Irregular Wars Wargaming

What better way to celebrate a hint of spring in the air and humidity dropping to a reasonable level, than to sup deeply on the fumes of matt varnish. I didn't manage to get my hands on any varnish last summer, so today the backlog was effectively a pandemic's worth of painting, or to put it another way, 1,118 figures. Seems somebody had some extra time on his hands... Admittedly many of the Greeks were previously painted, but they were all rebased and touched up, so they still count.  This tranch is all 10mm stuff painted and based for Fantastic Battles : my Ziggurat Dwarves (137), Wyld Elves (93) and a Classical Greco-Macedonian army with mythological elements (245) which is, not co-incidentally, also 200 points of Early Macedonians for l'Art de la Guerre. In this lot, 6mm Napoleonic Austrians (630) for Bataille Empire and 28mm gladiators (6) for Blood Sweat and Cheers , and sci-fi halflings (7).  

In a fit of whimsy, I've taken a wee diversion to the isolated - but verdant - planet of Flores Minor to paint up a halfling ranger team for sci-fi skirmish games. I've just picked up Horizon Wars: Zero Dark , but am also looking at This is Not a Test , Rogue Stars  and, of course, Palaeo Diet: Pulp would also work. It'll be a nice wee change to get them on the table should lockdown ever cease and permit us to wargame again... The core of the team is a group of sculpts released to GW in 1994. As a teen in the 90s I had a bitsy 40K Imperial Guard Army that included these same 'ratlings'. That army was sold over 20 years ago, but I've always had a soft spot for the figures. They are joined by a Rogue Trader 'Shorty' released back in 1988, and a bit of muscle in the shape of a droid from Diehard Miniatures (with a scratch-built auto-cannon arm fixture). Sarge   -   We aim to please … Doc   -   This won’t hurt a bit … Bullseye  - Arguably the best shot on ...

  Steady progress this week with my first 'big' 28mmm project in a while - ProjectTroy. I've now seven of the planned 15 bases of phase one painted up. Here are the latest chaps - two companies of Trojan nobles with double handed axes from Eureka. The standard bearer is a Eureka spearman with a spare Newline standard.  In Fantastic Battles these will be elite companies with the fast and heavy melee weapons traits, in L'Art de la Guerre they count as Lukka MI swordsmen with impact, and should they be dusted off for Hail Caesar they'd count as a small unit of medium infantry tough fighters.

What follows is a long overdue missive from Mark in Thailand. This game was played back in October, but has been sitting in my inbox judging me until now! **** Hi All I haven’t played a three-handed Galleys & Galleons game before, but the tactical situation following the capture of Kupang (reported on over three posts earlier - part 1 , part 2 , part 3 ) demands it. Briefly, the fleet of the Sultan of Songkhla, with plausibly-deniable pirate allies, is bringing home the loot from the captured Portuguese fortress. It has stopped at Surabaya (on the N coast of Java) to obtain water and supplies before making the dash home across the open sea. A squadron from the Knights of St Michael of Singapore has discovered the Songkhka vessels and plans to attack them, to recover the loot that (they say) is rightfully theirs under the Kupang agreement. And somewhere in the offing Don Marco da Pattaya, leading an expectedly vigorous Portuguese reaction, is prowling around too. The sides are: Son...

I've now painted up all three of the characters planned for phase one of ProjectTroy. From left to right, an Amazon commander (Lucid Eye), the royal Trojan warlord (Wargames Foundry), and a Trojan captain (Eureka). The Amazon is certainly the tallest of the three, while the Foundry figure is the smallest. However, I've no issue using them together. In Fantastic Battles , the Amazon leader could be used as a captain, but given the mutual misogyny and misandry she is probably better suited as a rogue - i.e. only her Amazon unit will obey her, but she is likely to be particularly adept at killing enemy (male) characters.  

Thanks so much to Gerry from On Tabletop for sitting down for a chat about Fantastic Battles. You can find the interview on Youtube or at On Tabletop .

Some progress this week with the addition of a second Trojan prince/captian/sub-commander and some skirmishers equipped only with javelins and a bad attitude. All figures are from Eureka Miniatures relatively new 'Bronze Age Greeks' range. All still require a matt varnish to remove the glossy sheen caused by the inking process. " Alright lads, enemy sighted. Nude-up and grab your javelins. Game faces boys! "

I've set up a Youtube channel to host occassional videos in support of  Fantastic Battles . Due to lockdowns in different parts of the world, I know that many interested players haven't been able to get any games in. Hopefully these videos - with their raw, Blair Witch-style, rustic charm(?) - will give a flavour of the rules. If you haven't already seen it, you can find the channel here 👉  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChTbBRAfSgVt5dfiwgvc9tA/videos    There are already a few videos up there to get started and the intention is to pop others up if and when they are required. The army building process. Aa play-through of a couple of turns. If you're listening to the whole thing, watch out for the short sharp outburst from the wee dog about 34 minutes if. You might want to watch the volume... 😬