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Monday 25 June 2012

The Anabasis of Longuelade


The Longuelade household is moving quarters this week, a march of about a mile, but one which will doubtless involve many lengthy telephone skirmishes with the likes of BT, npower and TV licensing. Normal service - internet connection permitting - will resume on 4th July.

The above photo features one of Rob's Garrison 20mm Gaulish chieftains alongside a rather nice old Wargames Foundry dog. I should point out that the dog is an old English sheepdog, a breed that did not actual appear until Elizabethan times (when it was called a bobtail, incidentally). The photo therefore presents the sort of glaring historical error that would once have kept the pages of Military Modelling going for months...

Saturday 23 June 2012

Apocryphal Well, well, well


(S Range Assyrians. Heavy slinger, heavy archer, javelinman throwing gatepost)

The date for the refight of Charles Grant's classic encounter between the forces of Assyria and Egypt has finally been set for Friday 13th of July. With typical good grace Stephen has bowed to my request to command the forces of the Pharoah. In honour of their previous owner I shall name their commander Tuckekamen.

Who he? Ed.



The origin of this rather nice phalangite is a mystery to me. I have some hoplites from the same maker. They are great little figures - about the same height and build as Garrison 20mm. The base has champhered sides, but no code number on it. Any ideas who made him?




Wargames Shame


(A totally irrelevant snap of a PBs Dacian warrior with falx)

Sorting through a mountain of paper the other day I came across a photocopy of the rules ammendments and army lists for the Ancient competition at the 1974 National wargames Convention. WRG rules were to be used with a series of amendments including:

"2. No incendiary weapons to be employed".

In the section on army selection I was gratified to note the following:

"The organisers reserve the right to disqualify any army that tends to bring the hobby of wargaming into disrepute".

Strangely no similar stricture was applied to the gamers themselves.

Raphia Work



On the first weekend in September Old John from 20mm Nostalgic Revival and Richard from Vintage 20mil are coming up for weekend of wargaming.  My initial thought is to have at least one mighty battle of the Diadokhoi. There is plenty of information about Gabene and Paraetacene and I also wondered about Raphia. Searching on google for more information on the battle orders of the two armies in that latter clash - all my books are currently packed in boxes awaiting transport to the new HQ - I came across clips of the now sadly defunct BBC TV series Time Commanders, in which teams of celebrities refought great battles of the ancient world using some of the dodgiest computer graphics seen since Tellytubbies was in its glory years.

The refight of Raphia saw popular UK comedian and self-confessed military history nut Al "Pub Landlord" Murray leading one of the armies alongside Kate Silverton and two actors from the shouty Cockney soap opera East Enders.

The elephants are truly appalling - the size of houses and built like a mouse with a hose on its snout - while the phalanx behaves like the sort of maddened and legless mob you might expect to see in a British town centre after the nightclubs close.

Still at least it was more or less wargaming on prime time national TV. Nowadays all we have is property shows.

http://youtu.be/RV-8Wb_6XBo

Friday 22 June 2012

Gaugamela - Afterword


After Gaugamela Clive expressed the view that perhaps the additional combat dice given to the Companions with Alexander attached weighted things too heavily in their favour. It is a point worth considering.

On balance I disagree. At The Granicus the same bonuses applied yet Alexander came perilously close to disaster and almost died on three occasions.

Leaving aside the difference in the balance of the Persian army and it's extended lines, the main disparity between the Persian performance at The Granicus and Gaugamela lay in the dice throwing - good at the former, disastrously poor at the latter. As Stephen noted in his account of the action, Alexander's Royal Companions suffered not a single casualty at Gaugamela despite fighting numerous melees, proof of the poorness of Persian luck. To have held up the Macedonian cavalry for even a single move, might have tilted the balance in Darius favour, allowing the left flank Persians to close to combat.

In the summary of the action at Granicus I noted how the combination of dice and cards appeared perfectly to mimic Alexander's mix of elan, dynamism and good fortune. At Gaugamela something similar, if negative, appeared to be going on with Darius.

In the earlier battle the Persian nobles were fresh, confident and full of fight. By the time Gaugamela rolled around however they must have know the game was up, the vacilating Darius a busted flush, Alexander ascendant. The poor dice throwing seemed to reflect that mood.

