ADLG: Global Rankings And Player Numbers

This is the last of my planned posts on ADLG. It's a postscript to my November post in which I announced that I was taking a break from ADLG for at least a year and follows on from my post about the BHGS ADLG rankings.

ADLG: A Wishlist For Version 5

Now that I've stopped playing ADLG I thought I'd write a "manifesto" of things that I would like to see changed in any future version. Please note I have no idea if a new version is planned and don't want to start any rumours.

Why?

ADLG has reached the stage where it can be considered a mature set of tournament rules, but the pool of UK tournament players hasn't changed markedly since 2018.¹ So, I would like to see changes focused on reducing the barrier(s) to adoption and tournament play.

From a strictly UK perspective, text clarity and improved online support would help both casual players and the large number of occasional tournament players.²

I don't think the small group of frequent tournament players are clamouring for change. They are more than likely confident in their understanding of ADLG's finer points (or they should be).³

However, a new version might combat groupthink where (regional or national) groups develop different interpretations of "how things are played".^{4, 5}

Northern League - 2025 Review

It’s that time again: time to review the state of the Northern League (the wargames competition scene in the North of England). I managed to participate in three rounds including a top ten finish in one round. This will be my last year for a while as I'm taking a break from ADLG competitions.

Early Medieval Georgian Flags

Introduction

In a moment of madness I bought 52, 15 mm Essex riders from eBay. Just the riders, no horses. Thankfully, I had a few spare horses and was able to buy enough extra horses from various sources, all the while kidding myself that it wasn't really a new project.

Of the 52, I identified 12 as early medieval Syrian and Georgian heavy cavalry which I'll use as allied knights for my early 14th century Ilkhanid Mongol army. I have enough already, but a few more won't hurt. They were a bargain after all.

Fun with flags

I plan to paint the dozen in batches of two or three, and the first two are underway. It was at this point that I realised I'd soon have to decide what flags to use.

A Gap Year?

It's been nine years since I started playing Art de la Guerre (ADLG) and I have decided to take a break for the next year or so. I believe this is known as "stepping back" in current newspeak.

15 mm Hellenistic Elephant (Essex)

I spent quite a bit of money during my trip to "The Other Partizan". My purchases were mostly bargains so my shopping bag was very heavy by the end of the day: I bought lots and lots of 15 mm goodies.

One of my favourites was a £1 bag containing two Essex elephants (from MEPA24). The bag also contained two mahouts, one howdah and two crew. Having painted one fully crewed elephant, I'm wondering what I can do with the second elephant and mahout: suggestions please in the comments.

15 mm Camel Riders (Red Copper)

Here's the latest addition to my Arab Conquest army. I showed some "work in progress" photos a while ago. They were finished shortly thereafter, but I have only just based and photographed them.

Latest BHGS ADLG Ranking

In August I wrote a lengthy piece about the BHGS rankings and how strange they are if you're not a frequent competition player.

Anyway, I'd hoped that my last two competitions would boost my rankings and get me in to the UK top fifty. No such luck. As of 20 October 2025 I am ranked 51st by the BHGS: my highest ever ADLG ranking, but just outside the top fifty.

It would have been nice to say I was once in the top fifty UK ADLG players; no matter how dodgy the "algorithm" behind the rankings actually is. Curses foiled again!

BHGS ranking history 2017-25

ADLG: King In The North (York, 18-19 Oct 2025)

Introduction

This was my fourth trip to this competition. I'd even designed my own event t-shirt which I wore with pride on both days. As usual the event attracted some very high ranking UK players

This photo shows Paul Dawson and Rob Taylor in their final round, top table clash. Rob wore his 2024 crown throughout the event but you can see that Paul was pushing hard to take his crown (literally).

The Other Partizan (Newark, 12 Oct 2025)

This is new: a show report! The last time I went to a "major" show was in 2008 when I helped Mirliton run their trade stand at Salute. So the offer of a lift to this show was more than welcome; as was the £2.00 entry fee for wrinklies (pensioners) like me.

In the end I saw very little of the games on display. If you want lots of pictures of the wonderful games on offer then Google is your friend. I spent most of my time shopping, and bumping into old friends. I also met a celebrity and spotted an influencer.

Furious Charge In ADLG

Introduction

In February this year, I raised an issue on the Art de la Guerre Forum about furious charge, armour and missile support. A long, somewhat fraught, and very confused thread ensued.

To get an authoritative answer, I decided to contact the author, Hervé Caille. He answered the main questions and the thread became dormant. But for me there were still open questions worth clarifying. After a few more emails to Hervé all the issues have now been resolved.

Looking back at the thread some people had the right idea but some clearly didn't. So what I'd like to do here is explain why people were confused and document the resolution (not least for my own future reference).

ADLG: Northern League Round 4 (Manchester, 21 Sep 2025)

Introduction

This was my third Northern League event in 2025. It was still dark when I got up! Winter is coming. It was also quite cold. After breakfast things had brightened up for my 50 mile trip north on the M6 to Manchester. Thankfully, my journey was trouble free, and I arrived so early that Geoff Pearson hadn't even started putting the tables out.

I learnt here's nothing like a bit of light work to heighten the enjoyment of a pre-event cup of tea. Having said that, I had plenty of time to recover from my labours. The start was delayed; a few people were delayed and then had problems finding a parking space.

