10mm Medievals on eBay

Another one of the nicely painted 10mm Medieval armies I'm selling (Italian Condotta or Ordonnance French) ends on ebay this Sunday. For the listing click this link

New Medieval Figures from Donnington

I've just gotten my hands on some of the new Medieval figures from Donnington (due to be released at Salute 2009) - and very nice they are too.

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Having chatted to Damian at last weeks Doubles in Oxford, it seems these figures have been designed by a totally new sculptor for Donnington, so are a big step forwards from some of their other ranges. The figures themselves are compatible in size and bulk with the popular medieval ranges from Essex & Corvus Belli, but have more innovation and animation in poses than the Essex ranges. They even stand up very favourably when set against figures from my personal favourites, Mirliton and could be mixed IMO with any of these three manufacturers with no problems at all. The first 3 ranges on offer are 100YW, Swiss and Low Countries - so plenty of Men at Arms and halberdiers all round, as well as some longbowmen who will give the well-regarded 100YW Corvus Belli range a stiff challenge in the popularity stakes - especially as Donnington have nicked an idea from Peter Pig and slipped in a longbowman giving the Frenchies the finger!

Donnington intend to sell these new figures under a slightly different brand to the rest of their ranges (maybe "New Donnington" - which I suppose is better than renaming the old lot "Classic Donnington"!), and at a higher unit price. They still intend to offer the option to buy figures individually, but probably will offer unit-sized packs as well. There is a good variety in each range with at least 4 variations for most types of troops, and if they continue to allow you to mix and match their horses (of which there are 12 on offer in the 100YW range) when you buy the variety you can achieve could be very impressive.

The figures generally come with open hands, or at least hands that need to be drilled to accommodate spears or pikes, although some of the halberdiers come with cast-in weapons. Donnington intend to offer a range of weapons with the figures, maximising variety within each unit. The clever innovation with the range is visible in the above photos of the horse-less Men at Arms - the guys have been cast with a "Vamplate" (no, I didn't know what it was either) on their hands, which creates the hand guard part of a proper lance when its drilled through to take a metal wire spear - very cute!

Overall these look to be a really good range, and continue the recent trend of ever-improving 15mm figures with more "human" proportions, lots of variety and some genuine thought going into the poses to create more interesting units. There are plenty more pictures of these in the 15mm Photo Gallery (search for "New Donnington" in the "manufacturer" field) - and I'll be adding more as I get to take some photos of them. Details of procing etc haven't been released yet, but if you contact Donnington or go along to see them at Salute I'm sure you will be able to get hold of some soon!

Warmaster Medieval Eye Candy

Three armies now painted up and on this site in their full glory with bucket-loads of photos.

Ordonance French,

The Black Army of Matthieu Corvinius,

100YW English / WOTR,

Fully Updated Tactical Tips

The Tactical Tips section of the Wiki has been fully updated, revised and extended, and is all here in it's full (Field of) Glory. Its in the WIKI, so if you have any bright ideas to add to it, you can do so !

Another 10mm WMM Army on sale

This time the army on offer has options for Italian Condotta or Ordonnance French. It - and all its pictures - can be seen now on eBay now via this link.

Stronghold / Jacobite added to Supplier Directory

I managed to find a link to a full listing of the Stronghold/Jacobite ranges which worked and so I've now added them to the 15mm Ancients Suppliers Directory.

Don;t forget that if you have pictures of figures from any of the ranges in the 15mm Ancients Suppliers Directory please drop me a line as I'd love to add them to the Directory and Photo Gallery.

New "News" Page added

I've added a new page that pulls together all the latest postings from various Yahoo Groups and Wargaming news sites, and previews them here on this site. It's available here. If you can't be bothered logging into Yahoo groups to see if anything interesting is happening, this is the page for you to bookmark!

Xyston Gallic Nobles reviewed

Xystons latest release is a pack of 8 armoured Gallic infantry. As usual they come with separate shields, which all have well-sized anchor points for the figures hands (although some of these figures don't seem to accommodate / need shields). There is also a separate "ornament" which sits on top of the helmet of one of the warriors.

