.  In all the excitement their Rifleman unloaded with both AC5s and both Heavy Lasers (which with only 10 Heat Sinks gave him a Heat problem).  The screaming over the radio from the rest of his team fortunately brought the Javelin pilot out of his slumber at the end of the round !      





































Turn 3
Steiner win the initiative.  The Javelin gets up and seeks cover behind the nearby tree, and the Thunderbolts runs up the junction and the Blackjack jumps down.  The Hunchback starts loosening off with its LRMs as he gets a bead on the Blackjack.

Turn 4
Steiner win the initiative.  The Jenner takes the safest option and jumps to cover its rear, the Thunderbolt and Blackjack rush forward, all three Steiner mechs are within 3 hexes of the objective now.  The Blackjack takes some damage as again does the Jenna.  The Hunchback is out of position and doesn't have line of sight to a target, so doesn't fire.



















Turn 5
Steiner win the initiative again !  The Jenna ends up behind the Blackjack and then the Javelin jumps behind that.  The Rifleman takes some punishment and the Javelin almost has a Torso blown off now the Hunchback is making its firepower felt!
























Turn 6
Liao win the initiative for the first time.  The Javelin receives yet more damage and takes a Medium Laser to the head which goes critical and takes out a Heat Sink, the pilot managing to keep conscious despite this blow.  Further damage takes the other torso down to just one piece of internal.  The Rifleman has lots of eternal armour blown away now and loses an upper arm actuator.  
























Game End
The game was meant to go onto Turn 8 but we had run out of time at the end of Turn 6, so we called it at that point.  The Steiner forces had more victory points at that time and so were determined to have secured the objective.   A very very close game, the Javelin as you can see from the record sheet was virtually scrap.  Overall a really entertaining game with my opponent Steve M :)  I'm looking forward to the return match with the same forces when we plan to switch sides.        


Sunday, 24 December 2023

BattleTech Mercenaries

Check out this interesting page on BattleTech Mercenaries.  This format is for both quick casual games and for multi-round events.  It's a scenario based format where each player controls 4x Mercenary BattleMechs.  Link

I haven't tried it myself, but intend to do so.


Classic Battletech - Battle Of Duncansviller Power Station

I dived back into the crunchiness of Classic Battletech with my old friend John Elwen on Thursday night at the Harrogate Wargames Club with a 4,000 point aside battle on the planet of Drozen. 

The peace loving traders of the Lyran Commonwealth (House Steiner) defending the recently 'acquired' power plant of Duncansviller Power Station were brutally attacked by the Capellan Confederation (House Liao). 

The Liao raiding party consisted of a Crusader CRD-3L mech supported by 4x Condor Heavy Hover Tanks (standard configuration).  Opposing this unwelcome incursion was a Jenner JR7-F mech supported by 3x Manticore Heavy Tanks (standard configuration). 

Straight from the off the aggressive manoeuvring by the (ridiculously) fast Condor Hover tanks seized the tactical initiative and forced the Lyrans onto the defensive.  The inability of the Hover tanks to enter woods though was exploited by the Manticore tanks who made good use of the cover available (or tried to hide like cowards, depending on your viewpoint! LOL).  After several inconclusive exchanges of fire the Liao unit swept in and reduced most of the firing to point blank, inside the minimum ranges of the PPC and LRM equipped Condors.  Two critical rounds of fire and physical attacks by the Javelin who jumped behind a Condor and repeated kicked it resulted in the destruction of 1x Condor, and the immobilisation of another. The Lyran's had 2x Manticores immobilised and the Javelin's external armour was badly shredded. 

Assessing that he was outgunned at this point, the Liao commander decided to withdraw his force (although we considered it a draw really).  A fun very closely fought game.  It's a long time since I've used vehicles in Classic Battletech and it was a reminder how very vulnerable they are to receiving critical mobility hits which reduce them to the status of a pillbox. 

Looking forward to the next game ! 🙂

Details
Rules:  by Catalyst Games - Battletech Manual - Rules Of Warfare.
Gaming Mat:  by Catalyst Games - Battletech Battlemat - Desert.
Terrain:  Small trees sold for model railways, remainder 3D home printed (FDM).
Mechs and Condor Hover Tanks:  by Iron Wind Metals.
Manticore Heavy Tanks:  Resin models supplied by Badger 3D.
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Here are a few pics from from the game.






















The Steiner forces enter the battlefield...
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The Liao Condor Heavy Hover tanks make their presence felt.
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An air reccy photo from a Steiner Lucifer aerospace fighter as it screams over the battlefield
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Under pressure and outmanoeuvred the Steiner tanks seek refuge in the cover of some Light woods. 
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After initially keeping its distance the Liao Crusader jumps in to close the range down and support a Condor that had just been immobilised by a PPC hit from a Manticore. 
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A pair of Condors flank the beleaguered Manticores and heavy fire is exchanged.   
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The Steiner Jenna has jumped behind a Condor that came down the road and has proceeded to block it in. 
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A savage exchange of fire sees all the Javelin's armour stripped off its right torso and some internal structure eaten into.  The Condor is immobilised by repeated SRM hits from the one of Manticors.
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With one Condor destroyed and another immobilised and isolated the Liao commander decides to retreat to fight again another day.  His Crusader is not that damaged and could keep fighting for some time, and the Steiner forces have taken a beating and two of the Manticores are immobilised.  Critically though the Steiner unit still has its full firepower available and is a close supporting formation.
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Friday, 22 December 2023

Tuesday, 19 December 2023

GET FV4005 RUNNING

The tank museum are planning on getting the FV4005 running again.  Check out their web site for more details of this interesting project.  Link



Monday, 5 June 2023

BADGER 3D Creations - Web Site: https://badger3d.co.uk/

I've slightly unretired myself, I'm now helping out at Badger 3D Creations one day a week.  3D printing, it's the future guys !  🙂

Check out Badger's Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/Badger3DCreations and their excellent Etsy shop:  https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Badger3DPrints.

In addition they have their own website: https://badger3d.co.uk/ suggest check there first for the latest releases.