The Fog of War - In Cardboard

If you go back a couple of posts you'll see a report on a Crimean War wargame I played in October. This was in my good friend Roy's lovely wargaming room, and when deploying we had the pleasure of using the pre-installed roller blinds which one can wind down from the ceiling, so that each side can deploy simultaneously without knowing what the other side are doing.

The idea, of course, is as old as recreational wargaming itself, dating back at least to the 1960s - Donald Featherstone describes the use of curtains in chapter 5 of War Games. Setting up a curtain or erecting some sort of barrier across the centre of the table so that both sides deploy in ignorance of what their opponent is doing is an elegantly simple way to recreate the fog of war, and is also a way to save time by avoiding the need for alternate deployment of units or the setting up of 'hidden' units with counters or 'blinds'.

I had a go at this some years ago using a curtain, as you can see in this post from 2016. But the bamboo tripods I had to use were rather fiddly and prone to toppling over, and whole contraption rarely got used. 

But after that Crimea game I decided to think again. Maybe not a curtain, but a solid barrier laid across the table between the opposing sides. I remembered those TSS Terrain 2' x 2' tiles I used to use before the days of terrain mats. Standing those on edge would probably work - but I had only kept one of my old tiles (in case I ever wanted to try DBA again!).

Eventually I settled on using plain old cardboard. I could get some good-sized sheets, then construct some sort of concertina-style barrier that would fold up for storage but would also stand up fairly solidly across the table. Getting card in large sizes is pretty easy on the internet, and eventually I went for some corrugated cardboard in A0 size, which is 1189mm x 841mm, or about 47" x 33". I used these guys on eBay. Cost me less than £14 for 5 sheets, including delivery. Bargain. 

Then it was just a case of cutting up the pieces into a more suitable size, and using duct tape to put them together in a way that allowed the whole thing to fold up nicely. Only a moderate amount of swearing was required. I would say that 24" high is plenty high enough in most cases, but you might want to go for 30" to cover all eventualities, such as very tall gaming friends! Your line of sight to the far side of the table is now completely blocked.

Each panel in my finished barrier is 24" x 16". The dining table here is nearly 6' long, so for a 6' x 4' gaming table five panels was plenty. I have extra card left over if I want extend the barrier for an 8' table. And storage is a doddle, as you can see below.

It's time this kind of device had a rennaisance. It's handy and simple, and creates a better game in a very straightforward way, especially for ancients and the horse and musket period. Let me know if you're already using something like this in your gaming.

'Til next time!

Honours of War - A New Scenario Book

Anyone who has been part of Honours of War's online presence these last 10 years will be familiar with Dinos Antoniadis. He has been a prolific presence both on the original website and now on Facebook, particularly with battle reports and scenarios. He also provides maps for the prestigious Kronoskaf SYW website. Now, those maps and scenarios have come together in this co-operation with Partizan Press.

Above is the edition currently on sale from Caliver Books for £24.95. Below you can see the version sent to me just before the book went on sale. The cover colour was changed at the request of Osprey to avoid any confusion with the original Osprey 'Blue Book', although this new book is a larger, A4 size production. Naturally, the small number of blue coloured books produced have become instant collector's items and are changing hands at over £100. Or maybe not.

Anyway, regardless of the cover colour, you get a softback of 103 pages in full colour, with 9 historical scenarios and 6 fictional ones. I've written a preface, and none other than Charles Grant has written the foreword. Some sample pages can be seen below.

To introduce the book more fully, I include my preface here. As you will read, I am extremely pleased to see this book in print. Dinos deserves to be congratulated on a good product, and with luck more people will end up playing HoW. However, whatever rules you use for this period, I feel the book will be equally valuable.

If you're buying the book, I recommend you go straight to Caliver at the address below. Happy reading!

Honours of War Scenarios

'Til next time!

Photo Report - Cotswold Wargaming Day 2025

So, CWD7 has come and gone. Once again, the venue was Big Battles Ltd in Cirencester, and once again I reckon a good time was had by all.

