Piracy on the High Seas!

 

Last Friday we played another game of Blood & Plunder.  Eric finished his Dutch fluyt, christened it the Zon and shipped the crew. James had already finished his own sloop, the Sea Witch. I determined to field Rob's beautifully painted brigantine crewed with the original Unaligned Nationality Starter Set as my own Warriors & Weapons barks were not really as pretty.

We went with a simple scenario since this was a friendly, "learning" game. 300 points for the fluyt, 200 points for James & I, and whoever controlled the fluyt at the end of the scenario won the game. 

The game went much faster then it has in the past as we are getting a handle on the rules. Artillery was also FAR more deadly then it has been. In our previous game James managed a stern raking shot that decimated my ship. This game showed that wasn't a fluke. 

This is a strength of the game, in my opinion. Ship handling in the face of adverse wind conditions is a key component of the game. I can easily imagine this going very different if the wind had favored us. Of course, james and I probably didn't handle our ships optimally in this scenario, we are still learning!

So far, I really like this system. the battles feel right for small scale engagements in the Golden Age of Piracy. The models are beautiful, of course, but for me, game play that has a proper historical flavor is always key and this seems to handle it well. More learning games to come!

Ancient Battle! ADLG Assyrians versus Hyksos!

 

A couple weeks ago we finally got to try Eric's Assyrian list (#9) versus my Hyksos list (#13) in an ADLG chariot battle. It was a fun game, but my Hyksos were overmatched from the beginning. That makes sense to some extent. 

The Assyrians were over 700 years after the Hyksos, and were a much more successful army and Empire. Moreover, this specific Assyrian list had a lot of heavy chariots, heavy infantry, 1/2 sword / 1/2 Bow, and cavalry. It was a small, powerful army. 

The Assyrian army list

Still, I didn't do myself any favors with my list organization, my deployment, or my game play. It was a fun game, but for me it was very much a learn from my mistakes game! Fortunately, Eric is a great guy to lose to. 

The Hyksos are dominated by light chariots, medium sword, and javelins (both LMI and LI). That can make for an odd list - the foot like lots of terrain, the chariots prefer a wide open plain.  

The Hyksos army list

I just think my Corps organization was at fault. I think I need to go back to two corps mixing javelinmen and light chariots, and move the bow into the corps with the swordsmen. 

Anyway, on to the game! :)

Happy with how the dunes and the gully came out.

As I mentioned in the last battle report, I needed some more desert terrain, so I refurbished some and created some new dunes, brush, an oasis, and a desert gully. I'm reasonably happy with how they came out. I do need to figure out how to add some texture to the game mat though. 

The Hyksos initial deployment was poor. The corps of archers and javelinmen faced off against the Assyrian cavalry, while the line of medium sword were faced with heavy infantry and chariots. But the light chariot bow were neutered facing the archer/sword combo elements, especially since they started very far away.  

The heavy chariots charge was deadly, destroying half of the
Hyksos medium sword impact elements in one round of fighting.

It was a dominating performance by the Assyrians. Much of that was simply good play by Eric. But I contributed to my own defeat, I never found away to bring my chariots into the fight, and so I was effectively fighting with 2/3s of my army. 

I look forward to facing the Assyrians again. The Hyksos list cannot change much, but with better organization and better play on my part I think I can give the Assyrians a better run for their money. 

Ancient Battle! ADLG Hyksos versus Numidians!

Image from the Egyptian Museum. 

On the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend it was just Rob and I at the club, we played a game of Art de la Guerre. Rob has only played a handful of games of ADLG, and I am somewhat rusty, so we took our time, it was a friendly game. 

This is the second ADLG battle report I've done recently but it won't be the last. I really want to expand these reports to other games like Blood & Plunder or Black Powder. 

I supplied both armies, Rob loves chariots so he played my Hyksos (#13) list (which was previously spotlighted here). I didn't have a perfect match, so I played my Numidians (#56) list. Light chariots with a mass of infantry versus light horse with javelins, some elephants javelinmen. I felt the Numidians were a decent substitute for a tribal attack from the Sahara into Egyptian lands. 

Still, huge chronological distance between these armies, 1236 years. Imagine a modern U.S. Marine force (2025 AD) versus the Islamic warriors of the Abbasid Caliphate (789 AD). These two armies, despite the time difference, are not far apart. The biggest difference being being mounted cavalry versus chariots. The list of differences between a modern force and the Abbasid's is far more extensive!

Please Note: If you click on the images they will expand and the battle report text will be easier to read. 

As I mentioned, Rob's only played a couple games of ADLG. He made a mistake with his deployment I didn't realize until much later. The single palm tree in the gully is an ambush marker, in game it might or might not have units there in ambush. Rob in fact did have 4 light infantry stands there in ambush. That was fine, but those light infantry stands were part of his center corps, the medium swordsmen in front of the dunes. In ADLG you cannot mix up Corps when you deploy. So technically that was an illegal starting position. But it really made no difference to the game and we just payed it as it was. 

So, I managed to pull a victory out in the end. It was a fun, relaxing game. Rob is always a pleasure to game with. 

This was the first game on my new duck cloth desert game mat. I need to do some more work on it, probably make the boundaries more obvious, and also I'd like to break up the color a bit so it looks more like real ground. And I need to get the edges hemmed. 

