More "Chainmail 3ed" Playtesting - with a Princess!

Before Common Law, Before Mandated Mediation...

...disputes were settled by Sword & Spear!

This certainly cut down on the legal bills.

Today, another foray into the classic American rule set from which many other games were spawned... Chainmail, 3e.!

There's been a lot of playtesting, clarifying, writing and re-writing closely examining the original rulebook [available free online thru Archive.org...see previous posts]. I found a few things I misunderstood, and a few things that needed to be carefully weighed as possible outright changes.  I then carefully considered all changes made, and set aside a bunch for the original, so these could be as RAW as it gets!

Altogether, I believe I played this three times, modifying the rules a bit each time. Smoothing out the mechanics was very helpful and many of those little changes stayed. In one play, I tried out a significantly more lethal CRT, but went back to the original. Altho less lethal to figures, it 'feels' more real in that there weren't a lot of casualties in the actual clash of battle lines - it mostly happened after, when one side broke and was pursued. As Chainmail models this, it seems better to keep it 'as-is'.  

Overall, I'm continually impressed by how much understanding of combat the game has and successfully models!  I'm also impressed at how badly organized the rules are and how poor so much of the phrasing is. Perhaps later printings overcame this?  Just a few years later, Battle System 1e. was published, and many of the ideas of Chainmail shaped it, altho Fatigue didn't make it into that game.

For a scenario, I'll be using "One-Hour Wargames" once again. 

One that I definitely haven't played enough, #23 "Defence in Depth" 

This interesting challenge pits a larger 6-Unit force that has to go from North of the river to exit the road in the South-west edge, with at least 3 Units.  So half the force must survive the trip, which will undoubtedly demand some fortitude against whomever is skulking in the brush!  

Below, the English Marcher Lord's force:

16 Heavy Infantry                    5 Heavy Cavalry              16 Heavy Infantry Archers

12 Elite Armored Infantry        5 Heavy Cavalry              10 Light Infantry Crossbows.

[dismounted knights]

Below, the ambushing Welsh force:

2 Units of Heavy Infantry, Long Spears        2 Units of 8 Light Infantry, Longbows

1 has 12 figures, the other 24 figures

Turn 1: The English start with Initiative, and move onto the board aggressively to seize as many crossing as possible - this threatens the Welsh all along the line. 

In previous playtests, I found that giving the Welsh too much opportunity to concentrate against any one crossing created a tough game for the English.

The Bridge has HI, AI and the HI Archers advancing against it. In the Center, the LI Crossbows make for the Ford through the woods.  At the Right Ford, both Knights - combined - are preparing to cross in the face of stiff opposition.

Against them, the Welsh have the large HI holding the 'town' modeled as ruins, one Archer in the center, and the small HI supported by an Archer Unit at the right Ford. 

Both deployments are influenced by previous fights, but that doesn't mean they are the best ones!  Also, I was continuously altering the Units to find a good balance.

The Welsh cleverly managed to deploy outside of the range of the shorter English bows! Unfortunate, as the HI Archer Unit packs a strong punch. The Crossbows are serious professionals and advance quickly into the teeth of the Welsh main line, preparing to cross a Ford. Unfortunately, in order to shoot after moving a full move, they need to beat the Welsh in a roll-off [an unusual mechanic that I've only seen in these rules]: they fail losing 3-4.

As the English are Moving first, the Welsh get to Shoot First, during the English Movement Phase.  Thus, if you want to catch the enemy with an opportune Charge, you want to Move first; if you want to prepare the way for your charge with missiles, you want them to Move first.

The Welsh unleash a hail of longbow arrows, and despite the cover of the woods, manage to kill three crossbowmen with two shots!  They are over 25%, and must check morale - they barely pass on a '7', getting +1 for being in defensible Terrain. Chainmail only has two checkpoints for losses - if you pass both, you are good to the last man! There are still plenty of checks for charges, etc.

Turn 2, on the other Flank, the knights advance slowly across the treacherous ford. Along the way, they take some brutal incoming fire from the longbows [the Welsh rolling 'up' every time!] and have to check at 50% losses!  They do pass, however, which means they are likely very angry...

Meanwhile, in the center, the Crossbowmen have gotten some shots in - at close range and with a heavy weapon, they force a Welsh Morale Check and with a '4' [needing an '8'] the Welsh Rout to the rear...

Turn 3, the Welsh win the roll-off, and take the Move to charge against the knights at the ford.

