Billhooks at Bristol

The other week, along with Andy Moran and John Kersey of The Old Berks, I attended the BIG Billhooks weekend event in Bristol.

Many years ago, I wanted to experience one of the many WAB weekends, but living so far away from the main venues for such events, I never managed it. When I saw that similar weekend events were being held for “Never Mind The Billhooks” players, in discussion with my compatriots in The Old Berks, we decided to attend. Andy and John had been to one before, but this was to be my first …

It was good to meet so many other players, and to have a bit of social time, and basically talk Billhooks most of the weekend.

Having arrived on Friday evening, we met a few of the players at our hotel, I went into the Saturday (game day) with some trepidation! How would my Warwick army fare against so many different armies (especially those from other theatres, such as Italian wars, with their heavy Gendarmes and pike blocks)? 
I needn’t have worried…

In fact, I so enjoyed the gaming that I neglected to take any photos whatsoever. The pictures shown here are all 'pillaged' from the Billhooks FB group, most of them taken by Mike Peters (organiser extraordinaire).

Above: Simon Wilde, my first opponent, on the left expertly advances his imposing Venetian Army. On the adjacent table in the background, Andy Moran (right) plays Luke Parry (left) who would be my opponent in the second game.

First game... versus Simon Wilde’s Venetians.

Simon is a past master at handling his army, but I managed a very creditable tight-fought game, and was narrowly beaten. Sir Gregory Carrodus and the light horse were ridden down by their opponents on my left flank, and I spent a lot of arrows against the Venetian gendarmes, who I did manage to bounce off one of my Bill-Bow blocks. On my right, the Venetian Swiss Mercenary 3-company pike block juggernaut was the biggest concern as they had been screened by 2 units of crossbow armed levy (with pavises) and following their slow but inexorable advance were closing in. I managed to hold out till time was called, enduring a close defeat. It was an enjoyable, cliffhanger of a game, but I ran out of steam (and arrows). I learned a lot though…

Second game... versus v Luke Parry’s Yorkists.

This was to prove one of the most exciting wargames I have ever played, and credit goes to Luke Parry who played so well and took it to the wire, and again all in the true spirit of the game.

Above photos are by Luke Parry.

The increasingly "dolt-ish" Sir Gregory Carrodus failed to survive the action, although once again he had done a good job against the enemy horse. On my right, Mortimer of Arden along with a unit of my skirmishers and my artillery managed to hold off a couple of bow-bill blocks and some levy (with geese!) who stood rather too proudly atop a low hill to the right centre.

In the centre, Warwick’s ward was poised to receive the attack of the strongest enemy ward…It looked to be going the way of my opponent. However a twist was to come in one big final turn. With the rules author Andy Callan watching proceedings from the side-lines, my Warwick himself saved the day when, along with my foot knights, he charged and broke the enemy foot knights and precipitated a general collapse of about 4 enemy units. Typical Billhooks stuff.

At the outset, I had feared I may come last (with all the regulars seeming to know what they were talking about!), so I was pleasantly surprised to learn that after two games I was sitting joint second. However, two wargames is, in my book, more than enough for one day, and so, feeling a little battle weary, I decided (given I was well-placed not to come last!) that I would forfeit my final game and take a rest, just chatting with a few of the players and generally cooling off after a particularly hard-fought second game. Some might say, I should have pressed on for a third game, but I really was "bushed", as they say.

In the end, I finished a respectable joint 7^th along with John K (out of 18). Andy M finished a very impressive 4^th. A good showing by the Old Berks.

Thanks to my opponents, Simon and Luke, for hard-fought, fun-filled games in the spirit of Billhooks, to Andy M and John K for their company over the weekend, and to Andy Callan, Ian Callan, and Stephen Wood for their company over dinner.

Thanks also to the guys at Bristol Independent Gaming store for hosting the event and to Mike Peters for organising and running the whole thing.

Above: the assembled throng, post match.
Mike Peters needed a lie down at the end of the day!!