Now, of course, I know that dice rolls are random, but sometimes they do seem to offer up a very plausible narrative. Although the result of Gaugamela was anti-climactic, I believe this was what happened here.

(Below - Alexander leads the charge of Companions that won the battle)


Wednesday 20 June 2012

Gaugamela - Part Three, Blood and Scythes.


(Pbs Macedonian successor phlangites)

This was another of our big Christmas battles, fought across a table measuring 13 feet by 6 feet. On this occasion Kevin White and Paul Jackson joined the usual suspects. Along with Stephen they commanded the Macedonians.  Clive and I once again took charge of the forces of the Lord of Asia.

In the two previous large battles – Plataea and the Granicus - I'd felt the Persians had a reasonable chance of success. For this one, however, I was far from confident. The make-up of the Persian force was eccentric and seemed to reflect Darius' mounting desperation. 

In the Baron De Bazancourt’s witty 19th Century treatise on fencing “Secrets of the Sword”, the author observes that, “A gentleman should always be aware of the fine line that divides those acts which are bold and those that are merely rash”. Boldness – the Baron counsels sagely - is the province of the decisive and the brave, rashness stems at best from a lack of confidence in one’s own abilities, and at worst from cowardice. These words seem particularly applicable when considering the widely differing temperaments of Alexander and Darius. The latter, you feel, is forever leaping erratically forward, sword flailing, eyes firmly shut.


(Persian Cavalry - Pbs Dahae horse archers, S Range Assyrian horse archers and two units of Garrison 20mm heavy cavalry)
In the immediate aftermath of the battle, Stephen gave the following excellent account of the action:

“For our Christmas Ancient's big battle Harry laid on an incredible spectacle of 3 elephants, 20 chariots, 464 cavalry and 686 infantry. Once again he generously let
me, and those who arrived with me, command the Macedonians who had won
every historic engagement we had recreated.

This was perhaps the most convincing display of Macedonian might/luck/destiny so far.


(Garrison 20mm Egyptian cavalry, clash with Greek cavalry from the same maker. In the background is a unit of PBs Thessalians) 
 As Alexander I feared the unknown effects of all the scythed chariots and the elephants because we had not faced them before and I knew that the Persian cavalry were highly manoeuvrable - especially those horse archers.

I gave Kevin White (Army Padre, attached to Royal Artillery, Albermarle Barracks) command of the infantry centre - he had to get the phalangites forward as quickly as he could, use his lights to whittle down the threat from the chariots and elephants, and keep an eye on the baggage behind him!

Paul Jackson (Lecturer in War Studies at Birmingham University) said he enjoyed improvisation, so got the weak left wing whose task was to hang on in there while the battle was won elsewhere - this he did indomitably which probably ruined the
Persians best chance of success.

On the right, which had the elite Companions and Hypaspists, I hoped to stay out of trouble as long as possible and act as a reserve to the big infantry attack in case the Persian gimmick weapons blunted their assault.


 (An overall view of the action. Scythed chariots and Indian elephants rumble forwards, as Greek hoplites preapre to defend the baggage and to the rear Darius looks on with growing nervousness)

This scheme soon had to be abandoned, however, for a plan that was likely more to the historical Alexander’s taste.

Finding himself outflanked by the Persian left wing, Alexander chose to ignore those furthest to his right and attack diagonally through the joint between the left and centre and head straight for Darius.

The Companions' charge proved unstoppable. Suffering barely a casualty they rode through everything in their path, leaving a wake of destruction behind them. They must have appeared to the Persians as invulnerable and invincible. Since they were barely delayed by their opponents those enemy units aiming to catch them in the rear and overwhelm them with weight of numbers simply could not catch up to do so.



(Scythed chariots decide to avoid the spearpoints of the phalanx and swerve off to the side, while in the distance Alexander begins his bold charge towards the Persian king)

The battle was almost a historical recreation. The honourable exception being the behaviour of the heroic - or desperate – Darius. On seeing the Companions getting nearer and nearer, the Great King opted not to flee but to join the nobles in his cavalry and attack the nearest regiment of the phalanx head on. He died a glorious death and his passing signalled the collapse of the Persian army.

It felt less like a wargame and more like a statement by the shade of Alexander himself. The rules, Harry's own, recreated the events of that fateful day from the uselessness of the scythed chariots to the shock and awe of Alexander at the head of the Companions. On previous occasions the Companions have taken a battering and Alexander survived purely by being a jammy so and so, but this time they were simply the proverbial 'hot knife through butter' and butter does the knife little harm.



