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.

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.

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.

Air Travel And Wargaming

Introduction

When first posted this article it was a request for help:

I'd like to hear tips from players who regularly travel to events by air. Especially, tips for packing figures and terrain in carry on baggage. How do you avoid damage to things like spears and lances?

I have absolutely no plans to fly to tournaments whatsoever, but I've always been intrigued how those that do carry their troops.

I asked the question on both the ADLG & Society of Ancients forums too, as well as emailing a few players I knew to be regular travellers. Now, after a flurry of replies, it's time to thank everyone who took the trouble to reply and expand the post with the information and tips they provided.

ADLG: Northern League Round 2 (Manchester, 18 May 2025)

Introduction

In the midst of an unseasonal heatwave, I made the usual drive up the M6 to Manchester in the cool of the early morning. Shorts and t-shirts were the order of the day for many. At lunchtime I managed a rare photo of some wargamers enjoying the sunshine.

At the moment I'm only playing in competitions, so I have changed my approach to the Northern League. I've decided to be more adventurous, if not somewhat perverse, in my army choices.

15 mm Khitan Generals And Attendants (Ten Kingdoms)

Here're my latest command bases for my Mongol ADLG armies. They are digital designs from Ten Kingdoms, printed for me by Mick's Bits using the super tough TGM-7 resin.

15 mm Khitan Light Infantry (Ten Kingdoms)

Introduction

I have a large Mongol army. I've had it so long I've replaced almost all of it at least once. Nonetheless, I occasionally buy more, but there's method in my madness.

ADLG: Northern League Round 1 (Leeds, 09 March 2025)

Introduction

It was dark when I got up on Sunday morning! Too early by half. I picked up Gareth Jones south of Warrington before crossing the M62 to Leeds. The weather was kind, as was the traffic, so we arrived 10 or 20 minutes before the 09:00 start. I had time for a cup of tea and a look round the excellent Hicks Hall, home of the Leeds Wargaming club since late 2020.

Northern League - 2024 Review

It’s that time again: time to review the state of the Northern League (the wargames competition scene in the North of England).  It's a bit late this year. The organiser's probably been busy.

I'm glad to say that, yet again, I managed to participate in my increasingly standard two rounds.

New Toy Time

This post is about testing my new light box.

Prompted by other wargamers on social media, I bought the newly available 10" Puluz model for about £12.00 from eBay with free postage.

My old light box was held upright by weak magnetic pads. It wan't very stable. This one is very solid and is easy to set up and pack away.

A Place For Everything

Introduction

A place for everything and everything in its place, or so the old saying goes. This applies to wargames rules just as much as anything else.

Rules writers have many options when placing key facets of the game. Sometimes they make a bad choice.

I was mulling over my last few Art de la Guerre (ADLG) games, when I stumbled across a striking example of misplaced rules.

ADLG is strange

I was trying to understand why I struggled to calculate melee scores between unarmoured units with two handed weapons (2HW) and units with armour.

After a lot of searching through the rulebook the penny finally dropped.

Messing With My Phone

Introduction

Whilst setting setup my wife's new smartphone, I (re)discovered the delights of FOSS accessed via F-Droid for Android.

I know this isn't for everyone but I wanted to install simple, and ad-free, radio and media players. Having found suitable apps I had a look round to see what else was recommended.

I ended up installing quite a few apps on my own phone; not just the players above but a plain text note app, a password manager and a peer to peer synchronisation tool. I've been looking for the latter for sometime and it's allowed me to sync my desktop & phone without using a (costly) cloud service.

ADLG Player Aids

Since 2021 I've been using my own, two page, game setup sheet at competitions. I've even played against people who use it regularly too!

ADLG: Vapnartak (York, 01 Feb 2025)

Introduction
The trip began (too) early on Saturday morning at 06:00. I'd decided to drive across the M62 to my first event of 2025. The venue was excellent, but finding it was not as straightforward as I'd hoped. Then again I wasn't the only one; others nearly missed the start.

After a strong cup of tea, I managed to get the drive out of my head and prepared to play.

15 mm Indian Elephants (Donnington 'Orginals')

In July last year I posted some pictures of my first Hellenistic elephant. I now have a pair:

ADLG Spreadsheet Hell

Introduction

My love of a good spreadsheet and a pretty data table has become far more widely known than I ever imagined. Recently, it led me into attempting something I don't normally do. It was true test.

I was asked to repair a spreadsheet from a UK competition. It wouldn't pass the online tests required before its inclusion in the Art de la Guerre (ADLG) database. The organisers had cut and pasted data leading to all sorts of errors on testing.

Checking the data for a five game event with 32 players was a task and a half! I also discovered that xls files produced by non-Microsoft programs invariably fail the online tests with multiple errors, suggesting differing file headers as the source of the problem.

15 mm Later Macedonian Pike (Essex) & Illyrian Cavalry (Forged in Battle)

I've written a few text heavy posts recently, so here's a picture hevay post to redress the balance. These units completed the army I took to the KITN at York in October.

Wargaming: Is It A Hobby Or An Obsession?

Background

I used to run small wargames business here in the UK. I ceased trading in April 2021, and began, what I hoped would be, a serene and relaxing retirement playing toy soldiers.

Naturally, it didn't turn out that way. Moving house didn't help. Now that's over, and I've finished the bulk of the decorating required, things have improved. I've now got more time for painting toy soldiers and wargaming.

Retirement goals

My wargaming dream is to play in half a dozen Art de la Guerre competitions a year and make inroads into my small stock of unpainted miniatures. That's it for my hobby: nothing more ambitious.

ADLG: King In The North (York, 19 - 20 Oct 2024)

Introduction
After months of preparation, I set out for my third KITN competition on a decent October day. At one point I didn't think I'd make it this year, but I did thanks to some good friends. The trip across the Pennines went well and we found our B&B easily enough.

Unlike previous years, where we stayed in Haxby, we stayed very close to the centre of York on the Haxby road. The location was ideal for my wife and her friend. I had a 15 minute drive to the venue each day, but came to hate the number of traffic calming measures. So many on such a short road.

ADLG: Northern League Round 4 (Manchester, 08 September 2024)

Introduction
Once again I braved the northbound M6 on a rainy Sunday morning.  Fortified by the mandatory bacon buttie (sandwich), the journey there wasn't too bad.

15 mm Macedonian Pike (1 of 4) (Essex Miniatures)

I'm on the final lap of my Later Macedonian army for "The King In The North", Art de la Guerre (ADLG) competition in mid-October this year.  All told I need four units of pike and this is the first I've finished.