In a previous article last year [Lone Warrior 140] I described my Dark Ages project as two thirds completed. Since then I’ve painted and based more figures and guess what, my project is still two thirds completed, because for every figure I’ve finished I’ve bought another (mainly Gripping Beast). I must ask them to stop bringing out new figures, but then that would spoil all the fun of it! I’ve always been impressed when reading Lone Warrior to learn of prodigious writers and gamers who run a number of projects concurrently, all seemingly to a satisfactory conclusion, with a fine campaign or at least a series of battles to show for it. I however, although being able to run a number of projects concurrently, never seem to finish them and end up with packs of unpainted lead as I head off to the next period of interest. Over the years I’ve come to feel less guilty about this as I get as much pleasure out of planning the project and purchasing figures as I do gaming. I thought that other SWA members would be interested to read of my “work in progress” with the grandly titled “Kingdoms of Britain” project I started about two years ago and how I’ve got on. The idea was a campaign set in post-Romano Britain around the time of the Saxon incursions into the mainland and is loosely, well alright very loosely, based on Bernard Cornwell’s Warlord Trilogy, which no doubt most readers are familiar with. My idea was to collect a number of warbands of various sizes to represent the British & Saxon kingdoms, with the campaign spreading a number of years with different kingdoms allying or opposing themselves against each other. The campaign itself has never quite got of he ground although a number of skirmishes and a couple of larger battles have been fought to give a feel for the period. The Kingdoms I played about with the original kingdoms in the Warlord Trilogy over time and added and subtracted some after reading the Warhammer Ancient Battles Shieldwall supplement, Osprey Arthur and the Anglo-Saxon Wars and doing some further research via the internet. I basically wanted between six and eight kingdoms representing different parts of Britain that could each display particular characteristics, in terms of dress or fighting style to set them apart from the others. I must admit that this has involved a lot of poetic license on my part and the end result probably bears little resemblance to actual history. However, I was prepared to sacrifice historical accuracy for what “felt right” for me. Dumonia (present day southern England) – predominantly heavy armoured in a late Roman style, equipped with sword, shield and spear, under the led of Arthur. Separate warband of wolf tailed spearmen led by Derfel allied to Arthur. Well disciplined and steady, similar to a late Roman army. Kernow (present day Cornwall) – mainly light armoured, equipped with sword, shield and spear led by Tristan. Good defensivly, better suited to raiding and ambush. Powys (present day Wales) – predominantly unarmoured, equipped with spear and shield, under the led of Brochvael. Mass charges inspired by druids, less effective against disciplined troops. Hibernia (present day Ireland) - Black Shield Irish predominantly un-armoured, equipped with spear and shield, under the led of Oengus Mac Airem. Unorthodox, excellent in broken terrain, suited to raiding and hit and run tactics. Siluria (present day central England) - dressed in a mix of furs, heavy cloaks and bare-chested with some armour, equipped with sword, shield, axe and spear, under the led of Gundleus. Hard fighters when inspired, but can become unco-ordinated after a charge. Lloegyr (present day eastern England) – armoured and un-armoured saxon warriors, equipped with sword, shield and spear, under the led of Aelle. Solid and reliable when fired up by ale and rousing leadership, typical shieldwall material. Northumbria (present day northern England) – styled on the Hiberno-Norse, equipped with sword, shield, spear and axe, led by Riada. Hard fighters, good individually and well disciplined. Each warband varies in size, depending on my perceptions of the manpower strength and geographical size of the kingdom concerned. I have made each warband big enough (16+ figures) to play a large skirmish game against another similarly sized kingdom e.g. cattle raiding, but needing to allying itself to one or more kingdoms if conquest and expansion of territory are on the cards. The exception is the Saxon kingdom of Lloegyr whose manpower exceeds any of the other kingdoms individually, but not collectively. Conflict with Lloegyr will involve the other British kingdoms uniting against a common enemy. Another interesting anomaly are the Irish who are strong enough to tip the balance for which ever side they fight on, or as has happened remained independent and fought both sides simultaneously. Figures The figures are 25mm from a mixture of manufacturers but primarily the excellent Gripping Beast range, supplemented by Wargames Foundry, Old Glory, with a few Redoubt and Navigator thrown in. There is a slight difference in figure size between the different manufacturers, but nothing too great and anyway people aren’t all exactly the same size in real life. Figures are mounted 3 or 4 to a base with the exception of command and character figures that are individually mounted. I’ve found this fairly flexible in terms of ease of storage, movement and balance between skirmishes and larger battles. All figures have been painted using acrylic paints with matt varnish and a mixture of white and black undercoat. For years I have used white primer but for the last batch of figures I used black. The results look nice but I’m undecided as which I primer prefer. I think I’ll try black for my next batch of figures and see whether this tips the balance either way. I’ve used basetex for covering the majority of bases, but am considering trying flocking on a couple of bases to see if I like the results (only problem is, if I do it may mean recovering all the bases, no wonder this project is “work in progress”). Rules I’ve used Warhammer Ancient Battles as the basis for the larger battles, with some “house” variations. For skirmish games I have used some quick play home grown rules (see below). Nothing particularly original here, basically drawing together a number of ideas I’ve seen in Lone Warrior and other publications over the years. I’ve play tested this several times using a variety of scenarios e.g. chance encounter, raiding party, ambush and it has provided an enjoyable game with 10-12 figures per side, which can be completed in an evening or afternoon’s gaming. Kingdoms of Britain: Skirmish Rules Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior # 144 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by Solo Wargamers Association. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com