(The Hand of the Fates! Alexander has cut his way through several Persian cavalry units and now just a phalanx of Greek mercenaries stands between him and his prize - the Persian King)


(Elephants on the rampage. They have broken through a phalanx which has also been hit in the flank by Garrison 20mm Assyrian cavalry. Unfortunately for the Persians the scythed chariots are heading in the wrong direction....)

Apart from Paul's valiant defence on the left the Macedonian generals had little to do than to let their troops get on with it - frustrating all the abilities of the Persian generals' expertise and courage.”


(Pbs Thessalians do their bit to hold up the Persian right wing, in this case some S Range assyrian lancers)
Stephen's account sums up the action very well. As one of the Persian commanders I always felt there was only a vague chance of winning. That would come if we could get a spot of luck with the dice and hold the Companions for a move or two which would have allowed us to make the most of our advantage in numbers. We had managed this in the Granicus refight and gave the Macedonian a severe mauling. This time around we were not so fortunate.

One major problem was the extreme length of our front. At Granicus, on a narrower table, we had been forced to deploy a reserve. This time around we strung out cavalry out along the entire table length. When Alexander drove at the point where the left wing met the centre, he effectively cut a large portion of our army adrift. With the Companions heading straight for Darius, the Persian left, which had designs on enveloping the phalangites, was forced instead to break off from that intention and instead pursue Alexander in a hopeless attempt to save the king, their progress severely hindered by the decimated Persian units the Macedonians left in their wake.

Our other problem was the make-up of our army, which, being nearly all cavalry, had to win the battle before the phalanx could rumble into contact with our puny centre.
As historically the scythed chariots had little impact on events. Most veered off to left or right, avoiding contact with the spear points of the phalanx. The elephants were more effective, doing major damage to one phalanx before running out of steam, but they were too few in numbers to have any major effect.

The re-fight gave me a fresh appreciation of the brilliance of Alexander's troop dispositions - the second line of hoplites effectively preventing any outflanking Persian cavalry from attacking the rear of the advancing phalanx.




(A rare moment of glory for the Persians....Indian elephants smash the phalanx, though the dice indicate they themselves have been severely damaged)

In summary:  a wargame that ranked high in terms of spectacle, but relatively low on the scale of excitement.

Gaugamela Two - Special Rules For The Battle


(A Garrison 20mm Philotas leads forward Garrison 20mm Companions, as the phalanx crunches into Darius' Greek mercenaries)

General

Macedonians move first

Individual command figures add plus one to all charge morale throws and 1D20 to combat dice roles. Alexander adds 2. This may be combined with other Macedonian leaders (for example with Kleitos and Alexander attached the Royal Companions would add 3D20 in melee)

Persian unit movement. All close order cavalry units can move each turn. Other Persian and allied units must throw above the number of hits they have suffered on a D6 in order to move.

Macedonian Baggage

Alexander had to detail some of his force to guard the baggage, this seems to have fallen to the Thracian peltasts who later fought off an incursion by Persian cavalry intent on rescuing the female members of the royal household who had been captured at Issus. Should the Persians get amongst the baggage and remain there for one full turn then all Macedonian units suffer 1 hit (this represents the damage to their morale of seeing all their hard won plunder being ransacked)


(Garrison 20mm figure of Mazaros leads forward some Garrison 20mm Egyptian heavy cavalry, the latter are figures converted and cast by Rob - and very nice they are too)

Darius

Alexander was determined to capture or kill the Persian king. If he succeeds the battle ends at the conclusion of any current melees in a Macedonian victory. If Darius flees the table to avoid Alexander then all Persian units suffer 2 hits immediately.


(Chariots breaking through a unit of Pbs Agrianes)

Scythed Chariots


The tactics with these seems to have been for the charioteer to gallop towards the enemy and then jump off at the last minute. To simulate this:


Move charging chariot to within 4cm of the enemy unit it is charging.

Throw a D6

Score 1 = Chariot halts short of enemy lines. Remove model

Score 2, 3 = Chariot turns 90 degrees to the left

Score 4, 5 = Chariot turns 90 degrees to the right

Score 6 = Chariot continues straight ahead



If a chariot does not halt throw 4 x D6 to see how far it moves. If the chariot makes contact with any close order unit, foe or friend, throw a D20 for hit. Light units simply part to let it pass through.



