Irregular Wars Wargaming

Chapter 1, Sorviodunum Read stranger, the apocryphal words of Saint Neot the Lesser, servant of God and compiler of this, the Annals of the Relic of Saint Pius. It is a tale of Britons and Saxons, of Irish pirates and valiant knights. A song of holy relics and vile heathens, of the bravest of deeds and the most villainous of treacheries. I should know, for I was there... Flavius Constans, a man who fancied himself descended from a line of Roman Emperors, stared contemptuously down the slopes of Sorviodunum at the rabble gathering below. Sure, the combined Hiberno-Saxon host had driven him out of Venta of the Belgae– a centre his opponents were now calling Venta-chester, as if they thought he would let them stay. Sure, the barbarous hoards had forced him to seek shelter within the crumbling defences of Sorvidunum – but he had not gone down without a fight. Now, only two enemy warbands remained in any condition to continue the fight: Æthelwulf's band of Angles and a boat-load of Ir...

Here is the second batch of painted 15mm gladiators. One thing that painting these little guys has shown me is that while my moderate painting skill makes sharp, well sculpted figures look good, it doesn't have quite the same impact if the miniatures aren't the finest to start with. Here they are together to give an idea of how they scale up. Again, they have yet to benefit from a spray of Dullcoat. From left to right: Donnington 'hoplomachus', Mick Yarrow murmillo, Starategia Nova retiarius, Xyston 'velite', Xyston 'sagittarius', Xyston cestus. This lovely lass is from Donnington's slave revolt range. She's not technically a gladiator, I think she's just supposed to be an escaped slave, but I will make her available as both a possible faction member in Antioch, and also as an over-dressed gladiatrix. This murmillo/secutor (vel sim.) turned out much better than I had hoped. He looks so victorious that I gave the ground before ...

Having responsibly discharged both my immediate academic responsibility (an overdue chapter) and hosted an antipodean guest over the last week, I was finally able to get back to the desk and do a little painting this weekend. While my mini-Antioch continues its slow growth - I keep thinking that I've built enough houses but I'm not sure that such a thing exists - I decided to get to work on my selected 15mm gladiators. The first batch of six to get a lick o' paint is a fairly representative group, both in terms of manufacturer and fighting style. Here they are together to give an idea of how they scale up. They have not yet benefited from a spray of Dullcoat. From left to right: Strategia Nova retiarius, Strategia Nova hoplomachos, Outpost Wargames Thaex, Mick Yarrow Samnite, Rebel Miniatures dimachaerus, Highland Studios dimachaerus. This is one of my favorite sculpts of a retiarius. The trident head is a little chunky but I love the way the net is r...

I'm not normaly a huge sci-fi fan but ... I have just come across this: ... and it gave me powerful flashbacks to watching this as a teenager: ... and now I'm browsing these : ... and kinda anxiously awaiting this :

It is an established understanding among those interested in ancient and early medieval warfare that when mounted troops charge formed foot, they tend to come off second best. Because of the costs involved it is unlikely that the mounted troops will ever have the benefit of superior numbers and once bogged down they can be easily overcome. I would have thought that Artorius, Master of the Horse for the kings of the Romano-Britons would have read up on that. Now I know better... Song of Arthur and Merlin by Ganesha Games; 600 point warbands using 10mm figures. The forces are deployed - the Angles in the distance, Arthur and his knights in the foreground. The battle lines close. Arthur's companion archers try to disorder the Germanic horde. Initial running-blows by Arthur and his men remove the Anglian bard, the priestess and outlying spearmen. The Romano-British get cocky and reform, ready to finish their enemy off.  Æthelwulf turns the tables by leading his sh...

As I might have made clear in previous posts, I'm an archaeologist by profession with a specialty in Hellenistic (and early Roman) Syria. I have visited and worked in the Syrian Arab Republic on numerous occasions and the news and images which trickle out of the country as the civil war continues is quite distressing. The families with whom I have lived and worked are all within the territory now controlled by the Free Syria Army and communication is non-existent. I generally don't like putting personal pleas for causes on unrelated websites (after all, this blog is devoted to wars and conflicts), but for this cause I'd like to make an exception. I have posted three links to Aid organisations below. If you are in any position to spare a few pounds to help those trying to bring medical and food aid to people whose homes and livelihoods have been destroyed by the ongoing civil war, or even if you just want to know a little bit more about the conflict, please fo...

After ramping up the number of SAM games recently, I thought I might start to think about building a fifth - Saxon - 600 point warband. Not sure what the theme will be as yet although I don't want it to be too similar to any of the others . Maybe some berserkers or Úlfhéðnar will be in order, and perhaps a hulking champion. Working with figures that I had lying idle, I decided to convert myself a Saxon warlord or cyning (king). He started out as the Pendraken chap here on the left: I already have one painted up leading my Angles so I knew I needed to do something to make him quite distinct. Luckily, Pendraken's Late Roman cavalry range have a guy wearing a Roman parade helmet ala the Sutton Hoo burial (I use him as my Arthur). One thing led to another... I turned the helmet a little to make him look as if he's waving forward his doughty men. The sword hand was replaced by a Roman militia hand and spear. I'm quite looking forward to painting this chap actua...