I’ve been working on Bolivar’s Very Bad Day, my variant of Tilly’s Very Bad Day for the South American Wars of Liberation, for a while now. Years even. So I thought I’d make it available for download (thanks to Hugh for the nudge). It is only four pages long with another two for the Quick Reference Sheet (QRS). And there is a massive caveat: it is only Beta. I thought it better to get it out there and gather feedback. All feedback welcome.
1645 Game 12 – South-East – English Civil War Campaign
Chris and I played the 12th game of Populous, Rich and Rebellious, our four player Campaign using Tilly’s Very Bad Day, and set in the English Civil War. Actually there were four of us on the night. Adam joined me, of course, on the Royalist side. And in the absence of Jamie, Big Dave turned up from the USA to help Chris with the Parliamentarians.
Summary: Fantastic game. Parliament did some clever moves with well timed interpenetrations. Chris’s careful manoeuvring and Dave’s shear impetuousness was a winning combination. That and the fact Parliamentary shooting killed two Royalist Generals. Parliament victory.
Steven’s Soviet Airborne Forces
Here is my first company of the Soviet Airborne Forces or VDV (Vozdushno-desantnye voyska SSSR) for WW2. They are for Crossfire and Deep Battle.
Version 2 of Populous, Rich and Rebellious
I’ve updated Populous, Rich and Rebellious to version 2. Populous, Rich and Rebellious is a Campaign game system for the First English Civil War (1642-46) in England and Wales. The campaign assumes Tilly’s Very Bad Day as the tactical rules.
Steven’s 1819 Patriot Army on Big Bases
I’ve been quietly painting 1819 Patriots since I posted on my 1815-1819 War in the North – Steven’s Wargaming Project back in May 2024. Roughly a year later, it is time to unveil my 1815-19 Patriots (Phase 1 of the project). These are of course on Big Bases for South American Wars of Liberation using Bolivar’s Very Bad Day (a variant of Tilly’s Very Bad Day). The men are either from New Granada or Venezuela and I chose the units because they fought at Battle of Vargas Swamp (25 July 1819).
Draft Campaign Cards for the Vulture’s Feast
So I’ve been Musing on the Vulture’s Feast, a Thirty Years War version of my Populous, Rich and Rebellious Campaign for Tilly’s Very Bad Day. Most of the flavour of the campaign comes from the Campaign Cards. I’m not sure which ones I’ll end up with but I thought I’d share the possibilities. Please comment if you have endorsements, tweaks and/or new suggestions.
Musing on the Vulture’s Feast – A 30YW version of Populous, Rich and Rebellious
We’re really joying Populous, Rich and Rebellious, our four player Campaign using Tilly’s Very Bad Day, and set in the English Civil War. But people keep asking me, what about the Thirty Years War? (Most recently Peter Godden.)
1645 Game 11 – Wales – English Civil War Campaign
Adam and Chris played the 11th game of Populous, Rich and Rebellious, our four player Campaign using Tilly’s Very Bad Day, and set in the English Civil War.
Summary: In probably the best game yet, Parliament thoroughly crushed the Royalist defenders in Wales.
1644 Game 10 – South-East – English Civil War Campaign
After a 10 month gap, Adam and Chris played the tenth game of Populous, Rich and Rebellious, our four player Campaign using Tilly’s Very Bad Day, and set in the English Civil War. Unfortunately we’d forgotten about Game 9 so it was a bit of a replay … with a different result.
Summary: A strong Royalist attack crushed the Parliamentary defence of the South-East.
1644 Game 9 – South-East – English Civil War Campaign
Adam and Chris played the ninth game of Populous, Rich and Rebellious, our four player Campaign using Tilly’s Very Bad Day, and set in the English Civil War. Actually, they played it on 9 Apr 2024 and I forgot to post it.
Summary: Parliament successfully defended the South-East from a large aggressive Royalist army.
Kiwis vs FJ in Italy – A Crossfire Scenario
We’ve played this a couple of times now so I thought I’d put it into my scenario format. This is a Crossfire scenario for a fictional battle between 2 NZ Division (Kiwis), including Kiwi Armour, and German paratroopers (Fallschirmjäger). It is primarily to play test my Balagan House Rules for Crossfire Armour (2nd Edition).
Download the Balagan House Rules for Crossfire Armour
People often criticise the armour rules in Crossfire. For anybody who, during 2022 and 2023, was following my Musing on Revised Crossfire Anti-tank Rules, you can download the final Crossfire Armour – Balagan House Rules here. Enjoy.
Timeline of Graeco-Macedonian Military Innovation
My original title for this post was “Iphicrates, peltasts, thureophoroi, phalangites, and shielded cavalry”. Iphicrates was a leader of mercenary peltasts and is attributed with creating, or at least inspiring, both the Greek thureophoroi and the Macedonian phalangite. I keep reading bits and pieces about this but they are like a pieces of jigsaw puzzle scattered over the table. Reading about thureophoroi lead me to reading about other troops: Illyrians; the Thracians with their rhomphaia; Thracian cavalry shields (using them before the Greeks); and Macedonian cavalry shields. I thought a timeline for military innovation across the Macedonian Wars would help to position the various bits in relation to each other.
The timeline covers the period up to the general adoption of the Macedonian phalanx including the encounters between Pyrrhus’s phalanx and the Roman legions. Obviously it covers explicit mentions of Iphicrates, peltasts, mercenaries, thureophoroi, phalangites, and shielded cavalry, but it also covers Macedon’s neighbours Greece, Epirus, Illyria and Thrace. The Greeks, Epirotes and Illyrians all invaded Italy at one time or another so the timeline also has to cover elements of Italian history as well. This is not a complete timeline, just an attempt to map out the pieces of the puzzle.
2025 Confessions of a Megalomaniac Wargamer and Amateur Historian
I wasn’t a happy chappy when I wrote my reflections on 2024. I did lots of stuff, but only played six games, and didn’t achieve many of my annual goals. It was a wargaming disaster. So what is on the megalomaniac agenda for 2025? Do I tone back my ambitions or try to make up for lost ground? Megalomaniac, right, so it has to be “make up for lost ground”. Same goals as last year, plus a few. As usual I present this as a brain dump of my active projects, i.e. those all projects that are more or less “in progress”. The list is then split into three parts: likely in 2025, unlikely, and background activity.
Homemade Decals for my Macedonian Bronze Shields – Four Options
I’m planning on getting 465 Macedonian Phalangites, or more accurately men Armed in the Macedonian Fashion. And I want each unit of 15 figures to have a distinct shield design. So I’ve set out to make my own shield decals. In my preferred 15mm scale of figures, the decals have to fit shields that are about 8mm across. I’ve explored four options: (1) shrink my Macedonian Bronze Shield Designs – The Balagan Collection down to 8mm; (2) highlight in bronze; (3) highlight in black; (4) simplify in black. Which one to go for?