Great fun, and I will definitely do more of these.

It’s Partizan this weekend… I need to stock up on more soldiers! Procurement list at the ready…

See you there.

A "Finished" Army, a Game, and a BIG Event

A few weeks ago, I "finished" my Wars of the Roses Warwick contingent... at least to the point where I can field a couple of variations within the framework of the Never Mind the Billhooks army list.

In all, it took me around 4 months to paint, with lots of diversions elsewhere too.

The final couple of units were: an artillery piece, and a unit of light horse with their leader (Squire Gregory Carrodus).

Then came the first game for the completed army (I had previously been fielding a couple of proxy units here or there).

This was a game against Andy Moran's highly experienced Burgundians (aka the army of The Duchy of Haut-Dijon). 

Once again, Billhooks served up a really flowing, roller-coaster of a game, packed with incident, and with a large dollop of "luck" for me... Andy's artillery did, of course, explode early on. I am pleased to report that the new units on my side fared rather well, with Squire Gregory Carrodus (a "dolt", of course), leading his horse to a decent victory in the melee with the enemy cavalry. Sadly, in the subsequent morale test, my cavalry decided that enough was enough, they'd done their bit, and it was time to head for home! Such are the vagaries of the system.

Shortly afterwards, however, I managed to draw the ambush card and poured a volley from some skirmishers into the ranks of a unit of Haut-Dijon cavalry who were threatening to maraud round to my rear. 

And finally, at the crucial moment, there was a hailstorm which so wetted the bowstrings of both armies that there was no archery for a turn, at a point where I was able to charge home a couple of units, including Warwick's foot knights, and the 'Bill and Bow' block under Mortimer of Arden who had been threatening the Haut-Dijon left flank all game. Now was their chance, and in they went. With them not taking casualties on the way in, they managed to roll well in the melees causing considerable damage to a couple of key Haut-Dijon blocks, and the game was up. A victory for Warwick!!

Regardless of the result, I can say that every game of Billhooks is enjoyable, played in the right spirit, and does look rather striking and colourful on the tabletop. Andy has been doing a lot of work on the tabletop paraphernalia, as have I, creating things such as tokens and the like, to make it more aesthetically pleasing. In the end, it's all just a bit of fun!

This coming weekend, the army is heading (with me) to Bristol for the BIG Billhooks weekend event. I'm looking forward to it, although I suspect I may have used up all my luck for a while!

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Never Mind the Naginatas

Over the past few months I have been monitoring from afar, the development of a Samurai offshoot of the Never Mind the Billhooks rules...
"Never Mind the Naginatas" has been in the playtest phase by Stephen Wood, and he has been building up some nice looking armies for the Sengoku period (late 16th Century).

Having played a few games with the NMTB Wars of the Roses version, it always struck me that they could be adapted for the Samurai period and would work rather well.

I decided I might have a dabble with the Fireforge plastic figures, but first wanted to have a little go at the rules. And so, as part of the recent Billhooks at Berkswell day reported on in the previous post, Stephen was kind enough to bring his two armies down and give me an insight by having a game.

Well, it turned out to be a real treat, I have to say.

Stephen was gracious enough to make sure I won... or rather his dice were gracious enough, starting with his artillery exploding on turn one. As he said, "Artillery works just the same as in Billhooks", then threw three 1s amongst the six dice. We've all been there, I'm sure.

It was a real hard-fought game, and quite a spectacle with the cherry blossom trees, the shrine, the small tea house, the Tori gateway, and the bamboo groves. The fortunes swung this way and that, and we managed about 7 turns in the 2 hour game. In the end, it came down to tokens gained... I needed to gain one more before I was surely to be chewed up in a melee. Thoughtfully, Stephen threw 'snake eyes' with a morale test which meant one of his already daunted units finally broke, and that was enough to give me the closest of victories.

The rules? Perfect... they have all the chaos of Billhooks, and some really neat nuances around the Leaders (each unit has a leader attached), and a very simple system for deciding personal combats too.

