SPALDING WARGAMING CLUB
For as long as I can remember, I have been in love with miniatures: truly, madly and deeply. The first set I remember comprised 12 cowboys in 6 poses, all six guns and 10-gallon hats in a kind of brown resin. From the pictures, I must have been about 6 (for I was so obsessed, I must have demanded a picture) At 7, I put together my first kit with my father, a rather snazzy looking Panther tank in 1:48. This was also the first time I’d picked up a brush. I wish I could tell you it was beautiful, but I can't. I painted it a nickel colour with deep green and black patches with a generous daubing of claret around the hull in a crude representation of gore. I was a macabre child. It would take pride of place among my 8th Army plastic soldiers: as an adult I lament that I put a late war German tank next to mid war British soldiers, but what absolutely filled me with irritation when playing with toy soldiers with other children was the lack of rules or structure. The outcome of an engagement was down to your force of personality, manipulation, domineering attitude or petty threats; to my mind at the time tantamount to barbarism. So, when I discovered Warhammer 40k, it was heaven-sent. It was 2001, I had just turned 9. It had been a very difficult summer full of problems a child doesn't fully comprehend but feels keenly. It was at this point, at the start of a new academic year, that two of my friends came in excitedly chatting about a new game they had started playing over the summer. A game full of elves, orks, soldiers, space marines and, most importantly, machine guns. I listened enraptured, desperately trying to wrap my head around the concepts of dice, tape measures, rulebooks and models. I'd rushed home that day and when my mother arrived, asked if I could go over on the weekend. Parents were liaised with and a date was set. When I arrived, it was a spectacle never before seen. There was no playing on the floor (as I had expected); the dining table had been cleared and a green felt mat covered in hills, ruins and trees took the place of a table cloth. Two forces mirrored each other: one in the resplendent blue of the Ultramarines; the other in red, green, white and blue, the colours of the Eldar. I was utterly blown away. The entire day was spent with my best friend and his dad soaking the battlefield in the blood of grizzly conflict. That night we poured over the artwork and pictures of that rather hefty 3rd edition rulebook. That was that, I had to get an army. My birthday had just been, so no chance of an army until Christmas, 3 long months away. I mewled, whined and grizzled my way into a starter paint set with 5 space marines, a brush and a paperback catalogue from Mason’s Models. My mother was appalled at the price, which only galvanised my resolve. I carefully and painstakingly painted those 5 chaps in one morning, with more effort and enthusiasm than I had ever applied to anything before. Christmas finally came and I got the 3rd edition starter set. I would have assembled them in record time had I received any glue with my present. Instead, I buried myself in the rulebook, reading it cover to cover. To the delight of my mother, as I was a good, but idle, reader. My other present was a house key. It felt like a perfect Christmas. I was a latchkey kid now, and there was no finer hobby to be found. I'd build and paint models, construct scenery and read rulebooks and lore to my heart's content. Weekends were reserved for fighting epic conflicts, pulling off daring raids and sundering lesser forces with chitinous claw or beneath crushing hoof However, what came next was to revolutionise my hobby. The release of the magazine series Battle Games in Middle Earth in 2002. This is without doubt the finest wargaming publication that has been, and will ever be, made. It was a fortnightly release complete with miniatures every issue; all this for the princely sum of £3.99 (contrast this with White Dwarf retailing at £3.50 at the time). Each magazine was incrementally teaching you the rules in piece meal, gradually advancing your painting skill with guides, scenarios, battle reports, tactics, lore and scenery building. After a dozen issues you had a great collection of fully painted miniatures, a solid knowledge of the rules, the tactical know-how and a table full of scenery to play on I had been a fan of Tolkien before Peter Jackson's trilogy, I listened to the BBC radio productions of both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings regularly on tape (kingly gifts indeed for the time). My copy of The Hobbit was very dog eared and well worn (that's the edition, below), my LotR books less so and The Silmarillion practically unread. I was primed and ready to submerge myself in a miniatures game set in this world. Living in a rural area, this gave my hobby structure, provided me with achievable goals and the skills and motivation to complete them. Sadly, none of my gaming friends at that time were as taken with it, preferring the galactic conflict only the 41st millennium could provide So I squirreled away alone in my fantasy world until I hit secondary school and found a few others who had been doing exactly the same. This created a community that I'll never see again in my life. A group of players that had flawless knowledge of the rules, fully painted armies, loads of scenery, similar levels of skill and, perhaps most importantly, the time and motivation to play. I feel utterly spoilt to have had this experience of the hobby for a few years. It was a period of time for which I will be eternally grateful. A high that I will always chase, an unachievable dream for an adult to pursue. Thus began a fraught love affair with my hobby, the flame may have at times guttered through the years but it has always remained lit
