Yarkshire Gamers World Cup of Historical Wargames Rules

 

Hi Everyone, I'm currently running a World Cup of Historical Wargames Rules and although I don't blog anywhere as much as I used to I thought it would be a good idea to have a central location for all the information.

Inspired by the Podcast "The Rest is History" who have done this in the past I thought I would do the same first for Wargames Rules and may at the end of the year for figure manufacturers.

So here is how it's going to work,

There will be an open public vote to nominate the top 16 sets of Wargames Rules who will compete in Round 1.

To be eligible a rule set must be for Miniatures and must be Historical. Rules with more than one version will only have one entry as will series of rules. So WRG Ancients is in as one entry, not one per version.

The winning 8 Rules will then enter Round 2 where they will play 8 pre seeded teams, after that it is a straight knock out.

Voting will be done on Facebook via their poll system, whilst I understand that this will exclude some, I am doing this for fun and having one lot of votes to look at makes it a lot easier (there were 2,700 votes in the Preliminary Round.

The Seeds are

1. In the Grand Manner

2. WRG Ancients

3. Fire and Fury

4. Chain of Command

5. Bruce Quarrie Napoleonics

6. Black Powder

7. Charles Grants Wargame

8. Rapid Fire 

We could argue forever about the seeds but for the first one (if I do it again the quarter finalists will be seeded) I choose what I thought had been the most important during my 45 years in the hobby. 

It's  certainly not based on what I play, I have had a go at 5 of the 8, I actively dislike 2 of them and would say I've only really played one of them alot, but I would happily defend any of their positions as a seed.

The Preliminary Round has been completed on the 25th July with the following results

Well everyone the Preliminary Round of the Yarkshire Gamer World Cup of Historical Wargames Rules is over and we have the 16 sets of rules that will compete in Round 1 of the competition.

The 16 are

1. Battlegroup

2. Sharpe Practice

3. General de Armee

4. O Group

5. To the Strongest

6. Hail Caesar

7. Mortem et Gloriam

8. General de Brigade

9. Bolt Action

10. Lion Rampant

11. Crossfire

12. For King and Parliament

13. Saga

14. L'art de la Guerre

15. Men who would be Kings

16. By Fire and Sword

The draw for the 1st Round will be held during the recording for the Brews in the Binyard Summer Special and the ties announced to the public on Monday 31st July with the ties being played that week. The draw will place the top 8 as the home teams and 9 to 16 as the away sides.

For those who are interested the just missed out rules are (if there are 2 numbers the same the votes were tied.

