Irregular Wars Wargaming

Andrew and I continued to test the Fantastic Scuffles campaign system last week ( following on from this earlier game ), playing two more encounters between my Itinerant Adventurers, and Andrew's Restless Dead. For the second encounter of the campaign, the parties were the same as the first. There were just three adventurers: Crom the ogre warrior, Balthazar the seer, and Lyra the halfling rogue. Facing them were two undead characters: the bloodless king (a warrior) and the mummified priestess (a seer), along with three minions with swords and large shields. Balthazar carried a hand wound over from the previous encounter, while the bloodless king had a lasting leg wound. Rolling for objectives, the adventurers had a contract to hunt down any opposing seers and take them out of action, while the undead were searching for a hidden treasure located near one of the gate pillars of the little walled shrine (centre bottom in the photo above).  Advancing boldly, the undead priestess move...

Between work and other commitments, I have not managed a lot of painting recently. This weekend, however, I did get the first three-company unit painted for my Fantastic Battles 10mm post-Roman British army. These are from the Pendraken Late Roman range. Well armoured and carrying spears, swords and shields, in-game, these will be a built as an elite company, probably also using the mounted, barrage and skirmisher traits to allow then to dash forwards and away, hurling their spears, but still able to hold their own in a melee. As this is the first unit of a new army, I have provided rather too many photos. As I become more jaded, I'm sure I will suffice with just one photo per unit! The shields are inspired by one of the designs in the Notitia Dignitatum showing a stylised dog/wolf/dragon head. The exemplar has a wee Christ/saint's head off to the right - not something I felt confident of attempting on shield less than 5mm across.  Horse butts...

This week it was great to catch up with Andy T, an old gaming mate I haven't seen in person in years; certainly not since before Covid. We got in two games of Fantastic Scuffles over the evening - one with 200 point parties, and one with 100 points. The first match up saw my gnomes with a blood feud trying to slay one of Andy's ruffians (the toughest one with all the armour a luck would have it!), while his ne'er-do-wells were trying to get a message across the board. Rolling for environmental conditions, the weather was fine, but it was dark, hampering all our dice rolls. This was my first time running the gnomes (although they have been out before under Jim's command), and it took a couple of turns to work out the best strategy for using the vehicle rules. I was just getting used to the concept indeed when a thug with a great axe split the poor bunny chariot in half, ending the experiment.  My poor gnomes were quite unprepared for the amount of hand-to-hand combat th...

Wayward sisters, you that fright The lonely traveller by night. Who, like dismal ravens crying, Beat the windows of the dying, Appear! Appear at my call, and share in the fame Of a mischief shall make all Carthage Frommage flame Appear! It’s the evening after May Day and so time for more Devilry. This time the local coven of Witches (the Fineshade Ladies’ Progressive Association) has been bolstered by some visitors from the South, who are working on a new form of witchcraft they plan to try out on the Great Wen in the future. Enough with the sour milk and stuck doors, it’s time to get serious. And Frommage will be the first test of this new mischief. Tonight’s cast is … The Witches (Photo #1) There are 4 Witches, shown here with their Imps. The wolves are to show that when they change shape all the Witches assume Wolf form. The Hunters (Photo #2) Only two Watch members are on duty tonight, following a mysterious outbreak of stomach ache among other Watchfolk. Hmmm. But they have some...

  After an objectively Sisyphean week/month/quarter at work, it was a delightful moment when my new 10mm beauties arrived from Pendraken Miniatures on Friday. These are the start of a new Post-Roman British army for Fantastic Battles .  Expect sporadic updates for many months to come!