Normal additions apply, i.e. a chariot charging into a units flank will add 2 x D20

A chariot cuts straight through any unit it contacts and carries on for its full move distance throwing for any other units it contacts as before. Once it completes its move the model is removed.

Any unit contacted by a chariot must halt for one turn whether it has suffered casualties or not.

Chariots may be eliminated by missile fire in the usual way. A score of 10 or more is required to hit. If attacked or charged chariots will countercharge as above.


(Scythed - well you have to imagine the scythes - chariots have passed through the PBs Cretans and approach the phalanx, which is menaced on the flank by S range Assyrian lancers. A mix of metal and plastic vehicles painted by Ray McGarry)

Tomorrow - Action!

Tuesday 19 June 2012

Gaugamela - Part One, set up and forces.


(Persian battle lines. PBs Dahae horse archers in the foreground. S range Assyrian horse archers just beyond them)

On an autumn afternoon in AD331, on a featureless plain that had been specially flattened to allow full use of his chariots and cavalry, Darius the Great King awaited the arrival of Alexander and the Macedonians.

Having tired of the pitiful performance of his native foot soldiers, Darius had more or less abandoned infantry altogether, focusing instead on the more reliable and courageous horsemen from the North and East of his Empire. In his battle line were mounted Bactrians, Scythians, Armenians, Cappadocians, Hykranians, Parthians and Indians, to the front of which were arranged hundreds of scythed chariots and a small group of elephants.


A few days before Darius had made one final attempt to bring the war to a peaceful conclusion, offering the Macedonian invader all the land west of the Euphrates, 30,000 gold talents and the hand of one of his daughters in marriage. The offer had been summarily rejected. “Asia can no more support two monarchs, than the earth could survive with two suns,” Alexander had told the Persian envoys. If the king wanted to hold onto his crown, he would have to fight.


(The Macedonian battle lines from Alexander's left. Garrison 20mm Greek light cavalry and PBs mercenary peltasts in the foreground)

When Alexander arrived at the crest of a low hill that looked across to the Persian battle line he may, momentarily, have wondered if he had made the correct decision. The fading sun reflected off thousands of spear points and from the scale armour of horses and men. Darius’ cavalry outnumbered his own by at least 4-to-1.

Instead of launching an immediate attack as he had at the Granicus and Issus, Alexander spent the rest of the day reconnoitring the battlefield, then retired to his tent to draw up his plans….
The exact make-up of the Persian Army is – predictably - open to doubt. I have opted to take Peter Green as my main guide mainly because his interpretation is likely to give the best wargame.

(The Macedonian centre. PBs phalangites with Cretan archers and Agrianina javelins skirmishing ahead. Behind them Garrison 20mm Greek hoplites guard the baggage)
 
Macedonian Army

6 x 40 Phlangites                                 240 figs
2 x 24 Hypaspists                                48 figs
3 x 20 Peltasts                                      60 figs
2 x 12 Cretan archers                           24 figs
1 x 12 Macedonian archers                  12 figs
2 x12 Agrianian javelins                     24 figs
1 x 12 Macedonian Javelins               12 figs

6 x 24 Greek Mercenary Hoplites         144figs
2 x 16 Companions                               32 figs
4 x 16 Greek Light cavalry                   64 figs
1 x 16 Thracian cavalry                        16 figs

Total:   544 infantry
           112 cavalry

(Persian battle lines from Darius' left. The cavalry stretched from one end of the 13 foot long table to the other, though, as we shall see, this long frontage proved problematic for the Persians.)

Persian Army

1 x 40 Immortals                                        40 figs
2 x 24 Mercenary Hoplites                        48 figs
2 x 20 Mardian archers                              40 figs
2 x 12 Light archers                                   24 figs

5 x 16 Horse Archers                                    80 figs
5 x 16 Light Cavalry                                    80 figs
7 x 16 Heavy cavalry                                   112figs

3 x Indian elephants and crew

20 x Scythed chariots and crew                            

Total: 142 Infantry
           352 Cavalry
             20 Chariots
              3 Elephants
(Pbs Indian cavalry and S range Immortals)

Monday 18 June 2012

Gaugamela - The Trailer


Directed by Clive "Barry" Norman, based on an original script by himself, guest starring Stephen Caddy, Kevin White and Paul Jackson.

