Irregular Wars Wargaming

Here are summaries of two recent playthroughs of the Trojan Horse scenario for Ilium: A Game of Heroes . The scenario is modelled on book 8 of the Odyssey , the  Aeneid  book 2, and books 12-13 of the Posthomerica . Note that both games were 'ahistorical' because we were using heroes and contingents we had on hand, some of whom are generally regarded as having died before Odysseus has his great idea to shove a bunch of lads into a wooden horse. ***** In the first of these games, I was playing the heroic/party-befuddled Trojans, with three contingents spread out across the table, while Laura ran the whiley Achaeans, silently waiting inside the belly of the horse and beyond the gates.  Idomeneus and his Cretan promarchoi were the first to descend from the Trojan Horse. While the Trojans slowly became aware there was an issue, the Cretans rushed towards the guards at the gate. After a brief scuffle, the guards were dispatched, and the Cretans wrenched open the gates. Ba...

Sing, goddess, of the anger of Achilles, son of Peleus, the accursed anger which brought uncounted anguish on the Achaeans and hurled down to Hades many mighty souls of heroes, making their bodies the prey to dogs and the birds’ feasting … Homer, The Iliad 1.1-4 The final - and arguably most famous - contingent that I'll be painting up before the release of Ilium: A Game of Heroes hails from Phthia in southern Thessaly. Led by Achilles, the only son of King Peleus, here are the Myrmidons. All are splendid 28mm sculpts from Lucid Eye Miniatures. The sculpt chosen to be Achilles is actually one of the regular Myrmidons from the Myrmidon 2 pack from Lucid Eye. However, all the Lucid Eye models are sculpted to the same high quality and he utilises the fancier armour and kilt body that was originally sculpted to be Achilles anyway, but with what I felt to be a more commanding presence. I used the figure named as Achilles (on the left) to be my Patroklos. He too has fancy armour, and h...

At the start of the month we braved the July heat to return to Greece - this time, to explore some of the sites across (and around) the plain of Argos. The region is packed full of amazing archaeological sites and some lovely smaller museums. Here are a few of the sites and sights that we visited that could be inspiring for wargamers/builders of model Bronze Age walls... Bronze Age/Late Helladic sites in the area were the focus of our trip and really it was a bit of a study of cyclopaean architecture. There are four very impressive Mycenaean citadels overlooking the Argive plain. Mycene to the north, Midea to the east, Tiryns to the south, and Argos to the west. From book 2 of the Iliad we know that Agamemnon was supposed to have ruled at Mycenae (and further north), while Argos and Tiryns were ruled by Diomedes. Midea is not mentioned in the Iliad , but feels more at home with Argos and Tiryns. Mycenae Lion Gate and cyclopaean walls. Modern guardian of the gate. Grave Circle A, where...

Fine tuning the Ilium rules for various scenarios, we returned to the Night Mission last week with the Trojan cousins, Helenos and Aeneas, sneaking into the Achaean camp to steal the horses of the Cretan king, Idomeneus. The Trojan heroes arrived at the edge of Machaon's campfire (top right). Having the good fortune to activate both heroes before an Achaean so much as coughed, they stealthily killed three of Machaon's sleeping promachoi and his sentry, ensuring that no warning could be raised in the first turn. They next sprang on Machaon, taking him by surprise and wounding him before he had even stood up. The Thessalian lord tried to fight back, but it was to no avail and he fell to the combined attacks of the Trojan princes. As Helenos finished off the last of the sleeping Thessalians, the cautious Athenian sentry from Menestheus' camp caught sight of the Trojan prince. Helenos fired his bow, but it was a very literal shot in the dark and went wide. Idomeneus' sentr...