17. Bill hooks

18. Blitzkrieg Commander

18 Blucher

20 AK47

21 Pike and Shotte

22 Furioso

23 Picketts Charge

24 Dux Brittannium

25 Barons War

26 WRG Renaissance (Gush)

26 Altar of Freedom

28 Soldiers of Napoleon

28 Force on Force

29 Bloody Big Battles

30 Age of Eagles

And the remaining positions are 

31 British Grenadier 

31 Strength and Honour

31 I Ain't been shot mum

31 DBM

35 Impetus

35 General Quarters

37 Warfare in the Age of Reason

38 Team Yankee

38 Sword and Spear

38 La Salle

38 Musket and Tomahawks

42 Renato et Gloriam

42 Seven Days to the Rhine

44 Honours of War

45 Command Decision

45 Rommel 

47 WRG 1686 - 1845

47 Warhammer Ancient Battles

48 If the Lord Spares Us

48 Test of Resolve

50 Charge

50 Armati

50 Beneath the Lily Banners

53 Forlorn Hope

53 Square Bashing

53 Through the Mud and Blood

53 Black Seas

57 Twilight of (Series)

57 Bag the Hun

57 Setting the East Ablaze

60 Charlie don't surf

60 What a Cowboy

63 DBMM

63 What a Tanker

63 Wings of Glory

63 Flames of War

66 Volley and Bayonet

66 Dux Bellorum

68 Great War Spearhead

68 Batallie Empire

68 Victory at Sea

71 Tactica

71 Triumph

71 War and Conquest

71 Algy pulls it off

71 Clash

71 Kiss me Hardy

71 Science vs Pluck

78 Shako

78 Blood Red Skies

78 Piquet

81 Controlling the Chaos

81 Contemptible Little Armies

81 Sails of Glory

81 Donnybrook

85 Rvdis

86 Narrow Seas

86 Rules of Engagement

86 Test of honour

86 Shock of Impact

90 Shattered Lances

90 Fighting Sails

92 Jomini

92 Lost Battles

92 Triumph and Tragedy

92 DBM

92 Fields of Glory

97 Tractics

97 Great Battles of WW1

Thanks very much to everyone who nominated and voted, some great interaction, don't forget to come back and vote when the competition starts for real.

The draw for Round 1 will appear here on Monday

Round 1 

To the Strongest vs Saga 

General de Brigade vs Lion Rampant 

Mortem et Gloriam vs Bolt Action 

General de Armee vs Men Who Would be Kings 

Battlegroup vs By Fire and Sword 

Hail Caesar vs For King and Parliament 

Sharp Practice vs L'art de la Guerre 

O Group vs Crossfire.

The Winner is To the Strongest with 69% of the vote.

Game 2 of Round 1, General de Brigade takes on Lion Rampant 

The winner is Lion Rampant with 54% of the vote. An absolute belter of a match with the lead changing hands multiple times.

Game 3 is a corker, Mortem et Gloriam vs Bolt Action 

A big win for MeG in this one with 65% of the vote. Bolt Action is out !

Game 4 is up and running now with General de Armee taking on The Men Who Would be Kings 

General de Armee is the Victor with 59% of the vote.

Game 5 begins today with Battlegroup taking on By Fire and Sword 

A brave effort from By Fire and Sword but Battlegroup wins through with 60% of the vote. By far the highest number of votes so far in a single round with nearly 500 cast.

Game 6 is now underway, Hail Caesar takes on For King and Parliament 

A good win in this one For King and Parliament with 56% of the vote.

Game 7 has kicked off with Sharp Practice against L'art de la Guerre 

Sharp Practice shot of like a scalded cat in this one and was miles ahead for a couple of days before a late rally by L'art de la Guerre, however it wasn't quite enough and Sharp Practice goes through with 59% of the vote.

 

And finally in the first round it's O Group vs Crossfire 

And what a fantastic match up in the final round. Both sets had the lead on multiple occasions but O Group made it through with a late surge with 58% of the vote.

So that's Round 1 done and dusted and from the 8 games above we have the following qualifiers

Sharp Practice 

O Group

Battlegroup 

General de Armee

Mortem et Gloriam 

Lion Rampant 

To the Strongest 

For King and Parliament 

Keep an eye out for Round 2 in a new thread starting tomorrow.

Yarkshire Gamer Podcast - Episode 44 Pete Berry Baccus 6mm

 

Todays guest is well known within the Wargames World for being Mr 6mm, but there is a lot more to Pete Berry than that.

You can access the episode from the link below, or download it through any major Podcast Host, if you get chance please leave a like and review wherever you got it from.

https://kenrtai.podbean.com/e/episode-44-pete-berry-baccus-6mm/

Its a great chance to discuss his wargaming background and a love of Big Games going back to huge games using 15mm Medievals and classic old school Napoleonic Plastics.

Forlorn Hope are still a big favourite set of rules for ECW here at Yarkshire Gamer, written by Pete back in the 80s its great to discuss the rules and how they have survived over time, his interest in the period and how renactment of the period influenced his rules development.

There is of course a chance to chat about the 6mm - 28mm "divide" and how many of the myths around 6mm gaming and 28mm Big Gaming actually aren't that different.

We take a trip into the features section with the quiz and a great entry into Wargames Room 101 before moving on to talk about Baccus Miniatures and the 6mm focused show that is The Joy of Six.