The Welsh HI don't need to roll as they are charging a flank. The knights must roll, and amazingly... roll a '5', needing a 6+ to pass [due to being Charged in Flank]... they fly back across the ford from whence they came!

Also, the Archers rally automatically. 

In Chainmail units that Retreat or Rout will quickly rally if they are not pursued - this makes shooting useful to force Units back, but they will return unless someone pursues... light cavalry, anyone? This is another unusual mechanic.  My sense says that you are more likely to rally the farther you run as you tire out and danger seems farther away.  But typically Units are running a hundred yards or more, so perhaps that's enough to feel safe?  Something to think about.

At the bridge, the Archers have let loose some arrows, and caused two hits to the Welsh in the town.  This is to soften them up for the big charge!

Princess Louisa makes an appearance, and eagerly rolls some dice.

As it is a frontal charge, the English have to check first - they pass with an 8.

Unfortunately, Louisa rolls a '4' for the large Welsh HI defending the town...Despite few casualties [2 / 24] they bolt down the road to safety near the Archers.

Interestingly, this unit did this 1-2 times previously!

As Turn 3 winds down, the English have secured the bridge and the center ford. The Welsh have driven off the knights at the farther ford.

The Welsh are in danger of losing their best melee Unit - this bodes ill as it is defending against the English exiting the board for the win...BUT, if the Welsh can win INitiative, they may rally and make a stand in the roadway - will they??

Heck no!

They lose the roll-off, and the English take first Move, Charging after the fleeing Welsh.  They have  a chance to Rally and fight back - will they??

Heck no!

They roll a '2', needing a '6'.  I decided that Princess Louisa was made such by the English, not the Welsh... who end up routing off the table.

Meanwhile, the Crossbowmen finish Crossing the Ford. The Welsh Archers get a shot in, and put them over 50% - they now have to check. Will they fail?

Heck no!

They roll a '10', and easily pass.  I'm wondering if Pr. Louisa should be this one-sided in her help...? With the crossbows threating the center, I am forced to turn the nearby small HI Unit around to hopefully destroy them next Turn with a Charge.

In Turn 5, the English again win IN, and take the opportunity to move the Crossbows towards their friends. Covered by the Archers and the HI which is now guarding the victory condition - the road exit - and the Armored Infantry which has secured the bridge, they are likely to make it to safety.  

The Welsh continue to shift their Units towards the road, as the way has been cleared and the English are getting more and more likely to escape! The English HI Archer Unit has four volleys of arrows left, and 16 figures shooting. They also roll hot and in two volleys take out 4 Welsh HI, bringing them over 25%.  Fortunately, Pr. Louisa has departed so I am able to roll an '11' for them to pass their check, as the Welsh defense won't stand another rout!The green markers tally Fatigue - I switch to yellow at 5, and red at 10 to show Fatigued and Exhausted, respectively.  The Blue markers show remaining missile shots. So the English HI is Fatigued, which reduces them to the effectiveness of Light Infantry, but there are a lot of them - 16 - and the Welsh Archers can't possibly take them on.  They have one Shot left and 3 Fatigue, so are hoping to use that last shot to make a difference to victory, somehow!

With that in mind, the Archers shoot the Crossbows, and kill 2 more!  But are now out of missiles, and reduced to angry looks and insults, mostly.

Turn 6. With a rear Charge on the Crossbows, the Welsh are eager to win IN and take the first Move... but they lose again, 5-3.  The Crossbows run to safety, while the AI by the bridge face the weak Welsh HI Unit in the field.

In a final act of bravery, the Archers decided to charge the Crossbows whom they can just barely see.  They don't need to check as they are not charging their front.  The Crossbows fail their morale, needing a '10' to pass, and Rout towards the Bridge.  There is still one left, however!

The Welsh HI in the field had nowhere to escape the English Archers, and took a volley into the rear as they attempted to retire pushing them over their next check point, 50%. This time they fail on a '5' and Rout, almost leaving the table.

As Turn 6 ends, the English are looking strong to win.  They are shifting their remaining knights towards the bridge that they hold in strength with dismounted knights and one last volley from their Archers.  The road is being held by a fresh HI Unit, and the Crossbows - well, Crossbowman with one left - will recover as no Welsh are pursuing him.  The Welsh have a weak HI, a weak Archer with no shots left, and a strong Archer Unit with three shots left heading towards the central woods.  But they've nothing to challenge the English HI on the road.

