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: 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.

28 mm Commanders (Essex Miniatures)

When I placed my last order with Essex I decided to buy a few extra figures to add some variety to the long slog of painting a 15 mm Hellenistic army.  I ended up with commanders for three of my Art de la Guerre (ADLG) collections: Hellenistic, Arab Empire, & Ilkhanid Mongol.

The figure is based on a magnetised 40 mm plywood base which is the same size as my 15 mm ADLG command bases. My plan is to use them as CinCs during competitions. Afterwards they will be retired and placed in my display cabinet.

Book Reviews - David O. Morgan

This is something of a first.  Instead of reviewing the books I want to focus on the author.  David Morgan died in 2019 but left behind a significant body of work.

I first came across his book on Medieval Persia by chance last year when I was looking for books on the Arab Conquests.  Purchased second hand, the first edition was both a bargain and a delight.  With a clear, concise and approachable style the book dealt with all the rulers of post Arab Conquest Persia with aplomb.

ADLG: Northern League Round 5 (Manchester, 06 Nov 2022)

Introduction
Three weeks after my trip to York for "The King In The North", and three weeks closer to moving house, I ventured in to darkest Manchester for the final round of the 2022 Northern League.  It was my last event before all my hobby stuff was packed away prior to the move.

A busy hall late in the day.  DBMM on the left front and ADLG everywhere else.

I've played many a game at Eccles in the winter and Sunday was exactly what I expected: cold!  I didn't take my padded gilet off all day.  My feet got so cold I had to go for a walk between the second and final game just to warm them.

ADLG: King In The North (York, 15 - 16 Oct 2022)

This post is slightly longer than my normal competition posts so it's split into sections so you can skip any boring bits.

Background
As I noted last month we're trying to move house.   Six weeks on and we're almost at the stage where we can think about dates.  Please note the almost in the last sentence.   In an attempt to escape the stress I decided to enter the "King in the North" ADLG competition organised by Macro Baroni ably assisted by Paul Dawson.

Marco & Paul (centre) discuss the coming day's games.

After entering I got cold feet.  Why did I ever think entering my first two day competition, with no practice and little wargaming since July, was a stress free way to spend a weekend?

ADLG: Northern League (Eccles, 07 Nov 2021)

My return to the Art de la Guerre (ADLG) competition circuit saw me travel once again to Eccles on a cold Sunday morning for the final round in the 2021 Northern League.  My last competitive game was in Nov 2018!

I'd agreed to share the journey with Gareth Jones which added a welcome social aspect to the day.  We had breakfast enroute and the post-mortem on the return journey was most enjoyable.  All that was missing was a hour in the pub.

New Storage

Ever since I returned to wargaming in the 1990s I've used metal toolboxes to store and transport my finished armies.

ADLG: Theme Boundaries

When I wrote my Art de la Guerre (ADLG) list search tools I contacted various people to ask their advice.  I received lots of helpful comments and some requests for specific search methods.

However, one person asked why I was doing this as the armies in ADLG v4 are already split into rigorous periods.  As ADLG author Hervé Caille explained:

"All lists in the Feudal period now include only medium knights. Heavy knights are only present in the Medieval period. The Dark Ages period has no knights.  Changes in ADLG v4, May 2021"

I have since uncovered a slight problem with this.  Not with the lists themselves but the way they are used as broad themes in competitions.

First Game Since November 2018

On Sunday, 18 July 2021 I travelled from Warrington to the Wirral to play Art de la Guerre (ADLG) with Gareth Jones. This was to be my first game of ADLG since November 2018 and my first game with the new version released earlier this year.

After a hot & sweaty 30 minute drive I arrived at the Wargame Store, Brimstage.  It's in a complex of converted farm buildings very close to junction 10 of the M53:

ADLG: First Impressions & Lists For Version 4

I'm still working my way through the new Art de la Guerre (ADLG) rule book.  At first my focus was on going through all the lists and the troop type costs so that I could release my list writing spreadsheet.