You can look at the Baccus range on their website below,

Baccus 6mm

and get some details about the show below,

Joy of Six (joysofsix.co.uk)

My next guest is hopefully Mark Hides who runs a Professional Painting Service, Conflict in Colour. As well as that Mark is an author who runs a great blog. We will also go all gooey eyed over the old Sheffield Triples show, still, for me, the greatest Wargames Show ever.

And in case you missed it last time, here is the utubes version of my interview with Paul Thompson of EWM Miniatures.

Until next time,

Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

Yarkshire Gamer Podcast - Episode 43 - Paul Thompson - EWM

Welcome to Episode 43 of the Reet Big Wargames Podcast and today my guest is Paul Thompson of EWM or Early War Miniatures.

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

https://kenrtai.podbean.com/e/episode-43-paul-thompson-early-war-miniatures/

Pauls company specialises in 20mm WW1, Interwar and WW2 figures and vehicles as well as a growing range of scenery, including a certain Binyard !

Its a long episode but Paul had some great stories outside of our usual chat so get ready for tall tales of German Military raids on the Isle of Wight in 1943, torpedoing sail boats in paddling pools with 1/35 scale submarines, riding around the country in a tank with the Perries and facing wargames gilterati whist dressed in plate armour.

On top of that we have all our usual features, Wargames Room 101 keeps going strong as another pet wargaming hate gets added to the Vault, we have another excellent attempt at the quiz and an unusual choice on Desert Island Wargame.

Thanks very much for continuing to tune in, the Podcast reached 75,000 downloads just after the release of Episode 42 and is already racing towards 80,000. If you enjoy the episodes and get chance please like, subscribe and leave comments where you listen to the show. Its a great way to get more people interested in the show.

You can get EWM figures via the link below, or why not pop and share a Ginger Nut with Paul at the next show.

EWM (earlywarminiatures.com)

Next episode should be out in around 3 weeks and I will be chatting to Pete Berry of Baccus Miniatures in the first ever Battle of the Scales :-)

Until next time, Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

And finally here is the Utubes version of the last episode with George Nafziger 

Yarkshire Gamer Podcast - Episode 42 George Nafziger - Author and King of the OOB

Welcome to Episode 42 of the Yarkshire Gamer Podcast and today I have an absolute hobby legend for you.

The Episode is available on all major Podcast Hosts or via the link below

Episode 42 - George Nafziger - Author and King of the OOB | Yarkshire Gamers Reet Big Wargames Podcast (podbean.com)

George Nafziger is a prolific author who has had many many titles published over the years. His first book in 1988 Napoleons Invasion of Russia was a fantastic debut and the subsequent series of books on the later 1813 and 1814 Campaigns are absolutely essential reading on the topics. When the came out they were the first easily accessible source of information on those campaigns I was aware of in the English Language. We in the UK were often fixated on Waterloo and Wellingtons Campaign in Spain that these books opened up a new area of interest in the Napoleonic Wars.

Not only that my guest is well known for his amazing series of Orders of Battle from the mid 17th Century onwards which are available both online and in the case of the WW2 series in book form. Its hard to describe the level of detail that is contained in these lists. If you want an accurate army with the kit they had, this is the place to go for research.

It was great to talk to George and as you would expect from Yarkshire Gamer, no rabbit hole was left explored ! I did have some technical issues with the recording but hopefully they have been ironed out in the edit.

George has a web site covering his books and orders of battle

Home - Nafziger Collection

With the books available here

Products Archive - Nafziger Collection

Remember if you are ordering from outside the US, contact George direct via e-mail and he will sort out the postage rates for the country of your choice.

Or By mail at

PO Box 1522

West Chester, OH 45071-1522

Or by email

Drnafziger@yahoo.com

Next episode I hope to be talking with Paul Thompson of Early War Miniatures. 

