Increased The Width Of The Blog

Guys, I've increased the width of the blog from 1024 to 1280.  Hopefully this doesn't pose any problems.  My thinking is that as most people are using wider screens nowadays I could expand things.  Main advantage for me is I can post bigger sized images.

ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY Official Teaser Trailer

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Comment:  Fabulous !
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DRAGON RAMPANT ORC ARMY

I mentioned a few posts back that my regular gaming crowd and I had embarked on a 'Badlands' Dragon Rampant campaign.  This is the current 29 point army configuration I've settled upon and takes advantage of the Darkened Skys trait that my Warlord (Ruglud 'Bonechewer') was lucky enough to roll up at the start of the campaign. As of the date of this posting he has fought in 8 battles and has managed to survive a couple of near-death experiences by the skin of his teeth ! LOL


Configuration As Per My Last Battle
1 x Lesser Orc Shaman - Wizardling - with the strength of a Light Infantry unit + Warband Leader (5pts).
2 x Orc Crossbow  - Heavy Missile (Fearful) (2pts each)
2 x Goblin Infantry - Light Infantry (3pts each)
1 x Orc Scouts - Scouts (2 pts each) 
2 x Orc Chariots - (6pts each)

Alternative Variation (Fielded the week before)
Instead of the 2 Goblin units and Scouts take 2 x Orc Giant Wolf Rider units (Heavy Cavalry)
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From Wargaming BLOG Photos

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TRIP TO STAMFORD BRIDGE

Out and about on Thursday in the truck with the family we made the most of the nice weather (for a change) and had a ride out to the historic village of Stamford Bridge the site of an important battle in UK history.
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Although victorious, arguably Harold's army tired out from marching up up from the south coast, fighting a battle, and then having to march south again was not in good shape to repel the subsequent Norman invasion of William 'The Bastard' subsequently known as William 'The Conqueror'. The defeat of King Harold essentially led to the enslavement of all of Anglo-Saxon England.  Yorkshire along with several other regions was seen as centres of resistance and as such was subjected to such brutal ethnic cleansing that settled areas of population simply ceased to exist.
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The Rangers - Short Film

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Comment:  If you like Fantasy, this worth a watch, not a bad effort for a first film by the following team:
Written & Directed by David Nordquist
Cinematography by Robert Prince
Sound Editing by Sampson Nordquist
Costume Design by Robert Prince & May Yee Nordquist
Music by Daniel Rebeiz
Edited by David Nordquist.
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Battlefield Gothic Armada

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Comment:  This looks really interesting.  Reminds me of the game Homeworld in many ways.
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DRAGON RAMPANT QR SHEET

To assist smooth gameplay I have expanded upon the QR sheet within the Dragon Rampant rule book.    We’ve used this without any problem at my local club.  It can be download from the Dropbox here: Link 

Rare Footage Of A Captured Panther

Rare footage of a captured PzKpfW. V "Panther" of the British Forces. ~Archangel
Posted by Tiger Commander on Thursday, 7 January 2016

Picture Of The Week - No 55 - Nashorn

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Comment:  One of my all time favourite vehicles, the WW2 German Nashorn.  The epitome of the heavy-weight ambush 'Sniper' vehicle in my eyes.

Came across this picture very recently, not one I'd seen before.  Interesting to note the bits of foliage/hay draped over it, and also of special note is the canvas cover for the fighting compartment, something very rarely seen.
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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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