Having done that, and after perusing the changes document, I decided to read the book from cover to cover whilst keeping an eye on the ADLG Forum so see what issue others are raising.

Anyway I thought I'd write a little about my first impressions of the rules and post a few of the lists I've been tinkering with.

What I Have Painted Recently

I haven't written a post like this for a while but recently I've been having a bit of fun working through some odd packs from my lead pile and even a few new figures.  So I ended up with quite a few finished items from different armies and periods.

First up are some Bedouin light horse using RKMA4 from Roundway with a mixture of Roundway & Donnington horses:

Afghan Light Spear

This is mainly a photo post. The figures are all Roundway and are intended as medium spear or javelinmen for my ADLG Timurid army:

The spear armed figures are RKMA8, the swordsmen are RKMU5 and are from the Mameluke and Mughul ranges respectively. They are yet another example of using a restricted colour palette.

Stampeding Cattle

Here's some photos of the latest addition to my Timurid army:



They are from Xyston (20311) and I tried to paint them as Afghan cattle (Konari & Shakhansurri). In the end I think they look a bit like Herefords! Getting a reasonable colour variation was much harder than I thought it would be.

Timurid or Persian Light Horse

I have just finished basing these. They are a mixture of Roundway and Donnington figures and horses and will see service in my medieval Timurid and renaissance Persian armies.

Frankish Knights

Today's post features two stands I've just finished for my Ilkhanid Mongol army for ADLG. The list allows two units (elements) of Frankish knights so here they are:



Until now I've been using some of my Armenian knights as proxies but they have quite specifc  flags, pennants and shield designs. I really wanted some with more generic designs that I could easily distinguish on the table. The figures are Essex and from my "scrap" box of left over castings.

ADLG: Preparation

In 2015 I held a copy of Art De La Guerre (ADLG) in my hands when I visited Britcon.  I wanted to get back into medieval wargaming and these rules were one of the options under consideration.

At the time I wasn’t certain I was ready to buy a copy it so I put it back while I had  a ponder.  I wandered off to chat to Tim Porter (@madaxeman).  On my way back into the hall I decided I should buy a copy only to find the trader had sold out!



One year later I finally got my hands on a copy at Britcon 2016.  All this at a time when the first print run of the English edition had sold out.  A case of bad luck followed by good luck.

Miniature Wargames Review Article Now Available

I've added a link to my latest Miniature Wargames review to the articles page. It's a review of the latest book from Pen & Sword about the Mongols:

"When I was told I was going to receive a review copy of this book I must confess I was really pleased.  The Mongols have always fascinated me and I have spent many happy hours building Mongol armies.   I was curious to see what, if anything, new would be revealed in this volume from Chris Peers.

When the book arrived I was immediately struck by how well organised it was.  The inclusion of a full time line, a genealogy for Genghis Khan’s family, and a who’s who’s in thirteenth century Mongolia ensured I would be using the book for reference in the future.

All books on the Mongols suffer from a lack of contemporary sources and the author generally does a good job in explaining how this paucity limits what can be said with certainty"

Review of Genghis Khan And The Mongol War Machine by Chris Peers, Miniature Wargames, 389, 60-61. (original article)

Comments always welcome.

Back To Medieval Wargaming - Follow Up

After last month's post I'm pleased to say that I have managed to play six medieval games.  The games used armies built from the medieval Field of Glory (FOGAM) lists but used the renaissance (FOGR) points and rules.  For those interested in more detail there's a somewhat dated comparison of the two rules sets on the Slitherine forum.

So far I have fielded a Timurid army (complete with elephants), a Later Polish army (two variants with knights and mixed battle groups), a Mongol Invasion army and an Ilkhanid Mongol army with Armenian allies.



Links to the lists are given at the end. My opponents have been variants of the early and late Russian lists.