Granicus - More Images

While packing I discovered a CD of snaps of The Granicus taken by Persian co-commander Clive Norman.



(Macedonian Phalanx, rear protected by Thracians)


(Pbs Companions clash with Garrison 20mm Persian cavalry on banks of Bellona stream)



(Pbs Thracians with Garrison 20mm Macedonian commander prepare to test the theory that S Range Assyrians "Don't like it up ,em")


(Mass melees. Companions wade into Persian cavalry and hoplites; Persian cavalry clash with phalangites, Thessalians gallop off the edge of the frame and Cretans lurk menacingly)


 (Manfredates, one of the Persians' more astute commanders).

Future Attractions - Gaugamela


Featuring 13 feet of Persian cavalry, and several hands and stomachs...

Another Phrygian (Mess You Gotten Me Into)


The Longuelade household is currently in the process of moving to more permanent quarters. Paints and brushes were packed away yesterday, but I did find a couple of hours beforehand to paint this Garrison 20mm Phrygian spearman. He's a very nice figure, drawn from Saxtorph and Funcken. I'll have a unit of 40 of them at some point.

Sunday 17 June 2012

A Confederacy of Beards

In a comment a couple of days ago Ross Mac mentioned once having designs on assembling a Minifigs "Barbarian Conspiracy" Army. Here are a few likely candidates for inclusion:


The central figure is the PBs range Pictish chieftain. Sadly my old eyes are too weak these days to pick out the codes on the other two, but the one of the left is likely a Saxon chieftain, while the one on the right could be a Saxon peasant spearman, though his shield looks a little small)

The Barbarian Conspiracy Army features in the first of the WRG Ancient Army Lists booklets, published in April 1977 (In the early years WRG were always quite specific on the month of publication, presumably so that  Ancient competition rule-nutters could say "Yes, but that was what they said then. It's June now and Gepids were officially upgraded to C class on May 20th whereas, of course - snigger, snigger - your Heraclian Byzantine Camp servants were denied access to the range-enhanced staff sling a mere two days ago") and allows for a coalition of Saxons, Picts and Irish, with the Saxons taking overall charge, presumably because they were German and had a stronger economy than the others.

(PBs Saxons. The metal face masks are particularly evil. I seem to recall the Saxons appearing in something similarly scary in the seventies childrens TV series Arthur of the Britons)

Intriguingly the introduction to the first lists gives thanks to "The Deadly Douglases of Humshaugh", a village about four miles from where I live and which was previously famous mainly as the birthplace of the actor Kevin "Lewis" Whately and home of the man who wrote the popular Christmas song, Little Donkey. Nice to think it was also once a hotbed of lads who knew exactly how many Fundibuli could be deployed in a 1,000pt Carolingian force.



Saturday 16 June 2012

Olfactory Colours

(Original 1968 version of Minifigs S range Hun archer; S Range Pict archer; PBs German warrior)

In the section "Forming an Ancient Army" in WRG Ancient War Game Rules first edition (July 1969) the authors offer the following invaluable painting tip: "Germans mainly blond, shaggy and slightly smelly, and in dull colours, navy blue being popular". Quite how you achieve the odour of ancient German using a paintbrush is, alas, not explained.

40 Fighting Men Against A Nation? Some Minot figures



Like Russell Gammage of Rose, Barry Minot was a designer who concentrated most of his energies on larger figures. He did make a small selection of "true" (i.e small) 30mm figures, however, including some for the Zulu War. The ancient selection focused on Greeks and owes a debt to the sword-and-sandal epics of Dino Di Laurentis and Don Chaffey. Pictured here: Hercules with club and a hoplite who looks ready to fight a phalanx of Ray Harryhausen skeletons. The figures are the same size as Rose.

Friday 15 June 2012

Thoroughbred Norse

Old John has just discovered this ultra-rare Les Higgins 20mm Viking. What a fine specimen he is. I wonder if there were other figures in the range....

An Odd Assortment

Part of the role of this blog is to act as a sort of Ancient Auxiliary to The Old Metal Detector's splendid Lone S Ranger venture. The OMD has sworn off ancient figures in an attempt to prevent his house from subsiding under the weight of lead, so they don't often feature in his extensive catalogue of images of early Minifigs.



