Irregular Wars Wargaming

Another vampiric baron, and two companies of giant vampire bats - both from Forest Dragon, for my all-things-bitey Fantastic Battles army.

Andrew, Jim and I met for another playtest of the Fantastic Battles siege rules this week. The changes implimented as a result of the earlier testing (compressing the attrition into a modified mishaps roll and focusing on the assault itself) have certainly cleaned the game up a lot and led to a much more dynamic experience.  The game saw just over 1,000 points of ratfolk besieging just over 500 points of goblins. The goblins bought various siege strategies to aid in their defence, and the rats built siege machines, a mine, and paid off a traitor to open one of the fort's gates. The traitor, true to his nature, proved treacherous, and failed to unlock the side gate to the fort, and the mine was equally poor, meaning that the left flank of the fort was still secure at the start of the assault.  However, two turns of artillery shooting away meant that the gate was blown off its hinges, and the ratfolk giant wheel careened inside, to attack the defenders while the giant rat-god and ar

More hobby time from Mark: I’m adding two galeasses to the navy of this regional power in my imagi-nations world of mid-C16 South East Asia, for use with the  Galleys & Galleons  naval rules. Inspiration came from Alan Saunders, who’s comment on an earlier shipbuilding effort pointed me to something I should have known - there were South East Asian vessels broadly comparable to the galeasses used in European waters. These vessels were used in the Aceh region (northwestern end of Sumatra), during the C16-17. The Wikipedia entry (“Galeass”) says they seem to have been intended primarily for boarding fights, though with heavy bow guns. Here’s construction at an early stage. The first vessel,   Banda Aceh , has the superstructure largely complete. The pairs of balsa wood beams on the top decks will support awnings, to be added after painting. The second vessel,   Hat Yai , is still only a hull blank. I’m not sure yet if it’ll be a close copy of the first, or significantly different. 

In recent weeks, Andrew and I have been dabbling with Barons' War . We both read the rules cover to cover, and have played two games with the same 500 point forces. This post has been a long time coming, because our short-form conclusion is that the rules are ok. And that is a little disappointing. In both games - one a straight clash, and one a scenario from the back of the book - we used the same retinues themed around Anglo-Normans in Ireland, but using the standard retinue raising rules. I have to say the flexibility in building retinues in Barons' War is great. I really appreciate the freedom to create a band of veteran sergeants, militant monks, green levies, and everything in between. However, not all things are created equal, and it feels that the points values are not necessarily well balanced. Indeed, although the game is only recently released, there have already been official errata circulated to start correcting some of the imbalances. Spear and bills seem very ef

This week, seven of us sat down at Lisburn Gaming Club for a game of Fantastic Battles with 3000 points a side. The photo above shows the game early on. To the left, the Unholy Alliance consisting of (top to bottom): 1000 pts Undead, 500 pts Vampires, 500 pts Goblins, and 1000 pts Undead; to the right, the other Unholy Alliance of (top to bottom) 1000 pts Wood Elves, 1000 points Celts, 1000 pts Dark Elves. At the left of the Undead line, Neil's skeletons were bested by Roger's Wood Elves. The massive ripple of resolve loss caused by the Undead mage-lord's death (should that be his most recent death?) meant the end of the reanimated legions.  In the centre, my new Vampiric force along with a small body of Goblins commanded by Brendan took on Dave's Celts, generally getting the better of the wild and hairy ones, but suffering badly at the hands of the Celtic ogres and their heavy melee weapons. The vampires and ghouls performed well, and feasting on the corpses of the s

Leaping forward into the next phase of my Fantastic Battles vampire-led army of all-things-bitey, I have added a two-company unit of werewolves. In-game, I plan on using these as elite companies with feast (as a racial trope), fast, and forester. For the last of the optional trait slots I could go a number of different ways, but I think that giving them stimulants will reflect their savagery, along with the uneasy relationship that werewolves are often shown to have with vampires. There is a surprising scarcity of these horror staples on the market in 10mm - indeed these were the only 3D printed ones I could find. Sculpted by Varus Miniatures, they are nice, but lack the deep detail of Forest Dragon's figures. I needed to resort to my usual basecoat-wash-basecoat-highlight-highlight approach in order to paint them, rather than the assortment of thinned paints and drybrushing that has proved so effective (and fast) when painting the Forest Dragon elements of the army. The Varus Min

I was recently contacted by John from Aberdeen Wargames Club to let me know that the club had instigated a club FAVSTVS FVRIVS competition. The photos below show the track from the final race (held earlier this month).  I am reliably informed that Carlos came in first and Andy got the wooden spoon. 😊 John goes on to say "We have also developed a version of the game which we call  Faustus Furious Mechanicus Podicus , based on the pod racing scene in Star Wars -The Phantom Menace . There are a couple of variations  from the basic rules like snipers and sand worms but it is 98% FF as written. We are planning to put on a participation game at the Claymore Show in Edinburgh in August." There are a few more photos below of the trial pod racing game that they  will host at Claymore. The group's original challenge was to build the pods from no more than 5 items bought at a pound shop, but that has since been expanded to include any pieces of junk that people have kept in their

Finishing up the first 500 points of my Fantastic Battles Gothic-Noir/County-Dining-Association army are the Countess (warlord), and a few aristocratic vampire followers. As with everything else in the army showcased so far, these are 3D printed miniatures sculpted by Forest Dragon. I have to repeat that I am really  loving building this army! The Countess herself, along with a baron to serve as one of her captains. Two elite companies of vampiric knights; these have been built using feast as the army's racial trope, along with the mounted and furious charge traits.When I expand the army I will add the proud trait as well to represent their dismissive attitude to lesser beings. 

Making up for lost time, we've just returned from a family trip to Copenhagen - a wonderful and gorgeous city, although not over-easy on the wallet. I plumb forgot to bring Four Against Raganök with me for a promo shot, but it was ever in our hearts... I can't say enough positive things about the city in general, but I wanted to flag up the National Museum to anyone who happens to pass through as a brilliant resource and source of inspiration for wargaming any number of theatres. We spent more than four hours there, and still didn't get to the Iron Age, High-Late Medieval or Modern galleries. The images below are just a taster of what's on show really. Mycenaean weaponry. The detailing on that gold pommel doesn't really show up, but I was impressed! Sub-Saharan African shields and swords from the Ethnographic collection. Mesolithic paddle, bow, and axeheads. Neolithic casualty (bone-tipped arrow through the nose), and Late Neolithic flint dagger. Bronze Age 'Egt