Until next time, Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

And as always here's a video of the last episode with Nick Schofield about the Papal Zouaves

Yarkshire Gamer Podcast 41 - Nick Schofield - Papal Zouaves

Todays guest is Nick Schofield and although Nick had a brief dabble with wargaming when he was younger he hasn't rolled a dice for many years. The episode is available on the link below or from any major Podcast Host

Episode 41 - Nick Schofield - Papal Zouaves | Yarkshire Gamers Reet Big Wargames Podcast (podbean.com) 

My guest works in the church and has studied in Rome so there is no wonder that he has gained an interest in looking at the British and Irish Volunteers in the Papal Army during the 1860s.

So with my first ever non-wargaming guest I have shifted things around a bit so regular listeners will notice that the tried and tested format has been put aside for this one episode.

I chat with Nick about his background and his wargaming experiences before moving onto the history of the St Patricks Battalion and the Papal Zouaves using his book Victorian Crusaders, published by Helion as my guide.

It was a great chat with Nick, he's very engaging and clearly knows his stuff and it was lovely for me to talk to someone about a subject I am very interested in as well as stepping outside the comfort zone of my regular format, its definitely something I will do again in the future.

Nicks book is available from Helion direct and also from many other book sellers, link below

Victorian Crusaders | From Musket to Maxim 1815-1914 | Helion & Company

Hope you enjoy this little excursion from the Wargames path and I will see you in 3 weeks time for another episode.

Until then Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

Here's the previous episode in its Utubes format.

Yarkshire Gamer Podcast 40 - Steve Shann - Nations in Arms

Today my guest is Author, Painter and old friend Steve Shann. Available on all major Podcast Hosts or via the direct link below

Episode 40 - Steve Shann - Nations in Arms | Yarkshire Gamers Reet Big Wargames Podcast (podbean.com)

Steve has been a full time painter for many years now and many of the figures in the collections of my previous guests have originated from his brushes, so it's a great excuse to get a bit of a geek on about Paints, techniques and of course wet palettes 😆

Alongside the painting Steve has been writing articles and books for the hobby and beyond. He has a passion for the Franco Prussian War with a number of scenario books, wargame and uniform guides going back to the 1980s.

In recent years Steve has self published two excellent scenario books on the diverse subjects of Leipzig in 1813 and The Seelow Heights in 1945.

It's a long old chat with the episode just tipping over 3 hours. This isn't a short format, I want to bring you a good all round wargames chat not a 10 minute sales pitch, I know a lot of people who listen to this whilst painting so hopefully you will get some more figures done, so here is an excuse to get some more done !

I'll be back in 3 weeks time when I will be speaking with Nicholas Schofield, who has written a book on the British and Irish Troops in Service of the Papal States in the 1860s. It will be an experiment in an episode that is more about the history than the wargaming, hope you will enjoy it.

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

You can find out lots more about Steves Book, Paintings and Terrain at his blog site

https://steve-nationsinarms.blogspot.com/

And if you missed the last episode that is now available on the Utubes

 

Analogue Hobbies Winter Paint Challenge 2022/23 Wrap Up

Well that wasn't what I was expecting as an end result to say the least, to say I was distracted is a real understatement. It was all supposed to be about the 28mm Italian Wars but as anyone who had a look through my posts would know it went a bit sideways, or seaways to be more precise.

Not too much of a distraction were these 10mm Pendraken Malburian figures for my Savoyard and French Armies, I've been using these for quite a while now as a Palette Cleanser so these were everyday fare.

Another planned distraction were these 28mm Franco Prussian French Chasseur a Pied, these were a bookend on last years Garibaldi Project and got me started back in December.

I did eventually get some Italian Wars stuff done, a unit of 16 Swiss Shot which I needed for an existing Pike Unit and 12 Borgia Light Cavalry and finally just under the deadline was a 60 figure Spanish Colunela, which should have been the first of a number in the Challenge.

The Colunela is a fine looking unit and I did some photos with a white background which I really like.

