Irregular Wars Wargaming

I need olive trees for my Bronze Age Aegean board - and indeed for all Mediterranean gaming. Olives are ubiquitous in the area now, and were in the past. However, the commercial options for wargamers are very limited, very expensive, and don't look overly like olive trees. What I'm looking for is something that has been grown and tended for generations. A gnarly, twisted, thick trunk, kept low to make harvesting the olives easier, with low hanging branches. So over the weekend I set out to make a proof of concept. The above picture is an olive grove around the Mycenaean tholos tomb at Amphissa, but any would do for inspiration. Starting with semi-flexible wire left over from a long forgotten project of my lad's, I twisted some rough shapes to use as armatures. Over these, I (further) twisted green stuff, making sure to have nice thick trunks and much thinner branches. Using an old knife and a plastic rod about 5mm in diameter, I smooshed and prodded until I had something th...

Find your niche, play your fantasy Irregular Wars Wargaming was born from a desire to play something different. To play historical games too niche to be a commercial success. To play fantasy games unshackled by somebody else’s world or the prescriptive demands to sell associated miniature ranges. To play games where the landscape drives decisions, and randomised events can allow even the most gamey players to snatch defeat from the jaws of glorious victory. With various tabletop wargames published through both Irregular Wars and Ganesha Games, my rules are designed to be engaging for all players throughout the game, employing randomised initiative with play passing quickly between players. They aim to create some degree of command friction, limiting the omnipotent control of the player and forcing interesting decision making. Above all, they are driven to be flexible, enabling players to build the armies, warbands, parties and fleets of their choice, applicable to whatever period or s...

New website, new ways to explore my rules, new resources! The web shop is now open and ready for business. https://irregularwars.com The Irregular Wars/Fantastic Battles/Devilry Afoot social media groups and pages, and this blog, will continue as normal of course, but the website offers a great resource going forwards. To celebrate the turning of the seasons and the approach of Halloween, you can use the code HALLOWEEN at the checkout to get 10% off anything in the store until 31st October . For those of you already embracing Devilry Afoot , the new Edge of Reason expansion is available free from the Free Downloads page on the site.

In a rare alignment of the stars, I have been working on a very simple game through work: Mountsandal , a game of hunting and gathering for 1-6 players. This game has been created to help engage Key Stage II and III pupils (8-13 year olds) with the history of Ireland’s first people. It was developed under the auspices of Causeway Coast and Glens Museum Service as part of The Royal Society’s Places of Science programme. In Mountsandel , players take on the role of Mesolithic people struggling to survive in Ireland almost 10,000 years ago. Living in the Middle Stone Age, at a time before farming or permanent homes, the Mesolithic people moved between different camps at different times of the year depending on what food they could hunt or gather. This game is named after the local archaeological site of Mountsandel, on the River Bann near the modern town of Coleraine. Mountsandel is the site of the earliest known settlement on the island of Ireland, dating back to around 7,...

And that's a wrap on 2024! It's been a busy and productive year for Irregular Wars Wargaming, and for hobbying in general. Devilry Afoot was launched back in the summer and word seems to be spreading as the game continues to pick up more and more players. The rules have consistantly been in the top 20 sellers on Wargame Vault since release, and has now reached Electrum Best Seller status (in the top 6.25% of sellers). I was gifted the headless horseman above (a Dragon Trappers Lodge 3D sculpt) by JB, and he might just hint at the first free expansion that will be coming for Devilry Afoot . Nothing too grand, just another monster profile with one or two new scenarios that will be made available to download through the Facebook group and slipped into the download pack on Wargame Vault. If that is popular there may well be more on the cards... Andrew and I completed out most ambitious project to date with the Seleukid army for Magnesia (190 BC), built to be compatible with severa...

I've recently been pottering away with some nicely shaped stones picked up in the highlands, and some greenstuff to make some scatter terrain. This little dolmen is on a 50x50mm base. Other than the addition of the flowers - it needed a dash of colour - it's been based to fit in with my Devilry Afoot minis. I tried, with middling success, to paint lichen on one side of the stones, and put more lush grass on that side of the monument as well. It'll not really be noticible on the table, but I'll know. :) I had already used some of the same highland stones to build a stone doorway onto a terrarium cave to make a fantastic barrow - as featured in the Devilry Afoot book.

After a pretty intense few months, I was lucky enough to pop o'er the water to Scotland for a wee break with the family. I was doubly lucky that my family are most happy scrambling over monuments in the middle of nowhere.  We went a little Pict/Iron Age/early Medieval crazy over the course of the break, visiting brochs, standing stones and hill forts the length of the highlands. Here are a couple of pictures that may inspire some miniature broch-builders out there... Dun Troddan Dun Toddan, near Glenelg, was the first broch we visited and probably the best preserved, standing 7.6m tall for almost a half of the circumference.  Dun Telve Dun Telve is only 500 metres down the glen from Dun Troddan. It's less well preserved overall, but stands taller at more than 10m. Cairn Liath On the opposite side of the highlands, Cairn Liath sits on the coast between Golspie and Brora. It's a lovely little broch with a well preserved outer wall and visible elements of other structures in t...

Work and other commitments have paused our Devilry Afoot campaign for a few weeks. While I've not had the chance to do much painting (I have just started my next Seleukid unit), I have been conceptualising my next project; more details on that in the future. Suffice to say, I need a few more minis! Looking for something different, I've been eyeing up the 3D printed kobold range from Warp Miniatures for a while. I love the style of the sculpts, and have been more than happy with the  Warp stuff I have painted in the past . Frustratingly I haven't yet joined the 3D-printer-owners'-society yet, so much of the of Warp Miniatures range was out of reach until I discovered BS5 Beyond Games .  I discovered they were licensed printers of some Warp ranges so asked them about the kobolds. They didn't do them a week ago, but they do now and Rowland and Alex were good enough to send me almost a dozen of the little beggars! I'm now the proud owner of a kobold magic-user and...

It was finding Tony Robinson's tales of the Trojan War (1986?) that really inspired my love of the classical world and started me on my journey as both an archaeologist and, I suppose, as a wargamer. Troy has always hovered on the edge of my hobby interests - often seeping into the centre, and I have built contemporary armies in three different scales in my time, 15mm Mycenaeans, 6mm Minoans, and most recently 28mm Trojans. Visiting the site really was going on pilgrimage, and getting to do it on a perfect day with the very finest of people (certainly in the top 5...) was truly amazing. There are 10 layers at Troy - I-VIIa are Bronze Age, VIII is Hellenistic, IX is Roman, and X is Byzantine. Most noise is made about Troy VI which would be the best match for the Troy of the  Iliad , but it is all very impressive. Troy II The grand entrance into the Troy II citadel. A wee sally port(?) off to the left of the Troy II entrance. Troy VI Northeast bastion. More fortifications! Principal ...