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https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2025/07/flodden-revisited.html Polemarch: Flodden Revisited The twelfth move of the War of Stuart Succession saw, well, quite a lot happening. If you recall, James VI of Scotland had been forced to wi... polemarch flodden revisited https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2026/05/the-score.html Polemarch: The Score I have been reading, very slowly (due to other commitments), The Score , by C Thi Nguyen. It is certainly worthy of attention as a wargamer... polemarch score https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2016/ Polemarch: 2016 polemarch https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2026/04/ Polemarch: April 2026 polemarch april https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2017/05/ideas-and-wars.html Polemarch: Ideas and Wars I suspect it may be true that underlying a lot of what I write here is that warfare, and hence wargaming in different eras, is at least in ... polemarch ideas wars https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2024/07/the-political-life-of-charles-i.html Polemarch: The Political Life of Charles I Those of you who bother watching my Facebook feed, and have good memories, will know that I have been reading this: Cust, R., Charles I: ... the political polemarch life charles https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2017/07/battles-i-have-known.html Polemarch: Battles I Have Known It has recently been a little quiet around here. This is for two reasons, at least, two that I am prepared to admit publicly. Firstly, as I... i have polemarch battles known https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2017/11/postmodern-wargame-rules.html Polemarch: Postmodern Wargame Rules Once again I have been reading about postmodernism. My sins (in a previous life, of course) must have been really bad. Or possibly this is,... polemarch postmodern wargame rules https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2019/06/the-mughal-empire-at-war.html Polemarch: The Mughal Empire at War My loyal reader will have noted recently an emphasis on interest in South Asia, the Indian sub-continent and points allied to it. You migh... mughal empire polemarch war https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2012/10/when-did-wargaming-become-unethical.html Polemarch: When Did Wargaming Become Unethical? Ruaridh asked recently whether wargaming would have been regarded as even ethically questionable in past ages. The short answer is, of co... polemarch wargaming become unethical https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2019/07/semi-seminaria.html Polemarch: Semi-Seminaria As noted last time, I have a wide variety of early modern armies to choose from as a result of the rebasing project. Given my predilectio... polemarch semi https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2011/04/playing-with-toy-soldiers.html Polemarch: Playing with Toy Soldiers Should we grow out of playing with toy soldiers? Someone, in a comment a while ago (I think it was Ruraigh) commented that the expressions i... polemarch playing toy soldiers https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-language-of-wargaming.html Polemarch: The Language of Wargaming One of the triumphs of twentieth century thought was probably its focus on language, and the uses to which it is put. Some would probably ar... the language polemarch wargaming https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2014/07/balanced-and-unbalanced-wargames.html Polemarch: Balanced and Unbalanced Wargames I wrote recently about having a level playing field in a wargame, and was quite rightly gently chided for my loose language. There are a nu... polemarch balanced wargames https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-war-of-all-against-all.html Polemarch: The War of All Against All A few years ago, in those halcyon pre-COVID days when there were wargame shows to go to, I saw a game with a map of western Europe and a few... the war polemarch https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2024/01/clarity.html Polemarch: Clarity The Heretical Wargaming blog, run by JWH, has made some comments on the concepts of clarity and inspiration , a video blog post by Mr BigL... polemarch clarity https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2020/10/domesday-now.html Polemarch: Domesday Now Is it just me, or should there be an exclamation mark after the second word of the title? Perhaps I am just one of the Apocalypse Now! Gener... polemarch domesday https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2014/02/ Polemarch: February 2014 polemarch february https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2011/12/greek-report.html Polemarch: Greek Report The world, at least at the time of writing, seems to be fascinated as never before by what is going on in Greece. I doubt if there have been... polemarch greek report https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2015/08/all-at-sea.html Polemarch: All at Sea As you might have noticed from the previous post, every once in a while I discover in myself a liking for naval wargaming. Quite why this i... polemarch sea https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2019/10/aztec-affair.html Polemarch: Aztec Affair I have been waffling on about Aztecs for a while, and, yes, a photograph of all of them is in the pipeline (see below). Not being one for ... polemarch aztec affair https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2023/10/a-reconnaissance.html Polemarch: A Reconnaissance A short time ago I read in Lone Warrior an article by Jeff Subko, about reconnaissance operations in World War Two and their importance. It... polemarch reconnaissance https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2024/08/another-marathon.html