Lens 1648 - Update number 2

So why did we choose the Battle of Lens?

Well, to start with it is notable for being was the last major battle of the Thirty Years War.  It also fitted our criteria in terms of size of forces and the layout of what will become the game table.   The French army mustered some 16,000 men, the Spanish 18,000.   These figures translated nicely to the gaming bases at the scale we had chosen.   The battlefield itself is the real life equivalent of a simple gaming mat; no relief, no pesky rivers or streams, no major settlements and no real tree cover.   As I have to build the gaming board with my very limited skills this was a gift from Heaven!

This week, it's all about the Joy of Six

Hello one and all.  This week it’s all about the Joy of Six 2025, which is just under two months away.   But first, it’s this week’s magic order number, which stands at #31953. 

We’ve just updated the Joy of Six website, www.joysofsix.co.uk where you will find an up to date list of games and traders.  We’ve got an amazing line up of games.   We don’t know how they do it, but each year the exhibitors manage to put on something more spectacular than the previous year.   They move the bar on, ‘Excellence’ up a notch every 12 months. 

Baccus 6mm Presents - Lens 1648....

Over the past few years, my long term collaborator, Derek, and I have had the ambition to stage a game using our Big Based Battalia units.   We’d always wanted to do battle from the Thirty Years War, and after a lot of research, Derek found the ideal one for us.   It wasn’t too big, too small and the scenery needed was practical for my limited modelling skills.   As a result, we are pleased to present to you, the Battle of Lens.

The Battle of Lens (20 August 1648) was the last major battle of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648).   It is typical of the changing nature of European politics of the period, that war which started with one set of German Catholic states fighting another set of Protestant German states in Bohemia, should conclude with a Catholic French army defeating a Catholic Spanish army in northern France!

I’ll flesh out the historical side of the battle in future posts, but for the moment, it’s time to talk about the game itself.   It will be a participation game, so you get the chance to push the lovely big based units around the table.   We will be using a variant of our very popular, ‘Old Trousers’ rules, which are simple but do present the players with some tricky decision making.   The aim will be for each game to last 30-40 minutes, so we can fit in a few sessions during the day.

There will be regular updates leading up the Joy of Six.  If nothing else this means that I really have to get my finger out and get some work done!

The April Baccus Golden Ticket winner is…

…one of our many American customers, Kevin Woods.   

You can see him here clutching his precious Golden Ticket.  As he puts it, ‘Many thanks. I feel like Charlie from Willy Wonka. As I set out to explore 6mm figures, the name Baccus came up many times, so I thought I would give them a try. The quality, selection, and price are all exceptional. The Golden Ticket is an incredible offer;  the only problem is deciding how to spend it.’

Kevin now gets a voucher for £60 of Baccus goodies.  If you want to enter this month’s draw, it really is very simple.  Just place an order with us for items to the value of £60 or more, and you are in with a chance.  Couldn’t be simpler and the odds are good!

Dazed and Confused – but we do have a magic number…

Hi all, apart from being a brilliant classic rock track, it also pretty well sums up last weekend for the Baccus team, as the usual set of ‘technical issues’ meant that the shopping cart wasn’t set correctly to run our 10% off sale.   Although we have since fixed this, we’ve spent a good chunk of last week contacting customers who ordered over this period and correcting the problems.  

We’ve just about sorted things now, but it’s fairly obvious that a lot of people couldn’t place an order or were confused as to why the discounted prices weren’t in place.   As a result, we are extending the sale period over the weekend of 10th and 11th May, so if you want to take advantage of the offer, all prices on the Baccus shopping cart have been reduced by 10% until the morning of Monday 12th May.

Phew!   In all the excitement, we’ve still managed to sort out a magic number, which this week stands at #31834.

Spring Sale time!

As you all should know by now, Lindy has taken over the Baccus admin, and so has been in charge of laboriously changing every single price code on our system following the recent price increase.

However, the Sun is shining, the bees are buzzing, the buds are budding, the trees are blossoming and gloomy old winter is definitely behind us. To mark the general feeling of things getting a wee bit brighter, and to get my own back  on Lindy, we are having a short but sweet sale.

Joy of Six update

The end of the week means that it is time for the Baccus Magic Number, and this week it stands at #31725.  As always, there will be the odd order prior to this that will ship next week, and some that have actually got in ahead of time.

This week, we are talking Joy of Six 2026.

Easter holidays new releases

Many thanks to all who kept us busy at Salute last Saturday, and thanks also for putting up with the tech and payment issues. The show seems to have broken the Internet, which gave us multiple problems. Next year it will be back to a lockable cash box.

We had an entertaining if tiring day, but Salute, as always, lived up to expectations. Congrats to Per Broden and Charles Rowntree for both picking up well-deserved prizes for their outstanding games. I made a fashionably late entrance to the Panel discussion on small scale gaming, but the session was good fun.

There were a couple of recurring questions that came up during the day, but I’ll address those at the end of this piece, as it is new release time.

Salute is coming...

This week’s update is all about the mighty Salute which is well, LOOMING, on the horizon, but first we’ll enlighten all with the weekly magic number which stands at #31653.

As is usual, we will have a nice tranche of new releases to unveil at the Excel centre.   I listed what to expect from the Landsknechts last week, but a picture speaks a thousand words, so here are some nasty looking chaps armed with Zweihanders and a rather bad attitude…

Landsknechts going 'Bang'!

Good evening all.  Well, it's evening for me as I type this, so I guess you are all stuck with it no matter what time you choose to read these words.  The end of the week means that it is Baccus magic order number time, and this currently stands at #31588.   The good news is that we are accelerating turnover quite nicely and are catching up on the recent backlog of orders at a good rate.