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This carries on from the previous post with a much more detailed analysis of the data from the BHGS and ADLG rankings.
It is a more structured analysis using database techniques to correct the data (where possible) and tackle the quirks of the two data sets.
It aims to quantify the number of regular players, those attending infrequently, those who stop playing and also how many players haven't played since Covid.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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).
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.
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.
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!
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).
They are convoluted and closer to an algorithm than commutative arithmetic:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
