Irregular Wars Wargaming

In the process of playtesting Faustus Furius , I collected two examples of each class of chariot in the game, leaving me with 14 chariots in all (including the flying carpet). Each chariot that I had was then used as inspiration for the turn order cards illustrated by local artist and gamer, Ewan Robinson. Above you can see three of my racers - they've all been seen before, except now I have dry brushed some buff paint over the sand on the bases. This lightens the base, makes the figures pop a bit more (otherwise there is a whole lot of brown) and works better with my buff coloured racing track.  Enter the wee lad. He is almost seven, and has recently started sowing an interest in daddy's figures. Rather than just buy him some figures with no purpose, I showed him a few of my games and asked what sort of figures he might like to play a game with. He'd just watched Radagast in the Hobbit movie trilogy, and liked the idea of of a chariot. He also liked the idea of spide...

The year is 145 BC. Alexander Balas sits uneasily on the Seleukid throne in Antioch. The issue of his bastardy had been resolved through a marriage alliance with Ptolemaic Egypt, but now, as he grew tired of Ptolemaic interference, the court at Alexandria turns its eyes to his young cousin Demetrios Nikator.  Demetrios, with Egyptian money, experienced Cretan mercenary generals and a large body of soldiers for hire, has landed in Kilikia. Alexander sends word to his Arab allies, and prepares for war. The forces deploy somewhere along the north Syrian coast. Demetrios' mercenaries come down from the north (on the right). Leading the massed heavy infantry himself, Demetrios anchors the western flank on the coastline. One of his mercenary commanders brings the light infantry and elephants up behind, while to the other commander leads the cavalry to the east. The far east flank is protected by a steep hill. Alexander's forces have marched up the coast from the south (on...

... and Edu from Hetairoi Wargames has now completed all eight bouts of his great gladiatorial rumbustification using my card and dice driven gladiator rules, Blood, Sweat and Cheers . In case you missed it, the classic match up between the thraex Hermes and Crixus the murmillo was a real nail biter. Read about it HERE . The final fight saw Scorpus the retiarius take on the two secutors Flamma and Astivus. The retiarius had the high ground, but would that be enough? You can find out how he got on HERE . As for the winnings, the results speak for themselves really. All participants started with 100 sestertii and had to place bets on all matches. Delighted to have come out with a positive result; I certainly never expected to win considering I placed my bets according to which gladiator models I likes the best! The winner (or in this case, Tonijor, the runner up) gets a copy of the print and play rules courtesy of Ganesha Games.

I am a wargamer. Therefore, I am inherently restless. I have enough projects* going on at the moment, but still wanted to do some hobbying with a change of emphasis. With that in mind, I decided to build some more scatter terrain. This is the first time I have made a terrain in any quantity since 2012, back when the world made more sense, and I posted what would go on to be one of my most popular posts ever ( this one HERE ). ---- *NB I realise that enough is really never enough, but I also have a family, and a job, and a puppy, so enough really  should  be enough. I decided I needed a coastal zone, some more hills appropriate to smaller scale games, and may as well make a few more larger rough/wood template pieces as well. I ordered a pack of 50 trees off eBay (more on those in a later post I'm sure), and bought a decent sized (1200x800mm) piece of 3mm MDF.  I first roughed out my design. The coastal zone runs up the right hand side here. You may be able to see...

Five of us got together to play an epic 400 point game of L'Art de la Guerre this week. Three of us played as the glorious suns/sons of York (War of the Roses Yorkists, two commands each), agains a coalition of  French Ordnance and Kalmar Union Scandinavians. The Yorkists were the attackers, and the battlefield was mostly open. Excellent for the heavy French and Scandinavian knights - not so great for all our longbowmen. Above, five commands of Yorkists to the left, six commands of Scandis (top right) and Frenchies (lower right). But wait... where for art thou, o' missing Yorkist command...? As the Yorkists trudge towards the stationary French lines, the grand sweeping maneuver reveals itself too soon. My second command enters the table with little surprise and even less tactical acumen. At the top of the picture, the Scandinavian mounted and foot divisions advance, but the Swedish lord proves unreliable and hold back. The glory of French chivalry in the center, led by t...