Irregular Wars Wargaming

The task given to Lieutenant James FitzJames (of the Cherrymount FitzJames') was a simple one. As Captain Hotspur had put it, "Get that bloody wagon moving!" Those parts of the trackway that were not riven with small gullies by the recent rains, had collected the water in broad stretches of sticky mud. Hotspur had taken most of the company on to Fort Heretostay, leaving the bookish FitzJames with a small detachment of men and impeded by a bogged wagon - not to mention the tiresome company of 'Mr' Thomas Hawks and his self entitled clutch of colonials. At least sergeants Maguire and Hamill had elected to stay behind to add a little practical experience to FitzJames' more theoretical learning. Rev. Cornelius Goodyeare had also decided to stay behind with the wagon to continue an ongoing discussion he had been having with FitzJames on the weight of angels relative to the density of clouds... FitzJames started off proceedings by suggesting the wagon would ge...

There must be something in the water, as I have just seen another great Faustus Furius post ! This time, Tim and family have been playing with jet bikes! It looks like they had a cracking race - even if some of the bikes had rather unfortunate turns of fortune. Do go have a read at Tim's Miniature Wargaming blog.

Coming late to the party, I have just seen that Chris over at Dispatches from the Front has embarked on a 6mm Faustus Furius project. The rest of his blog is well worth a look too! Well done that man!

This weekend we played the first game of Hail Caesar  we have had in quite a while.  I took on the role of Pyrrhos, the 6mm king of Epeiros and hegemon of the Greeks of Italy and Sicily. My noble opponent, Jameel Barcar (JB for short), led the forces of Carthage. The prize of our contest - control of Sicily and bragging rights. Above you can see the brave Epeirots, their subjects and allies lined up on the lower left of the picture, while the Punic forces and their mercenaries are aligned along the top and right. My orber of battle is spread-sheeted below, but suffice to say, from left to right I had a command of Oscan light infantry supported by my elephants, a central command of pikemen and hoplites, and a mobile strike command on the right led by Pyrrhos and consisting of all my cavalry supported by two small units of hillmen. It should be noted that we give regular divisional commanders a command value of 9 to keep the game rolling, and give all light infantry and ...

It is some time since my post on bunny comparisons , but my Scotia Grendel rabbits arrived this week and have just been painted. Also for the viewing is a mongrel from Black Cat Bases. Snogg, the most comical and perpetually least impressive of my prehistoric hunting party is shown for scale. From the beginning of this project I have been looking for a Dogmatix/Idefix style hound to accompany my hunting party. This wee mutt from Black Cat is the closest I have found to fit the bill. In honour of his exemplar, I think I'll call him Idd (Dogg being already taken by his more wolfish [distant] cousin).  And on to the bunnies. These Scotia Grendel rabbits are pretty perfect for the look of my particular cavemen. Considering the huge cost, I was worried that they may well be far over-sized. Imagine my pleasant surprise then to see that they are, in fact, pretty tiny. Snogg on measures 20mm to the eye and these guys look pretty ok scale wise next to him. The sculpting is quite...

Gareth Nicholas is a fine digital 'sculptor' who creates his own amazing miniatures and has them 3D printed. He has a wee shop page on Shapeways - Small Ox Miniatures - where you can order prints of his designs. He has previously shown a few of his 15mm sculpts on the Song of Blades and Heroes FriendFace page and I've always been impressed by his work; it doesn't half help that he is an utterly splendid painter as well. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that he has just shown off his recent designs of 1/900 scale ships for Galleys & Galleons - three designs each (so far) for humans and elves. Try to look past the fantastic brush work and enjoy the great detail in those tiny wee ships. I think they are really charming and well worth looking into if you are embarking on a new Galleys & Galleons journey, or if you already sail in 1/900 and want to pick up a few more vessels. You can find more close up shots of the vessels on Gareth's own blog...

Every year, the Ellis Tech Simulation Club (Danielson Connecticut) sponsors a family game night to welcome non and casual gamers in and teach some games and generally encourage community interaction. Even though Tim is not an alumnus of either Ellis Tech or the sim club, he was invited to head down and run some games of Galleys & Galleons . Check out the full right up over at his blog HERE .