At present my particular interests include the Punic Wars, the rise of Rome, the Bronze Age and the early medieval period (the dark ages). I wargame skirmishes, land battles and naval battles.
For land battles I use "De Bellis Antiquitatis" (DBA) published by the Wargames Research Group. I have tried other rules. For skirmishes, small battles (up to about 300 per side) and sea battles I use my own rules.
Skirmishes and Small Engagements ("Warband", "Warband V2", "Century" and "Heroes before Iron" rules)
Naval Warfare ("Corvus v2" rules)
For skirmishes and small battles I use 25 mm figures individually based. Some armies, including the early Saxons and the Romano-British, are 28 mm but I often go for figures that are closer to true 25's. This is not just about cost. Some of the smaller figures look more realistic to me.
For my various rules I base my infantry figures on 20 mm by 20 mm bases. Cavalry is on 25 mm by 40 mm bases. Anything (such as animals and chariots) else is uses bases which seem to fit. However, anything reasonable will do so long as cavalry is on slightly wider bases than infantry. (This means that when a line of cavalry hits a line of infantry, some cavalrymen will be fighting 2 infantrymen.)
"Warband" is a simple set of skirmish rules I wrote for 5th century AD British scenarios. It is usable for other periods, including the Norman conquest. It is intended for 25 or 28 mm individually based figures. Between 20 and 30 figures per band give a reasonable game, but it can cope with more or less. A new version of "Warband" (v 2) (designed for larger armies) is also available, but may be subject to later ammendment.
More about Warband and Warband Version 2 including some scenarios
Download Warband skirmish rules (You will need Acrobat Reader. See the Links section of the Home Page )
Download Warband Version 2 (You will need Acrobat Reader.)
"Century" is a 1:1 figure ratio game for small units set in the classical period. It is intended for the rise of Rome and the Punic Wars, but may well be used for later Roman wars. It is intended for units of 60+ heavy infantry or 30+ cavalry, with smaller numbers of supporting troops. It is still being play tested and amended, but seems to be settling down towards completion.
Download Century rules (You will need Acrobat Reader. See the Links section of the Home Page )
"Heroes before Iron" is a development from "Warband" specifically intended for Bronze Age skirmishing. For instance, the very wide variation in shield sizes is taken into account.
"Heroes before Iron" is still being worked on. There will most certainly be yet more problems highlighted by play testing. As I (or others find them) the rules will be updated. I welcome any suggestions and comments about it. "Heroes before Iron" is currently 4 sides of A4 .
More about Heroes before Iron including some scenarios
Download Heroes before Iron rules (You will need Acrobat Reader. See the Links section of the Home Page )
For sea battles I use my "Corvus" rules. "Corvus" is a fast play naval game originally written with the First Punic War in mind. Originally it was written to use with Warrior Miniatures' range of 1:650 ships. It can also be used with 1:1200 scale ships.
"Corvus" easily handles 3 dozen ships per side. It could probably deal with larger fleets.
I have tried to produce simple, short rules that provide a fun game that usually takes less than 2 hours. The rules fit on to 2 sides of A4 paper. "Corvus" seeks to avoid book keeping. Some on-table markers are useful for any but the smallest fleets. I have suggested a marker scheme.
DBA inspired the game mechanism. Ships are treated as elements. Instead of seeking to double your opponent's score the aim is usually to beat them by a certain number.
Ships are assumed to be moving forward unless halted or in reverse. Ships usually move within a "normal" range of speeds. When halting, ships have to move a short distance before stopping (unless involved in some kind of collision). When ramming they have to build up to faster than normal speed over at least 4 inches, moving straight ahead.
A 6 by 4 foot playing area is ample for large fleets of 1:650 scale models. You
will need two d6 dice and a tape measure. Templates for minimum
turning are useful. Ships have a minimum turning circle of 2 ship
lengths diameter. Turning templates may be cut from card. I used
a compass opened to the length of the ship to draw the circles
for each ship type. It makes things easier if you leave a
straight edge to line up with the oar banks.
Small rectangles cut from card can be used as markers to indicate grappling and boarding. Cotton wool makes a very good "on fire" marker. To indicate ships with sheered oars or that are immobilised I use blue painted pieces of card blu-tac'ed over one or both oar banks. Direction (forward or reverse) may be indicated by small onboard arrows, or, for instance, a stand of 2 mm figures at front or rear.
Combat is by ramming, firing flaming missiles, sheering oars to reduce mobility and grappling and boarding. Mishaps such as collisions, accidents whilst using the corvus and contact with ships on fire are included.
To maintain simplicity I have ignored the include effects of
currents. Fleets tended not to fight if at a disadvantage. I have
not taken into account "heavy" ships (ships that have
been at sea long enough for their timbers to become waterlogged,
slowing them).