8 games in full swing.

Numbers were down a bit this year, mainly due to some regular groups of gamers being unable to attend. But the upside was that a few gamers new to the event turned up, and it was nice to welcome them in. My thanks to everyone who came along, it is you who make the event and your support is much appreciated. To make the hire fee of £300 I had to raise the attendance cost to £15 per person, but there was not a murmur of dissent, and in the end £26 was spare and was promptly sent to support the local Air Ambulance - thanks to Andy and Derek of Big Battles for arranging that.

Eight games were presented. Unfortunately a couple of games had to be played solo due to lack of opponents. Next time I think I will forego bringing a game myself, and therefore be available to support gamers without an opponent. I will also be able to circulate and socialise, which is such a pleasure and such a part of this event. Anyway, brief details of the games follow.

Matt and Paul - Relief of Tobruk (10mm, BKCII)

Willz Harley - Invasion of Cuba 1762 (28mm, own rules)

Steve Johnson - 'Blue vs Red' Napoleonic (10mm, Black Powder II)

Ian and Paul - N.W. Frontier/Afghanistan 1920s (28mm)

Julian and Shaun - WW2 Russia (6mm, Battlegroup Kursk)

Keith and Roy - WW2 Rhineland 1945 (Startline, 15mm)

Jon Billington - WW2 1944 (own rules, 15mm)

Cirencester Wargames Club - Napoleonic 1809 (28mm, Lasalle II)

This year I decided to present just the Stuart Asquith Trophy for best game. Chris Gregg and Pendraken Miniatures both offered prizes to support the show, but for this year I decided to keep it simple. I got together with Andy and Derek of Big Battles to choose the winner, and we were unanimous that Willz Harley's game deserved the prize. An original period, rules developed independently to give a result in a big game after about 2-3 hours, and classic Spencer Smith 28mm figures. Mr Asquith would have loved it.

Andy, Willz, me and Derek.

It's only fair for me to point you in the direction of some supporters of the day. So check out what Pendraken and Chris Gregg have to offer at their websites:

Chris Gregg Art 

Pendraken

'By Wargamers for Wargamers' is a well-worn phrase, but one that applies strongly to Big Battles Ltd in Cirencester. If you're a Cotswolds or Gloucestershire wargamer, you should check out what they have to offer. Once again they couldn't have been more helpful in supporting the day.

Big Battles Cirencester 

I've been thinking maybe next year I might give the show a year off, or perhaps move it to November. I'll make a decision soon. Stay tuned.

'Til next time!

EDIT - 4th November 2025

CWD 2026 is on, and will take place on Sunday 8th November 2026 at Big Battles in Cirencester. Maybe I'll see you there!

The Crimea With 'Shadow of the Eagles'

My wargaming friend Roy Boss has an astonishing collection of toy soldiers, collected over about 60 years. Every now and then he surprises me by producing yet another army (or armies) from his Alladin's cave of a wargaming room. Most recently, he revealed the existence of a rather lovely collection of figures for the Crimea. He also asked if I fancied adapting SotE for the period and playing a game. Dear readers, how could I refuse?

I soon found that the required rule adaptions were minimal. In fact, there were just two. Rifled muskets were awarded a range of 18", twice the range of smooth-bore muskets as used in the original rules. Firing at over 9" range with rifled muskets would get a -1 modifier. The other change was to dispense with the rules for skirmish screens, i.e. those skirmishers provided by the light companies of a given infantry battalion. Skirmishing cover would be provided by battalions of suitably trained soldiers, operating with the whole battalion in skirmishing order. This both simplified the rules and seemed to give a more Crimean feel to the fairly large scale battle we were envisaging.

Roy had invited four of us over. On arrival we found a delightfully large battle laid out, on a 10' x 4' table. The Russians were intending to attack a combined British/French force, moving down from their ridge position. There were 26 Russian infantry battalions with a standard 24 figures per battalion, with 17 similar sized battalions on the Allied side. The Allies were outnumbered 12 to 8 in cavalry regiments (12 figures per unit), and 8 to 6 in artillery batteries. On the other hand, the Russians had no rifled muskets (apart from a couple of rifle battalions), and they were likely to have inferior brigade commanders, though this would be subject to dice rolls. And they had the burden of attacking.