Turn 7, the Welsh finally win IN, and allow the English to take the first Move, as they want the first shot! The English shift their positions to better secure the road for the crossbows and the knights. The Welsh take a long shot... and kill the last Crossbowman!  Now the English MUST get the Knights or their archers off the table, along with the two foot units on the road, to secure a win from this perilous ambush!

The English Archers respond, but they roll poorly and with a '1' only kill one Welsh Archer, not enough to make them check morale. Their Knights race across the bridge, following the dismounted knights on the road.

Turn 8, the Welsh again win IN, and again allow the English the first Move so they can get the first Shot in. The Knights make their final gallop to safety and the Welsh Shoot!  Unfortunately, they only kill one more, needing two more to put them at 80% and cause a Morale Check. The Knights will escape!

Turn 8, there is no hope for the Welsh. The knights and then the Infantry will escape. Just to see what would happen, I roll for the small Welsh Archer unit to make a frontal Charge against either English Foot Unit, and they [wisely] decline the honor. 

Out of curiosity, I roll the check for the Knights had they lost two and been over 80% - they easily pass with an '8' so that wouldn't have worked out, anyway.

It was a tight game despite the large Welsh HI Unit going to pieces and basically failing to stand their ground twice.  Had they passed morale, they would have mauled the English HI in the ensuing melee, and possibly have routed them.

Interestingly, Fatigue wasn't as significant in this scenario. Both sides, being separated by a river, were able to take time and recover without much of a threat.  Also, the Welsh didn't have the right Units or enough Units to chase after the English.

The - quite realistic - limit on missiles that I added seems to work well.  Archers are just barely able to affect the course of the battle, but are usually not decisive, as it should be.

At this point, I feel like I have the Chainmail rules where I want them. The only significant change is reducing the power of Shooting by around half, and also introducing a limit on missiles.  Most of the rest are just little tweaks to clarify movement and Fatigue.  

The rules deliver a game that has good feel.  This really surprised me, as I figured their age [pushing 50!] would make them both clunky and a bit unrealistic.  What I found is that Gygax and Perren must have read a lot of history books [if not Strunk & White's "Style Manual" for coherent writing!] and made a game that concentrated on morale and fatigue instead of the small, largely fictitious differences between various troop types [a fad that followed them and which continues to this day].

The concerns of Chainmail Commanders are Morale, Fatigue and Ammo - a lot like commanders today!  And the victory conditions, of course.  

Maneuver is important, and the game has "old-school" long move distances. But the Move / Counter-Move turn sequence provides critical opportunities for either side to take some risks and exploit some opportunities, so the game rarely plods. 

However, if both sides play well, keeping their units in close support and managing fatigue and ammo, the battle will likely be decided by Morale, one place where armies in this period are usually weak, historically. I'm OK with that: if both sides are played equally skillfully, then the dice will decide.

I'm excited to continue big battle games with Chainmail, and look forward to painting up some more and better heroes and their retinues to use the Individual Combat mechanics more.  There is already a January date for another Welsh adventure with the same gaming group that played Orewin Bridge, so stay tuned!

Orewin Bridge, 1282, w "Chainmail, 3rd ed"

YOU SHALL NOT PASS!

Last couple of posts, worked out a scenario for Orewin Bridge 1282, the decisive battlefield disaster for medieval Wales and her prince. I then juggled the time and other available resources, and made progress on needed units for the game, flocked over 30 bases and completing three more needed Welsh units.

For the full table, I rotated #12 90 degrees clockwise, then used #11 and #14 alongside it - #14 was optional, to be played only if there was enough people. The scenario that makes the history is #12, an outflanked bridge defense, as this is one of the best known aspects of the battle.  

NOTE: #19 "Blow from the Rear" was another possible choice, but the outflanking force puts a huge amount of sudden pressure on partially inactive defense, making it more of a surprise attack. As the historical record states that the Welsh realigned their front before the battle began, this seemed less suitable than #12.

The laminated cards I use to conceptualize big battles are arranged below:

I made the table, but took pictures from "Table North" instead of south, so below I am turning the entire image upside down for easier comparison:

On the game day table, I used my favorite light-canvas brown cloth which provides a neutral earth color palette that strongly brings out the terrain. I easily obtained the simple terrain features needed for the three "One-Hour Wargames" scenarios I had picked out - #12, #11 and #14 - with what the Host had on hand. 

