ALY MORRISON'S "BUTTERFLY" ADVENTURES IN THE WORLD OF WARGAMES AND TOY SOLDIERS

Sunday, 9 March 2025

From my side of the table….Midgard… Wars of the Roses.

Greetings…

On Friday Israel, Alessandro and myself went over to our friend Matt’s house for a game of Midgard using our Wars of the Roses toys…

Matt was the only person who had actually played Midgard before… Alessandro had read the rules and Israel and I were going in blind…

Matt and Alessandro were on one side and Israel and I were the good guys.

The game was a lot of fun… Both Matt and Alessandro threw their cavalry at our flanks.. But were both eventually repulsed…

Israel and Alessandro’s infantry tore into each other while Matt and I had a it more of a tidier approach.

After some toe to toe fighting Alessandro’s force broke and Matt guys were looking somewhat bruised so we called it a victory for the good guys…

Here are some pictures… I didn’t take too many because I was having so much fun playing the game.




The good guys for up…
Matt and Alessandro made some nice movement trays so that we could use our Lion Rampant based figures for the game.


The bad guys arrive to my front…


Israel and Alessandro face of against each other… 
I really liked the measuring sticks Matt had… 
Oh! That’s not a horrifying dice result … it’s just the way they sat when plced on the table 🤣.


This is me looking every bit…The good guy 😁.


Matt’s cavalry hover menacingly on the flank…

My units look very neat but it turns out that I should have left a bit more space between them… Push backs can leave you in a dangerous place if you haven’t got room to manoeuvre.



A Drone eye view of the battlefield…


Israel starts to make moves towards Alessandro’s force…


I start to take some ( Day glow skull ) casualties… We ended up changing to red dice to show casualties as they were easier to read.


Matt’s cavalry come charging in… And get stomped by my humble but brave Billmen.

I do like all the counters that Matt has…



More of my humble Billmen get stuck into Alessandro’s Men at Arms…
Now… That is a real dice throw…


That Day Glow flag means I’m winning this…


Shooting arrows… And making holes in the bad guys line…


There seems to be an empty space where Alessandro’s men used to be…


Hurrah!…. We won…

What an excellent game…
I don’t think we used all the rules and we may not had played the rules 100% correctly… But we had a lot of fun…
I like the rules.. They are a nice combination of Lion Rampant, DBA and a bit of Hail Caesar… plus the very clever addition of characters and heroes that can influence play… I found this aspect very enjoyable… We probably didn’t exploit this as much as we could have.

I will certainly be picking up a copy of this game for myself.

Hobby wise…
I have surprised myself by gluing lots of plastic Rus and Khazars together..
Am I finding it fun?
Hmmmmm!
Well I’m not hating it 😁 and I will keep at it while the mojo is strong.

All the best.  Aly













32 comments:

  1. Sounds like you had fun. Not typical for most first goes at a new rule set. Bravo on starting in the visit was youre your recent plastic bash. I have a lot of gluing to make, myself.

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    Replies
    1. It was indeed fun…
      Alessandro is very good at picking up the main points in a new rule set and the familiarity in places to rule sets we already play helped…
      My intention is to try and assemble enough figures for a smallish game using Lion Rampant or something similar ( hopefully the mojo will last long enough) and then paint them at a more leisurely pace…

      All the best. Aly

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  2. Nice to see you enjoying a win! I'm not averse to Midgard as a rule set, but I'm not convinced it is suited to late medieval settings myself. No doubting it's popularity right now though from what we see on the web.

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    1. Yes it was nice to be glorious and victorious in my first game of the year…
      The game was brutal enough at times to feel like the Wars of the Roses and you don’t get to use personal challenges…which felt right as they just seemed to gang up and murder each other at the time…
      I would like to try the rules with an earlier period… possibly Late Roman.

