Irregular Wars Wargaming

I've been telling myself for sometime that I needed to do a video showcase of some of my Fantastic Battles armies. However, as I may have mentioned before, I am confident in neither my production nor editing skills (it shows!) so it has taken a while to work up to pulling something together. This may be a one off, or the first of several. We'll have to see... Meanwhile, this has taken its mental toll, and it is most definately hygge time, so I am away.  Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas and New Year!

Jim and I met for a nail-biting 28mm Fantastic Battles clash between my halflings of Beerenburg, and his ferocious orc horde - coming in at 1200 points per side. The halfling breakpoint was a bit short (get it...?) at just 11, while the orcs had a massive breakpoint of 17. As the defender, Jim lay out the battlefield and deployed deep, massing archers, boar riders and a couple of elite units on his right (top left of photo), with a large unit of ogres in the centre, supported by a horde of big orcs with heavy melee weapons to their left, and a rabble in horde formation behind. His left flank (top right of photo) consisted of archers and orcs with long spears in column. The halfling line was very short and thin by comparison. From left to right were the heavily armed and armoured dismounted burghers, a mercenary giant, the Alchemists' Guild artillery, massed archers of the Mercers' and Tailor's guilds, Brewers' Guild archers, mounted burghers, urchin slingers, Cutler...

This wee chap brings us  (again)  to the end of Beerenburg's recruitment process (for now). A fourth captain for the army, he brings the Fantastic Battles halfling burgher army up to 1185 points, leaving 15 points to play around with different strategies and relics. The intrepid miniature is sold by Grimforge and scales perfectly with GW and TAG halflings. And here is the full army on paper (above), and in their box (below), ready for their next outing!

I've now completed two more bases to support the halflings of Beerenburg. They still need to be varnished, but the weather is humid for the forseeable and I'm not willing to risk spraying them at the moment, so please forgive their shine! The first is this pustulent chap - a second mercenary giant to strong-arm the opposition. He is a 3d sculpt from Dark Realms, sold as an ogre executioner. I have him printed oversize - as big as possible to fit in my army box. Here he is with my existing giant for scale. I think they work fairly well together. I've also prepared a second company of mounted burghers to stiffen the resolve and double the punch of the exisiting company. These are, of course, from The Assault Group. Here they are banding together with their fellow burghers.

Following their recent defeat by an army of landsknechts, and the subisquent unchecked inflation in the pike-staff market , the halfling burgers of Beerenburg took to the field of battle again to try to moderate the market more in their favour. The Landsknecht army (top) was unchanged; from left to right: two two-company units of handgunners, two company unit of ogres, three-company unit of knights, three three-company units of drilled pikemen, giant, and steamtank.  The burgers (bottom) altered their order of battle slightly, running from left to right: four-company unit of archers, single company of mounted burgers, three-company unit of dismounted burghers, three-company unit of archers, two-company battery of hackbuts, two-company unit of slingers, giant, and a two-company unit of fast swordsmen. Thanks to their quartermaster, the burghers suffered no mishaps ahead of the fight. Among the landsknechts, both units of handgunners were enthusiastic and one unit of pikemen were lat...

Continuing to give my Fantastic Battles halfling burghers more options - and working towards 1200 points - I am pleased the showcase the brave archers of the Honourable Company of Mercers, purveyors of silks and other fine cloths. They can be fielded as a two-company unit, or be brigaded with the Tailors' Guild to form a four-company unit.    I suspect many readers will immediately recognise the figures in this unit as being Games Workshop's halflings from the 1990s. It was these halflings which first drew me to fantasy wargaming as a child and in my hotch-potch Warhammer 4th ed. Empire army, I think my halflings were the only unit I ever completely painted. They were sold off towards the end of the 90s with all my other GW stuff, but I always held them and their ridiculous clothing close to my heart. Jump forward 25 year, and after several weeks scouring eBay, the unit is re-born in the form of the Mercers' Guild.  I have a mixed relationship with nostalgia, but this ye...

What's this?! What's this?! More Beerenburgers? Sometimes 1,000 points worth of halflings just isn't enough. Here we find a merchant adventurer, a stealthy gentleman of fortune with a marvelous moustache; in short (pun intended), a rogue. This wee gentleman is made up of a spare TAG halfling body with a head from the TAG halfling command - I had intentionally avoided the head because I don't like halflings with moustaches! A greenstuff ruff hid the gaps around the neck, while the hands were pinched from assorted other minis in the bits box. The dagger is a cut down Mycenaean sword, and the coin is a bit of greenstuff, as is the bulging bag tied to his belt. No one is quite sure whether the moustache is real or some sort of ridiculous disguise. Scurrilous rumours from the darkest corners of society suggest it might even be made out of excess foot hair!

This week's hobby time saw a 1,000 point negotiation between the halflings of Beerenburg and a mercenary force raised by a trade competitor to discuss the price of pike-staves. Beerenburg's reluctance to buy at the price demanded had led to a bottleneck in the supply chain and a surplus of pikes sitting around un-wielded - a fact the mercenaries obviously chose to rectify. Andrew's landsknechts were the attackers, deployed in accordance with his linear tactical doctrine. My halflings were the smaller army and made use of the defender's deeper deployment zone to form up in two lines with flanks protected by a wood on the left, and fields on the right. Note the plague doctor (rogue) off by himself at the bottom of the picture. Both those rounded hills contained troll-hoards and I planned to make the most of them. There were relatively few mishaps following deployment with just a touch of disease here and there. The halflings' giant was overly enthusiastic, and the mer...