Hooked? See final pictures below...

But first, here are a few snaps of the game in progress. Stephen was Red army, I was white army (notionally, Takeda and Uesugi, respectively).

Above: my Left advances towards the cherry trees and Tea House. On my extreme left, a small unit of Ronin, then my Teppo (firearms unit), and then a combined Naginata and Bow unit.

Below: my Centre-Right included another combined block (Naginata and Bow), plus a block of long spear/pikemen (Yari).

Above: Stephen's artillery! Boom!! Ooops!!!

Above: my centre advances.

Below: overview picture taken from my right flank.

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Above: I managed to get some Ninja into a great position in the woods where they could spring out and attack Stephen's developing attacks. In the rules, apparently Ninja can be really good, or very brittle. I was fortunate that I got them on a good day. They did manage some useful forays against the flanks of the enemy units, and even took a few pot shots at Stephen's mounted Samurai archers, to good effect.

Endgame: Despite being in dire straits on the left-centre, with two units about to defeat my combined Naginata/Bow block, Stephen's unit on the baseline (amongst the casualties also gathering there!) rolled a double 1, thereby breaking. The game was up for the Red Army.

A public 'thank you' to Stephen for his generosity in bringing the armies down for the game, and for mentoring me through the unfamiliar period and rules. 

With Warlord games bringing out a Samurai supplement recently, it is a period that will gain a lot of traction, I am sure, especially with such nice figures too. It's certainly colourful, and very different.
I will be sticking with the NMT Naginatas version as I am familiar with the overall "Billhooks engine" and they do give the sort of game I like.

So, yes, I have painted a few up...

Here is my first combined block of Ashigaru... with bows and with naginatas.

I have gone for the Uesugi clan, and in particular the contingent provided by Takemata Hirotsuna, partly because they have the easiest 'heraldry'... the Mon being a simple ring of black on white sashimonos (back banners).

That's all for now folks!

A Birthday Bash - Billhooks at Berkswell

There has been a lot of hobby activity here over the past couple of months (for example, I recently finished my Wars of the Roses Warwick army for NMT Billhook), but the blog has been lagging behind and somewhat neglected, for which I apologise.

To rectify this, I have the pleasure with this post to report on a rather special event held a couple of weekends ago to celebrate the 70th birthday of one of the members of our little group, The Old Berks.
John Kersey is confirmed as the Oldest Berk!

A short while ago, John suggested that for his milestone birthday he would like to hold a small one-day event focusing on the "Billhooks" stable of rules, with several tables of friendly games taking place during the course of the day.

And so, John hired the village hall here in Berkswell (the official seat/HQ of The Old Berks).

We put out a note on the Billhooks Facebook Group, and I'm pleased to say that several people took up the offer, including the Billhooks glitterati in the form of Andy Callan, his brother Ian, and Stephen Wood. Rob Grayston, author of the recent WOTR supplement for Hail Caesar, also came along for his first taste of NMTB.

The event was very much about friendly games and a relaxed atmosphere, meeting people and chewing the hobby fat.

It was a glorious day in the village, with a clear blue sky, a woodpecker making himself heard in the woods by the car park, and church bells ringing out on Sunday morning as the players arrived.

We set the hall up, and got cracking with some lovely little games.

Above: Peter and Rich in full flow. They got so wrapped up in their game we had to tear them away to have some lunch (which was provided by everyone just bringing loads of stuff, and birthday boy John treating everyone to pizzas from the local Dominoes!)

Below: it's not often that Andy scratches his head in a game of Billhooks, but here he was up against one of the doyens of the Billhooks fraternity, Ian Callan, in a close fought affair.

Below: I had the immense pleasure of playing a game of Never Mind the Naginatas with Stephen Wood who is authoring the rules. It was great fun... I will do a separate post with more pictures of that.

Above: the players (with the exception of Ian who had to get back home before the end).
l-r: yours truly, Rob, Rich, Andy C, Birthday boy John, Stephen, Pete, Andy M.

