Gallery of Michael Rechlin

Worth a look, this gallery of drawings done by Michael Rechlin has some fantastic fantasy artwork in it. Link
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Humour - Ozzy Man

These are great !
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ORC ARMY

One of the readers of my Blog (Hi JJ) has asked for more pictures of Orcs.  Happy to oblige here's a series of pics from Sep 2015 when I got the entire army out for a look over.  This was in preparation for seperating about a 3rd out for use with the Dragon Rampant rules gaming I was expecting in Dec 2015.  I realised that I had been a bit slack with putting the effort into getting a lot of the units up to satisfactory standard of painting and basing.  Thus proved to be a useful spur and since then I've done a lot more work on them painting wise.
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Orc Wold rider, made By Irregular.  Casting is incredibly rough.  Can't find the enthusiasm to put any paint on them.
















Warlord and the 4 wolves that pull this had gone wandering off...  (subsequently found them)
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DRAGON RAMPANT CAMPAIGN

Quite by accident I stumbled across rules for how to run a Dragon Rampant campaign on TMP.  Written by Robert Crowhurst he had adapted them from a set contained with the Warhammer Ancient Battles (WAB) rulebook.

In turn I have extensively modified them, with the invaluable help of John Savage.  Currently 11 players are involved and we have our first games this coming Thursday :)  I shall be posting regular updates.
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Comment:  Some of the units that I will be fielding over the course of the campaign :)
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The current version of the Campaign  rules (Version 7-0-1 dated 23 Jun 2016) we are using, can be downloaded here: Link
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Picture Of The Week - No 54 - Fantasy Army

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Comment:  Love this artwork.
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Ruglud's Armoured Orcs

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Years ago I bought a Games Workshop Orc Warhammer fantasy unit boxed set containing 'Ruglud's Armoured Orcs'.  One of the Regiments of Reknown in the Warhammer world, I've had multiple battles with them over the years.

Of recent we have been having Fantasy battles at the club using the excellent Dragon Rampant Rules and that inspired me to get to grips with finishing the painting and buying some mdf movement trays from Warbases.

Here's a couple of pictures of Ruglud's Regt, 24 points strong for Dragon Rampant.
4 units each of 6 Orcs in the same configuration:
Elite Foot, armed with Missiles, but counting as Fearful to reflect that as Mercenaries they don't have the staying power of those fighting for a cause :)
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Picture Of The Week - No 53 - The Brummbär Bus !!!

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Comment:  How many people can fit on a WW2 German Brummbär ?
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Honest Trailers - Top Gun

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Comment:  Top gun is one of my all time favourite films, but this is funny :)
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Naval Action - Age Of Sail

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Comment: This is a very tasteful looking game.  Link
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Picture Of The Week - No 52 - Bodiam Castle

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Comment:  This photo is of the 14th century moated Bodiam Castle in East Sussex when we dropped by in 2012 whilst on holiday.  Well worth a visit if your ever down that way.
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DRAGON RAMPANT - 'THE WICKER MAN'

Our club has been invited to put on a game at the forthcoming Vapnartak wargames convention here in York.  John Savage has come with an interesting idea for a participation game using the recently published Dragon Rampant rules.

The scenario is called 'The Wicker Man' and is set in 72AD in Northern Britannia.  The local tribes have risen up in rebellion against the occupying Roman forces. A patrol from a far flung outpost has been captured and is to be sacrificed to the Gods in a Wicker Man. The players can take command of the Roman garrison as they seek to rescue their comrades from a horrible fate or lead the tribes in rebellion to throw off the yoke of imperial oppression. In addition each player will have the opportunity to seek glory for themselves while ensuring victory for their chosen side.

As a dry run to test out the force balance we had two games at the club, each lasting about an hour. I participated in the second as clean living Roman attempting to wipe out the barbarian scum ! :) It's only fair to say that the figures and Wicker Man in the photos below are all Johns, and beautifully painted.

Why use Dragon Rampant I hear you ask.  Well, the rules give an entertaining game, allow a result in an hour, and are easy to pick up. In addition it's easy to construct an army list and John wanted the Britons to have a Druid (armed only spells he could cast on his own troops).



The Wicker Man and the Britons.
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Brit infantry advancing.
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Brit skirmishers deploy in front of the Wicker Man.
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Roman fort and Auxiliaries deploying for their sorties towards the Wicker man.
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Auxiliary cavalry ready themselves.
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Auxiliary infantry advance.
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The battle starts, with the Romans auxiliaries advancing.  The three units of heavy infantry couldn't get their act together (been on the wine the previous night) and repeatedly failed their activation attempts at the start which allowed the Brits to bring their reserves up.
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The Roman auxiliaries get stuck in, but within a couple of turns are seen off, fortunately the Legionaries have now roused themselves.
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The Brits unleash their dogs !
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First Brit Chariot unit wades in.
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and the second makes its move as well.
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Roman legionaries make it out of the fort and take over from the auxiliaries. 
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They see off several Brit units, but in the end get overwhelmed. 

Final thoughts on the battle.  Lots of fun to play, not withstanding the Roman loss the game could have gone in their way a couple of times.  The Brit druid successfully cast a couple of spells but was in know way dominating.  A couple of minor tweaks and the game will be ready for Vapnartak :)
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“Kara” | (2016) (An Unofficial Star Wars Film)

"Kara" | (2016) (An Unofficial Star Wars Film) from Joe Sill on Vimeo.
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Comment:  Pretty good this, certainly worth a watch  :)
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IRON CROSS GAME

We played a 20mm WW2 game at the Harrogate Wargames Club using the new Iron Cross rules published by Great Escape Games.  These rules which are reasonably priced at £12.00 use a very innovative initiative system where it flows back and forth between the two side.  The German objective was to drive up the table and take possession of the village.
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I was going to write a bit of a rules review, but have decided to hold off until having a second game.
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Here's a few photos:
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Looking up the battlefield.
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Part of the German battlegroup on the move.
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Engaging what was a very troublesome 6pdr. 
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Part of the allied defence.
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Troublesome 6pdr.
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Allied reserves.
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The allies bring a 17pdr up the village.
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