All Quiet on the Martian Front: Encounter at Lake Superior

All Quiet on the Martian Front: Encounter at Lake Superior: A Headless Body Production Location:  Phil's Basement Event:          Providence Gamer's Game Knight Game :         All Quiet on ...

War! Age of Imperialism II

War! Age of Imperialism is a game of empire building, exploration, economic expansion, technological advancement, diplomacy, and tactical battles in the age of Imperialism (1830 - 1900). Players rule one of the great powers of the era as they attempt to carve out an empire. Should they build up their army or economy? Negotiate or attack? Spend on research or a new fort to protect the frontier?

The game comes with 3 levels of rules (basic, standard, advanced), a huge game board (46×36 in) and 816 molded plastic figures.

Finally got around to playing a game yesterday, quite enjoyable and useful as a miniature campaign generator!

15mm Wargaming for Fun and Sanity: OAAH MARS Beachhead Participation Game

15mm Wargaming for Fun and Sanity: OAAH MARS Beachhead Participation Game: The Day is here!  Participation game is go. Below are the playsheets. The basic stats were formatted to the right, but this being blogger-...

Some Mind Altering Cross Over: Steam Trek!

Welcome to the Universe of STEAM-TREK.
Where Steampunk and Star Trek become one.

Steam Trek combines the interaction of a Play-by-Email game and the creativity of a Story Writing message board. The goal is to generate stories of Science Fiction and Scientific Romance, playing the role of one of the main characters onboard the HMAS Dauntless. These penny-dreadful stories should contain humor, suspense, action or what ever the group wishes to write.

Steam Trek

Flashcove's cay: A Day on Barsoom

Flashcove's cay: A Day on Barsoom: This is a quick skirmish near Helium.  The actual game took about 10 minutes playtime, so I will let the comic pages do the talking.  Also, ...

Happy New Year!

British Empire Campaigns

What better way of learning about the British Empire than recreating battles or campaigns. There are myriad companies producing board games and miniatures so that pretty much any campaign can be reproduced. Games and figures manufacturers agree that the British Empire makes a wonderful backdrop to set their products within. The products on offer are constantly improved and updated. It can be hard to keep abreast with all the developments, but if anyone would like to add any additional information about games or figures then please do not hesitate to email me so that I can add the necessary links.

Colonial wargaming has a long history, you can go back to HG Wells' Little Wars or Donald Featherstone's Skirmish Wargaming. Wargaming heritage doesn't get much better than that. It can be done in any scale from 2mm to 54mm (and probably bigger for all I know).

Of course, there are many different periods that can be covered in Colonial wargaming. Most people would probably instinctively think of Victorian era games but of course it could encompass anything from the time of Sir Francis Drake to the Falklands War. The geographical reach of colonial wargaming is possibly the widest of any genre out there. So there is a lot of choice out there.

This section is to try and help narrow down that choice and provide a map for those who want to launch in to their own gaming experiences. I also have my own campaign system that you are free to use, adapt or inspire to create your own. It is called Jarania

I personally like to use 15mm figures and have ranges that cover the Indian Mutiny, the Sudan, the Boer Wars, Afghanistan and the North West Frontier and a lot of Zulus! I personally like 15mm as I feel that they are good value for money, and provide a good balance between skirmish and larger battles. Having said that, if you want to fight huge battles - such as Isandlwana - then 6mm is probably the way to go. The advantage of 25/28mm figures is that there is much more characterisation and variety available which makes them particularly well suited to skirmish games. There is an interesting development with hard plastic figures being produced. These are much cheaper than the lead figures and are easier to modify or convert. You have been able to get soft plastic figures for years, but they have a tendency to flake off the paint over time. Hard plastic figures do not suffer from this problem.

As for rules, I have to say that I am a huge fan of The Sword and the Flame rules which I have used with students at school and at various conventions. They are not that common in the UK but they are well worth seeking out! They are much more popular in the States where they are easier to source.