Soldiers trudging into position in great formations, with banners billowing in the breeze. Cavalry wheeling round the flanks, harrying the enemy. Archers letting loose a hail of death. The horn is sounded and the charge begins; the crush of combat rages as walls of shields and spears collide. Like many wargamers, the imagery above sends waves of excitement through me. And it's a feeling Warhammer Ancient Battles, a game of waging war with historical armies, stirs. TV shows and films depicting battle as it was in the 'old days', in pre-industrialised times, have held a grisly fascination for me since I was a small boy. As I made the first steps into Games Workshop's universe, I was always drawn to the fantasy armies; preferring swords and shields to the mechanical madness of the 41st millennium. This was as much inspired by the rich imaginings of Tolkien than the prospect of pre-industrial carnage on the tabletop. But even in those early days of exploring the hobby, there was always a lingering idea that, instead of orcs, elves and dwarves, what if it was 'real-world' warriors? Where every model on the tabletop represented someone that could have been an actual person, from the historically well-documented leaders down to the lowly footsoldiers? There is a certain frisson that fighting a battle with models that represent real people has. Yes, we all love a brutal orc or a power-armour-clad Space Marine, but it's the relatability of humans on the tabletop, people just like you and me, that draws me into historical-based games. Unlike a genetically-altered space warrior of the far future and the haughty elf whose psychologies are alien to ours, with armies of humans you can easily imagine what the little guys on the tabletop are thinking (or would be thinking if they were real people, of course). Maybe the leaders are focusing on the intrigues and plots that lead to the confrontation on the field and what it would mean if they were to lose. Whereas the lowly footsoldiers are missing their homelands and the loved ones they might never see again, quaking in their boots. I love imagining what might be going on inside their little plastic or metal heads; it fascinates me. There is also the thrill of changing history. In late 2018, Spalding Wargames Club re-fought the Battle of Hastings using Warhammer Ancient Battles. In that game, Duke William was not so much a conqueror but conquered. The moment the Norman warlord fell, the whoops of delight from the Saxon players and the laments from the defeated Norman side echoed through the hall. What made the moment even more amusing was that William was slain not by King Harold or even an elite huscarl warrior, but by humble ceorls: low-born farmers with only a vague idea of how to use a spear. However, you don't have to be completely historically accurate with Warhammer Ancient Battles. Want to know how late Imperial Romans would fare against the English forces that fought at Agincourt? Could a Biblical Egyptian force take on the horse warriors of the Huns and win? Get the armies together and duke it out to find out. It doesn't have to be a historical re-fight every time. Just have fun. Samurai vs Conquistadors! Wait, this actually happened: in 1582 in the Philippines.
The game's 1st print in 1998 was based heavily on Warhammer Fantasy 5th edition, just with the magic removed, but the 2nd edition (from 2010) has moved further away. The 2nd edition (right) is hardback, better laid out but slightly scales back the influence of 'special' individuals It is a game largely based on manoeuvring large formations of troops. Each represents a band of warriors in your army; whether an unruly rabble of Celtic clansmen or the disciplined ranks of Roman legionaries The way units move, wheeling and shifting frontage, gives an impression of the unwieldy nature of moving around big formations of closely formed warriors. It gives a taste of the real life challenge of positioning soldiers on a battlefield for tactical advantage. Moving troops is a crucial part of the game; it can win and lose battles 28mm is the assumed scale of miniature to be used, but slight alterations can be made to the rules to allow different size miniatures. It is deliberately ambiguous on whether one model equates to a single warrior on the battlefield. This facilitates lower model counts to be used to re-fight historical battles that involved numbers a mere mortal could not possibly collect in a lifetime (never mind have the room to play with on a regular table). But individual figures matter: standard bearers, musicians and officers have specific advantages that make them quirky and add to atmosphere. A single infantryman or cavalry model represents maybe three or four individuals on the field. The way units move on the tabletop certainly gives an impression of a more epic, larger scale. But no matter how you imagine it, there is no effect on the way the game plays. Despite units feeling big and weighty when they are moved on the tabletop, there is still a lot of sway and back-and-forth actions that happen in the game. Units are not locked in combat, grinding away at each other until one side is eventually wiped out. A group of warriors can suffer a thrashing, taking numerous casualties, and lose its nerve on a failed morale check and be forced to flee from the fight. Their enemies can then pursue, having a chance to hack the running cowards down. If the fleeing troops manage to outrun their pursuers, they can form up again, ready to step back into the fight There are situations where a unit can be utterly crushed in combat, yet miraculously pass its morale test and stand firm in the face of astounding odds. It's moments like these that really stand out in the game. So a cavalry unit could make a sweeping charge and wipe out a group of troops to then thunder on and clash with the heart of an army's formation. Or it could collide with a wall of shields and spears that proves unmovable and find themselves being repelled. Astute tactics and taking the right risks pays off here. But sometimes you are just subject to the luck the dice gods gift you (just as in many wargames). It keeps the game exciting, as not even the most experienced tabletop general can be entirely sure of the outcome of any assault Although choosing the right units to take on all opponents is a part of the game, it's more about having the right balance of troop type. There are no intrinsically over-powered 'races' – everyone's a human, no matter who you are fighting (apart from perhaps horses and war elephants of course) There are no massively powerful individual models either, there are no 'bring this model if you want to win the game' options. No one in history had the strength to tear through iron armour like butter! Even the strongest and greatest warriors were merely flesh and blood, with the real world limitations that go with that. The focus really is on tactics on the tabletop, rather than choices made before the battle even begins. Sourcebooks help you recreate particular armies or historic conflicts Unlike its sister game, Warhammer Fantasy Battles, Warhammer Ancient Battles pays greater attention to weapons and their effects on the field. There are no game changing magic weapons. Warhammer Ancient Battles also runs a bit quicker than the fantasy equivalent as it forgoes that game's Magic phase, for obvious reasons. This means the turnover from one player to another is so much quicker.
