Warriors to war. the battle of Maldon, 991 The Gripping Beast 2011 demo table is a fabulous representation of The Battle of Maldon in miniature, and we were keen to feature it in this month’s theme content. Rules writer extraordinaire Rick Priestley joined us for some Hail Caesar action on the board, and this article gives you a blowby- blow account of the re-fight. The Young British Soldier Andy Hoare presents a quick history of the Second Afghan War, along with a Black Powder scenario for the Battle of Ahmed Khel. The challenge of dark age gaming Is it possible to replicate realistic Dark Age warfare on the tabletop? Warhammer Ancient Battles II author Martin Gibbins explores this question and discusses how different rule sets deal with ‘the shieldwall’. Ghost planes of the Sahara Using the classic movie Flight of the Phoenix as his inspiration, and factual accounts of 'ghost planes' in the Sahara as a guide, Mike Haught has designed three cracking Flames of War scenarios based around desperate (fire) fights for survival in the desert. Oh Lord! Deliver us from the fury of the Northman! Rick’s back for a second helping this issue, this time he takes on Gripping Beast’s Darren Harding at a game of SAGA – their new Dark Age skirmish game. All the lowdown on the battle and the rules here. The alternative battle of Worcester, 1651 When we spied this award winning game at Salute 2011 we knew we had to take a closer look. Andy and Neil from The Crewe Wargames Club were only too happy to take us on a tour of this splendid layout. How to build… Saxon Tents Dr Ryan Lavelle gets some help from master model maker Matt Parkes as he explains how to convert Renedra ridge tents to represent Anglo-Saxon tents. The rise and fall of Persia We wanted to give the new Clash of Empires supplement; The Rise and Fall of Persia a run out, so we invited CoE author Stuart McCorquodale and CoE fan Tim Haslam down to the studio for a Greeks versus Persians battle. Read the report here. Brighton, Brentford and Barham It started with a casual “I have a cracking scenario for an early WWI game” line from one of the members of the ‘Like a Stonewall Wargames Group’ and spiralled into a whole project based around the RNAS on the Western Front. Nick Buxey takes up the story.... Kicking It “New School” Justin McConnell talks to the student participants from an innovative in-school program that marries the study of historical conflicts with wargaming, looking
