2025 - A Wargaming Year in Review

 Some pictures summing up 2025 , it had its ups and downs but ended on a positive.

Looking forward to a very different #2026 doing a lot more of what I want.

Have a great New Year everyone

1. 1/700 HMS Warspite, the pride of the Royal Navy in two wars, the final ship of my Narvik Project and an absolute favourite of mine, I've never claimed to be a good modeller but I did alright on this.

2. 28mm Giovanni Bande Nere Pike Block and shot. Read about this unit since I was a teenager and never put  one together. The flags are in mourning of Giovannis death as are the "somber" colours of the troops, I have units from both before and after Giovannis death and call it the Schrodinger Bande when they are both on the table.

3. The Battle of Mentana 1867 table set up at Salute in that there London, along with the banner for Best Historical Game which we won at the show. WI then mis-awarded me and combined the award with the Large Game and said Warwick won it, not that I'm bothered or anything and haven't mentioned it once since 😉😆 really proud to have won such an award at such a big show.

4. A Swiss Pike Block from a game at the York Show Vapnartak, we did a number of shows during the year and will be back out again in 2026 with York and Salute already booked in.

5 Bradford City the football team I watch every week, actually did something and got promoted to League 1, what made it even better was we scored in 90 + 6 minutes and I was there. I made a Pike Block to celebrate 🍾 

6. The Yarkshire Gamer table at Partizan 2025, I put on the Battle of Germantown 1777 (this game will be at York) it included many figures from my friend Dave Parrott who had passed away the previous year and I used the table to advertise his choosen charity Dogs Trust 🐕

7. Cesare Borgias Body Guard, it started as 6 figures but it keeps growing 😆

8. I put a 6mm ACW game at The Joy of Six, I'm a big fan of the work that Pete Berry at Baccus does with 6mm and although it's not my main way of gaming it doesn't mean I can't support it and I'll be there again next year.

9. Did I mention I won an award at Salute 🫡 🤔 😅

11. I finished off my Elite Miniatures Young Guard Brigade. I have loved these figures for ever but fell out of love with them when I did a load for the Wargames Holiday Centre in the 80s and 90s. I took the plunge with some and managed to complete a few units this year, I absolutely love them.

12. The Podcast keeps going from strength to strength and will be 5 years old in 6 weeks time. Over 200,000 downloads and 81 Episodes, I've stayed away from the latest fashion and tried to interview interesting people who maybe haven't done a show before and branch out into History, Paint Brushes and Veteran Support.

2026 will be different and I plan to spend more time with the hobby I love, I might even get a few games in ! I plan to be more regular (with bran flakes) with the Podcast, do more focused Utubes and annoy more people with the Brews in the Binyard 😆

2026 will also so a return of the World Cup if Historical Wargames Rules and we will see if Chain of Command can retain its crown.

Have a great New Year everyone and try and do as much of the hobby as you can, it really is good for you !

Regards Ken
The Yarkshire Gamer

Yarkshire Gamer Podcast - Episode 58 - Joe Bilton - Wargames Terrain

 

After our double header history fest on Jutland with Nick Jellicoe its time to get back to basics with a special episode on Wargames Terrain.

The episode is avaliable on all major Podcast hosts or via the link below 

https://kenrtai.podbean.com/e/episode-58-joe-bilton-wargames-terrain/

My guest is Joe Bilton aka @Joe_Wargamer on Twitter (sorry Elon, its Twitter mate) who during the 5 years or so he has been in the hobby has produced some superb quality tables with an emphasis on more realistic terrain.

His day job is creating maps for Wargames, mostly Role Play and Fantasy style stuff but with an increasing amount of historical stuff chucked in, here's a link to the company

http://www.heroicmaps.com/

All the usual sections are there and we have a cracking entry into Room 101, I can feel the Twitters lighting up already !

The final section of the show is a deep dive into terrain making with some top tips and ideas for improving the look of our wargames tables.

My next guest will be Pete from TAG, I'm a big fan of The Assault Groups Italian Wars figures so I'm really looking forward to that one.

Sit back and relax with a nice brew and a Garibaldi and enjoy the episode.

Until next time, Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

The previous episode is available on the Utubes 

Yarkshire Gamer Podcast Episode 57 - Nick Jellicoe - Jutland and Aftermath

 

Hi everyone.

No surprises with the content of this episode as I present the second part of my interview with Nick Jellicoe. In the first part we covered a lot of the background to the battle and the characters involved.

In this part of the interview we look in detail at the battle itself, going through each of the major phases of the action at Jutland. We then finish the show off with a quick look at John Jellicoe after the Battle.