Until very recently I played amateur American Football (just 'football' from now) for a team not too far away. When I first began training, I had dreams of playing in 'skill' positions. I wanted to be delivering crunching hits and tackles as a line-backer or catching and holding the ball under pressure as a tight end. Unfortunately, my body and general lack of athleticism, which had deserted me about the same time I started an office job, denied me my delusions. But I was not to be dissuaded and the head coach of the team at the time, with football being such an inclusive game, said, "We have just the spot for you!" Now I was a tackle and an offensive lineman for my first team. Spot the difference: professional lineman v me Once I had I place, as you’d imagine, training felt easier and camaraderie came quicker. Playing as a lineman you are colloquially referred to as being "in the trenches". It's here that games are won or lost. You see at the line of scrimmage you have 5 offensive linemen, whose job it is to protect the ball carrier. Lined up against them are commonly 4 defensive lineman and 3 line-backers whose role it is to attack the carrier be that the running back, running with the ball, or the quarterback passing the ball downfield. At the line you have a series of one on one physical battles and if an offensive player loses his it can 'blow up' a play and stop the chains from moving, grinding the offence to halt. It's in these trenches I found the simple joy of headbutting. Getting into someone's face, in competitive environment, and battling for the team. Sacrificing myself so the team could prevail. Well, this is supposed to be an article on my Blood Bowl experience. So how does this relate to the table top? I have played Blood Bowl since 1996 when I as introduced to it at school. In many ways it enamoured me with football long before I began playing it myself. I enjoy Blood Bowl for many of the reasons I love football. Blood Bowl is, after all, a game of fantasy football. Lineman are replaced with ogres, mummies, zombies, orcs, and even the occasional halfling but the principle is just the same. You win your games of blood bowl in the same place: in the trenches. Your fine athletes or diminutive goblins are all putting themselves in jeopardy so you, as a coach, can move the ball to the endzone and ultimately win. Crucially, this time it’s your little plastic players' bodies on the line, not your own. As it turns out, I find their bodies far more expendable than my own. Again, just like football, there are many different play-styles to make it to the endzone. You can run the ball like the Dallas Cowboys with an orc or dwarf team, or you can play a high flying passing game like 'A-ron' Rogers and the Green Bay Packers with many of the elvish teams. All of the teams in Blood Bowl have their strengths (except maybe the goblin and halfling teams!) and there’s a lot of enjoyment in finding the system that works for you. As you might have guessed, I prefer a tougher harder hitting team but it isn’t necessarily going to more successful than a squishier team that just stays out of harm’s way and actually plays the ball (Blasphemy)! Your team will find success if it is well-coached and, ultimately, the players are willing to do their jobs and put themselves in harm’s way. Much like football, Blood Bowl coaches pour over the x's and o's and develop cunning ploys to victory. You can see from the following the images that the fundamentals are not much different and the core is the same. In both cases the goal is to move the opposition players and you create holes and opportunities for your team. First you hit the defence at the line and then move to those players at the second level to create a wedge which the ball carrier can burst through and hopefully score. The great thing about Blood Bowl is that the hits are so much more meaty, shockingly violent & utterly fantastic. These tiny plastic players perform feats I could only dream of on the pitch. For example, when your plucky enslaved hobgoblin stands up to that ogre on the other side of the line and fends him off turn after turn. Or when the goblin defence has had enough and starts throwing bombs at the opposition, only to be sent off moments later, his work done! There’s heroism, of sorts, there too. In short, my Blood Bowl experience is really living out those delusions I had, and some of you may share, when I first started playing football - and even when I was a teenager and began playing. All of these 11 little figures that make up my team fulfill a different desire. Crushing blows, outrageous catches, mind boggling runs. They’re all there for you and your opponent to share in. Hopefully the club’s 2019 season will bring more of those moments to life for me and the whole league. Everyone can appreciate the spectacle and the simple joy of headbutting.
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