Irregular Wars Wargaming

A year ago, at the SBG DBA Historical comp, I managed (through little fault of my own) to be declared the Imperator (HERE)  and got my name on a plaque. This year I wasn't quite so lucky - or skilled -  and managed a measly two draws and three losses... This Imperator has certainly misplaced his mojo. Well done to Martin for bringing home the proverbial bacon and ensuring that none of the previous winners got their name on the plaque a second time. I lead Alexander's Macedonians to their Paionian doom.... My Early Samurai stall the Koreans to a draw. An Athenian expeditionary force is crushed in Thrace. A reprise in which I led the Paionian defence against Macedonia - and drew. Another Paionian/Macedonian reprise in which I managed to scrape defeat from the jaws of victory An unexpected discovery this time round is that most people have a secret fear of psiloi. Both playing a psiloi army and having also te...

The sad news of more civilian deaths in Syria reminds me of how much I have always enjoyed my time there. In a very small (literally and figuratively) homage, I present my Late Seleukid BUA and a couple of scenic photos from Syria and Antioch in Turkey. The base is cut from cork tile, the buildings made from Fimo  - including the golden bull modeled by my wife. The temple and altar are situated on the highground above the agora which is provided with a colonnaded stoa  and council buildings. It was first used at MOAB last year but I'll certainly try to use it more throughout this year. Damascus Antioch Bosra Kyrrhos Palmyra Apameia

Every year, my local club, the Southern Battle Gamers < location HERE > run two DBA matched pairs competitions plus the MOAB two day event, all hosted by Mr Steve Webb. The first of this years copetitions will be on Sunday 4th March. The following notice is re-posted from Steve's announcement at the Southern Battle Gamers website < original HERE >. To be played on Sunday 4th March and Sunday 5th August, from 10am until completed. Do you have what it takes to become the latest Imperator? That's right, the winner gets there name added to the Trophy listing the Southern Battle Gamer's Imperators. Join Mark Stevens, Nic Wright and myself.  Each competition will consist of five rounds. Each player will provide two armies that are historical enemies as per the v2.2 lists, preferably balanced. You will note that this allows you to bring two armies of any figure size and any base size, as long as both are the same. Players will be ranked during ...

The Southern Battle Gamers host MOAB (Mother of all Battlegames) over the three-day October long weekend each year  (see HERE) . This year I was only able to attend the Saturday and took part in the DBA historical matched pairs competition. On the Sunday there was a AD 1067 campaign, but I was pre-booked to drink bier and eat suspiciously shaped German sausages to welcome in Oktober... The main hall early on Saturday morning... before it got rowdy. The many many MOAB events take place over three floors of a gymnasium/hall/basketball court. The main floor including stage (pictured), a mezzanine (sort of in the picture), a basement and a bunch of rooms out the back. All manner of games are on offer as competitions, for demonstrations and participation. No Conflict at the World's End this year, but I might see if we can't have a couple of games on the go next year. In the historic matched pairs competition I managed to scrape into 9th place out of ten entrants. No...

Antiochos VIII Grypos (Hooknose) 125-96 BC As most DBA players would be aware, evolving lists have been posted and made available through Fanaticus ( HERE somewhere ) for some time now. Back in July, I caught on to this and had a look at the Seleukid list (II/19) to see what changes had occurred and was relatively pleased with some things, rather concerned by others. I shot off the following email to Sue Laflin-Barker   at WRG: Dear Sue, Apologies for not being in touch sooner. I have been snowed under with work (and fatherhood) over the last six months and have only just seen the suggested DBA 3.0 army lists. I have a couple of comments or suggestions for the Seleukid lists (II/19) that I feel qualified to make. i) While I'm glad to see the Seleukid list finally being continued dow to the date of Pompey's dissolution of the Sleukid kingdom, the event happened in 64 BC, not 69 BC. ii) Sekunda's volume on the Seleukid army is very flawed and not regarded very highly am...