So here - somwhat randomly - are a couple of S range enemies of the Late Roman Empire, a Sassanid Levy Spearman (AS1s. There was a Levy Archer too but I have never seen one) and a Pict Spearman (APt1s). I believe both figures were later shifted seamlessly into the PBs range and recoded (as PB210s and PB180s), as were some of the other S range ancients, Carthaginians (sans archer), Macedonians, some Romans and the Frank axeman amongst them.

These Byzantine Spearmen also swapped codes - from AB1s to PB150s


And to round things off here are some Late Roman spearmen coded AR6s.

Spears n' Roses

Like Les Higgins, Russell Gammage of Rose Miniatures was a very talented sculptor who turned out elegant miniatures. The proportions of these 30mm figures - Ethiopian archer, Egyptian standard bearer and Nubian swordsman - are just about perfect. Sadly Gammage prefered to focus on 54mm and only really dabbled in smaller scales. One of his most famous peices was a 54mm Pharoah's chariot made in the early 1970s, though back then us adolescent boys took more of an interest in his Minoan range.

Rainy Day Persian Numbers 12 and 35


The Hinton Hunt Persian with brolly. From the note on the card base I think he is actually coded 46.

Thursday 14 June 2012

This should last me till 2050....

The other day I ran out of UHU glue, which I use for sticking figures to bases. The newsagent down the road only has tiny little tubes, so I ordered some off eBay.

 I never have got the hang of millilitres, though and was quite surprised when this enormous toothpaste-sized tube turned up.


I wonder how much of it I'll get through before the nozzle blocks up, I try to force it and end up with glue squirting out of the seams and all over my work table?

Good news is - I bought two.

Les Greeks


I like Les Higgins figures so much I bought the company (well part of it anyway - Old John from 20mm Nostalgia Revival, Richard at Vintage20Mil and a few others were involved too). While Higgins' specialism was the English Civil War and Marlburian period he did design a small range of 30mm Ancient figures. An example is the Greek officer on the right above. I think he has one of the best faces I've seen on a small scale figure.

After Higgins died his firm was renamed Phoenix Model Developments. PMD did a small range of 25mm figures. I posted a picture of the Anatolian Guard Spearman earlier. Above is the Greek officer (the shield pattern is copied from Saxtorph). As you can see the 25mm figure and the 30mm figure are more or less the same height - Higgins erred on the smaller side when interpreting scale, the opposite of modern designers who seem to think 28mm means "at least 35mm". Note also that Les' figure actually has a human neck and hands that aren't the size of shovels.

What Didn't The Romans Do For Me?


(Minifigs PBs Republican Romans)

To which question the answer is: Inspire me.

(Minifigs S range Imperial Romans. L-R, Legionary, Eagle-Bearer, Praetorium (sic), Auxiliary Javelinman, Auxiliary Slinger. These are the original 1968 figures later they were redesigned and the legionary looked like this...



Over the years I've painted, bought, planned, abandoned and sold a couple of Roman armies at least. I mentioned the EIR version in an earlier post. That actually made it into battle - battering a large army of plastic Germans, as I recall. But for some reason I wasn't taken with it. I think it was the ruthless efficiency that put me off.

The Republican version didn't even get that far. I'd seen them as the final piece of the Ancient jigsaw, able to fight Successors and Carthaginians alike. I imagined a tri-partite camapign on Sicily. I painted the sample figures above in an attempt to goad myself to action (I had two legions, somewhere between 300-350 figures, plus cavalry). It didn't work though. There was just something about them that failed to excite. The Romans were undoubtedly excellent at fighting, but in terms of swashbuckling or eccentric military fashion elan they lag behind - no armoured bactrian camels, scythed chariots, or peephole shields for these guys. In the end I gave up and sold the castings to Uwe from History in 1/72nd to use in the big Pyrrhus diorama. Lately I've been hoarding PBs late-Republican Romans in the hope that they will do the trick and I'll be able to engage in some Pontic War battles. I like the look of them more, and I can use my Spanish and Numidians as auxiliaries, but....


(Minifigs PBs Legionarius of the Civil War)

Wednesday 13 June 2012

Life on Wargames Mars


I've mentioned Ray McGarry a few times on this blog. Here he is with Charles Grant's famous "Dover Coven" c.1974. Ray is the one standing on the chair. The Great Man is second left.