It was good over a recent weekend to have the opportunity to set up a Startline scenario and play the game through, first solo, then with a live opponent in the shape of my long-time friend and wargaming opponent Paul. I only have the one WW2 collection, so as usual this fictional engagement was set during the 1939 Polish campaign.  To create a suitable scenario, I turned to a resource I have been using for a few months now, the latest list of Flames of War missions. These are available for free download online (you can also get a printer-friendly version without the fancy back ..read more

The Perry Twin's Valour & Fortitude rules are a set I have been interested in since they first came out about 18 months ago. The basic idea is excellent, and impressed me straight away - a set of Napoleonic rules created by some very well known wargamers (mainly Jervis Johnson), designed to be short and relatively simple, available for entirely free download and supported by regular updates as they improve and develop. I think that's what is sometimes called 'the spirit of wargaming'. The shame is, it has taken me so long to get around to a playtest. I finally got around to it recently fol ..read more

It's well past time that I recorded some plain, old-fashioned wargaming on this blog, if only for my own benefit.  So to start with, this is a report on a game from just a few days ago, played with some old friends and using a scenario from one of the stalwarts of the now-defunct Honours of War website. Thanks then to Konstantinos Antoniadis for this scenario and the many others he has posted over the years. Some of them (including this one) can now be sampled by joining the Facebook Group. Just go to the Files section. Konstantinos' map is shown above. His forces were French vs ..read more

Well, it's that time of year again, and I'm planning my annual wargaming event. This year, I am having a change of venue from Northleach to Cirencester. THE COTSWOLD WARGAMING DAY 2024 Sunday 20th October 09.30 - 17.00 at Big Battles Ltd Unit 3  Cirencester Business Estate Esland Place, off Love Lane Cirencester GL7 1YG Last year at the old venue. There was of course nothing wrong with the old venue - I have been very happy with it. Except that there was one issue - the number of 6' x 2' folding tables I needed. About 40 or so were in fact required, and half of these had to c ..read more

I have never really thought Facebook was a good place for wargaming sites. The Facebook pages or groups I visited seemed to lack focus and looked to me like a jumble of messages and posts with little order or organisation. So I set up 'proper' websites for Honours of War and Shadow of the Eagles, with forums, download sections, author content etc.  Well, the Honours of War site has worked pretty well for about 9 years, but activity is now limited to a few stalwart members. These guys post some great content, but for a set of rules published in 2015 a website was beginning to look like a l ..read more

I have mentioned previously on this blog my work on a set of WW2 rules inspired by the WRG 1973 set 'Armour and Infantry'. I have spent many pleasant hours working on these rules recently, and thought it was now time to open up the content to my fellow gamers. The changes to the original rules have increased to the extent that I now consider the rules to be a new and separate set, which I have called Startline. You can go to the group via the link below, and join up if you wish: Startline Discussion Group All interested wargamers are welcome to join. If you have not received a specific inv ..read more

And so, a slightly delayed report on CWD 2023. One or two non-wargaming parts of my life took up some time recently, and so I waited for a quiet moment to properly enjoy putting the report together. In fact, two fine AARs are already out there, from Chris Gregg and Steve Johnson. Both are well worth visiting. This year we had 11 games scheduled at one point, but sadly unavoidable issues cut that down to eight in the end. One good result was that everyone was together in the main hall, with no games in the 'side room ghetto'. I counted 31 gamers present, or 33 if you count me and ..read more

Last week I was walking a short section of the Pembrokeshire Coast Path with my wife and some friends, when we met the guy shown below going the other way. Dan McNeil is walking the entire length of Britain's coastline (including its islands) in support of the SSAFA (the Soldier's, Sailor's, Airmen and Families Association). He's been going since March 2021 and still has a way to go. What a hero. We gave him a tenner - maybe you can help him out as well via his Just Giving page: Daniel McNeil's Walk Around Britain Dan isn't the only young person we know of doing great things for char ..read more

Well, it seems I just can't get away from those old Airfix kits. My original Airfix nostalgia project was supposed to be all over in 2020, but it seems the itch still needs scratching. So this is a short post recording a couple of recent bits of kit building.  The first kit was one of those Airfix 'Vintage Classics' that Airfix currently have a extensive range of. So you can buy one of the models you remember from your youth, with the old school artwork, but the decals and instructions will all be bang up to date. Personally I'd prefer to have a facsimile of the old style instruction ..read more

So, a few weeks ago, I headed over to Roy's full of anticipation for a WW2 game set in the Western Desert. I had been working on my WRG-derived rules - I had recently checked over all the gun and armour stats and had even come up with a fancy alternate activation scheme for the turn sequence. What could possibly go wrong? The day actually started very well. Roy had a pile of box files waiting, extracted from the depths of his Alladin's Cave of a wargames room, and I had the pleasure of picking out the forces I thought would make an interesting game. We threw history to the wind and went for a ..read more