Welcome to “Across the Table”, my virtual summary of events in “The Wargames Room”. Here I will document a selection of my wargaming activities in my games room. I will also, I’m sure, ramble on about various historical and wargaming thoughts as the occasion arises, so be warned! Periodically I will even venture out of my gaming room to attend conventions around the country or visit a battlefield.

In addition to providing a virtual summary of my gaming and historical interests this site acts as a portal to the various rules systems I use. You will find these sites listed in the menu. I encourage you to visit these sites for a more detailed coverage of the rule systems I use. These sites contain more focussed articles and supporting material for the rule systems themselves.

Today I game mostly at home with number of local wargamers. I focus on historical gaming and have collections in 6mm or 15mm. I play a mix of fictional games usually between historical opponents or refight historical battles using miniatures. You will find this as something of a theme here.

As way of background here is a brief overview of each of the periods I wargame, the rules I use and the scale miniatures I use.

Ancient & Medieval:

For the Ancient & Medieval periods I use 15mm figures and De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA). I enjoy both the smaller 12 element game as well as the larger “Big Battle” version.  My main focus is that of Classical Greece through to the Macedonian and Punic Wars.

Over recent years I have branched out a little and I am slowly building armies for the the Wars of the Roses. In addition some of my Renaissance armies are equally usable in the late Medieval period such as the Japanese in the early Sengoku Jadai period.

You can find more information on my Ancient and Medieval wargaming including the rules and a few game reports here.

Renaissance:

My Renaissance gaming is also in 15mm, where I use De Bellis Renationis (DBR). Initially my armies were those of English Civil War. However, over the years I have added several more armies from the Renaissance period including the European exploration and expansion.

These projects add further variety to my gaming of this fascinating period. You can find more about my Renaissance gaming here.

Horse & Musket:

Wargaming what is often referred to as the horse & musket or black powder period is a staple for me. Here I use the excellent Volley & Bayonet rules which cover the period from 1700 to 1890. These rules allow me to refight entire battles of the period, rather than sections of historic battles. The rules support any miniature scale but my collection is built exclusively around 6mm miniatures and includes armies for the Seven Years War, Napoleonic Wars, American Civil War and Franco-Prussian War.

With Volley & Bayonet our standard evening game involves battles with multiple corps and typically lasts three or so hours. Large historical refights such as Aspern-Essling, Borodino or Waterloo can be played over a single day. Large sprawling multi-day battles such as Wagram or Gettysburg can easily be completed over a weekend.

A site dedicated to the Volley and Bayonet rules can be found here. This site includes considerable supporting material for the rules including a range of scenarios. A wargaming diary of my Volley & Bayonet games can be found here.

World War II:

Another popular wargaming period World War II provides dramatic battles and colourful commanders. Many wargamers prefer low level skirmish games, but my preference is for larger scale actions, typically at the brigade or divisional level. For this I use the Spearhead rules and 6mm miniatures.

I feel these rules allow me to capture the scale of the engagements on an average sized wargames table and focus on combined arms warfare and the planning of such actions. You can read more about the Spearhead rules, forming armies and my miniatures here.

If nautical engagements during Word War II are more your thing I have recently started building naval squadrons to cover the war at sea. These models are all in 1/3000th scale.

My naval project focusses on actions in the Mediterranean and the early actions in the Pacific. As to rules I am using Naval Thunder Battleship Row. You can follow the project and background articles as it develops here.

Cold War & Arab Israeli Wars:

My interest in wargaming the battles of the Cold War and Arab Israeli Wars has spanned many decades. Again I use 6mm miniatures for these periods and again I focus on higher level actions, specifically those at brigade to divisional level. For me planning, resource allocation and combined arms are critical components of the modern battlefield. I feel these are well modelled by the Modern Spearhead rules which I use.

Specific information for my wargaming for the Cold War and Arab-Israeli Wars with the Modern Spearhead rules can be found here.

In Summary:

I trust that as you explore this site you find something of interest, perhaps a little inspiration. I encourage you to leave a comment or a “like”. Comments are particularly valued as they make the articles a little more interactive.

You can of course “follow” this site. By following you will be advised of updates and new posts as and when they happen. If you have a specific interest in one of the periods or rule sets I use, consider subscribing to these sites directly.

I trust you enjoy your virtual visit to my wargames room and I hope you visit again soon.