Irregular Wars Wargaming

  Hoping to provide some covering fire (and allow their comrades to fight in the shade), the completion of this latest batch of Trojan archers from Newline (and their naturist mates below) brings Phase 2 of ProjectTROY very close to a natural completion. Don't forget the slingers. Never forget! I always love slingers and I think it'd be a sad day when I field an ancient army without them! These NSFW lads are from Eureka. The are a little bit larger than Newline and Foundry, about the same size as Redoubt, and smaller than Lucid Eye.

Following on from the Battle of Surabaya , Mark continues with his Galleys & Galleons narrative campaign... Last year, those dunderheads at Nanking ordered An-Te Hai (Admiral of the Tribute Bearing Fleets) to fetch luxuries for the Imperial Court from far-off Ayuthaya. The Admiral, annoyed at having his literary studies disarranged, nevertheless conveyed his fleet safely to Ayuthaya, and the Court cargoes were duly loaded. Now, all he has to do is get the convoy back to the Pearl River ... Reports from the usual spies, plus patrolling Fei Yu craft, confirm the homeward  voyage will not be so easy. The hated Southern Barbarians (Portuguese) have a squadron at sea and are obviously inveterate pirates. And some reports hint the Cannibal Islanders are about to embark on one of their occasional forays into waters through which the convoy must pass. ************* Here are the three sides involved in Operation Double Happiness. A [*] indicates the flagship of each side. Ming Chinese c...

One of the challenges building a Bronze Age army was always going to be the camp element. There is little evidence of what you might expect to find in a Trojan camp. While my 6mm Minoans have a lovely wee beached ship. For the Trojans that didn't seem quite so appropriate somehow. In the end I settled for a mule train. The lead driver is a Foundry charioteer with his left arm bent. The mules themselves are from Castaway Arts. The squatting figure is a Castaway Arts Sumerian (I think...?) with the head from a Newline commander, a Newline figure-of-eight shield slung over his back, and a Foundry sword in his hand. Can't wait to paint it up - but some archers and slingers are ahead of it in the queue...

I was really happy to be able to host Tim for his first game of  Fantastic Battles  on Sunday. Living up to the concept of being able to play any army, regardless of your personal fantasies, I led the black-power-packing, lace-pulp ratmen of the  Grand Duchy of Cheddar , against a slimy 15mm army consisting of squid- and fish-men. We played 800 points which I hope made for a very decent learning game. From the photo's top left, the Squidmen deployed a unit of three companies of fishmen riding giant spiders, a unit of two companies of fishmen riding land sharks, two squidmen units each of two companies (archers in front, spearmen behind), a unit of two companies of squids with heavy weapons, a two-company unit of fishmen spears, and another three-company unit of landsharks. Facing them, from lower left to right were a three company unit of pike and shot, a single company of dragoons, a steamtank, one battery of artillery, the guard unit composed of three companies of polea...

I'm so delighted to say that we have some pretty impressive outcomes from the wee competition we ran in March . I asked people to post a review of Fantastic Battles  in a blog or on Amazon, Wargame Vault or Board Game Geek to be in for a chance to win one of three commissioned artworks by Orestix Ermeides, or a 15mm Battle Valor fantasy starter army donated by Jeff Gatlin of Shieldwall Gaming Club in Ohio. Mike opted for a Tolkien-inspired scene showing a shiledwall of Lamedonians, one of the fiefs of Gondor, being charged by oliphants of Harad. He's only just and blown the whole thing up, ready to adorn his gaming space! Michael had Orestix bring his 15mm army of slug-riding, tech-weilding 'Orts' to life.  Pete went for another classic scene from Tolkein - a vignette of the Battle of the Five Armies.  He too as gone and had a print made which is now in the process of being framed. The framer in the picture, wasn't technically asked if he'd like to be in this b...

  I'm pleased to be able to showcase a new 800 point army for Fantastic Battles , the Grand Duchy of Cheddar. This is actually the fourth iteration of the Ducal army - and the original figures were painted about 10 years ago. Originally based for skirmishing games, it was rebased and provided with background fluff for HotT , and then expanded (models and fluff) and rebased for Kings of War . The most recent rebasing and expansion brings it into line for Fantastic Battles .  The figures are a combination of Pendraken and Kallistra with a scratch-built airship. It is nominally 10mm, but I feel the rats are too hulking at that scale and work far better in 15mm. The toughest bit about working on such an old army was trying to match the bases (I'd like to think my technique has moved on a little over the years). Grand Duke Philip flanked by his two brigadiers. The Blue Guards. Grenadiers Regiment of Foote with more shot than pikes. Regiment of Foote with more pikes than shot. Drago...