In order to use my Paionian figures < here > in battle against my beloved late Seleukids, I picked up and painted three extra elements that will allow me to convert the bulk of the army into a mercenary army in the service of Pergamon - DBA v.2.2 list II/34. The Pergamene army list allows 1x3Kn (Gen), 1x2LH, 1x3CV, 6x4Ax or 6x2Ps, 2x2Ps, 1x4Wb or 4 Ax. By keeping 1x2LH and 8x2Ps of my Paionians, I only had to paint up 1 elemnt each of Kn, Cv and Wb. Pergamene reinforcements The knight general Galatian cavalry Galatian warband The original Paionian host

I've had a couple of days off from work and have managed to take a few more photos of my various completed projects. The first up is my Paionian army for DBA.  The Paionians (or Paeonians if your a dirty Romanist) were a tribal kingdom in the middle Balkans, wedged between the Macedonians, Illyrians, Thracians and Dardanians - (very) roughly the area of the modern FYROM. The capital of the kingdom (and later Macedonian province) was Bylazora, a site excavated by an American team for the last few years --->  see here DBA v.2.2 dates the Paionians between 512 and 284 BC, covering the period from the first Persian conquests of the eastern Paionians until Lysimachos' attempted conquests. The list doesn't cover the later period of the kingdom for a reason only  the good people at WRG could explain. The army list allows 1x2LH or 3Ax (Gen), 1x2LH, 8x2Ps or 3Ax, 2x2Ps. I went for the maximum light horse/psiloi option when painting up my army. I have the figu...

The Southern Battle Gamers in southern Sydney hosts two DBA historical competitions per year - in March and August. Each player brings along matched pairs of armies so historical opposition is guaranteed. I managed to fluke a series of glorious victories in August last year and managed to get my name on the new board. However, since then I've been afflicted by the 'Imperator's Curse'. No one has won the historical comp twice in a row. In the March comp. this year (last week), Steve Webb was the imperator, I scraped in a low second... Below are a selection of the armies in play this round. There were a couple others which I didn't get any pictures of. Polybian Roman vs Late Carthagian Marian Roman vs Slave Revolt Hundred Years War English vs Feudal French Late Seleukids vs Attalid Pergamene Late Achaemenid Persian vs Later Athenian

This was the first army I painted when I started up wargaming again last year. The paint scheme was simple so they turned out ok, but I think I've improved a little since then. They were bought to be the foil for my Seleukids - and have a surprising success rate. The figures are 15mm Xyston, the tent is Baueda. I wanted to run an army of Ituraeans, an Arab group who controlled the Beqqa valley and much of the surrounding highlands (Lebanon, Antilebanon, Gaulan, Auranitis, Trachiontis etc) during the later part of the Hellenistic period. The historical sources are all rather hostile, but its quite clear that they were a major power of the Levant in the 1st century BC. From c.115-20 BC, the Ituraeans fought and allied with the Seleukids, Hasmonaeans, Nabataeans and autonomous cities, to a lesser degree against the Romans, and almost certainly with Emesa and the nomadic Arabic Skenitai. They are one of the more important states to be considered not important enough by WRG to...

The bulwark of Seleukid power was the military, particularly the royal army. The support of the army enabled Seleukos I to establish himself first as satrap of Babylon and later as king – none of his successors were able to maintain their position without the army’s support. As a body, the army provides a second insight into the ethnic composition of the population living under the kings. Unfortunately the extant historical sources, deficient at the best of times in regards to the Seleukids, provide the modern scholar with only three detailed breakdowns (listing nationalities and numbers) of the Seleukid order of battle. Of these, two represent the army in pitched battle (Raphia, 217 BC and Magnesia, 190 BC), the other is a description of a festive military parade (Daphne, 167 BC). That said, the three examples taken together can be used to extract a great deal of information regarding the sources of manpower in the royal army during the late third and early second centuries BC. ...

Here is my late Seleukid DBA army - this was the army which sucked me back into wargaming. They are 15mm, the figures are Xyston, the tent is Baueda. I rarely win with them, but that's ok - I'm devoted to the history not the victories....  <holding back tears> 1x4Kn (Gen), 1x4Kn, 1x2LH, 1x4Bd, 4x4Pk, 1x4Ax, 3x2 Ps. The latest Seleukid list covers the period 166-83 BC. The dates really do seem very arbitrary - the start date is in the middle of the reign of Antiochos IV Epiphanies, and the end date is 19 years before the end of the Seleukid kingdom. It used to be believed that the Seleukid territories were conquered by Tigranes II in 83 BC, but it has now been established that he did not take Antioch until 75/4 BC, Damascus (which was probably the capital of Kleopatra Selene and Antiochos XIII) until 72 BC, or Ake-Ptolemais until 69 BC. The Seleukids were then re-installed in Antioch from 69-64 BC. Never mind. DBA is an abstract enough system that I suppose real dates ...