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Introduction These are the latest addition to my "fantasy" early medieval Byzantine army. I’m describing this as fantasy because I haven’t made my usual effort to ensure historical accuracy. This is partly because the term “Byzantine” covers many centuries, and partly because a large proportion of the figures came from cheap bulk purchases at shows or job lots bought on eBay. Figure review This is…
Introduction This is the second batch from the 52 riders I bought on eBay. As with the Georgians before them, they came without horses, so I mounted the riders on a mix of horses from my lead pile and others I picked up from Fighting15s and eBay. They form another part of my “fantasy” Byzantine army. I call it fantasy because I am making no attempt to be historically representative. The only thing…
Introduction For some years I've used Google Sheets to create data tables. I've created quite a few specifically for my blog posts. It's really easy: any tab can be published as a web page and it comes with a unique URL for use in HTML hyperlinks. I like using them because Sheets can both organise and maintain the data and, once linked to a blog post, everything else is automatic. They are…
One of my best wargaming "investments" was a collection of hardback reference books released by the Wargames Research Group (WRG) in the early 1980s: the famous "Armies & Enemies" series . In the intervening decades they have been used again and again; not least because so many 15 mm figure manufacturers use them as sculpting guides. I'm glad I bought the hard back editions as they have stood the…
Today I collected & refurbished a 15 drawer Bisley cabinet. I have four already. They house my 15 mm wargames figures. Here are the main three: The 10 & 15 drawer cabinets are ideal for everything except certain pike models and elephants hence the six-drawer cabinet on the left. They are very space efficient. They currently hold a collection that has taken decades to acquire and I still have three…
Background Whilst checking my Bluesky feed I noticed someone posting links to, and images from, their blog. Not new posts, but posts from years ago. It struck me this was good use of a blog archive. However, I didn't want to do this manually: even daily posts would soon pall. In January I removed over one hundred low‑value posts, improved the underlying HTML code, and brought the layout of all the…
I've replaced my decades old piece of hardboard with a new A2 cutting mat because, no matter what I did, I couldn't stop the hardboard sliding on the glass top of my desk. I hoped the mat would be non-slip, but it isn't. I ended up using two strips of double-sided sticky tape underneath the mat; so problem solved! The mat was £10.00 from The Works (UK), but be prepared to ask if they have any in…
Preamble The genesis of this batch of figures began with a slip of the keyboard. I spotted 52 Essex early medieval riders (no horses) on eBay. At just over £10.00 delivered I couldn't resist. There were 12 Crusade era figures amongst the job lot of Byzantine figures. Specifically, a couple of Syrians ( CRU39a ) and ten Georgians ( CRU28 ). Perfect for four units of heavy cavalry for my allied…
Background In 2024 I took a Late Macedonian army to the King in the North competition. I had originally planned to use borrowed figures , but was lucky enough to finish painting everything I needed in time for the October event. I wanted to begin with a fairly plain, almost “vanilla”, Hellenistic army that I could adapt afterwards into other, more exotic forces. As it turned out, the Late…
Introduction After many years posting at least once a month, it's been six weeks since my last post. That's a long gap for me. It was brought about by quite a few factors. Some, like the Christmas & New Year holidays, were expected, but others were not (DIY for example). Back in mid-November, I mentioned I was taking a break from ADLG for at least a year . The plan was to start fresh in 2026. That…