This is a picture of the figures as they arrived, so a little flash needs to be cut off the swords and some other parts of the figures, but nothing too technical. Having picked up some Xyston Gaeasati recently, these figures are noticably more well-fed, even allowing for the fact they are wearing both clothes and armour, making it easier to see them fitting in alongside other ranges. The armour (in fact, all of the figure) is well cast with good detail to pick up drybrushing, and the poses are well animated although anatomically a touch suspect in cases (see this review elsewhere for comments).

The first figure is waving a sword (which is cast with the figure avoiding risk of it falling off with use). The second, with the seagull-attachment to his helmet stands on a rock, looking forwards, and the third lunges forward again with a sword cast in hand.

The final figure is holding his sword slightly uncomfortably, but has a great moustache and rather angry demeanour. The other photo shows the first figure again, but this time from the rear.

Overall another nice set of figures from Xyston, not as stylized as their Gaeasati warriors, but yet again it would still be difficultto mix these chaps with anyone else's figures as they are rather large. I have managed to combine them on the same base as the Fantassin/Warmodelling Gauls, but they tower head and shoulders (literally) over my Essex, Old Glory and Corvus Belli troops.

10m Medieval Army Photos !!

I'm selling a 10mm Warmaster Medieval army on eBay right now. for lots of photos follow this link. For the listing on eBay click here.

Total War : Empire - Out Very Soon!

The new 18th Century Total War PC game is out in less than a week - and I'm excited! The review in PC gamer gave it 94%!!! There are several demo videos available for Empire: Total War (UK Edition) here. Amazon are offering it for under £28 in the UK or $46.99 for the US version with free delivery via those links.

Five of the FoG army lists books are now fully added to the FoG Wiki. That's history, figure recommendations, external links, and sometimes army lists and tactical advice for every army in the RoR, IF, SoA, LT and D&F books. They will keep being added to - maybe you can add something yourself?

Wargamers Calendar

You can now add a self-updating UK Event Calendar to your own Wargame Website or Blog by linking to the one on this site. Its dead easy, and adds some useful and constantly refreshed content to any website. click this link to get your own version on your site or blog.

Madaxeman.com has a Blog!

Well, to be honest it's had one for a while, but I've just tidied it up and I'm quite proud of it. The Blog is accessible here and whilst it looks different, it is in fact a standard "Blogger" blog so if you have your own Blog you can link to it through all the many very, very clever Blogger widgets.

The Blog is a technical fix to help me feed news onto this site, and everything that appears on the Blog also appears here as well so no need to bookmark anything twice - but it does have an archive of "news" items, some other sorting options, the chance for you to leave comments and some more toys as well.

If Blogger is your thing, it's worth a look...

Complete Painted Armies on Sale

I'm gradually adding to the eBay listings pages on this site, and the latest page has a listing of complete painted armies for sale. If you ever want to quickly check what's on sale on ebay, but can't be bothered with the hassle of logging in and searching, my eBay listings pages are idea for you - see the full set of them on the right!

Baueda's range now added to the Photo Directory

All of Baueda's "new" (ex 50-Paces) Viking range, and their Emeshi, Flaming Pigs and Ottoman Incendiary Javelinmen now appear in the photo directory on this site.

Match Reports from Burton 2009

Meet The Spartans as they meet Persians, Dominate Romans, Selukids and Graeco Bactrians in 4 full action match reports - with added Hannibal and Leonidas as well!

Naismith & Roundway 15mm Ancients Suppliers

I've added these two brands (both manufactured by Navwar) to the 15mm Ancients Suppliers lists so you can rate them. There are some photos of Roundway Swiss now in the Photo directory too.

User-guide to Medieval Irish

The FoG Wiki has had a great guide to the Medieval Irish added by one of the Wiki users. Take a look - maybe it'll inspire you to have a try at adding something yourself to the Wiki? Nearly 400 Wiki pages are being viewed every day, so any contribution will help other gamers!

Basing Figures - The Movie

I've created a short YouTube movie on how I base my figures - its available by clicking this link. I will dig out some more links to basing guides and add them to this page soon - if you know any such sites please email me with their url's.

Snowed In?

With much of the UK snowed in, many gamers may well be bored and at home this week. Luckily I've compiled a list of good timewasting things to do on Madaxeman.com. Follow this link for a list of ways to pass the time instead of painting figures!