Polemarch: Another Marathon Recently I was feeling the need to play a wargame. Endless painting and my frustration with the Chinese navy (or at least glueing the mast... polemarch another marathon https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2019/02/go-east-young-man.html Polemarch: Go East Young Man As I mentioned, the striving at present is based around a quest for world wargaming in the early modern period. The reason for this is the r... go east polemarch young man https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2014/ Polemarch: 2014 polemarch https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-languages-of-wargaming.html Polemarch: The Languages of Wargaming For my sins, which must be very many, I have been doing a little reading on deconstruction. As I am sure that you all know, deconstruction ... polemarch languages wargaming https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2023/01/naval-wargaming.html Polemarch: Naval Wargaming I bet you think I am repeating myself. Naval wargames last week, naval wargaming this week. Aside from trying to reduce further the number o... polemarch naval wargaming https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2015/03/two-piles-of-wargaming.html Polemarch: Two Piles of Wargaming Having, as I have, perused wargaming blogs and websites for a while, I can see that there are, usually two piles of things that wargamers s... polemarch two piles wargaming https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2025/12/ Polemarch: December 2025 polemarch december https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2024/09/ Polemarch: September 2024 polemarch september https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2017/04/after-thermopylae.html Polemarch: After Thermopylae I have often thought that wargamers are something of a race apart, a bit different from the rest of humanity. I have a suspicion that this ... polemarch thermopylae https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2023/07/military-strategy.html Polemarch: Military Strategy A while ago I mused, rather unproductively, on wargaming and strategy, mostly to the effect that wargamers are much more interested in tacti... polemarch military strategy https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-authentic-wargame.html Polemarch: The Authentic Wargame I mentioned a week or two ago the idea of the authentic and the kitsch in art. Real art, I claimed (or at least, quoted Roger Scruton as cl... the authentic polemarch wargame https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2021/09/little-braddock-on-down.html Polemarch: Little Braddock on the Down You might have picked up that I am something of a sceptic when it comes to formations in wargames. For example, I do not really believe that... on the polemarch little braddock https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2024/08/fighting-on-beaches.html Polemarch: Fighting on the Beaches Those of you who follow me in another place , or even those of you who have kept awake long enough here to read the posts here and here , w... on the polemarch fighting beaches https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2020/07/otranto-1480.html Polemarch: Otranto 1480 It is a fact well known among wargamers, particularly of the early modern persuasion, that the Ottoman Empire menaced Europe from roughly 14... polemarch otranto https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2022/01/self-inflicted-wounds.html Polemarch: Self-Inflicted Wounds There is no doubt about it: if you want to kill off the readership of your blog (not literally, of course) the answer is to write about nava... polemarch self wounds https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2017/12/sandwich-anyone.html Polemarch: Sandwich Anyone? Sometimes, when you are a bit of an omni-reader, as you have probably guessed I am, synthesis appears, as if sprung to life as smoothly as ... polemarch sandwich anyone https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2012/07/wargames-morale-and-crowds.html Polemarch: Wargames, Morale and Crowds A few weeks ago I remarked, in passing, that I thought that morale was more of a function of officers than of the rank and file. The argum... polemarch wargames morale crowds https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2017/12/a-christmas-present.html Polemarch: A Christmas Present In keeping with a spirit of giving, I am offering a present here . To spoil the surprise, it is a draft of the Polemos: Age of Alexander r... a christmas polemarch present https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2018/09/coldingham-combat.html Polemarch: Coldingham Combat King James sat and stared into the tankard that had just been reverently placed before him. Divine Right of Kings was one thing, he thought... polemarch combat https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2022/10/information-flow.html Polemarch: Information Flow One of the things which have slowly come to my attention in wargaming, perhaps particularly in campaigns but not exclusively, is the quest... polemarch information flow https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2015/05/culture-wargames.html Polemarch: Culture Wargames I have mentioned before that one of the issues with wargaming is that, in essence, we expect every other culture to conduct war in a simila... polemarch culture wargames https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2011/09/are-we-supposed-to-enjoy-this.html Polemarch: Are We Supposed to Enjoy This? On a shelf on my bookcase there is a book of Bloom County cartoons. Somewhere in this there is a cartoon where three characters are watching... polemarch supposed enjoy https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2011/07/world-views-and-wargames.html Polemarch: World Views and Wargames No-one who has