The two episodes weigh in at just over 4 hours and I have to say I enjoyed every minute of each one. I would like to thank Nick for being so generous with his time and hopefully you enjoyed our chat as well.

Next episode will feature Joe Bilton, Joe is one of the leading terrain makers out there and his recent Stalingrad table at Salute was a joy to see. As some one who often shies away from that side of the hobby from both an enthusiasm and talent perspective it will be great to hear from Joe on how he gets excited over some grass tufts and a bit of scatter !

So until next time, Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer 

Here's the Utubes version of the last episode

WW1 British Naval 1/2400 - Troops on Parade

A few weeks ago I put together a Troops on Parade review of my 1/2400 WW1 German Naval fleet so it was only fair to do one for the British, in fact this was done a few weeks ago I just haven't had time to finish off the editing and release the thing on the world.

Above is an overview shot of the entire Project. 30 Dreadnoughts, 1 Pre Dreadnoughts, 12 Battlecruisers, 15 Armoured Cruisers, 27 Light Cruisers, 90 Destroyers, 2 Aircraft Carriers and an Armed Merchant for a total of 178 ships.

Above is a link to a video run through of the collection with a bit of general chat about the ships and the build of the collection.

The vast majority of the ships were done for our 100th Anniversary refight  of Jutland but over the last few years I've added a number of other ships that weren't present at the battle mostly to fill out gaps for an ongoing campaign.

It's been great putting together both collections but there is a sense of sadness now that they are finished. I'm thinking about doing Italian and Austro Hungarian fleets but haven't pulled the trigger yet.

The vast majority of the ships are from GHQ. There are quite a few WTJ ships which were early resin printed ship of really good quality. In addition to that there are a few C in C ships covering some of the large Flottila Leaders and some Tumbling Dice ships in the ranks of the Armoured Cruisers.

A close up of the Destroyers.

The Light Cruisers 

Armoured Cruisers 

The Big Stuff

Hopefully with the end of Covid we can resume our WW1 Naval Campaign so these should be back on the table before the end of the year.

If you are interested in how I paint and base the ships I did a tutorial on them last year which can be viewed on the link above.

Hope you enjoyed that run through of the WW1 British Naval fleet here at Yarkshire Gamer 

Troops on Parade - WW1 German Naval

 

This is the first time that I've covered one of my Naval Collections on Troops on Parade and with the first ever person to person game happening on the table this weekend the opportunity to do these features will drop away.

So first up is the WW1 Germans, 1/2400 scale and mostly GHQ although there are a few WTJ ships along with some Tumbling Dice which I used for the earlier ships. There is a video run through of the collection below.

I've put some choice photos below, full chat and descriptions on the video. The total fleet is 19 Dreadnoughts, 13 Pre Dreadnoughts, 7 Battlecruisers, 7 Armoured Cruisers, 19 Light Cruisers and 81 Destroyers for a total of 146 ships

The famous Battlecruisers including the Goeben which ended up in Turkish hands during the war.

A Nassau class Dreadnought 

The Big guns Bayern and Baden

British up next.

Naval Wargaming, a basing and painting Tutorial : From Box to Table

 

I did a Painting and basing tutorial a few years back before my venture into the motion picture world of the Utubes. With a few additional ships being added to the collection for our early WW1 Naval Campaign I thought it would be a good idea to refresh that initial tutorial with a video version, link below,

The video is about 40 minutes long but there is a lot to get in, I'm torn between the multi part tutorial and the long form directors cut, let me know your thoughts.

The ships used in the tutorial are 1/2400 scale, from Tumbling Dice. This is the first time I've bought ships from this company, they have a lot less detail than my usual GHQ models but they are a 1/3 of the price, Tumbling Dice also specialise in the pre WW1 period which gives lots of choices not avaliable from GHQ.  Sadly postage and import duties rule out WTJ for the moment. Below is a quick review video of the ship models.

Our WW1 Naval Campaign stalled a couple of years ago as circumstances led to the next game being larger than the avaliable table at Yarkshire Gamer, fingers crossed, post lockdown, my local club will have premises to suit.

Hope that the videos prove useful, any questions just ask. Some pics below of the ships above.

Don't know why but blogger is let me put my usual photo labels in today.

The "Not" Jutland Ship Collection

Some people have drug or alcohol addictions I have model ships ! Not satisfied with all the ships at Jutland (250 for the uneducated) I could only stand withdrawal symptoms for so long before embarking on the lesser "Not" at Jutland collection.