A Blogger's Challenge

Jonathan Freitag runs a long standing blog, the Palouse Wargaming Journal, which has just celebrated its 13th anniversary¹. In his latest post² he mused on the effect blogging has on battle reports building on a post from 2019³ which looked at how visitors read battle reports.

I know Jonathan as we are both active on the Society of Ancients forum and from Jonathan's statistical work on the Great Wargaming Survey.

After I'd commented on his anniversary post⁴, Jonathan replied that he would enjoy seeing my views on the topic of battle reports. A challenge I couldn't resist; even if it does lead to a blogger writing about blogging!

Musing On ADLG & BHGS Rankings

Introduction

Every once in a while I check the UK Art de la Guerre (ADLG) ranking provided by the British Historical Games Society (BHGS). Not least because I find them statistically quite intriguing if somewhat strange. This week I decided to dig a little deeper and do more than just note my latest ranking. I have written about rankings before in 2023 (see the postscript).

How the rankings work

They are convoluted and closer to an algorithm than commutative arithmetic:

• Players receive points based on where they finish not on the result of individual games.
• The points available differ by event: larger competitions offer more points.
• The rankings only contain the results of events in the previous twelve months.
• All results are included until the seventh event and beyond, when only the player's six best scores count.

Until players have attended their seventh event, their ranking records both their performance and their attendance (a tracker). For example: two players can have different rankings not because of performance differences but simply because one player has attended more events.

More importantly, below seven events the ranking is a "warts and all" measure. Beyond that, poorer results get dropped and the ranking begins to represent the best of a player.

Confused? I was and I still am. Read on for more detail and analysis. Be warned it's a longish read.

Life In Mono

Yesterday I posted a general update containing a picture of some "work in progress" (WiP). Now I don't normally post WiP shots but I was testing my new tripod and the pictures were was so good it would have been a shame not to include at least one of them. It helped that the figures were the excellent 15 mm 3D prints of Arab camel riders from Red Copper.

To publicise my post I shared the picture on Bluesky, where I am vexillia.me.uk, and the Society of Ancients forum. To my surprise it generated quite a decent response. As the likes rolled in (it was more of trickle really) I started messing about with the image. In the end I removed the background and produced a monochrome version:

Have a play with the slider to compare and contrast (desktop only) then read on for an interesting painting tip.

Work In Progress Summer '25

It's been just over a month since I posted anything. I try to post at least once a month, however this last month has been difficult. Partly because things in the real world haven't gone well, and partly because it's been so blinking hot. These things have combined to sap my enthusiasm. Even so, I've not been completely idle.

15 mm Greek Hoplites (Essex)

Introduction

Decades ago (and I am not kidding) I bought a sample from a professional figure painter. It was a "adjusted" figure from Essex Miniatures MPA27 Later Hoplite Greek: Theban Hoplites Boitian helmet. The over arm pose had been changed to "at rest" (spear vertical) by bending the throwing arm. I never did buy more than the sample, but I kept it to use as inspiration.

More recently, I've decided to morph my Later Macedonian Art de la Guerre (ADLG) army into a Pyrrhic army. This requires some elephants, a few slingers, some later cavalry, and some hoplites.

The Later Macedonian army lacks units with "punch". It does best when the pike can pin a target and grind their way trough it, but, as the army is quite small, this can leave the flanks of the pike very vulnerable. The elephants will add some "punch" and the hoplites will add stable width (I hope).

Luckily, one of my mates found some Essex hoplites, and a few Freikorps command figures, in his loft. Money changed hands, and now they are all painted.

On Brushes

Introduction

When I lived on the Wirral in the 1980s, I was lucky enough to live close to an art shop called Tapley's run by the very knowledgeable Irene Brown. One day I was chatting to her and mentioned that, no matter how careful I was, my brushes didn't last very long; be they sable or synthetic. She reached under the counter and produced a small box of "special" brushes from Isabey of France. This was my introduction to the wonders of Kolinsky sable brushes: I've never looked back.

Current situation

Decades later I've still using Isabey brushes, but my main source of Kolinsky sable brushes has shifted to Rosemary's Brushes.

DuckDuckGo, Firefox And Containers

Introduction

I make a lot of use of Firefox containers in my daily workflow via two extensions:

• Multi-Account Containers. This allows users to separate different online identities into colour-coded tabs, keeping cookies and data isolated for each account. This helps manage multiple accounts, such as work and personal, without needing to switch browsers.
• Temporary Containers. This allows users to open tabs in disposable containers, isolating data like cookies and storage for enhanced privacy. These containers are automatically deleted after use, helping to prevent tracking across different websites.

In particular, I use it to open all my DuckDuckGo searches in a specific container. It's not because DuckDuckGo is likely to be tracking me, but just to be doubly sure they can't.

I have DuckDuckGo set as my default search engine. Every time I open a new tab I can type a search query and the results are shown in a specific container. When I follow a search link it's opened in a temporary container which is deleted when I close the tab: ideal for preventing the build up of cookies and site data.

Until recently, that is.

AI And Event T-Shirts

Introduction

I've seen lots of event t-shirts & polo shirts: both printed and embroidered. I began to wonder just how hard could it be? To find out, I designed, and had printed, something for this year's King in the North at Haxby in October.

The main problem was the artwork. I'm not really gifted with a pencil, so I had to turn to the new AI tools to compensate for my lack of skill.

Now read on for all the gory details.