And I need to make new terrain myself I never realized I have no dune terrain, yet my Hyksos army has desert as a terrain type. 

Comments and suggestions welcome!

Dark Ages fight at the Richmond Open!

The Byzantine center charges the foe...

 On 2 May 2026 I tried to run an Art de la Guerre tournament at the Richmond Open. I ran a successful tournament there in 2024 - Strategos: L'Art de la Guerre at the Richmond Open 2024 - which you can read about at the link. 

This year, I waited too long to decide and it was announced only a few weeks before hand, and so I only had one player, my fellow club member Eric, who should up. Nonetheless, we enjoyed an excellent game of ADLG set in the Dark Ages. I played the Justinian Byzantine list, my favorite list since much of my Master's thesis covered it. Eric played the Carolingian Franks. These two arimies are roughly two hundred years apart, so it is not a historical match up but they are still fairly well matched. Both are primarily cavalry forces with heavy infantry in support.  

A fun, well played game. I am going to try again next year!

The War on Christmas!

This post is a bit different, since it contains both an Army Spotlight and a battle report using that army.  I'll start with the battle report and then do the Army spotlight. 

On Boxing Day (26 December) this past year, I ran a "War on Christmas" scenario at the club. For the last few years I have tried to run holiday themed scenario games at the club for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. They have been pretty successful so far. Prior to this game, I generally ran The Silver Bayonet: A Wargame of Napoleonic Gothic Horror. That setting assumes that supernatural forces prowl about the edges of the Napoleonic battlefields, growing more powerful from the chaos and bloodshed. The setting is perfect for the holiday-themed games, and the scale is fairly small - 1:1 figure ratio, 28mm, with 4-10 figures per side. Follow the Silver Bayonet keyword to see posts with other holiday themed games. 

The Toy Soldier Battalion stands firm at the entrance to
the North Pole village.

The other end of the village is defended by Red Gnomes, Jack Frost,
 a squad of elves, and the Toy Cannon. 

However, the figures I had put together numbered far more then a dozen a side, so though I set this game in the Silver Bayonets setting, I used Blood & Bayonets, a larger scale Napoleonic warfare game, for the scenario. I thought it was a success, but will probably go back to a smaller scale Silver Bayonet game next year as it gives the more unique characters more of a chance to shine. 

The North Polar Bear and friend prowl the ruins of Santa's 
old hall, glaring at Ratmen lurking in the woods. 

Gnomes and Toy Soldiers move to stop the snowmen and 
Winterbolt, while on the other flank, the Ratmen advance
on gnomes and Christmas tree-ents. 

A band of Ratmen prepare to finish off a shaken band of Red Gnomes
while Jack Frost observes.

Winterbolt is destroyed but the Snowmen still attack!

The Christmas Tree-ents have just slain the Mouse King,
but a large band of Ratmen are out for revenge!

The scenario was fairly simply, Santa Claus was defending his village at the North Pole, with his defensive force of elves, gnomes, polar bears, and toy soldiers, while the "Hexan", or evil forces attempted to crush the Toy Maker and his followers, bring the world  into an even deeper gloom. The evil forces were led by Winterbolt (lifted from a Rankin/Bass cartoon) and the Mouse King (from The Nutcracker and the Mouse King). Their forces including Krampusse, snowmen, ratmen (Skaven figures), and goblins. It is basically a modified version of the “Assault the Town” scenario in the main Blood & Bayonets book, those who want to read the actual scenario and look at the stats I assigned to the various forces can download a pdf of the "War on Christmas" scenario. I just ask for feedback, whether you run it or just read it. 

The game went over fairly well, I think. Some of the players think it was unbalanced in favor of Santa's forces, but I believe that was a result of unfamiliarity with the Blood & Bayonet rules. I definitely plan to run the game again to see if it runs better with greater knowledge of the rules. 

The Army Spotlight is for the Christmas forces I have collected, built, and painted to run Christmas scenarios. Many, but not all of the figures are from War in Christmas Village, others come from holiday themed releases from Reaper. Others were 3D printed for me by club members, Chuck especially printed a ton of gnomes and some Christmas specific miniatures. He printed a lot of figures from the Lords of Wintervault collection. I also purchased Eureka Toy Town Soldiers, they seem to only be available outside the United States now, sadly. 

Our current abode is too small, but I hope to have a house someday where I can build a proper Christmas village and have these figures on display therein for each holiday season. I expect to try and build on this force. 

Santa Claus, St. Nicholas, Father Christmas, Jolly Old Saint Nick

Bane Deer and Blitzen as a man-deer.

Winterbolt and Jack Frost

Frau Perchta and three Krampusse.

Santa and two reindeer.
One of my goals for this army is to acquire a Rudolph,
eight reindeer, and a proper sleigh. 

So, two of the snowmen are from War in Christmas Village,
and the broom wielder is a lucky find at Dollar General, repainted. 
Those three form the leadership, but I love the 23 snowmen I
made from scratch, especially their hats and
scarves (my wife helped with those). 

Here you see the snowmen "in progress" back in 2023.

Christmas elves!

Christmas Goblins! Along with Present Mimics!

Toy Soldiers on Parade!

The Nutcracker Prince, commander of the Toy Soldier Guard,
and the Toy Cannon and crew 

A Christmas Tree-ent, Winterbolt, and a Shaman Santa. 

Zombie Deer, Frau Perchta, and the Mouse King.