Below is #14 "Static Defense" from the defender's side.  At the top are the English, advancing with a unit of Heavy Infantry, a Unit of Heavy Cavalry, and a Unit of Light Infantry with bows [in a wide line]. They must seize either the camp at left or the hill at right. The catch is two units must stay within 12" of those objectives. So the only unit free to move is the small Archer unit in the woods.

Facing them are - from left - a unit of Welsh Heavy Infantry, a small unit of Light Infantry with Bows, and another unit of Heavy Infantry. 

A unique ability of the Welsh heavy infantry is that they can move Unformed through woods at half speed, exit and form up again.  Something useful given that there are two large woods at board center!

Below is #11 "Surprise Attack", again from the defender's viewpoint. 

Here, the English Marcher Lords have a strong force composed of a Light Infantry with Crossbows, a Heavy Infantry with Bows, and a Heavy Cavalry.  They must seize the crossroads at bottom, in front of the fields and house.

Opposing them are a Welsh Heavy Infantry, a Light Infantry with Bows, and - entering on Turns 3 and 6 as reinforcements, a Heavy Cavalry and a Light Cavalry with Javelins. The Heavy Infantry occupy the important gap between an impassible bog and the woods which may only be moved through by unformed Infantry.

Finally, at #12 "An Unfortunate Oversight", the English have a unit of Light Infantry Archers, a Unit of Heavy Infantry, and a Unit of Heavy Cavalry who have outflanked the bridge. These are opposed by a Heavy Infantry and two Light Infantry with Bow; against the Bridge itself are a Light Infantry with Bow, and a Heavy Infantry in a town.

About to force the crossing are a Unit of Armored Infantry and two Units of Light Infantry with Crossbows. All bow Units have an ammo limit of 6 shots.

The English must seize the bridge and the hill.  This makes four terrain objectives.

Below, looking down the table from the English original position at the bridge. The board objectives are more easily understood from this angle. Victory by the far English forces at top right will threaten / secure the road at left, which is the line of retreat, advance and supply for the Welsh. The two hills overlook the road and provide excellent shooting positions for the English archers. The bridge and town are positions that if lost will provide the anvil for the hammer to strike against.

Below, a rather aggressive toll booth attendant with sword and shield!

Finally, an important part of making the scenario "Orewin Bridge" is the fate of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd the Prince of Wales himself. He will enter as a reinforcement soon after an objective is seized in scenario #14.

He will get stuck in as quickly as possible, preferably to hold or take back an objective. However if he dies, that event is worth a victory point.

The total is 5 objectives: 

- If the English take 3, they win a minor victory, inflicting a setback upon the Welsh rebellion against their lawful King. 

- If they take 4-5, they win a major victory, defeating the Welsh and thwarting the rebellion of its leaders.

- If they take 1-2, the Welsh have held their own in the field of battle, proving their cause is just in the eyes of God, which will grow the rebellion.

- If the English take none, then as above, plus a huge setback for English arms and the reputation of the Marcher Lords as a force to be reckoned with, perhaps even a free Wales under a king!

**********************************************************************

The game had a slow start, with players showing up late, so we didn't get started for over an hour. Below, the main effort to seize the vital crossroads and trap most of the Welsh army against the river is being lead by their general Hugh Le Strange [known for his eccentric personality, of course].

Le Strange advanced strongly supported by archery while outflanking the Welsh with his knights. After a punishing series of volleys, the Welsh retreated with heavy casualties from the large bow unit and its supporting crossbows.

Meanwhile, to the right, the Welsh were struggling to hold off a strong advance by English heavy infantry and knights. Below, the knights took significant casualties from the two archer units, and are now at 50%! However, this used up most of their arrows, and the knights have chased off and are pursuing one of the bow units. 

On the hill, the two sides are locked in a slog, with the Welsh having a small uphill advantage against an identical heavy infantry unit. 

Interestingly, the key to the position is the open flank of the Welsh Heavy Infantry, which was being well guarded by the two small Light Infantry Archers, who wisely kept distance, forcing the knights to come farther to them. They are, however, still within charge distance of the Welsh Heavy Infantry flank, so must be driven off.

To the left, the English make a bold and well coordinated attack with their Heavy Infantry supported by archers, while their knights move to outflank the Welsh and threaten the camp. Arrows fall upon the Welsh causing several casualties, and reducing their figure count from 24 to 20. This also reduces their future combat total against the English Heavy Infantry by 20 points, an impactful amount.