For those who prefer more modern rules for the Decolonisation and End of Empire era, Ganesha Games publishes a set called 'Flying Lead' which provides good low intensity simulations. You can read a battle report of one such example from the Borneo Confrontation here.

Colonial Wargames

A Very Merry Christmas

A Very Merry Christmas


May All Your Wars
Be In Miniature And
All Your Battles End
In Camaraderie And
A Hearty Hand Shake.

Military Theory: A Technical Analysis of War of the Worlds' Equipment, Strategy & Operations

Reverse Engineering the Martian War Machine – The Heat Ray and HMS Thunder Child

This article is a “history” of H.G. Wells classic science fiction novel, “The War of the Worlds”, as if it actually happened, complete with technological assessments, logistical evaluations and strategic analyses. Naturally, the first subject will be prominent given the vast technological superiority of the invading Martians.

War Of The Worlds Intel

15mm Wargaming for Fun and Sanity: OAAH First games at Entoyment.

15mm Wargaming for Fun and Sanity: OAAH First games at Entoyment.: Seed change in our wargaming.  We have the capacity to do bigger games, but my flat & parking restrictions/cost make them impractical...

15mm Wargaming for Fun and Sanity: OAAH Cabbage Crates over the Ruddy Red - the firs...

15mm Wargaming for Fun and Sanity: OAAH Cabbage Crates over the Ruddy Red - the firs...: Rules note-.   Of Armies And Hordes isn't a set of aerial combat rules.  It can use such elements.  This is us playing around with wha...

Dust, Tears & Dice: War of the Worlds: The New Wave

Dust, Tears & Dice: War of the Worlds: The New Wave: Well that was a nice surprise for a wet Saturday morning Grey Fox Games Kickstarter drops through the door. Fantastic art work and a very ...

All Quiet on the Martian Front: The Forcing of Pithy Gulch

All Quiet on the Martian Front: The Forcing of Pithy Gulch: A Headless Body Production   Location:  Garth's Basement Event:          Providence Gamer's Game Knight Game :          All Quie...

Pirates! - Abney Park - Airship Pirate

Why Do We Celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day and Other Fake Holidays?

Got plans for September 19, 2019? You do now: It's International Talk Like a Pirate Day! So prepare your timbers to be shivered and wait… what? Is this seriously a holiday? What is this all about? And why, exactly, is there a formal holiday for not just pirates but for talking like pirates? You have questions. We have (weird) answers.

Talk Like A Pirate

15mm Wargaming for Fun and Sanity: OAAH Mars - again, same, but added dimension

15mm Wargaming for Fun and Sanity: OAAH Mars - again, same, but added dimension: Racking it up.  First, I decided to go from last weeks just over 2,000 points to 3,000. So this was my first "mundane" take ...

15mm Wargaming for Fun and Sanity: OAAH Mars Euxinus Lacus vs Herculis.

15mm Wargaming for Fun and Sanity: OAAH Mars Euxinus Lacus vs Herculis.: Once again it's Mars.  Here be giant, but no worms. Here we take another step towards February.  Just one more to go.  Then I have a s...

15mm Wargaming for Fun and Sanity: OAAH Martian border fort worm besieged

15mm Wargaming for Fun and Sanity: OAAH Martian border fort worm besieged: Now for a most complicated scenario. This may go wrong, but who dares enjoys. In 6 months I'll be a year older and doing a partici...

15mm Wargaming for Fun and Sanity: OAAH Dominar Rigel has Worm, will use.

15mm Wargaming for Fun and Sanity: OAAH Dominar Rigel has Worm, will use.: Once again, the superb Of Armies And Hordes are a fantasy set of rules, yet handles VSF very well. Fiendish Dominar Rigel has escaped wit...

15mm Wargaming for Fun and Sanity: OAAH. A clash of Martian cavalry!

15mm Wargaming for Fun and Sanity: OAAH. A clash of Martian cavalry!: In February 2020 (if man is still alive)   I'm planning to run an Of Armies And Hordes participation game at Beach head in Bournemou...