A typical Russian 'brigade', formed from a regiment of 3 battalions.

Paul commanded the Russian right. 
He seemed confident of success.

The figures in use were classic Hinton Hunts, of 25mm size. The perfect figures for gaming this kind of battle. The stream was a linear obstacle and so not too much of an issue for the Russians. The dice rolls for commanders gave the Russians all regular brigadiers - not an inferior commander amongst them! The Allied commanders (which included me) swallowed hard and braced ourselves for a tough fight.

And so the game gets underway.
Classic pointing action from veteran gamer Roy.

My opponent on the Allied right was Adam.
I can't say I was very keen on his apparent grim determination.

Well, it was a tough fight, and as the turns went by the Allied defence got increasingly desperate, particularly on my side of the table. There were just too many damned Russians, well supported by 4 deadly batteries firing from the ridge. The first line of Russian columns was turned back, but they retired through their second line which then resumed the assault. This was just too much for the already damaged British units and they broke away one by one. My partner Matt caused some alarm and despondency by doing well in the initial cavalry combats on his (French) flank, but in the end the luck turned against these troops. However, honours were much more even on this flank. 

Here they come.
The Russian infantry was only allowed to attack in assault/company column.

The French flank was rather more open,
as both sides had most of their cavalry here.

My screen of rifleman fell back behind the main line.

The Allied centre under extreme pressure. In the background
you can see the Allied right wing is already folding.

Oh dear me. The Russians are in amongst the British in the centre,
forcing flank combats which even guard units are unlikely to win.

Paul played aggressively against my French allies. Stop enjoying yourself man!

And so it's all over. A conclusive victory for the Russians.
The very effective Russian batteries are seen in the foreground.

Yes, I have to say that the Allies got their butts well and truly kicked. A whole bunch of my infantry units routed off the table and the right flank was broken, with lots of Russian units ready to exploit. The French flank wasn't in as bad a state, but even here we were definitely on the back foot. Time to assess what went wrong for the Allies and how the scenario worked out.

Learning Points

Were there just too many Russian units? Maybe not. They were lucky with their initial command rolls - statistically a third of their brigadiers should have been 'inferior', which would have slowed down their attacks. And Allied tactics were at fault - we failed to move forward from our initial dispositions, which meant that we were cramped against our baseline. This gave us restricted room to fall back and rally, and units were lost by leaving the table when they should have had the chance to reform. And perhaps a redoubt or two (or three) might have been granted to the Allies. After all, what is a Crimean wargame without redoubts?

Some rules needed changing. All the British forces should have been superior for training, making their fire more effective. Making the Russians superior for motivation is a mistake - their performance in the Crimea makes 'regular' a better option. We also failed to use the British counter-charge rule, which means they are the only infantry able to counter-charge, representing their 'volley then charge' tactics. On the other hand, we gave all the French infantry rifled muskets, which I believe was wrong. Rifled muskets were not generally issued until after the Crimean War was over.

The main problem in moving SotE to the Crimean theatre is assessing how the main 4 nations (Russia, France, Britain and Turkey) should be classed for the various rule mechanisms. Books on the Crimea giving the kind of detail that wargamers want are much rarer than for the Napoleonic period, and it was difficult to make some of the assessments. 

Nevertheless, a fine time was had by all. Thanks to Roy for setting it all up and letting us use his marvellous collection of figures. I look forward to more Crimean action in the future.

Those wishing to check out the extra Crimean rules and the various National Characteristics can find free downloads on my Facebook page:

Honours of War, Shadow of the Eagles, Startline

'Til next time!

In Which I Become A Global Influencer...

