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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

ADLG: BHGS Mid Year UK Rankings

I have finally achieved a long held ambition: a BHGS ranking in the top 100 UK Art de la Guerre (ADLG) players.  Even better, I have just scraped into the top half of the rankings.

ADLG: Northern League Round 2 (Manchester, 19 May 2024)

Introduction
Sunday, 19 May saw my first competitive outing of 2024.  After the usual early start, and a trip up the M6, I arrived at Eccles for the second round of the 2024 Northern League.

With A Little Help

So far I only have one competition in my 2024 diary as the Northern League dates aren't out yet.   It'll come as no surprise to regular readers that it's "The King in the North" weekend event at Haxby (York) in October.  However, my attendance was in doubt until recently and thereby hangs a tale.

Northern League - 2023 Review

It’s that time again: time to review the state of the Northern League (the wargames competition scene in the North of England).  In fact it's a little early this year as the organisers seem to be red hot this year.

I'm glad to say that this year I managed to participate in my increasingly standard two rounds.

ADLG: King In The North (York, 14 - 15 Oct 2023)

Introduction
For the second year running I attended this excellent competition.  When the theme was announced I was relieved to see that my recently completed Arabs just sneaked into the "Vikings!" theme thanks to the Andalusian Arabs list (ADLG list 133).

As it turned out this was a very popular choice with three other players opting to pit Arabs against the even more popular Irish and Viking armies.

Travel
On Friday the 13th my wife and I set out for darkest Yorkshire in the pouring rain.  To make matters more interesting it was the first long journey in our new car: new control layout and computer beeps a plenty.  Three hours later the rain had stopped and we had reached our B&B in Haxby.  We were staying in the same place as last year so finding it wasn't a problem.

ADLG: Northern League Round 4 (Manchester, 03 Sep 2023)

Introduction
Eccles is normally the venue for the 5th and final round in November and last year it was absolutely freezing.  Thankfully, this year the second Eccles round was held on a beautiful sunny day in early September.  I even decided to wear shorts!

I arrived nice an early, got a good parking spot and helped set up the tables before making the first of many cups of tea.

Tournament Preparation

I have a two-day competition in October: "The King in the North" held in Haxby, a small village outside York.  As the day draws near I've begun getting things ready.  To be honest I've been getting ready for a while now.

I've been surprised at just how much preparation is required so I thought I'd record what I've been up to.  I suppose one of my former professional roles, as a project manager, is well to the fore in what follows.

ADLG: Northern League Round 2 (Manchester, 07 May 2023)

Introduction
It's fair to say I had to force myself to attend this round: I have a lot going on at the moment.  Not least the residual upheaval surrounding my recent relocation.

When this year's themes were announced I thought I'd be able to field a new Arab army in this round.  No chance: I've still got to finish the heavy cavalry.  I had to borrow four bases of heavy cavalry from Gareth Jones: thanks Gareth.

Kevin Johnson at the day's organisational nerve centre.  Thanks Kev.

I was surprised by how long it took me to get ready on Saturday.  Nothing was in its usual place.  I'd unpacked things in new places and everything took longer to find.

Of course I forgot a few things (play sheets etc) which was annoying.  Then I ended up with one too many army lists (see below).  To cap it all, I didn't realise that my camera wasn't set up properly until right at the end; so apologies for the quality of some of the photos.

The match to decide first place.  Or was it?