      All the best. Aly

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  3. Lovely looking game Aly - the Midgard rules seem to be quite popular at present, and who can argue with a win?! Having fun is definitely the aim - and if the rules worked for you all the way you played them, it doesn't matter if you missed a few bits out IMHO! I always have trouble with characters and special attributes/powers etc - generally, I forget all about them and don't use them when they might help me at critical stages of the game :)

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    1. It was indeed a lot of fun Keith…
      I think it will take a few more games to pick up the intricacies of the rules…
      We certainly didn’t use all of the character attributes… like yourself I/we tend to forget to check…
      But… It was a win…. Hurrah!

      All the best. Aly

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  4. That looked fun. I'm glad you enjoyed the rules. had a few games when i first got a copy and am now returning to them for another go, so a bit of refamiliarising myself with the system is needed. My game is set a mere 1,000 years earlier.
    Stephen

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    1. It was indeed fun Stephen…
      I am certainly going to get a copy of the rules… And try them out with my Late Romans

      All the best. Aly

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  5. A fine looking game with some splendid looking toys on the table. An added plus being a win! We invariably forget all the trait malarky in the heat of battle too.

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    1. Thank you Phil…
      Hurrah! For a victory…
      Even forgetting/or not knowing a lot of stuff it still played out well…

      All the best. Aly

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  6. Great stuff Aly, glad you and the guys enjoyed Midgard.
    We re-fought Second St. Albans with Midgard yesterday.
    I've shared this post on the Midgard Facebook group - you should join if you're on FB.
    Tom

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    Replies
    1. It was indeed a lot of fun Tom…
      I’m not on Facebook… but I will get Matt to show me any pictures…

      All the best. Aly

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  7. Like the movement trays, very clever.
    You can get those movement / range sticks from North Star - I see they have 15mm versions now too:
    https://www.northstarfigures.com/prod.php?prod=18838

    Neil

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    Replies
    1. The movement trays were a nice simple solution…
      So… Not my Idea 🤣
      I may have to invest in the move/range sticks…They are rather nice.

      All the best. Aly

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  8. Very nice looking toys Aly, and a win too!

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    1. Thank you Ian…
      Hurrah! For a victory 😁

      All the best. Aly

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  9. Always a good sign when you forget to take pictures. Do you think those rules would work for the 100YW? Asking for a friend ;-)

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    1. I would certainly give the rules a try for The 100 years war…From what some people have said you may need to tweak the archery a bit… but at as I haven’t got the rules I can’t really confirm that…
      I hope that helps your friend…

      All the best. Aly

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  10. Fine looking clash, Aly, and you walk away with a victory. Hurrah! Midgard certainly seems to have garnered much attention since release.

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    1. A lot of fun indeed Jonathan…
      The rules certainty gave us a good game…
      And more importantly a victory 😁

      All the best. Aly

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  11. Lovely looking figures of course. And interesting to see you try the rules they seem to be all the rage at the moment…..but I don’t really need another set of rules at the moment ?

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    1. Thank you Matt..
      The rules have a lot going for them…
      Do I really really need another set of rules?…Of course not.
      Do I want them?
      Yup! 😁

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  12. Lovely looking game and a rare win! I picked the rules up before Christmas but haven't got them with me, I'll have to try them out when I get home, they seem really interesting on first read, like a fixed dux bellorum!
    Best Iain

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    1. What’s not to like about a victory Iain…
      Yes… There is certainly is a feel of a “fixed” Dux Bellorum

      All the best. Aly

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  13. Nice figures and sounds like a good game.

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    1. Thank you Rob,,,
      It was splendid fun..

      All the best. Aly

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  14. Looked like a great game Aly and a wins a win. Happy glueing!

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    1. It was indeed fun…
      The gluing is going well…

      All the best. Aly

      Delete
  15. Goodness but that looks like a fun game. Love all of the beautiful toys and the fancy accessories!

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    1. It was indeed an excellent evenings gaming David…
      I was quite taken by the rules and all it’s fancy accessories.

      All the best. Aly

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  16. Looks great. I just bought the Midgard rules myself but haven't received them yet. Good to hear they gave an enjoyable game.

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    1. It was indeed a lot of fun…
      Definitely worth giving it a try.

      All the best. Aly

      Delete