After just a few turns - far faster than I expected, the dismounted English knights forced their way into the town, causing the Welsh to fall back some distance. This is a huge accomplishment as it outflanks the Welsh on the hill, and the Welsh Heavy Infantry are decisively outclassed by the English dismounted knights unless they occupy the town.  They have no chance of seizing it back.

With tough fighting happening in the center and right, the English took the camp on the left. Llewellyn arrived and attempted to re-take it since it is important to morale as well as having most of his treasury!  

Here, I used a combination of the battle rules [the two knight units] with the two general figures fighting beside them using the Man-to-Man combat rules.

"Leave him be, the traitor is mine!" shouts Le Strange.

"Get your greedy hands out of my camp!" shouts Llewellyn back.

As one would think, the identical knight units are slowly attriting each other. Meanwhile, the two knights hack away at each other in personal combat.

After a couple of rounds, with time running out for the game, we concentrate on the single combat. Both knights manage to wound each other [they have three wounds] but neither is ready to give up.

A bit later, the knight units have lost 3 figs each, but Llewellyn takes a second wound!  

"Save the Prince!" his retainers cry. Grabbing his horse's reigns, they retreat quickly, leaving the befuddled English to see to the wound of Le Strange.

Overall, this was a fun scenario that was cut short by several time delays, leaving the main part of the fighting uncertain - it could have swung either way.

As for the rules, the most important thing I took away is that the split-move shooting sequence is just too confusing.  It must have been explained 5 times at least, and was still tripping up players and slowing down the game.  With all due respect to Lords Gygax and Perren,  I will change the turn sequence a bit to take care of this but retain the original design goals as much as possible. 

Some other thoughts on the rules... I was uncertain that shooting was effective enough at times, but a lot of it had to do with the ranges and shots the players took. In other words, some of the shots the players took appeared marginal to me, and they would have been better off saving their limited arrows for another opportunity.

Given that some shooting was very effective, and other shooting was a lot less so. I'm going to try and make it just *a bit* better. After all, I have aggressively limited the number of shots to 6 [conveniently counted down with one black die] so the fewer shots should be a bit more impactful.  Overall, shooting has been reduced to  about half as effective, and with an ammo limit that forces the archery units to enter melee at some point if the objectives are still in doubt.

Another aspect I want to clean up is the integration of Man-to-Man combat into the main rules. Much is made in the rules to differentiate the interaction of various armor types and weapons. As most medieval single combats will have the fighters similarly equipped, this is a wash and easily handled. 

The players were willing to give the rules another go, so I am considering whether to re-play the same battle with a few changes to get a decisive conclusion within the allotted time, or try a new battle.  I'd also like to finish a few more units and individual characters, as well as their banners and flags, to give the whole event a bit more spectacle and color.  We'll see what 2025 brings!

Medieval Welsh & Marcher Lords: prepping the armies

The Day the Music Died...

The tune of Welsh Independence, that is!         from: [CLICK] 

With a battle in mind, I had to start looking at the bunch of figures that were not yet finished, and start planning the Units that would fight on the table. This means I need to decide on how many units per player, and how many per foot width of table.

POINT 1: One must figure out how many people are playing, how many units are needed per person for an interesting game.  If you don't want much maneuvering, you need lots of units flanked by terrain that confines the space and forces more straight-up fighting. In general, people need at least 3-4 units, so that if a bit of misfortune happens to a couple they still have toys to play with.

POINT 2: There is a direct measured relationship between table space and unit sizes.  I'm planning a 9' x 3' [really 5'] table, with a center 3' battle space. My unit bases are 5x2.5" with 1-2 per unit, which works out to about 6" width per unit.  Ergo I can fit 18 units side by side and fill a space.  As the OHW scenarios from last post do have some significant terrain, the actual clear maneuver space in the center of the board is only 5.5'!  See below:

The two woods are 2 square feet total, and the bog [circle in center] is an impassible 6" terrain piece. The River [left] is also impassible except at the bridge [and the marked ford doesn't exist - it is actually off the South edge of the board] so the 8" or so to the battlefield West is just to stage troops to attack across the bridge, or support the attack with shooting.

At 5.5', the center portion of the board accommodates 11 Units in the open, with 4 additional units in the woods, which is restricted to Unformed troops. Both sides do have them, however, they are entirely small units of archers.

--> Overall, I'd say that a good troop density is 4-5 Units per scenario, i.e. per 3' width of the table. This leaves the option to deploy the larger units 2-bases wide if desired, some maneuver room, and also the possibility to deploy in depth.