All ships are 1/2400 scale GHQ and a handy guide on how I paint them is avaliable on the link below.

https://yarkshiregamer.blogspot.com/2015/11/12400-ww1-wtj-naval-from-box-to-table.html

So let's have a run down of the new ships starting with Team Britain.

HMS Queen Elizabeth 

The lead ship of a class of Super Dreadnoughts, 3 knots faster than the standard 21 knot Dreadnought, she and her sisters were designed to form a Fast Squadron. With 8 15" guns and 13" armour QE was a formidable force.

Whilst undergoing trials in the Mediterranean she was called up for the Dardanelles Campaign where she served as a flag ship. After that ill fated action QE returned to the Grand Fleet at Scapa, however she missed the big day as the ship was in dock for maintenance.

Later in the 1st World War QE became the flagship of the Grand Fleet and went on to see extensive service in WW2, being badly damaged at Alexandria by Italian Frogmen.

HMS Dreadnought

The ship that started a revolution in Naval Warfare, launched in 1906 she was the first Ship to have a single calibre main armament (12" guns) and steam turbine engines which gave a top speed of 21 knots. Both of which made the existing Battleships or the now Pre Dreadnoughts, obsolete.

Despite the fanfare of Dreadnoughts launch her active career was less auspicious. The ship rammed and sank a U Boat in 1915 but missed Jutland whilst in dock being refitted. After that there was a stint in the home fleet before being scrapped in 1921.

HMAS Australia 

One of three Indefatigable Class Battlecruisers and the only Capital ship in the Australian Navy, she began the war searching for the German East India Squadron before being transferred to the North Sea.

Australia missed Jutland as she was in dock for repair following a collision with her sister ship New Zealand. The Battlecruiser returned to Australia after the war but was scuttled as a result of the Washington Naval Treaty.

HMS Glorious 

A strange beast, the second of three Courageous Class Battlecruisers, armed with 4 15" guns, with a top speed of 32 knots but very thin armour (3" belt).

One thing immediately obvious is the decks, rather than the standard teak decking of the time this class of ship had bare metal decks to save weight and therefore increase speed.

The ship took part in the second Battle of Heligoland Bight but after the war she was converted into an aircraft carrier, the model itself is huge and only just fits on the 120mm base.

The four new British "Capital" Ships 

HMS Drake

The next two ships fall firmly in the "why and when did I buy that" category.

When going through the "to do" box I found this Drake Class Armoured Cruiser but for the life of me I can't figure out where it came from. Coronel I hear you call, but alas no; I already own HMS Good Hope.

But never mind whilst the ship yards are open...... painted up as the lead ship of the Class it adds to my Armoured Cruiser collection. Before WW1 she was stationed in Australia before returning to the UK to be part of the 7th Cruiser Sqn. She was torpedoed in shallow water in 1917.

I love the detail on this ship, a hint of black wash in the recesses works nicely.

HMS Kent 

Lying in the box next to Drake was a Monmouth Class Armoured Cruiser, clearly there has been some sort of Coronel mix up going on as the Class name of that group, famously lost in the South Atlantic battle.

So rather than leave the model unpainted she has been finished and named HMS Kent.

Kent was refitting at the start of the war and spent time in the South Atlantic after Coronel playing a part in sinking the German Light Cruisers Nurnberg (Falklands) and Dresden. She was on the West African coast at the time of Jutland.

That concludes the new additions to Team GB, all I have planned to add are Repulse, Renown, Furious and the mysteriously missing HMS Audacious which I am sure I bought but can't find !

Team German

SMS König Albert

The fourth ship of the Kaiser Class Dreadnoughts she was in dry dock for maintenance at the time of Jutland, a big miss for the High Seas Fleet.

SMS Goeben

I previewed this ship a couple of weeks back, I had been suffering a spot of Painters Block after the rush of the Italian Wars Project but finally managed to drag myself forward and get this model finished to hopefully get the Vallejo flowing again.

Another lovely GHQ model. Goeben was in the Mediterranean at the start of the war and was transferred to Turkey. Our Naval Campaign has historically taken a different route and the ship has been recalled to the 1st Scouting Group, hence the need for the ship.

It's going to be great seeing her go into action alongside her sister Moltke. The German Capital Ships are all done now and I have some early Pre Dreadnoughts and Armoured Cruisers on the go (from Tumbling Dice) so look out for a review on those soon.

Konig Albert firing it's front turrets

Out of interest I took a picture is Queen Elizabeth next to Dreadnought, it's amazing to see the two ships side by side in the same scale, Dreadnought as we know was a revolution but look how far things moved between 1906 and 1914. The sheer size of QE paints a real picture.