First game of Baron's War

So on Thursday night at the club I ran a small 300 point game for Barons War. To keep things simple, both sides were the same. A baron with a command group of foot knights, a unit of serjeants and some bowmen. It was a simple meeting engagement with both sides trying to take down the other. Though the main aim was just learning the rules.

Sean's force advancing from the East

Miych's force advancing from the West

Both sets of bowmen begin to exchange fire

Serjeants engage in combat

Now the Baron's clash

It's all over

In a quirk of fate the game ended when Mitch killed Sean's Baron in melee, but then broke and fled. I really enjoyed the rules, quick to get the hang of. I know we made a few mistakes around activating units, but melee and archery are easy to pick up. Looking forward to the second run out next week, may even add a few cavalry to both sides.

Re-basing for Baron's war

My bases finally arrived so I was able to quickly re-base the mounted knights and sergeants. Some of the sergeants were armed with the lance which was quickly changed to a variety of hand weapons to fit the game rules. Those lances were added to the knights. I also made a few amendments to the tabards and shields to stop them from looking uniformly.

Sergeants

Knights

 With these done I then discovered a box of Conquest miniatures medieval knights. They will be perfect as mounted sergeants, though one rider is missing, still gives me another 9 mounted figures to complete. I've also put in a couple of orders to fill the gaps in the collection, namely some foot knights and crossbowmen from Footsore, peasants from Wargames atlantic and Sergeants from Footsore which will be equipped with the 2-handed glaive.

The collection so far. More than enough to start gaming. The rules will get a run out on Thursday night, keeping it small as we learn them. Already 3  other club members have committed to getting forces. Already have ideas for a map based campaign using the local Barons of Northumberland.

So far we have 

Me - William de Vesci, Baron of Alnwick

Neil G - Richard Bertram, Baron of Bothal

Neil B - John de Lilburn, Constable of Dunstanborough

Mitch - Henry Delaval, Baron of Callerton

I'm hoping we may get another couple of players converted once they see the rules in action

Barons War additions

Forgot to post these figures I completed just before my trip. Five more knights added, they are a mix of Fireforge plastics and Blacktree. The figure at the back with the attempted cross on his shield is to represent William de Vesci, Baron of Alnwick and leader of my force. When I get back, I'll do a bit more work on it.

Next up is a seige tower and battering ram. They are old Citadel models that I've had for years. The tower was picked up off Ebay with a couple of broken wheels. Adding a base made it more sturdy. I'll need to sort some rope to lower and raise the ramp.

I'll only be using these as scenic items for a possible raid scenario, defenders trying to either break a seige or destroy the tower.

Another side Project

With completing all the figures from the Heroquest boxed set and waiting for orders for my Punic War project, I decided to start another side project, It'll prevent me going stale concentrating on one topic. So I took the plunge with 'The Barons' war'. Now luckily this shouldn't require much expenditure as I already have a decent amount of figures already painted up as part of 3 forces for Lion Rampant. They will all need their base refreshed as they have sat in a box for too many years. The only downside to these figures is that I kept to colour schemes for each of the forces, Blue/yellow, Green/white and red/black. Historically forces didn't really have colour schemes so those in the red/black have been re-painted (they were the smallest force I had) So here are the 2 existing forces that I have.

Both of these forces are short on mounted troops. I have 6 of the Blue/yellow that just need re-basing, though they are a mix of knights and sergeants. I do have another 12 models that with a little work should give each force a unit of knights and a unit of sergeants.

Looking at the figures, around 80% are sergeants with a few peasant archers. I will need some foot knights and more peasants, ideally not archers to give more options. I did however re-paint another 10 sergeants along with 4 more peasant archers (1st Corps). I also dug out 4 other peasants with various weapons (Gripping beast and irregular miniatures) and 4 foot knights (Black tree) which just required re-basing.

Not a bad start to a new project. The rules have arrived and I'll be able to give them a good read while in Normandy. I also have plenty of dark age and medieval buildings that I can use, there is even a fortress I can use as a back drop to games.

First Carthaginians

I did a small test unit on some armoured Carthaginian infantry I picked up from Cromarty forge. Quick and simple paint scheme which I'm happy with.

Went for uniformed shields just for the look. Now to get the other unit done.

Numidians and Goblins

Quickly following the last post I had a dig around in the unpainted pile while I wait for my orders. I managed to find a handful of Numidian cavalry. These are resin 3d printed models from Cromarty forge. They come in just 2 poses, which is a shame as they are nice figures and easy to paint up. I'll definitely need more in the future and will likely add some from Forged in Battle and Museum miniatures for extra variety.

I went for simple hide shields as I wanted to be able to use them as allies of both the Carthaginians and Romans.

The other batch of figures I completed were the 6 goblins from the Heroquest boxed set. Just simple paint jobs, a mix of browns for the clothing, but it gets me nearer to completing the set, just the 2 Chaos warriors left.

Now I can start on the first 2 bases I have of some Carthaginian infantry while my orders make their way to me. Should have plenty to keep me busy when I get back from Normandy.

Heroes for Heroquest and forming some ideas

First up with a trip to Normandy in less than 2 weeks, I had promised to bring the Heroquest board game to help while away the hours at night. I also committed to painting the figures, so time to get a move on. These are the 4 heroes of the game, Dwarf, Barbarian, Elf and Wizard. Despite the details they were surprisingly easy to paint up.

This just leaves 2 of  the Chaos warriors and 6 goblins to do, already made a start on the goblins. I doubt I'll be able to make a start on any of the furniture/scenery.

Now to ideas and deliberations. At the club we had a good discussion on our game for the Border Reiver show. We had finally agreed on Quar, but not a scenario, 1 or 2 games. Also the rules are split across 3 different booklets as we await the new version, this makes it a bit of a pain when trying to look up rules in the middle of a game. I also felt we were not really organised and leaving it too late, also my OCD was kicking in and causing some unwanted stress. Last year with the Marston Moor game, I had led on the project, I had a plan and spent the whole year preparing for it. Thankfully Sean had decided to run a Chain of Command game, he already has everything he needs including a scenario and will run a practice game next week.

So with that stress relieved my thoughts turned to 2026 and Punic Wars. This had been one of the suggestions for 2025. This time I've committed to it. So I first need to decide if I do one of the more familiar battles or something lesser known which gives me some freedom on what troops to paint up. In the meantime I took advantage of the Forged in Battle 20% sale and ordered the Carthaginian starter army. That will provide 4 bases of Punic cavalry, 8 bases of African infantry, 4 bases each of javelinmen and balearic slingers. I've also put in an order to Cromarty forge to make a start on some Spanish troops to support the Carthaginians. While I await the deliveries I have begun prepping some Numidian cavalry and 2 bases of armoured Punic infantry from Cromarty forge.

By my reckoning this will go a long way to filling out the Carthaginian army. Obviously I will need at least a couple of Elephants, additional Numidian and Spanish cavalry. Thankfully the Romans are almost done with 3 of the 4 legions completed. I may add a few allies to them if needed.