Legio Wargames

Another cracking Battle Day put on by the Society of Ancients last weekend. The only downside was that it was held on the Sunday after the clocks went forward! The battle was Cunaxa in which Cyrus, aided by 10,000 Greeks challenged his brother Artaxerxes for the Persian throne. Our game was played with 20mm figures using Alala! rules. We concentrated the action on Cyrus’ right/Artaxerxes’ left given that the other wing saw little or no action in the historical battle. Artaxer

With the preparations for the Society of Ancients Cunaxa Battle Day I have been in a bit of a Greco-Persian mood. With all the units we need for Cunaxa painted and ready, I still have some unpainted Greeks in my lead pile and so decide to get to work on them. I have painted them as Thebans or other Boetians — identifiable as such by the distinctive club of Hercules shield design. At Mantinea some Thebans were also distinguished by white painted helmets. I am planning to tr

Time for one more play-test before we take our Cunaxa game with Alala! to the Society of Ancients Battle Day on 29 March. The game opens with Artaxerxes’ chariots surging forward against Cyrus’ Greek hoplites. The hoplites are unable to open ranks to let the chariots through as they do not hold an open ranks card (more on this later). Proxenus’ hoplites suffer a fair amount of disorder before the enemy chariots crash. Not to be outdone Cyrus sends forward his single chariot a

Artaxerxes King of Kings is calling up his men to fight off his brother Cyrus' rebellion. It helps that we have pressed several good men...

When building a new army, a painter of wargames figures with any experience knows that you don’t start with the guards. Paint up a goodly...

The last Spartan unit is painted.

Needing more Greek hoplites that could slot into any army I have just painted up a unit of mercenaries. The white shields and some...

Last weekend I put on an Alala! game at the 19th Society of Ancients Battle Day featuring 2nd Mantinea (362 BC). As ever, the day was...

in preparation for the Society of Ancients Mantinea Battle Day, I have been painting up Greek cavalry and light troops to supplement Pete...

Second Mantinea (362 BC) will be the next battle featured at the 2023 Society of Ancients Battle Day. This has provided me with my next...