Bohemond of Taranto/Antioch (1054-1111) was one of the leaders of the First Crusade, and one of its most colorful characters too. He was the stereotypical Norman adventurer in the Mediterranean: shrewd, bold, ambitious, and fearsome. According to the 12th-century southern Italian historian Romuald of Salerno, Bohemond was always seeking the impossible. We are lucky to... Continue Reading →
With Salute just over a week away, the castle team have been working on presentation. At a wargames convention, drawing the eyes of passing gamers is the first priority. This means spreading out the castle model to cover as much of our table as possible. Any game played on a small board runs the risk... Continue Reading →
This post is on the work in progress for an article that will appear in Wargames Illustrated in the not-too-distant future. That article will wargame the monstrous creatures of the Arabian Nights, which is also known as the One Thousand and One Nights, starting with ghouls. Today we discuss ideas for miniatures and conversions to be used to represent the ghoul king of Sinbad's Fourth Voyage.
In today's guest post, Matthew Harris takes us behind the scenes to look at the origin of his upcoming article on Genoese forces in the Crusades. My name is Matthew Harris, and I recently completed my undergraduate dissertation at the University of Edinburg, on Genoese Crusading Warfare, from the First to the Third Crusades. I... Continue Reading →
Since Salute 2019, we've been working away on various aspects of the project. At present, there isn't much we can tell you about them, since none are complete enough for us to show off. That means it's been quiet around here. However, it isn't all hush-hush. For instance, we went to UK Games Expo in Birmingham!... Continue Reading →
It's taken us a week to recover from Salute 2019, but here are a few of the highlights of our visit! It was great to be able to run our game for attendees. The scenario worked out well in practice, and the simple Lion Rampant rules made it easy to get started, even in our... Continue Reading →
One of the most important points of Steve Tibble's recent book The Crusader Armies was that the contribution of non-western Christians to the politics and warfare of the crusading period is typically overlooked. Contemporary writers tended to either minimise their importance or take them for granted, but that shouldn't be the case for modern historians --... Continue Reading →
Salute 2019 is right around the corner, and we're getting ready to host a game there. The show is on April 6th at ExCel London; doors open at 10 AM. We'll be running a Lion Rampant skirmish game set in the Byblos castle model at game table GG10 throughout the day; we'll also be showing off the... Continue Reading →
As we mentioned in our earlier post, if we're going to be focusing on a game inside the castle, we'll need to think about how to decorate it. So far, the castle has had a fairly plain interior. Now we need to start making it more eye-catching for our games at Salute. This poses some interesting... Continue Reading →
Updates have been slow over the holidays, but we're back at work on the Gaming a Crusader Castle project. We've got a show appearance coming up this April as we bring the keep to Salute 2019. It seems like April's a long way away, but two months is no time at all in wargaming years.... Continue Reading →
History and Games Lab Productions Blog 