But of course the main distraction were these 1/700 WW2 Naval Ships, 3 large vessels, Bismarck, Prince of Wales and Ark Royal along with 2 Merchant Vessels, 7 Destroyers and a Submarine.

The Ark Royal is particularly impressive, the base is 42cms x 10 and its definitely imposing, I'm not a fan of the aircraft supplied with the kit and will be replacing them with upgraded versions in due course.

My favourite from my Challenge was the Bismark Build, the detail on the Revell kit is superb and it really added to the model. One of the best things I've ever done. I will sort out my charity donation in a few minutes and that's me done for another year.

Thanks again to Curt for heading up this wonderful Challenge, Peter for being my Monday Minion and waiting for so long for some Spanish Wars Italians and finally to all the people who visited and commented on my posts.

Until next time, Sithee 

Yarkshire Gamer Podcast 39 - Martyn Kelly - Big Gaming in the USA

 

Welcome back everyone, it's been nearly 2 months since the last episode, doing 5 in December was like setting a flamethrower to both ends of the candle and I had burnt myself out.

The episode is available on all major Podcast Hosts, or via the Podbean link below. If you do enjoy it, please like, subscribe and comment to help increase the Podcasts profile.

Episode 39 - Martyn Kelly - Big Gaming in the USA | Yarkshire Gamers Reet Big Wargames Podcast (podbean.com)

But after a good rest and concentrating on my hobby projects for a while I'm back and ready to go again. I've got the next 8 episodes planned with some great guests, I have Manufacturers, Painters, Authors, Big Gamers, Hobby Legends and the like to bring to you, I also hope to bring episodes from countries we haven't visited before and get the low down from fellow wargamers around the world.

In addition to that I have a tester episode with a non wargaming Historian which will follow an obviously different format, but if it works its something I plan to do in the future if it works out well.

But that's the future, it's time to introduce my guest, I first became aware of Martyn Kelly from his Facebook posts regarding some huge participation games he has put on at Conventions in the US. He's done some brilliant Italian Wars games featuring a 196 figure Pike Block which in my opinion really represents the 9,500 men who were actually in that block, much better than 24 figures for sure.

I love talking from Gamers outside the UK and getting there perspective on a hobby we all love in so many different ways. All the usual features are here, Big Game Chat, Quiz, Wargame Room 101, Desert Island Wargame and the usual chat in between.

I talk to Martyn in the Big Topic about the set up of Conventions in the US, how they are organised and what a visitor expects to see. We then move on to talk about what visitors expect from a Big Game at a convention and the differences between putting such a game on between one with friends and one with total strangers at an event.

Its then a deep dive into how my guest goes from that first germ of an idea through to actually playing the game at a show. Trust me its a lot of work and guys like Martyn go a long way to make these events what they are, so if you haven't say thank you to your game organiser.

It wouldn't be Yarkshire Gamer with a bit of Italian Wars Chat (now apparently an extension of the Wars of the Roses ;-) and we start the Pavia Challenge live on the show. Martyn has gone for 1:25 scale so I've gone 1:24 !

It was a great chat and the fact that I thought that we had only done an hour and a half when we had done two and a half shows that the phrase "time flies when your enjoying yourself" is true.

Keep up to date with what Martyn is doing next as well as a wealth of information about his previous projects on his blog, College of Kings.

College of Kings - Posts about my miniature armies.

Thanks for listening and welcome back to the show, don't forget to subscribe, like and leave a review wherever you listen to this. Not much in life costs nowt, but this Podcast does so give us a like.

All pictures above reproduced with the kind permission of my guest Martyn Kelly.

My next episode will be out in a fortnight and I'll be speaking with Steve Shann. I've known Steve for a long time and you will be familiar with the name if you've listened to previous episodes. Steve has a number of publications to his name covering diverse topics like WW2, Leipzig and The Franco Prussian War. On top of that Steve does a spot of painting so get ready for 2 hours on the correct shade of blue for French Uniforms !

Until next time, Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

And here is my usual P.S. Its the Utubes version of the last episode.