We finished off with a birthday cake for John and a rousing chorus of "Happy Birthday"!

A really great day.

On the day, we also included a "Plastic Amnesty". This is something I have long thought about...
What happens to all those part-used frames, those frames off the front of magazines that aren't needed, and the extra frames left over when an army is "completed"?

I can't be alone in having a cupboard full of these... and so it proved, with players bringing their excess, and us having a bit of a bring n buy, allowing players to pick up the odd frame or spare parts needed for an army. With contributions for frames bought (we suggested £1 per frame, but it was totally discretionary), we raised £110, and donated it to Combat Stress... I'm hoping to take the idea further as there were still a lot of frames left, so maybe we will be able to do something similar at a show sometime... 

As I mentioned at the top of this post, I have been doing some painting and recently "finished" (for now!) my WOTR Warwick army. I will show photos in a fresh post shortly.

I will also show some additional photos from my game with Stephen Wood, using his Samurai rules adaptation of "Billhooks", Never Mind the Naginatas.

Meantime, thanks for reading and commenting.

Best regards...

Game On!

A great start to this year…

Andy came over for a game of Wars of the Roses (Never Mind the Billhooks) last weekend. It was, in my view, the best game we've had yet which probably reflects the fact that our experience with the rules is growing (in Andy's case, a lot; in my case, a little!)

Anyway, here are a few snaps from the game. My army is the Warwick contingent (red with white 'Bear and Ragged Staff' livery in the main), whilst Andy's is Lancastrians.

Above: one of my Wards is commanded by the fictional Mortimer of Arden and his retinue is dressed in a fictional livery... any resemblance to a certain midlands football team is purely accidental, honest. 

It was a ding-dong affair, with the vagaries of the dice causing amusement and consternation in equal measure. Andy is tactically very good with these rules now and I learned a lot... which is to say that, after a good six turns, Andy came out on top, with a swing in his favour in the final turn. Most important, it was good fun, looked pretty, and was played in the right spirit in great company.

I have added a new Geek Villain mat to the growing collection which I am happy with as a representation of a sort of muddy moorland look.

Some other things to note in the photos...

The Italian cavalry on my side are simply proxies while I complete the Warwick forces. I am pleased with the progress on this Billhooks Warwick army… just one unit to do (some light cavalry) … and that’s it completed. 

Here's the army laid out, without the Italian cavalry unit... I can't wait to post a picture of the finished force.

It has been a productive month at the painting desk. In addition to painting a couple of units for the Warwick army seen in the photos above, I also added plenty of tabletop paraphernalia as well.

At the start of the year, jotting in my hobby journal one night, I created a “Terrain and Vignettes Bits n Bobs” list, for all projects. It included all those items that I’ve picked up at wargames shows but that I haven’t finished yet - Renedra fencing, for example, and sundry other things. So, I’m gradually working through lots of that stuff and it will be appearing on the table throughout the year, and beyond.

I have been working on a few tokens and other items of table extras to enhance the games too. 

Some might see this as a Token Effort, or even Counter Productive, or at worst a Counter Offensive… how ya likin’ these puns?

But... Hark… these Heralds represent order counters… a level three commander has three Heralds to initiate orders each turn, and so on.

Andy’s favourite item is the rudimentary medieval latrines I created to go with the camp as an area in which to place captured enemy morale counters. Seems appropriate.

I also picked up a couple of building kits – the cottage and barn you can see in the photos of the game. Easy to make and paint. And I think useful for games involving the Wars of the Roses armies, and right through the ECW and beyond.

The New Year brought with it the usual sense of fresh beginnings, and for us wargamers that spells new projects (or, “trouble”). I spent a fair amount of time jotting notes in my hobby journal about the state of play of various ongoing projects and concluded that this coming year I will focus back on a couple of old ones and ‘finish them off’. We’ll see.

Meantime, hope you had an equally hobby-filled start to 2025.