Leonidas: "You over there! What is your convention?"
Arkadian #1: "Er...needlework."

Leonidas: "You! What is your convention?"
Arkadian #2: "Stamp collecting."

Leonidas: "And you! What is your convention?"
Arkadian #3: "Bonzai trees."

Leonidas: "WARGAMERS! What is your convention?"
Wargamers (all together): "S A L U T E!!"

Yes, the small battles team (me and Matthew) are just back from Salute 2008!

• Read the Salute 2008 review
• See the Salute 2008 photos
• See how to paint Roman Legionaries on the painting table

I'm very conscious that I haven't updated the site in a long time. I've been extremely busy, but be assured there are big plans! These things sometimes go in bursts.

For a start, I have very nearly finished my own Ancient & Medieval Battle Rules! This project has a very long history, going back over 10 years. Strange and unfortunate timing in a way, because it coincides with the release of Field Of Glory and follows on from the recent release of Crusader. Of course, these are going to be better than any commercial set, and I will publish them on this website.

Industry News

• Following on from the new historical plastics for the American Civil War from the Perrys, we now have plastic Romans and Gauls to look forward to from new startup Warlord Games. All will be revealed at Salute on Saturday!
  
  
• I would like to give a plug to Warbases for a great service in supplying all the figure bases for my ancients armies in custom sizes.
  
  
• I have also added a link to a website Apocalypse: Earth with an intriguing twentieth century alternative history wargame.
  
  

Finally, as I write this, my anticipation for Salute is at fever pitch, just a few days now! I promise to do a full review with pictures as soon as I can after the big day, so please check back next week. If you're in London (and why wouldn't you be?), look out for small battles and say hello!

Welcome to 2008! It's a huge news update this month, because not only are there several website updates, but there is a lot of exciting industry news! I barely know where to start.

Industry News

• The Perries (the top sculptors of historical miniatures and the sculptors of Games Workshop's The Lord Of The Rings range) are planning to release plastic figures! I'll just wait for that to sink in for a second...yes, that's right, the first (proper) hard plastic HISTORICAL miniatures. Initial releases are for the American Civil War. See Perry Miniatures.
  
  
• Rackham have already followed up their innovative AT-43 game with an all-plastic Confrontation starter set, as they convert their Confrontation property from metal to plastic.
  
  
• Released next month is Field Of Glory, a new set of ancient & medieval wargame rules that even without seeing them I expect will become the new standard to replace WAB (Warhammer Ancient Battle) and DBM (De Bellis Multitudinum).
  
  

For myself, I am see-sawing along as usual, between fantasy/sci-fi (usually W40K) and historical wargaming. Right now our Daemon Seed camaign is on pause and I'm really into the Dark Ages / early medieval Britain, one of my old loves. I have been painting English/Anglo-Saxons and updating my draft Shieldwall rules. See the painting table.

This renewed interest was triggered by two things: one is the miniatures ranges from Crusader Miniatures, which currently tend to specialise on the late ancients/early medieval period and are getting a lot of press in the wargames magazines. Also of interest is their new ruleset, also called Crusader. I've bought these and read them through, and I have to say they are not bad at all. Read my Crusader rules review.

Also very much on a 'crusader' theme, my son has been playing an excellent computer game called Assassin's Creed, which for the most part is set in the Holy Land in the Middle Ages, with Templar knights and Teutonic knights. It's very atmospheric and realistic. We got out the Orlando Bloom film Kingdom of Heaven (or in my version El Reino de los Cielos), highly recommended.

Put all that together, and it's a wonder I have managed to hold off ordering a Norman, early crusader or Byzantine army. I decided I better finish my English/Saxons and Norse/Vikings first!

Other news in brief:

• I got my WWII Eastern Front miniatures out of their box for a game the other day, and realised that the rules were a bit vague and needed updating. For an updated version of the Russo-German War rules, see the downloads page. For pictures from the game, see the historical gallery.
  
  
• For fantasy lovers, I am looking forward to the re-release of Warhammer Vampire Counts. I just love assembling and painting skeletons and zombies! I have hardly ever played Warhammer but this may be enough to get me playing again.
  
  
• Finally, I'm getting excited looking forward to Salute 2008, especially as I missed it last year. This time I'm going with my son (he is 13 and really into Star Wars!)
  
  

Phew! Until next time...