Overall, I'm looking at about 12-15 units per side, total of 24-30 Units.

At present, I am well short of that number.  Depending on if the units are 1 or 2 bases, I need at least another 5-10 bases.

Looking at the large number of "almost done" units, I have about 3 bases of Dark Ages Welsh spearmen, 3 bases of Medieval Welsh spearmen, and 6 bases of Welsh archers.  I also have 8 bases of Anglo-Saxon heavy infantry. All the figures [except the archers] are at the same stage: the figs are painted, but they need spears and shields to be painted and attached. Then they need to be sealed, based and flocked.  I like the idea of heavy infantry clashes, as they are satisfying to gamers who enjoy lining units up and bashing heads.

I start to work on the Anglo-Saxons. Previously, I painted the back of the shields, mounted them, then painted the metal parts of the shields.  Now, I need to clean up where the black / metallic paint encroached into the painted leather covering of the shield, so a bunch of edging needs to be done, basically.

Below, over 120 figs, with shield inspiration above, just to help me figure out the colors later.  All the figs pictured here are from Old Glory 25s - great, animated figs!

To get the shields white, I needed to use a Base White which has more pigment - this gave faster coverage. To blend things a bit, I used Vallejo Off-white.

Below, these metal colors need to be cleaned up and made white, preparing for a color of some sort to follow; likely bright colors, so the metallic paint would show through and not look good.

After cleanup, you can see the slight contrast of the base white, the original white primer, and the off-white.  I actually want this because I like the look of the shield being a bit weathered and the color NOT being consistent. This inspiration comes from the Little Big Men Studio transfer images I printed out, just for ideas.

As you can see, their shields look like they've been outside and on campaign a bit!

Some of the shields are very nicely sculpted; you can see that the below shield on left and right has the leather cover overlapping the edge and being nailed down on the back side inner edge.  So I paint that white also.

The center fig has what is most likely a leather strip reinforcing the edge and nailed in - I painted this to be a metal edge, which was less common, but did exist.

Below, I am using my trusty wet palette to keep the paint flowing as it will take at least an hour to paint all these shields white - I don't want the paint can open as it will start to dry out. Also, it makes it easy to blend shades.

These shields were primed grey. They also have no sculpting on the interior to indicate that they are wood.  I use a brush with a bit of extra wet paint on it to create fake wood lines.  It is very fast - just a long toothpick in the center hole to hold it still, and two quick wet swipes with a brush is usually enough.  

A second coat would make them solidly the brown color and it faux grain would disappear. 

I then take an X-acto blade and scrape down to the bare metal on the contact points between the shields and the hands / arms / clothes where the shield will touch:

As I'm a bit short on shields, I go to my craft store bag of round wood discs and grab 20 small ones, then dremel out a concave recess to help glue it to the fig.

Then I paint the interior side of the shields, then I paint the exterior with a thin coat of color, which allows the wood grain to show through. These shields were bought at the "Snorri Used Shield Shop" are are low-budget, no leather covering, some paint thrown on to preserve the raw wood from wet.

As all that was drying, I began to get a better idea of the time involved, so gave all the Welsh that needed them spears and shields. I then popped the archers off their craft sticks [the Elmer's glue dries brittle, allowing for easy removal].

I then checked and realized I needed more uni-bases with contour  [an 8-part blog post series CLICK], so I cut up strips of cardboard [two different thicknesses] and made little undulations and hills, gluing them with Elmers.

While the cardboard was drying, I popped the spearmen off their craft sticks. I usually just bend or twist the stick, and they start to come off.

I then glued them onto the uni-base in little dioramas. In this case, I was putting 12 figs per base, which makes them "loose medium infantry" in WRG basing terms. There is enough space to give an interesting story to each base.

Having done the same with the archers, I then sculpted the bases with Elmer's wood fill to hide the cardboard and the figures metal base. When it was mostly dry, I painted the entire top in a color sample I had made at Lowe's, which matches the bases and the table.

I tried a darker color craft paint, but it didn't look right and contrasted too sharply with the wood fill light tan under it, so I ended up painting that over.

I spread cheap white glue [wetter and thinner than Elmers] around on the base so it is mostly covered, then dip the base in my flocking mix, for below result.

These also had some shrubbery glued on for added effect.

Around mid-week, I realized I would not have time for the Anglo-Saxon shields, so I concentrated on the Welsh to try and get them done for Saturday's big game!

Next post - the game itself!