Wolves From The Sea - 10 Days To Go!

The Vikings are Coming!!

It's almost February, which means its only a few days before the Wolves from the Sea: The Dark Ages FoG lists are published. Follow this link to Amazon.co.uk and place a postage-free advance order with Amazon.co.uk ! Or for US Orders click here.

(Two Dragons Viking figures)

Match Reports from Usk 2009

Hamanids of Alleppo in 900 AP FoG doubles action in a Decline and Fall themed competition. An attempted Arab Swarm army goes wild in South Wales...read all about it here.

Voting Buttons for Manufacturers

I've added in voting buttons for all the 15mm manufacturers on my listings page - so you can now rate each manufacturer, and see how other people rate them as well. Please vote!

Isarus have a sale too

They are offering 15% off all list prices for all miniatures ranges, until 29th January 2009.

2009 Events Calendar

The Wiki now includes a full 2009 Events Calendar, listing Wargaming and Gaming Competitions, Trade Shows & Conventions as well as re-enactments, major air shows and military vehicle events. The Calendar is here. If you have an event, you can add it in yourself - instantly!

New Auction Listing Pages

Ths site now hosts eBay UK auction listings for Terrain, flock and basing material, D6 (for when the dice gods desert you) and 20mm Ancients Figures. Grab yourself a Credit Crunch bargain!

Old Glory January sale as well..

Old Glory US have a sale until the end of January offering 30% off for orders of $101-$399 and 40% off for orders of $400 or more. Their website can also be reached via the 15mm Ancient Suppliers Index on this site.

Osprey's "Jagdflieger- Luftwaffe Fighter 39-45"

Over Christmas my interest in all things "WW2" meant I received a copy of the new Osprey book "Jagdfleiger : Luftwaffe Fighter Pilot 1939-35" which turned out to be surprisingly interesting - so I thought I'd review it here (Click the title of this link for a full review if you are looking at this from www.madaxeman.com).

The book is a standard Osprey-sized tome, 64 pages with black & white photos on nearly every page and a number of full colour plates as well, but unlike many older Osprey books, it's much much more than just some fairly lightweight historical background text designed only to wrap around the pretty colour pictures.

The book covers all aspects of a Luftwaffe fighter pilot's life. This starts at their recruitment, and covers life on base, how "kills" were awarded, dogfighting and bomber interception tactics and how the esprit-du-corps of the Luftwaffe was maintained through the punishing final stages of the war when flying against astounding odds.

Reading it I found myself increasingly drawn into the myriad of interesting details and first-hand accounts of day-to-day stories that unfolded from the exceptionally well written text - in many ways it reminded me of the style of authors like Max Hastings who can add journalistic flourishes to historical record to bring it to life.

Tales of how a rare deserting pilot was disappointed not be then allowed to join the RAF share space with evocative black and white images of newly decorated pilots - followed by footnotes showing how they were killed in action only months later. In each case these details are neatly woven into the text, illustrating the dry facts in a way which succeeds time and time again throughout the book - and any book that can achieve making Luftwaffe mechanics diets sound interesting must be doing something right.

The colour pictures - still the mainstay of any Osprey book - are mostly in the style of detailed "uniform painting-guides" useful to the modeller (of Luftwaffe crew... which must surely mean those with an attention to detail far beyond the call of duty!) to a couple of "artistic" combat sequences which add both literal and metaphorical colour to the book.

But for once the colour plates are outshone by the many highly evocative black and white photos mixing detailed aircraft & unit insignia identification shots with pictures of young men (some with faces showing an age beyond their years) displaying the same emotions we have all seen in photos of RAF or USAF fliers from the same era.

So, a surprisingly absorbing and interesting book that hooked me from the off - and on a subject that I had little previous interest in, but which I found thoroughly fascinating. Highly recommended to anyone wishing to get a feel for an aspect of WW2 which is often overlooked.

LKM/Friekorps January Sale

Looks like LKM/QRF have a January sale as well - 10% off everything from 11-25 January. They too have figures on view in the Ancients Directory. Search the "Manufacturer" field for "LKM" to see more.

More manufacturers represented

AB Miniatures Sassanids and Splintered Light Romano British now added to the Ancients Photo Gallery. Don't forget to rate these figures when you access the Gallery!