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Friday, May 23

Old Glory 15mm Ancients

I had never used Old Glory 15mm ancient figures up until this week.

The way they are packaged makes it very difficult to get the figures you need without also getting large number of 'extras'. With 50 foot or 16 mounted to a bag for £11 plus postage it is quite likely there will be plenty of left overs.

Another factor is the lack of pictures of the figures available. The Battle Honours web site, which carries the range in the UK, doesn't have very many images and for some ranges none at all. Buying without the benefit of seeing what is in a bag can be a lottery.

However my latest project specified Old Glory figures so I took the plunge and ordered some. The first thing to say is that the service was very ggod. I placed the order on Monday and the figures arrived Wednesday morning.

When they arrived I opened the packs and inspected the figures.

The figures are cast in a soft alloy. This means all the cast spears and lances were bent. I do not like this so I went through and replaced the cavalry lances with wire. This is a time consuming but simple job and the end results are well worth it. I haven't decided about the infantry, but they do suffer from the same problem and provided I can get a good angle with the drill it would probably be worth it as well.

On the plus side I really like the horses. Lots of active poses which will (fingers crossed) paint up nicely.

How the rest paint up remains to be seen but I am optimistic.

Monday, May 12

Campaign 2008

Every May, for a while now I take part in Campaign. This is a wargames event organised by the Milton Keynes Wargames Society.

Both the format of the event and the location are a little different from the norm.

The event is held in a shopping centre. For anyone not familiar with Milton Keynes shopping centre, it is big - very big. And there is a large open space used for exhibitions and events. Campaign sets up here. So during the weekend the Great British public while they are out shopping get to walk around a wargames tournament and visit the trade stands. I know it sounds odd, but it works extremely well.

You do need to be able to answer the odd question - this year it was 'And what does DBM stand for?' The answer unfortunately is not very illuminating - why, why, why have a title in Latin! If there is one thing that is guaranteed to kill the spark of interest in a potential new gamer it's a dead foreign language.

The competition is a team event with teams of 3. Each of the 3 players is in a separate pool and can only choose from a very limited range of armies. Over the weekend each team in the league plays all the others. The outcome can be glory and a trophy or ignominy and relegation. This is a really tough event. There is nowhere to hide and no easy games!

I hope to go again next year, but the upheaval in the ancients gaming community brought about by the decline of 'DBM' and the lack of appeal so far (for me) of the two would be replacement sets has left a question mark. Next year it is likely to be a Field of Glory tournament - I will have to see how things go as will the other team members.