Yarkshire Gamer Podcast - Episode 5 - Mark Freeth - Wargames Holiday Centre

 

Here it is, the last of the 5 originally planned episodes of Yarkshire Gamers Reet Big Wargames Podcast (or the 1st if you're counting down like the old Top 10 😉"

In this episode I have a great fun chat with Mark Freeth of the Wargames Holiday Centre. We talk about the history of the Centre and Mark answers the question we all want answered "why isn't it in Yarkshire anymore" 😁

You can listen to the episode via Podbean or any of the major Podcast hosts or through the widget below.

Mark has done a brilliant job with the Centre since it moved to Basingstoke. The collections of figures have grown and diversified and the options for types and periods of games continues to expand.

The classic Napoleonic games are still available, but if you fancy big gaming in Sudan, ACW, Milburn, Ancients or maybe even the Italian Wars then this is your chance.

If you fancy a great weekend wargaming then why not check out Marks website,

https://www.wargameshc.co.uk/

Hope you enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed recording it.

At the end of the interview I have a chat about the future plans of the Podcast, thanks for listening.

Yarkshire Gamers April 2021 Wargames Update

 

The monthly Update which started as a bit of a personal journal of progress at Yarkshire Gamer has proved surprisingly popular on the Utubes and today I have released the 12th episode meaning that the Updates have been going for a full year and it would be a shame not to toast that achievement with a glass of Whisky.

The update is slightly longer this month, there have been 4 new Italian Wars units painted.

Along with a work in progress on another unit. On top of that I have bought rather a lot of stuff, I, may have gone over budget !

I have got some dates pencilled in for the restart of gaming here as lockdown eases in May so fingers crossed it will happen.

Troops on Parade - Republican Romans

 

A few weeks ago I put up a post covering the build of my Allied Italian Legion for the Punic Wars, well about 15 years ago I started a Roman Legion using Gripping Beast figures and with a little bit of magic on their bases I have brought them up to the same standard as the new one.

So with two Legions in the bag they had to go out on the table together in full manipular formation. Below is a video of the Army as it stands (half Consular)

After I did the video I decided to draw up all the heavy Infantry and take some close order shots, so here is what 320 28mm Legionnaires look like.

This is what I do wargaming for, masses of closely packed 28mm figures, there is no finer sight !

I certainly found the availability of plastic figures for the white Legion made the Project a lot more affordable and in the reach of most. Above are some feature shots of the White Legion.

And feature shots of the Red Legion.

And a couple right down the middle !

Then its time for your close up Sir !

So there you have it, the end of the Ancients Project for now, back later in the year for some Carthaginians.

Yarkshire Gamer Podcast Episode 4 - Colin Ashton - Lockdown Big Games

 

A mere 2 weeks have gone by since the last episode and I am sure you have all been waiting for the next episode, so here it is. So with the weekend ahead, get it downloaded, sit thissen down with a reet big mug o'tea and get your lug holes round this.

 

Episode 4 features Colin Ashton who is well known for his Carrying on up the Dale blog and demo games is today's guest, a link to his website is below,

https://www.carryingsonupthedale.com

A proper old school wargamer Colin has some pretty big collections if figures, all of them in 28mm, many of you will be familiar with them from his posts on Facebook.

We discuss his entry into Wargames (in 4 minutes of course) before talking about Colins custom built games room and his thoughts on the Big Game in general.

After a sterling effort for a sympathiser of "that lot over the hill" on the Yarkshire Gamer Quiz, we talk about how Colin has kept his Big games going over lockdown.

As usual the last episode with Dr Chris Brown is available on YouTube, the winner of a free copy of his latest Arnhem book is announced at the end of the current Episode.

Thanks for listening and the next episode should be out in 2 weeks time.

Troops on Parade - Kingdom of Heaven

 

Strange things happen in lockdown, like watching films and wondering what a particular scene would look like set up with your toy soldiers. If there is any disadvantage to the end of Covid its going to be the lack of opportunity to do mad, spontaneous photo shoots as the wargames table gets filled up with actual gaming !

So I randomly came across the charge scene from the movie Kingdom of Heaven and I thought, I can do that, so I did and I left the photos here as proof.

My 28mm Christian Crusades Cavalry currently consists of 3 units of Knights and 2 units of Sgts, plus 4 Command Bases. The figures are all from Fireforge Games apart from three of the Command Bases which are from 1st Corps.

Above is a detail view of King Baldwin and my Kingdom of Jerusalem Knights based on uniforms from the film.

Next up are my Knights of St Lazarus, the Leper Knights, an order I have been fascinated by for most of my adult life, they only ever put 30 or so Knights in the field, but what the hell 😉 I was always going to have a unit of them.

The third unit of Red Knights are the later Hospitallers, some one donated a box of Teutonic Knights to the collection and rather than waste them I deliberately painted them up in a later livery, mostly just to wind people up 😁

Setting them out in a wedge formation and taking the photos was really good fun, there are only 70 figures here but what a powerful bunch of figures they are ! So I will just let the pictures do the talking.

Knights of Jerusalem 

Thanks for your indulgence in my Kingdom of Heaven set up