 ... or not. Anyway, I am pleased to inform readers that a piece I wrote for Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy magazine has been accepted and will appear in WS&S issue 137 - available for pre-order as I write.

The article will appear in the 'Irregular' column slot, and is called 'Let's Escape!'. It's about how considering our hobby as some kind of escape might not be the best idea if we want to get the most out of it. I have a couple of other ideas for the column which I'm hoping might be accepted. I'll guess we'll see.

Whether anyone will find it worth their time reading the piece also remains to be seen. I myself always flick past the painting and terrain articles in wargames magazines, being most interested in the scenarios and game reports. But I also find the WS&S columns worth reading, especially those written by well-known personalities (recently, Rick Priestley and Richard Clarke). I spend a lot of time doing hobby-related stuff, and I like to reflect on the whys and hows. But I also fully understand that some gamers flick past the opinion columns and love the terrain and painting articles. 

Chacun à son goût, as they say in France. WS&S is the only magazine that does this sort of thing as a regular part of each issue, and it's something I admire the editor (Guy Bowers) for doing. You won't be surprised to know that WS&S is easily my favourite of the 3 wargames magazines on offer at the present time.

One other little bit of fun is that as a column writer you get a pencil cameo to head up the article. So I submitted a photo and you see the result below. It seems to be an image of a much older man! But there we are. A little boost to the ego nevertheless.

I didn't know I had that many wrinkles.

As to going global, it was interesting to get the photo below from my eldest son, who lives and works in Kuala Lumpur.

Yes, there's actually a shop in Malaysia where you can get all the wargames magazines - if you live in the capital. Apparently, it's a pretty unique bookshop stocking English language books and magazines, including military titles like Ospreys. So if you're ever in KL... In fact, my impression is that wargaming in KL is mainly limited to Games Workshop-type stuff.

One Million Hits

Sometime in the past couple of months my hit counter has gone over the 1 million mark. This is very gratifying, although of course it's impossible know how many of those hits represents someone actually reading what's here. Those 1 million hits have occurred over the 17 years the blog has been in existence. I have certainly enjoyed creating every post, and the blog as it exists represents a excellent record for me of how my gaming has been developing. I hope it continues to be of some use to other gamers. 

My thanks to all those who have taken an interest in this blog since it started in 2008. Although posts are rather less frequent than previously, I hope to continue with the blog for many years yet.

Anyway, that's it for now. A Shadow of the Eagles game report is coming up soonish - set in the Crimean War.

'Til next time!

Cotswold Wargaming Day 2025

Well, here we are in July, and it's time for a reminder about the Cotswold Wargaming Day. 

The Cotswold Wargaming Day 2025

Sunday 19th October 

Big Battles Ltd

Unit 3

Cirencester Business Estate

Esland Place, off Love Lane

Cirencester GL7 1YG

08.30 - 17.30

As usual, those on the mailing list have already been informed. I would invite any previous attendees to contact me a soon as possible if they want to put on a game.

If you want to attend for the first time, either just to watch and chat or play in a game, it would be good to hear from you in advance so that I can get an idea of numbers. If you want to actually put on a game, it is essential you get in touch in advance. Space is limited. So, whatever the case, leave your details in the comments section here or get in touch via my Facebook wargaming group:

Honours of War, Shadow of the Eagles, Startline

The lovely guys at Big Battles have held the cost of hire at the same level as last year, so I will be asking for £10 from each person attending to cover that cost. Any surplus goes to local charities. 

Big Battles Ltd

I think I can safely say that this event is always a great day of wargaming. There is a solid core of regulars, but new attendees are always welcome.

Hope to see you there.

Age of Hannibal - The Battle of Trimsos

My recent hobby activity has mostly involved a fair bit of research and writing for Startline, along with a welcome addition of actual wargaming thanks to the Cirencester club, who have mostly been playing Napoleonic 28mm games using Lasalle. 

However, I realised my intention of progressing further with my latest choice of ancients rules (Age of Hannibal) had been rather neglected. What better way could there be of furthering this little project than inviting round an old wargaming buddy and having a game? And so a few days ago my old friend Paul came around to see what he thought of the rules.