"Corvus" is now at version 2. The main rules have changed very little. Version 2 includes more ship types, an optional points system and some suggested squadrons to help people new to ancient naval wargaming "find their sea legs". I was cautious about suggesting the squadrons but most people seem to be happy to have lists of forces of equal points.
Tony Hughes has produced an edition of Corvus v2 for publication by the Society of Ancients which includes additional material by himself. In my opinion he has done a superb job. The Society of Ancients version includes printed colour cardboard counters for ships, turning templates, markers and play-sheet. In the main booklet there are illustrations, useful diagrams and, in some sections, expanded text. To the basic rules he has added a historical commentary, bibliography a list of manufacturers of models of ancient ships. He has also substituted his own suggested squadron lists for the ones included in the edition available on this site. I anticipate that it should be available later in 2006.
Many thanks to Tony Hughes for suggesting improvements to some of the new ship types. Thanks also to Kevin Owen for taking the improved pictures at Triples 2005.
Tony Hughes has kindly given me permission to put both the list of manufacturers that he compiled and his suggested squadron lists on this website. My squadron lists just use the four ship types available from Warrior Miniatures. Tony's squadron lists use more ship types.
Download Corvus V2 naval rules (You will need Acrobat Reader. See the Links section of the Home Page )
Download list of ancient galley manufacturers (You will need Acrobat Reader.)
Download Tony Hughes' squadron lists (You will need Acrobat Reader.)
"Corvus" was originally written for the Warrior Miniatures 1:650 range of ancient ships. Langton Miniatures and Navwar both sell wider ranges of smaller (1:1200) ships which can be used for "Corvus". Thank you to Emma Vere for buying and painting the 1:1200 scale ships that we used to playtest the additional ship types and the 1:1200 scale in "Corvus".
My DBA armies include 28, 15, 10 and 6 mm armies.
I started by using 6 mm, mainly Baccus's excellent ranges. I used bases for 15 mm scale, putting in 2 ranks of infantry and cavalry, as is official for DBA version 2 and was recommended in earlier versions. This means that most elements have 4 times as many figures on them than 15 mm or 25 mm elements would have. (Chariots, elephants and artillery are in 1 rank and so have 2 models per element.) Thus, an element of hoplites would have 16 figures, Gallic warband has 12 figures per element and psiloi has 8 figures per element.
This works particularly well with Big Battle DBA (36 elements per side). A "Polybian" Roman army normally has 42 figures excluding camp followers if you use 15 or 25 mm figures. With Big Battle DBA in 6 mm you have 504 figures. All this on a 2 foot by 4 foot playing area.
There is another advantage of playing Big Battle DBA. Many of the DBA army lists version 2 lists (which are based upon the DBM) are constrained by the need to end up with 12 elements exactly. For instance, to use the "Polybian" Roman example again to match the DBM lists there should be 4 times as many blades (hastati and princeps) as spears (triarri). There should also be at least half as many psiloi (velites) as blades. Unfortunately the DBA army list, to reach a total of 12 elements, has too few blades and psiloi in proportion to the spear and cavalry. With 36 elements you can adjust the make up of your army.
Normal DBA "Polybian" Roman Army
2 Cavalry (including general), 6 Blades, 2 Spears, 2 Psiloi
Example Adjusted Big Battle DBA "Polybian" Roman Army
6 cavalry (including commander in chief), 16 blades, 4 spears, 8 psiloi, 2 auxilla (representing non-Latin allies)
For troops which are either very different (for example Gauls and Romans) or the same (Gauls versus Gauls) 6 mm figures work well. However it can be harder for some people to distinguish Republican Roman elements from Spanish Scutari or Syro-Canaanite spearmen (auxilia) from Syro-Canaanite archers (bow). Also, although the range of available 6 mm figures is increasing, there are not the range of figures available as there are for 15 or 25 mm.
I also have a Norman 10 mm army based on 60 mm wide bases. The knights' have 12 figures in 2 ranks on a 60 by 40 mm base. The infantry are all on 60 by 30 mm bases. The Spearmen have 18 figures in 3 ranks. When it faced a similarly based Anglo Danish army, it looked and played well.
Currently I tend to use 15 mm armies most often. Many of the people I play with prefer 15 mm to 6 mm figures and have no trouble distinguishing between different troop types. I can get any DBA armies I want! Also, I am more likely to find other people with their own 15 mm armies to play.
One of my current projects is a 6 mm Camillan Roman army on bases of the size for 25 mm figures. Blades and spears have 48 figures per element (4 ranks of 12). Psiloi have 16 figures per element and cavalry 18 in 2 ranks. Here are the basic 12 elements:
One of my friends is painting a Macedonian army, so I am currently doing a few additional elements to be able to "morph" the Camillan Roman army into a Polybian Roman army. After that, I will do some camp followers. I hope to do a Pyrrhic army soon after that.