Irregular Wars Wargaming

You’d better go in disguise If you go down in the woods today You're sure of a big surprise It’s the festival of Imbolc (aka Candlemas). There is a tenuous connection with fertility (of sheep, at least, and possibly people for all I know) which I’m shamelessly exploiting for this excursion back in time to C17 Rutland and the village of Frommage, where as usual Devilry is Afoot. And, its a tradition in Frommage that unmarried young women and men may stroll in Fineshade Wood on Imbolc Eve. Under the trees, where nobody sees They’ll hide and seek as long as they please Get ready for another dispatch from Mark! ************* For this game the scene is a wooded area, partially surrounded by stone walls. The young people allowed an evening off from societal conformity are represented by a dozen lads and lasses (Innocents). They are protected by three members of the Watch, detailed below, who have drawn the short straws to be on duty tonight. Because you never know. And as it happens Fi...

After a bit of an unintended break (too much work, not enough hobby), my 28mm Seleukids made it to the table with weekend for an 1800 point game of Fantastic Battles against Gary and Tony's combined barbarian horde (Carthage, Rome, Germans and Numidians). The Seleukid breakpoint was 21, the allied army had a breakpoint of 22. Mishaps messed up Tony's Carthaginian lines pretty badly, with slightly less impact on Gary's Romans and Germans. The Seleukid line suffered more from disease than poor deployment; the Cretan archers even found that half their number deserted before the battle began. I had hoped that the fields on the Seleukid right would mire the barbarian advance, allowing me to hold them back and shoot them with my Eastern archers. The scythed chariots in the centre charged forward, but were engaged to front and flank by barbarian skirmishers. In the centre, the heavy infantry and heavy cavalry were arrayed in the middle, while Arab infantry and camelry were deploy...

Over the next few months, I will be releasing a few new monster types and scenarios for  Devilry Afoot . Initially these will be put out as free individual pdfs through the Facebook Group, or folks requesting them via the blog, but once this cluster of foul devilry is completed, I'll compile them into a single (still free) digital document and put it in the download folder for Wargame Vault customers as well. The monsters recieving this treatment mostly fall into stories stemming from the late 18th - early 19th centuries. This was a time of enlightenment and industry, but where superstition and conservative social values persisted on the edge of reason. And so, a new party of hunters was required! These are all from the Matchlock Miniatures Regency Zombie Hunters range. This is my first experience purchasing from Matchlock Miniatures. They were pretty cheap, came quickly, and didn't require a lot of clean up, so that is all great. I'm not sure what to make of the sculpts th...

Hot on the heels of my  first Warp Miniatures gnomes , we have more gnomes from Warp Miniatures! These fellows round off my Christmas break painting blitz (for me it was a blitz), aiming to get a few minis painted up and away before my desk gets swamped by work matters again. Bless my wife for letting me get away with doing very very little over the past two weeks! Our cavalier is Hans, mounted on a ROUS (rodent of unusual size), bearing aloft a spear with gingham pennant, and equipped with a small shield and short bow.   Håkon carries a pretty vicious looking spear and holds back a savage dire-hedgehog. I'm afraid my colonial upbringing kicked in and the hedgehog colouring is a bit ... echidna-y. The final gnome is Hrolf, the axeman, with his pipe and pet frog. And here are a couple of foxes for good measure. These can either be used as minions, or as critters summoned in by one of the wizards.  The party may need a bear... or a treeman? We'll see in time.

Woodland gnomes are the fifth party that I've decided to build to test Fantastic Scuffles . These are yet more lovely 3d sculpts from Warp Miniatures; easily one of my favourite companies for fantasy miniatures. Joop and Jens in their bunny sled.  Sven the blue wizard in gnome form with bird familiar, and in owl form. Olaf the brown wizard in gnome form with squirrel familiar, and in badger form.