For a scenario, I once again turned to Donald Featherstone's classic, the Battle of Trimsos. I do have one particular issue with this scenario - dividing the battlefield diagonally with an uncrossable river does cramp things a bit, with the two bridges being rather too easy to defend. So for this game, the river became a crossable stream ('rough ground', in AoH terms), the bridges disappeared, and the famous stone wall became a cultivated area supposedly irrigated by the stream. This area would also be rough ground. And that was about it. The interesting thing about this simple terrain was that the centre of the battlefield was dominated by the three hills, which is unusual for an ancient engagement. Unusual situations are often good tests for a set of rules.

I picked two armies of about 1200-1300 points each from my fictional adversaries of Paphlagonia and Latium. We deployed using the simple procedure from the basic rules - the winner of a die roll deploys first, then the other player does the same. Both had the usual deployment zone of up to 12" from their baseline.

As you will see from the photos, I was using 28mm figures on 80mm/3" wide bases, so the moves were doubled as suggested in the rules. Missile ranges were increased by 50%, as even with 28mm figures, a javelin range (for example) of 8" seemed a bit excessive. This all worked perfectly for a 6' x 4' table. And so we set to.

The Game in Pictures

The terrain and the troops. Deployment has not yet taken place.

The game commences. I commanded the forces of Latium in the foreground.
Paul begins his first turn.

Elephants vs. chariots? I thought my left flank had it made!

 

Persian Immortals of the Paphlagonian right-centre. I have a house rule allowing overhead archery,
so the horse archers behind them are a good tactic

Cavalry melee on the eastern flank. Arch enemies the Latium Cataphracts
and the Paphlagonian Companion Cavalry are hotly engaged.

 

The crucial clash in the centre on Rat Hill. My money was on the Paphlagonian pikemen,
to be honest, but I was determined to make a fight of it.

Confused and bloody fighting took place on River Ridge.

Well I never. The Paphlagonian pikes are besieged on Rat Hill,
with the Latium hoplites refusing to be overawed.

Fierce fighting all along the line. Paul considers his options.

The Pikes of the Yellow Shields have triumphed for Paphlagonia on River Ridge (background).
But nearer the camera, the cataphracts have trounced the Paphlagonian Companions
 and turn inwards to cause more mischief.

My elephants never had the opportunity to engage. Paul wisely held back his chariots,
and by the time the right flank of the elephants was secure, it was time to call it a night.

Comments and Questions

An enjoyable evening's wargaming. Paul, being the gentleman he is, reckoned that had we had more time Latium would have triumphed. His forces had lost 9 units whilst I had lost only 5. On the other hand , his morale clock was at 7 whilst mine was down to 6. There was still a lot of life in the game - doubtless we would have made more progress if we were more familiar with the rules.

AoH is easy to learn, and seems to re-create most of the factors one would want in an ancients game. Whether it would please those gamers who are deeper into the ancients period than myself or Paul, I wouldn't like to say, but I am enjoying the playing experience. 

There are one or two puzzling features - neither of us could understand why only infantry can provide flank support in melee, for example. In addition, I thought the 'Panic' rule was an obvious one to use for elephants, but on closer inspection it means that as soon as an elephant unit receives a DMZ (basically, a single effective hit), it automatically panics and runs off in a random direction. This is surely a bit over the top - I have amended this so that 2 DMZs are needed to trigger the rule (3 DMZs = destroyed), and even then panic only ensues if a rally test is failed.

The move away from the more manoeuvre-based tactics of the WW2 and Napoleonic periods to the more close-combat based ancient period was really interesting. It took a while for me to remember that ancients games are often all about the big infantry punch-ups, and one has to focus on these in order to win.

What I need now is a game or two set in an historical period, rather than an imginary one, in order to really judge how well the rules cope. Fortunately I am not short of gaming friends who know the ancient period well and have armies for me to borrow. Lucky me!

'Til next time!