Irregular Wars Wargaming

I have started working on a party of rogues, all nominally 28mm scale 3d prints sculpted by Vae Victis. These are all beautifully sculpted and characterful miniatures and I have at least another three to go before I call the party 'finished'. The hired blade/mercenary known as The Wolf.   The highwaywoman known as The Vixen. The diminutive yet skillful burglar known as The Mouse. As I say, beautiful work from Vae Victis on the sculpting. However, as I don't have a 3d printer myself, I have to buy printed versions of 3d sculpts from third party printers. I'm finding the quality is pretty hit and miss, and the difference in how sellers scale them is causing a real headache.  I think after this I might have to return to some good ol' fashioned metal minis in small scales!

Fantastic Scuffles is the forthcoming skirmish game from Irregular Wars. Infusing the core mechanics of Devilry Afoot with the 'play your fantasy' ethos of Fantastic Battles , it aims to create enjoyable and engaging ecounters on the tabletop between small parties in any fantasty setting or historical period up to the early modern era. Miniature range and scale agnostic, the rules are designed for between one and four players, each controlling a party of 3-20 fully customisable models. A standard encounter takes place on a 2'x2' (60x60cm) and die rolls are based on a 1d10. Once familiar with the rules, games should take under an hour to from setup to completion. The core mechanics are based on randomised initiative and flexibilty in character actions; everything from moving and climbing , to fighting and theivery. Violence is not always the smartest course of action. With so many moving parts, I am planning a staged approach to playtesting, ensuring that the core mecha...

Every so often, as a palate cleanser, I return to my Érineach Preservers, custodians of the craic in the grim dark future. Born of nostalgia, raised on whiskey, and released onto the galaxy, these subversive space marines bring me a combination of joy, satisfaction, self-loathing, and a wonder at how many potential wargamers have been put off over the years by edge highlighting and panel lining space marines!? Here are the latest additions to the little battle force - previous posts can be found  October 2023 ,  November 2023 , and  February 2024 . Initially built with This is Not a Test  in mind, I now have far more than I could ever use for that. Nostalgia draws me back to the one true edition of Warhammer 40,000 - 2nd edition, but I'm not yet convinced it would be worth the effort of tracking down all the books when there are several very viable alternatives out there. Sure, won't we see in due course?!

Here are just a couple of photos to show that, while hobby time is limited at the moment, playtesting, revising and writing continues for Fantastic Scuffles . Andrew, Jim and I sat down for another three-way encounter last weekend, pitting a band of murder hobos itinerant adventurers, a party of gnomes and woodland critters, and a nest of (admittedly too many) kobolds. We each rolled for our different objectives and set to work. Putting the game through its paces, we tested some practical limits, broke the rules for vehicles (as they were then written), refined ideal game sizes and had a good laugh. Frustratingly, Andrew and I also watched as a gnome transfigured into an owl and flew off the table, completing the gnomish objective and winning the game!