Irregular Wars Wargaming

In Ilium: A Game of Heroes , players take on the role of mighty Homeric heroes, each supported by a contingent of followers, as they compete for Kleos (κλέος) – deeds of renown that will have their names remembered through time. Each player will normally control between 12 and 28 models whose management at key moments will be crucial in securing Kleos. Glory, not survival, will dictate victory. Every group and every person approaches rules a different way, so it is always essential to explore different perspectives. Therefore, having worked steadfastly to bring the rules to a stable point, we are now looking for a small number outside playtesters to have a look. Ilium: A Game of Heroes  is written as a two player game with flexibility to allow additional players. Playtesters will need approximately 28 models each to represent the Achaean and Trojan heroes and their promachoi, a 24" (60cm) square playing area, and a couple of d10s. Playtesters should be able to commit to playin...

We took  Ilium: A Game of Heroes  out for another run this week. I'm not normally keen on showing games with unfinished minis, but the game is in a good place and, fired by enthusiasm, I thought I'd share a glimpse. We played the standard Battle on the Plains scenario, pitching three heroes and their accompanying promachoi against each other between the main army lines. I started with Helenos, prince of Troy, and the Amazon queen, Penthesileia. Andrew started with Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and Ajax, prince of Salamis.  As the initial contingents clashed on the right of the plain, reinforcements arrived in the form of Aeneas and his Dardanians on the one side, and Achilles and his Myrmidons on the other.  The gods were very attentive, intervening early in the battle. Apollo sent a plague to weaken the Achaean promachoi, while Athena took the form of the lesser Ajax before being driven off by Penthesileia. Penthesileia and Helenos then focused their attacks on Agamem...

Continuing to flesh out my Trojan contingents, I finished up a couple of archers to join with Helenos and his warriors.  I wanted to have an aesthetic difference between my Trojans and any future Achaeans, so I didn't want to go for Minoan/Mycenaean archers and instead stuck with Eureka Miniatures. Rather than the clean-shaven nudie boys of the Late Bronze Age Greeks, I decided to bend the rules slightly and pick up some Chaldeans. They are not of the same sculpting quality as the LBA Greeks, but with the same painting, colour scheme and basing, they do the trick and fit right in. I've also been working on a bit more terrain - this time some rocky outcrop obstructions. Using rocks picked up on a walk, I did the most wargamery thing possible and painted the rocks, to look like rocks. I think they work rather well! Meanwhile, the first complete draft of the rules is ready and undergoing a first proof before playtesting begins in earnest.

Following on from l ast week's post , I have now finished my attempt at 28mm olive trees. These are the four trunks I made earlier, undercoated dark green, over-brushed dark brown, dry bushed with a mix of dark brown and light grey. The foliage is Woodland Scenics fine leaf foliage which is pretty great stuff. Having said that, it was a pain to glue on, and it remains to be seen how robust it will be with use. Bases were done with the same AK Interactive sand and tufts that I've used on other scenery and model bases to give a sense of uniformity. I also took a couple of branches of the WS fine leaf foliage to make some olive saplings starting to emerge from two of my ruined building bases. This is now the extent of the scatter terrain being made specifically for this project. I've two more buildings and some rocky outcrops ready to undercoat and then I'll start looking for a 2' long section of city walls. When required for the specific scenario, my lad has a wooden ...

I ran a fun introductory game of the Wolves in Sheeps' Clothing scenario for Devilry Afoot this week for Andrew and Roger up at Clare Gaming. The werewolves emerged as far from the hunters as possible, and savaged two of the innocents before the others scattered.    One of the werewolves was killed, while the other survived, if barely. Of the four hunters, two were taken out of action. Both survived, one bearing a lasting leg wound, and both now have the wolf-bitten secret. The other two hunters both fled the scene unwounded. Great craic!

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...

First post of 2026, and my first painted miniatures of the second quarter of the 21st century! Here we continue with the project to build 28mm heroes and contingents for the Trojan War with Helenos, the prince of Troy and favourite of Apollo. All miniatures are from the Eureka Miniatures Bronze Age Greeks range. These four warriors will forming the core of Helenos' promachoi. They have come to me third-hand, and it is great to be putting them to good use. The chap on the left had a broken plume which has been substituted for another, more robust one I just happened to have lying around.  I went with a red and white theme this time - although I am aware that my 'red' is more terracotta. Simply put, I care not; I like it. The bow-armed promachoi have been ordered, along with a bunch of other bits and pieces for the project, from Eureka. Helenos himself is the Greek Priest model from the range and works well as a princeling calling on his patron deity or reading the flight of ...

For the last wargaming night of the year, Andrew and I caught up for a chat and a pint, talked through the immediate project for 2026, and played a sci-fi game of Fantastic Scuffles with weapons and traits sub'd out for guns etc for a laugh. Anyone familiar with Fantastic Scuffles will hopefully be able to see the basic parallels and this may well be something that is made an official free download in future.  Three characters and two fireteams of the Flores Minor Ranger Corps (halflings in space) went up against six characters from a zealous band of witch hunters (space witch hunters!).  The FMRC were led by Skipper, a 'tactical', supported by the 'recon' Sarge, and 'pychic', Psych. The two fireteams were identical (Alpha and Bravo), each containing four cannon fodder, one with assault pistol and grenades, two shotguns, and one heavy machine gun. The imaginatively named witch hunters were led by a tactical, Lady Mace, supported by three other tacticals: H...

In the dying days of 2025, we look back 3,200 years(ish), to the dying days of mighty Ilium and present some 28mm fallen heroes. So much of the fighting in the Iliad is conducted over the bodies of dead or wounded kings, princes and captains, so it was clear that I was going to need a few bodies to contest. There are not a lot of options for 28mm Mycenaean/Trojan casualties. I could find only Redoubt and Old Glory. With the Redoubt shop not operating properly and various reports from other wargamers that the owner has been overwhelmed with orders and working with a long delay, I placed an order for Old Glory. The pack arrived pretty quickly, and has an interesting range of sculpts: four prone casualties (three of each), and two wounded standing sculpts - at least I think there were two, I didn't pay a lot of attention as I only wanted fallen figures. None of the figures are particularly kingly looking, but I tried to keep the colours bold and bright, and gave then all bronze belts...