"How Do You Like Your Arthurian Wargames?" Topic

OK, King Arthur's a pretty popular guy, king of the Britons and all. That being said, he comes in many flavors. You have you choice of a Mallory/Green style "Romantic" Arthur, with great helms or full plate and magic a plenty, and the magic and chivalry that made that iteration a success with the courts. You've got your dirty, gritty, sub Roman warlord running around the swamps and getting in fights, the historic interpretation. Then there's the folkloric version, not quite based on our best evidence so much as myth, but not yet touched by troubadours looking for a wealthy patron. And there are plenty more interpretations of the character.

Personally, I tend to go in for the Romantic iteration of the character, that was my first exposure and the aesthetic and the whimsy is appealing to me. Feasts in the middle of the woods and strange quests under every rock, that's fun stuff in my book. That being said, a good Romano-Brit every now and then never hurt anyone.

So TMP, how do you like to wargame King Arthur, or just enjoy his world in general?

It depends on my current mood, but I'd enjoy any of the versions. Having grown up with Mallory's book, I usually think of King Arthur that way, although I'm currently leaning toward the Dark Ages version.

Definitely the "Dark Ages" Arthur for me, although I am still not sure whether to place him in Southern Scotland, North Wales or Devon!

Dark Age. The late medieval one is too bound up with 'chivalry' and fantasy for me.

Firmly in the Dark Ages. Mallory gets classed the same as
Monty Python in my book though I did enjoy bits of Excalibur. I wonder what I'd make of these days ?

A Dark Ages Arthur – a Glutter of Ravens!

I enjoy all of the imaginative variants but for collecting figures and playing wargames I'm definitely most interested in Dark Age historical interpretations …

Phil
Ancients on the Move

Another vote for the Dark Age variant of Arthur.

In movies i prefer excalibur.

In gaming it would be dark ages.

But i wouldn't call it arthurian, but post roman Britain.

Dark age or late Roman for me

I like them very much – the sorta historical, the kinda speculative and the totally fantasy as well.

I like to combine Dark Age and Late Roman for Arthurian games.I use the Arthur figure that Gripping Beast made.

Dark ages

I would like to imagine a combination of the Dark Ages and chivalric traditions. I imagine King Arthur's court being a bastion of civilization and elegance in an otherwise brutish society Arthur and his warriors dressed in beautiful colorful silken garments and clad in magnificent shining armor , sally forth to combat the masses of fur clad dirty heathen invaders

They live in splendid palaces with fine wine and food, surrounded by beautiful ladies, cherubic children and wise old folk. When not fighting the knights go out of fantastic quests saving damsels in distress and helping the sick and poor.

Of course, the reality of the times was a semi educated and cultured warlord, hunkered down on a freezing rainy hill top fort trying to hold on to what little he had left from not only from barbarian hordes but from other warlords as well.

You put it well, Toronto.

As with all things, I think the popularity of the Arthurian legend goes through cycles, and it's pretty clear the most popular today is the Dark Ages version--which is great stuff, and definitely the most historically accurate, if one can safely use that term for Arthur.

Having said that, I still think my primary image of the stories is in the mid to late 14th century--very much High Medieval, with plate armour, bascinets, etc.--but freely admit this is almost entirely due to the illustrations of Mallory by Rackham, Pyle and others of the Golden Age of Illustration, as well multiple viewings of Excalibur (which rocked my world at the time). But they are all good, and I would happily play them all.

If any of you haven't seen it, I would highly recommend Daniel Mersey's Song of Arthur and Merlin rules: it is one of the best sets of rules, for any genre, I have ever seen; it's well written, funny, hugely informative (written as it is by a real expert on the legend(s)) and linked to a very strong game engine. I consider it one of the best purchases I have ever made in the hobby.

Dark Ages for me, but I love "Excalibur".

For wargaming Dark Ages. For roleplaying Romantic.

No question Dark Age for me.

Christopher

Dark Ages absolutely! I've been playing this for so many years and never considered another 'period'

However, one of these days I'll go back even a bit further and try to recreate the Lucius Artorius Castus thing with Imperial Romans, Auxilia and of course Sarmatian riders.
No Saxons in sight but hordes of Pictish and Irish raiders

I lean toward an "enhanced Dark Ages" theme:

• The Pendragon has a bodyguard of charge-happy cavalry
  
• Other warlords have maybe-charge-maybe-skirmish cavalry
  
• Saxons make wild charges in large masses on foot
  
• Most pedyt fight in shieldwalls, though sometimes for flavor I experiment with one or two Welsh contingents fighting "the old way" like Roman Auxilia
  
• The costumes have a strong Celto-Christian vs. Germano-pagan undercurrent
  

I game the battles as set piece affairs with "units" representing hundreds of men, which is really not very realistic, but I like grand tactics and lots of figures. Skirmish gaming doesn't do anything for me, and big battles with squabbling warlords on each side fits the mythological grandeur of the period better.

Next time I return to gaming this period, I want to create Brytonic and Germanic command stands with unique characteristics to represent "personalities" in a campaign setting. I wrote this Age of Arthur DBA campaign and ran it for a few years at local conventions, but next time I'll probably use some different tactical rules and modify the campaign system to include personalities who can grow or die. Over time I have bought all the "Personalities" packs from Splintered Light for this purpose. I love Splintered Light figures….

Has anyone used a painting service for this period that they would recommend? It's time I admit I'm never going to finish painting the lead myself.

- Ix

Like this:

And:

Mucky and a little roman

I liked Michael Yorks version of Arthur in Babylon 5.

Monty Python…..with loads of misquotes in daft voices….and no horses.
Will the mystery of swallows and coconut shells ever be resolved?
….and what does my mother smell of again?

Camelot is Mallorean but the less civilized corners of England are still in the Dark Age.

bobm1959 -- elderberries

I don't see Arthurian Britain as a setting for wizards hurling fireballs and lightning, so I generally reject efforts to make it a Tolkenesque or Gygaxian setting.

Other than the above restriction, I'm willing to play any number of Arthurian games, although the RPG Pendragon comes to mind as the overall best game (RPG or wargames) for the setting I am aware of.

Prince Valient.

A medieval kingdom set in a Dark Age world.

TomT

Although I generally don't like excessive plate armor, I love the art from this book. I had this book since a kid, but not with this cover.

link

Very romantic. But I think I'd still want figures with more chainmail, less plate.

andy

Got to be the Dark Ages/twilight of empire version. A wannabe Roman trying to hang onto half remembered stories of a lost golden age. A last glimmer of civilisation against the oncoming night of Heathen Anglo- Saxons. So Arthur gets decent late Roman style armour and equipment and a personal retinue of heavy cavalry. Everyone else is pretty well standard dark age infantry. Arthur has some idea of tactics beyond line up and charge which marks him out as different.

Twilight of Empire has the right feel I think. Anyone ever read that satirical novel "Roman Go Home" by Adam Ferguson?

And Arthur has to be of Sarmatiian parentage, flying a big red draco :)

Excalibur/T.H.White please!

And Mordred is always welcome to sing The Seven Deadly Virtues ^,^

Bernard Cornwell style, i.e. post Roman, Dark Age

Rosemary Sutcliff, "Artos the Bear" all the way….

Sub Roman Orcs?

(Historical Enemy for some Welsh Elves I have)

Anyone want to discuss a couple of custom sculpts in 15mm?

Another Rosemary Sutcliff fan here!