The Romans are Coming
Sails have been spotted on the horizon! Julius Caesar is approaching the Kentish coast with 80 ships carrying 2 legions plus auxiliaries...
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Simon MacDowall
- Aug 25
- 2 min
Valiant but Doomed
Following on from our refight of Falkirk Muir , Prince Charles Stuart has another chance to secure the British throne for his father —...
291 views1 comment
Simon MacDowall
- Aug 13
- 2 min
The Ravens Wheeled
Now was riot raised, the ravens wheeled The eagle, eager for carrion, there was a cry on earth Then loosed they from their hands the...
160 views2 comments
Simon MacDowall
- Jul 29
- 1 min
Wargaming the Age of the Anglo-Saxons
A great weekend at Sutton Hoo (27-28 July) with lots of games for youngsters to join in (and parents too). It also offered the...
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Simon MacDowall
- Jul 22
- 3 min
Lifting the Siege of Namur
King Louis XIV in person has led the French army into the Spanish Netherlands to lay siege to Namur. Driven from England by the Jacobites...
51 views2 comments
Simon MacDowall
- Jun 19
- 2 min
Rorke's Drift Revisited
After returning from a month away, wargaming action returned yesterday with a chance to lead half of the Zulu army attacking Rorke’s...
60 views3 comments
Simon MacDowall
- Apr 10
- 2 min
A little bit of everything
Magnesia (189 BC) is the classical ancient battle that offers a little bit of everything. You get Roman legions, pike phalanxes,...
160 views1 comment
Simon MacDowall
- Mar 25
- 3 min
Ilipa reversed
The Society of Ancients Battle Day was a huge success with a dozen games refighting the decisive clash between Romans and Carthaginians...
174 views1 comment
Simon MacDowall
- Mar 5
- 3 min
Almost Ilipa
With the Society of Ancients Ilipa Battle Day only a couple of weeks away it was time for a final test game with my 6 mil Carthaginians...
165 views3 comments
Simon MacDowall
- Mar 2
- 2 min
Jacobite joy followed by tears
Having raised the highland clans we gathered yesterday to re-fight Falkirk Muir (1746) with the aim of restoring the rightful King James...
105 views2 comments
Simon MacDowall
- Feb 27
- 2 min
Pavia 499 years on
Today, just three days after the 499th anniversary of the Battle of Pavia (24 Feb 1525), the French and Imperialists meet again. This...
326 views2 comments
Simon MacDowall
- Feb 19
- 3 min
Aethelwulf's Revenge
The British leaders were feeling confident and perhaps a little cocky after their previous Dux Britanniarum victory over the Saxons in...
75 views1 comment
Simon MacDowall
- Jan 21
- 3 min
Battle of Brothers
Following their defeat Somewhere in Spain, the Scipio Brothers (Gneaus and Publius) manage to withdraw in relatively good order to...
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Simon MacDowall
- Jan 18
- 2 min
The Treasure of Caer Colun
The Saxons, raiding deep into British held Caer Colun, stole the treasures of Praefectus Firmum Coquus but had to bury the loot in order...
78 views3 comments
Simon MacDowall
- Dec 10, 2023
- 2 min
Somewhere in Spain 3rd C BC
It is finally time for my 6 mil Romans and Carthaginians to fight it out on the games table. I am also testing out changes to Legio VI...
397 views2 comments
Simon MacDowall
- Nov 13, 2023
- 3 min
Stoke Field
Stoke Field (1487) is a most unusual and interesting battle, and the last engagement of the Wars of the Roses. After Bosworth the 10 year...
342 views5 comments
Simon MacDowall
- Nov 9, 2023
- 1 min
The Prussians are Coming!
I know very little about the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 but I recently had the pleasure of playing the Prussians at a game of the...
77 views4 comments
Simon MacDowall
- Nov 8, 2023
- 1 min
The Last Yorkists
Stoke Field (1487) was the last attempt by the Yorkists to regain the throne of England. These figures are also the last Yorkists I...
83 views0 comments
Simon MacDowall
- Oct 23, 2023
- 1 min
Society of Ancients Convention 2023
After a false start due to local flooding I managed to make it to the Society of Ancients Convention at Madingley Hall, Cambridge. With...
417 views3 comments
Simon MacDowall
- Oct 12, 2023
- 3 min
Battle in the Mist
At Barnet in the early hours of 14 April 1471, King Edward IV led his army through a thick mist to attack the Earl of Warwick’s...
211 views1 comment
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