Bloody Murder

Right then first post about Living History. I thought I would post a series of photos of me taken at Cressing Temple Barns. This was a battle fought with the MSS (Medieval Siege Society) In this sequence the battle is pretty much finished. I am wearing the colours of the house of Worcester. My household the Suffolk Free Company will often fight for the Earl of Worcester if he pays us enough.


The enemy were trying to surrender I approached this valiant warrior. He offered to come quietly.


But then my Lord, Sir John Tiptoft, the Earl Of Worcester, Butcher of England cried "No prisoners, No Quarter!"


So as I am but a mercenary fighting for coin I did as my employer bade me.


The young man stood no chance, he had already reversed his sword for me to take it, he did not expect a blow to the gut.

I love this shot, captured at the moment of death!

The dead man is left to lie on the field. His boots were the wrong size for me. I'm sure some other scum would help themsleves to them.

A great set of photos taken by Paul Dunt. (thanks Paul)

More French & Indian Wars

A couple more photos of my French and Indian Wars figures. These are from Sash & Saber, I have just recieved a set of 400mm Huron from the Honourable Lead Bolier Suit Company, which should go well with these. Hopefully Ant will bring some of his British figures next time he comes round nad I will get to photo them too.

French & Indian Wars

So here are some photos of some of the figures I am working on for a French & Indian Wars skirmish game I hope to play. These are 40mm figures from Sash & Saber. They are from their Woodland Indians with muskets set and their Courier de Bois set. Lovely models great to paint.

Wargaming priorities.

Hmmm I find this the hardest part of my hobby, so many periods, toys and models, so little time. Many years ago it would have been fair to say that I got very little finished and I always was moving on to the next thing before I had got even close to finishing what I had previously started. Nowadays this definitely isn’t the case.

The problem these days is that along with the rules, figures and models I am often producing websites for the games and campaigns I am playing in. All of these things take time and need to have time given to them.

So the gaming projects that I am working on at the moment and need to prioritise include (Not in any particular order)

French & Indian Wars- 40mm figures and skirmish scenery. Fantastic models from Sash & Saber and the Honourable Lead Boiler Suit Company. Great opportunity to make some new scenery. This project started with a reenactor mate of mine, Ant, after yet another viewing of Last Of The Mohicans.

1809 – Voltigeur 28mm Napoleonic invasion of the Isle of Wight. Another reenactor friend, Kieran, is fortunately painting most of the figures for this and I am going out this very day to play it so look out for pictures later.

Necromunda – the mother of all good skirmish campaign systems. A new campaign about to start with some grown up ex-pupils of mine.

End Of Empire – an ongoing project, always with new ideas and models check out the website.

Warhammer Ahoy! Edition 3 the rules are written and I am working on fleet lists and other stuff plus a new website.

Articles for Wargames Illustrated, following my recent trilogy for 1588 And All That I am working on some new articles firstly End Of Empire, but maybe some other stuff too.

So only the future will tell what gets priority.

Beginnings

Right, where to start?

WARGAMING
I have been playing with the toy soldiers for the past twenty five years or so and in my time I have played a lot of different games, some pretty famously too. I was part of the duo that wrote WARHAMMER AHOY! the most well known set of ship rules for Warhammer Fantasy Battles. I still play AHOY! and am working on the third edition of the rules. I wrote a little article in White Dwarf 274, a good few years ago now, called 40k in 40 minutes, which kind of produced a mini 40k revolution in the world of Games Workshop as thousands of gamers started playing Combat Patrol across the world. I have written my own systems for games Blaze Of Glory is a Wild West game I wrote a few years ago and with another friend, Pete, I have written the award winning End Of Empire. Most recently I have had a series of three articles published in Wargames Illustrated entitled 1588 And All That.

If you want to find out more specific things about my wargaming habits go to

www.spiritofthegame.org.uk

LIVING HISTORY
This is now my fifth year in Living History. I am a Tudor at Kentwell Hall, in Suffolk, and Medieval soldier with the Medieval Siege Society. At Kentwell I am currently a Mercenary Captain of Guns, which mostly means I get to swank around in lots of black, occassionally make things go bang and every now and then chat to people about our Culverins. In the MSS I am a founder member of the Suffolk Free Company, a household of Yorkist mercenaries, whose Lord, John dela Pole (The 2nd Duke of Suffolk) allows to fight for others who support the true king Edward IV. We started as a company of fighting archers, but several of us have acquired a fair amount of armour and we making quite a good show at taking to the field as Men At Arms.

Find out about Kentwell at

www.kentwell.co.uk

and the Suffolks at

www.suffolkfreecompany.webs.com

3...2...1... GO!
Ok, Ok I give in. Many folks have hassled me into this, so here goes. Swallowtail Timmy/Ted of Spirit Of The Game, The Suffolk Free Company & Kentwell Hall is gonna share some experiences and ramblings from the two passions that consume all my time not taken up by my family (Yeah) and work (Boo!) Wargaming and Historical Re-enactment. Two very time consuming passions which sometimes conflict but usually compliment each other, however "Timmy's Complimentary Interests" would be a completely different kind of blog I should think.

So if you are interested in either table top gaming or Living History (Or better) both, then stick around and see what I get up to...
Cheers
Tim