"Review of the Year " Topic

Looking back on 2015 …

I tallied up on Shows North what turned into a brilliant year …

22 reports, 18 shows and events (so including heritage events etc. an average of 2 a month) but quite a mix, from the windy barn at Towton to DBA in a library in Coventry.

Over 100 games all told but public presentation games in the ancient/medieval period featured Yarmuk (4 outings) …

Bouvines (3 outings … twice with BI, once with DBA3)

Northampton (3 times with various game systems)

plus Bosworth, Greyhounds in the Slips, Tony Bath's flats etc.

I won a couple of prizes for armies/camps, and in 2015 only really played FoG-R and DBA in tournaments (using Sub Roman British, Slave Revolt and Marian Roman)

Otherwise for ancient/medieval games we played mostly Basic Impetus, Neil Thomas, DBA 3, FoG-R and latterly Art de la Guerre

That said, it was a pleasure to give the old Tony Bath rules a run out at Warfare …

Unfortunately the mid year saw the passing of my friend, former SoA president and influential game designer Andy Gittins. We gave his David & Goliath some nostalgic runs out and have plans for one of his unpublished card games in 2016 …

RIP Andy …

I hope my fellow wargame enthusiasts have a productive and satisfying 2016. I have been very luck so far – I hope it continues …

Phil
Ancients on the Move

Hi Phil,

What a lot of hard work in the cause of ancient and medieval gaming! Well done.

Best, Simon

Nice looking games (wish the images were higher-res, so I could see them better…).

MH

Well done Phil, I'm just about to renew my membership

Thanks for the positive comments folks …

I'm still very active on the ancients beat because I am still excited and motivated by our shared enthusiasm – indeed in some ways the diverse nature of today's ancient and medeival wargaming (in its widest sense) is so compelling it can be hard to keep up with everything that is going on.

My interests have developed a lot over the last decade or so and are more orientated to heritage protection and battlefield interpretation but with a strong wargaming and toy soldier slant.

That said I still like to dabble with what was once thought of as the mainstream ancients game* as it is full of old friends and is a nice way to escape for a weekend

Phil
*these days everything is mainstream I think … (and nothing is, of course)

re the pictures, MH, they are the best my ageing camera can do but are then resized to make the most of the free blogging platform …

Phil
I may have bigger files for some of them if particular ones are of interest …

Looks like a good year! Hope you've got another one planned.

Your demo games will have pressed a lot of buttons for people (me). I mulled over your Bouvines game for ages.

This year's projects include another of Northamptonshire's treasury of battles – Edgcote 1469 – possibly a look at the Magna Carta war (1216 … possibly revisiting Berkhamsted Castle) and not forgetting this year's Society of Ancients BattleDay project Pharsalus …

So it's shaping up already …

Phil
Ancients on the Move