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Author Topic: A Return to WAB and Shieldwall!  (Read 2545 times)

Offline Atheling

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A Return to WAB and Shieldwall!
« on: March 13, 2020, 01:57:32 PM »
Had a great game of WAB last night using the Shieldwall supplement.

It's been many year since I last played WAB and it was great to jump back into what I consider to be an old friend as far as rule sets go.

The game you see is played on the (mostly finished) terrain for a game that Durham Wargames Group have planned for Partizan involving a large scale Viking Raid Holy Island. It was a pleasure to be invited to play on such lovely terrain.

More pics and a run through of the game on my blog here:
http://justaddwater-bedford.blogspot.com/2020/03/a-return-to-wab-and-shieldwall.html









Offline Codsticker

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Re: A Return to WAB and Shieldwall!
« Reply #1 on: March 14, 2020, 03:33:24 AM »
Great pictures Atheling; looks like you have a healthy group of gamers there.

Offline Tim Haslam

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Re: A Return to WAB and Shieldwall!
« Reply #2 on: March 14, 2020, 07:27:59 AM »
Ah, the good old days!
A millionaire trapped in a peasants body!

Offline Atheling

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Re: A Return to WAB and Shieldwall!
« Reply #3 on: March 14, 2020, 08:39:45 AM »
Great pictures Atheling; looks like you have a healthy group of gamers there.

I'm not so sure about healthy but they're nice people  :) ;)

Ah, the good old days!

They were Tim  8)

Offline Cubs

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Re: A Return to WAB and Shieldwall!
« Reply #4 on: March 14, 2020, 10:29:10 AM »
Thor's thunderbox, but that's a handsome collection!

I do like WAB, it's very comforting somehow.
'Sir John ejaculated explosively, sitting up in his chair.' ... 'The Black Gang'.

Paul Cubbin Miniature Painter

Offline Belisarius

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Re: A Return to WAB and Shieldwall!
« Reply #5 on: March 14, 2020, 10:31:52 AM »
I’ve never played WAB , but I have all the books , and Shieldwall is a corker . I love the black and white illustrations.

Offline Atheling

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Re: A Return to WAB and Shieldwall!
« Reply #6 on: March 14, 2020, 10:43:53 AM »
Thor's thunderbox, but that's a handsome collection!
Quote

I cannot take the credit for the armies as none of them belong to me. I do have a large Norman army that might have tilted the odds a little  lol

I do like WAB, it's very comforting somehow.

That's very well put mate. It is.  8)

I’ve never played WAB , but I have all the books , and Shieldwall is a corker . I love the black and white illustrations.

Well, we might be putting on a ye olde WAB Dark Ages Campaign Day or Weekend in Durham- it's just chat at the moment but you know how these things can grow!

You'd be very welcome.

Offline Tonhel

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Re: A Return to WAB and Shieldwall!
« Reply #7 on: March 15, 2020, 04:42:40 PM »
Very nice!

Offline Atheling

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Re: A Return to WAB and Shieldwall!
« Reply #8 on: March 15, 2020, 05:25:06 PM »
Thanks Tonhel  :)

Offline DivisMal

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Re: A Return to WAB and Shieldwall!
« Reply #9 on: March 15, 2020, 07:23:17 PM »
Oh great! Love your post.

Shieldwall was always my favorite WAB supplement, and I still think, it’s a very good set especially for Dark Ages/Vikings/Early Medieval times. I love the many nuances with which basically three different armies are nicely touched up, so that they actually feel like small kingdoms in a changing world!

Offline Atheling

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Re: A Return to WAB and Shieldwall!
« Reply #10 on: March 16, 2020, 10:42:40 AM »
Oh great! Love your post.

Thanks  :)

Shieldwall was always my favorite WAB supplement, and I still think, it’s a very good set especially for Dark Ages/Vikings/Early Medieval times. I love the many nuances with which basically three different armies are nicely touched up, so that they actually feel like small kingdoms in a changing world!

Agreed. I think that the nuanced lists and perhaps the characters to some extent made the game a heck of a lot of fun to play. I stuck with it for years until WAB 2, of which I though the rules were a great improvement on WAB 1.5, and the WAB V.2 army lists, which I really didn't get a long with at all; the lists far too vanilla for my tastes. We ended up using the 'old' supplements with the WAB V.2 rules. But, as time went on, the lack of campaign weekends (which we all used to attend religiously twice a year) and Hot Lead and cold Steel (at GBHQ) died out the use of the rules just fizzled away.

I have some wonderful fond memories of those Campaign Weekends  :)

Offline SteveBurt

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Re: A Return to WAB and Shieldwall!
« Reply #11 on: March 16, 2020, 10:58:32 AM »
I always felt WAB was a good set of rules for Dark Age stuff, since the games always felt like big skirmishes rather than big battles. The Shieldwall supplement was probably the best - loads of flavour

Offline Tim Haslam

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Re: A Return to WAB and Shieldwall!
« Reply #12 on: March 16, 2020, 11:19:31 AM »
Sorry for stealing this thread...
But,
Yes, loved WAB, golden years.
WAB 2 was a great improvement on game play.
Yes agreed lists for V2 were a bit vanilla but intended for tournaments.
The supplements were still the best for campaigning etc.
My favourite was Alexander, but Shieldwall was a close second.

I remember playing in a Sumerian campaign weekend, where we got 6 Sumerian armies together! On the Sunday we played a huge multiplayer game, very cool.
Lots of chariots!

Offline Atheling

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Re: A Return to WAB and Shieldwall!
« Reply #13 on: March 16, 2020, 12:04:39 PM »
Sorry for stealing this thread...

Steel away Tim :)

But,
Yes, loved WAB, golden years.
WAB 2 was a great improvement on game play.
Yes agreed lists for V2 were a bit vanilla but intended for tournaments.
The supplements were still the best for campaigning etc.
My favourite was Alexander, but Shieldwall was a close second.

I mostly agree. I think the tournament based lists of WAB V.2 are part of the reason why folk started drifting away from WAB, except for the obvious one; the closing down of WH.

I remember playing in a Sumerian campaign weekend, where we got 6 Sumerian armies together! On the Sunday we played a huge multiplayer game, very cool.
Lots of chariots!

I remember seeing that fab looking army. At an event? Or was it on the WAB forum?

Offline Dervel

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Re: A Return to WAB and Shieldwall!
« Reply #14 on: March 16, 2020, 12:27:16 PM »
Great looking armies.

All of my dark age figures were originally based for WAB, I have since switched to Triumph!

I still have all the supplements and rules, it is a great game, but much more time consuming for a big battle (in preparation and playing time) and I found it hard for doing presentation games with new players.