Resumption of Service

 

Enjoying a little downtime

This blog ground to a halt in July 2025 due to technical difficulties loading photographs, followed by a more serious failure with my computer.  Events then got in the way of sorting out the problems and after getting back online I have hitherto been using the simplicity of Facebook to make posts and it has only been in the last few days that I have begun to think about reviving this blog.

This post will be a test as to whether I have fully sorted things out and, if so, an outline of projects that may be the subject of future posts.

First play test adapting 'Twilight of Divine Right' to ancient battles

One of the main things I have been working on is trying to create an ancients version of the 17th Century era 'Twilight of Divine Right' rules.  I really like these as a system for fighting big battles and don't know of anything quite like them that already exists for ancients.  Early play testing showed my initial ideas to be too fiddly for enjoyable gaming.  When the Society of Ancients decided to make 401 BC Battle of Cunaxa the subject of the 2026 Battle Day I decided to try to work up a scenario for it using version 2 of the rules.  While I have a good collection of Achaemenid figures and plenty of Greek hoplites I found that I needed quite a lot more figures for what I had in mind, so much of my painting time in the latter part of 2025 went into this project as well.

 

To the left, painting white cuirassed cavalry to accompany Tissaphernes into battle at Cunaxa.  

Below lining up for play testing of Cunaxa, pictured from behind the Royal army's right wing looking back along the battlefield to the line of trees marking the banks of the Euphrates.  The 10,000 Greek mercenaries in Cyrus' employ are closest to the Royal left, with Cyrus' bodyguard cavalry behind and to their left.

One of the interesting things about the Battle of Cunaxa is the personal duel between Cyrus and his brother Artaxerxes which decided the outcome.  This is not something that rules for a large battle cater for.  To handle this I set a rule that if Cyrus managed to get into position where he had unobstructed sight of Artaxerxes and was within charging range a duel would be triggered, with the combat mechanism from Test of Honour being used to resolve the outcome.  Further rules set out how the armies would behave depending on the outcome.  This worked well, with each of the four games played giving a different result for the duel and consequently for the outcome of the entire battle - one ending rapidly when Artaxerxes was killed and his loyal generals fell over themselves to swear undying loyalty to Cyrus; one going much like the real battle with Cyrus being killed and most of his forces retreating while the Greeks continued to kill anyone who came within reach; one with Artaxerxes wounded but being rescued by his attendants and able to keep his generals on side, mopping up the majority of Cyrus' army while keeping well clear of the terrible Greeks; and the last one saw both wounded but Cyrus managing to break the Royal centre and, provided he survived the attentions of his physicians, in good position to assert his claim to the Achaemenid throne.  

Cyrus gets his duel with Artaxerxes off to a good start by rolling 6 swords with his test of honour dice while his bodyguards have hit the Achaemenid cavalry in the flank.    I rated each general as a 'Hero' in Test of Honour, so each has three chances to attack or defend.  Cyrus would always get the first attack.  

Below: The last action of the historical battle was an advance made by the Greek hoplites from a position along the banks of the Euphrates towards the Royal army that had reformed to face them.  This took place as the sun was setting behind the Greeks.  I had prepared a backdrop for this but none of the refights ever got to this position so it remained unused.

Cunaxa required quite a lot of special rules and tinkering with the starting qualities of the troops to give an interesting game to both sides, so was not the best game for proper play testing of the general rules.  The project languished after the Battle Day in March 2026 until this last week when I set up another large but fictional game, pitting a Roman army with Greek allies against a Seleucid army with Thracians and a few Greeks in support.  The many different types of troops involved, together with a rather crowded battlefield, made for a good stress test of many aspects of the rules.  It was played solo, allowing time to take careful note of each issue that arose.  While there were quite a lot of notes by the end the changes made seem to have addressed the major problems identified in earlier games and the outcome was a well balanced fight that remained a tight contest for 27 turns until the Seleucids broke.

The Seleucid Phalanx advances towards Roman Legions while peltasts run on ahead to try to drive off the Roman velites.

Keeping with ancients, during the latter part of 2025 and early 2026 I started up a campaign in which Athens and Sparta led their respective alliances in 460 BC.  The campaign was run on a narrative basis and battles fought out using Simon MacDowell's Alala! rules.  This generated a number of interesting battles (I thought, even though I lost most of them) but my opponent said he preferred older rules with which he was more familiar and I have not yet summoned up the effort to restart the campaign.

In a battle fought mainly on a beach after the Athenians landed a force while the Spartans were preoccupied by a helot revolt I led my hastily cobbled together force of a single Spartan mora and some rather reluctant allies to an ignominious defeat.

Apart from working on painting and rules for ancients, progress has continued with Thirty Years War figures and quite a lot of games have been fought using them.  In addition I have enjoyed trying out the classic Volley and Bayonet Rules with members of the Hong Kong Society of Wargamers.  Another classic game that has come off the shelf recently is Wooden Ships and Iron Men, a board game that I have used as the basis for a couple of enjoyable naval games. 

Above, Austrians face off against French in the War of the Spanish Succession using 3mm figures and Volley and Bayonet rules.

Below, naval action using Wooden Ships and Iron Men but swapping out the cardboard counters with model ships from Tumbling Dice

Further diversions have come with a couple of games put on by Peter Hunt who has adapted Sam Mustafa's Eisenhower rules to serve a 1920 to early 1930 imaginations war between Tomania, Bacteria, Freedonia and such other well known countries of Danubia.

Inspired by Peter's campaign, I have laid on a few games set in these same Danubian lands but from an earlier era, the 17th century.

17th Century battles for Danubia at my 'office' (above) and at a meeting of the HK Society of Wargamers (below)

The Society is now meeting twice each month, once at a community hall in Wanchai on Hong Kong Island - the venue in the picture - and once at a commercial venue across the harbour in Kowloon.  This is exposing me to a much wider variety of games than I have encountered before which is probably a good thing.

Two projects that I had intended to get a move on with but have failed to do so are my rules for big ancient naval battles, which have made no progress at all, and painting up ships and figures for a planned campaign of Vikings sailing and raiding down the rivers of Eastern Europe to get silver from Byzantium and the Abbasid world, on which I have done nothing but my son has kindly painted some nomad horsemen to contest the passage of the steppes if ever the vikings get painted and make it through the northern forests!