Irregular Wars Wargaming

Mark returns to ancient Pattayavium for some Song of Shadows and Dust ... *** The Fraternity of Bakers in Pattayavium is not a large body. In fact it is restricted to only two families, headed by the brothers Autolycus and Lysias, who are responsible for baking bread for those Helleno-Roman expats who have not gone native culinary-wise. They and their families and workers live in a close knit community near the potteries, clustered around the grain stores and large ovens which obviously are central to the business (Photo #1, looking NE). Unfortunately things are not well between the brothers. Lysias, the younger, who has always been aggressive and impulsive, has taken to heavy drinking and gambling. He is deep in debt to shady characters who have encouraged him to believe Autolycus is planning to cut him out of the trade. Things come to a head one morning around dawn, when not many civilians are yet on the streets but obviously the bakers are hard at work. Lysias shows up with a gang o...

The next contingent of Achaeans for Ilium: A Game of Heroes is ostensibly Menestheus, king of Athens, supported by promachoi in the form of four shield-bearers and two archers. In practice he could represent any number of Achaean heroes. As with my other Achaeans, these are all Wargames Foundry 28mm Mycenaeans. Menestheus, son of Peteus, king of Athens. Achaean shield-bearers. Achaean archers. Also completed recently is an Achaean charioteer. The driver is a converted Wargames Foundry Mycenaean warrior, riding in a Wargames Atlantic chariot.

Mark returns to Frommage for some more Devilry Afoot : ************* “ Reportes are abroade as far as Leicester and Northampton, that the Mummers are returned into Rutland shire. Folke are wondering greatly, as such have not been seene in that countrie since Elizabeth was yet living. Time out of mind their visitation has always heralded a mighty battle against some devilry afoote. May God protect us [etc etc] ” (Diary of John Paston, entry for 29 April 1626. Northamptonshire Record Office). ************* Here’s a coloured woodcut of the Redshanks, as these Mummers are popularly known. No-one knows who they really are or whence they come and go (Photo #1). The Mummers (Hunters) are as follows. Obviously the models are not WYSIWYG. You should assume they are equipped with arcane musical and guising powers that can baffle the minions of the Devil, best represented by the conventional weapons etc they are said to carry. Thomas Hobbes (green ribbon shirt) Goodman: Devout, Penitent. Slovenl...

With possibly one of the strangest blog titles yet, Orc joins the Bedtimes Children! This is a 3d printed miniature technically called Orkbubu Labubork, available as a .stl file from DakkaDakkaStore on Thingiverse - although I bought a printed copy on Etsy. I call him Orc. Bedtime's Children are a tribe of survivors of the Great Fall, dressed in their nightwear, ever prepared for the inevitable long sleep that comes to everyone in the end. Orc fits right in, packing quite a bit of heat to boot!

It's been a little while since I've given any sort of update for Irregular Wars Wargaming projects, so here's the current state of play. *** I spent much of the day with Andy T filming a playthrough of Fantastic Scuffles , so that will be available in the coming weeks to give people a taste of the game play. It was a close fought scuffle, and I won't spoil it by saying who smote whom. *** For those of you based on this island, I have aspirations to run some demo/participation games at Gaelcon 38 in Dublin at the end of October. This would be my first 'proper' wargaming convention, so fingers crossed! *** I continue to dabble with the new two-player campaign variant for Fantastic Battle . It is not forgotten, just nudged aside by a couple of other projects for the time being. *** The new title, Ilium: A Game of Heroes , is nearing completion. A bit more playtesting and photography still to do, but August/September looks like a likely release date. Note however, t...

This contingent for  Ilium: A Game of Heroes  was built to represent the men of Trikka led by Machaon. Machaon and his younger brother Podaleirios were sons of Asklepios, the god of healing. Leaders of the men of western Thessaly, they are competent warriors but most valued for their skills as healers.  At a pinch it could represent any number of Achaian contingents and I suspect it will double as Odysseus and his Ithakans during playtesting. All models are 28mm Wargames Foundry Mycenaeans. Machaon, son of Asklepios, Lord of Trikka. Thessalian warrior promachoi. Thessalian archer promachoi.

I may have accidentally added an armoured personnel carrier to the Flores Minor Ranger Corp... This is Wombat 3, the newest support unit for my sci-fi halflings.  I say 'accidentally', as I wasn't really meaning to do this at all. We have just got a SLA 3D printer at work, and I was playing around with scaling models and layer levels when I came across the wheeled APC on Thingiverse, designed by Kristopher Wall .  Turns out, I really loved the model and scaled it appropriately for my halfies, just in case the print quality was good enough. At 0.16mm layers, this took a few hours to print, but the quality is first class! And thus Wombat 3 was printed - and got an immediate coat of paint along with a tank commander from Max Mini's line of space halflings. Here it is next to a Max Mini commander, and a converted special operative in powered armour. The APC itself is on a 60x80mm base - mainly for storage purposes. Now I want it to carry a fireteam into battle.  Now I want...