read some of my output to this blog can have missed the idea that is running behind it. That is, in order to write decent war... world views polemarch wargames https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2017/09/rules-generic-rules-and-periods.html Polemarch: Rules, Generic Rules and Periods As avid readers of the blog will be aware, I do not have a great deal of enthusiasm these days for generic rules. The rule sets I have writ... polemarch rules generic periods https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2023/04/a-phenomenology-of-wargame-figures.html Polemarch: A Phenomenology of Wargame Figures After a bit of a philosophical bruising recently, I have started reading a little again, and have run across phenomenology again. Now, phe... polemarch phenomenology wargame figures https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2022/06/plots-structures-and-interactions.html Polemarch: Plots, Structures and Interactions I have written here before, and I still think that I am right, that a set of wargame rules is a set of interacting models. The trick is, in ... polemarch plots structures interactions https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2015/02/why-we-cannot-wargame.html Polemarch: Why We Cannot Wargame I am sitting here by the woodburner with a head full of cold feeling a bit nihilistic. There must be a reason for this, so I shall turn my ... why we polemarch cannot wargame https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2011/04/narrative-wargaming.html Polemarch: Narrative Wargaming One of the issues raised recently has been about the story of wargaming, the narrative that makes playing the game worth while. But here we ... polemarch narrative wargaming https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2025/07/ Polemarch: July 2025 polemarch july https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2015/11/critical-points.html Polemarch: Critical Points I wrote last time about perturbation theory. This sort of things occasionally gets one smirked at, as being a pretentious wargaming geek wi... polemarch critical points https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-nomadic-wargamer.html Polemarch: The Nomadic Wargamer For someone who has been a wargamer since teenage years (and that is getting a fair while ago) my set up has always been rather nomadic. My... polemarch nomadic wargamer https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2024/05/paris-1635.html Polemarch: Paris, 1635 No sooner said than sorted. That is, of course, not quite correct. The sharp-eyed and really bored among you will note differences between... polemarch paris https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2014/11/top-down-and-bottom-up.html Polemarch: Top Down and Bottom Up There has been some discussion recently about the top down and bottom up views of rule writing, and the implication of this for the design ... top down polemarch bottom https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-ancient-economy.html Polemarch: The Ancient Economy One of the things about modern life with added internet is that you can certainly buy books much faster than you can read them or, in my cas... polemarch ancient economy https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2011/03/historical-wargaming.html Polemarch: Historical Wargaming One of the main discourses in historical wargaming is, of course, the idea that a wargame can have any relationship to history. If this clai... polemarch historical wargaming https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2024/03/the-evolution-of-strategy.html Polemarch: The Evolution of Strategy As the long-suffering reader of the blog might have vaguely surmised, I have been thinking a little about strategy recently, and how it mi... the evolution polemarch strategy https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-problems-of-campaigns.html Polemarch: The Problems of Campaigns I do not know about you, of course, but I like campaign games. The idea of a campaign is attractive; a motivation for each battle is given.... the problems polemarch campaigns https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2012/01/wargame-models.html Polemarch: Wargame Models If we want to be a bit pretentious about our hobby, we can claim that wargaming models a real world battle. We can argue that through partic... polemarch wargame models https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2012/10/context-and-criticality.html Polemarch: Context and Criticality To summarize where I am at present in the ethics and wargames debate: I am not sure I entirely understand what the question is. I have pro... polemarch context criticality https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2021/04/from-marathon-to-marathon.html Polemarch: From Marathon to Marathon Clearly, your author is suffering from a problem with titles. I have never really managed titles very well. Polemos: SPQR was not my name fo... polemarch marathon https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2013/12/community-and-horizon.html Polemarch: Community and Horizon A few weeks ago there was a bit of discussion about wargame communities. In particular, it was suggested that, in fact, the wargame communi... polemarch community horizon https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2012/11/black-grey-and-white-wargames.html Polemarch: Black, Grey and White Wargames A comment from Aaron a bit ago has refreshed my memory as to where my ponderings about the ethics of wargaming started. A long, long time ag... grey and white polemarch black wargames https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2015/06/the-dreaded-drift.html Polemarch: The Dreaded Drift As I potter around the electronic environment, observing the lipid prose of my wargaming colleagues, I sometimes stumble upon a post which ... polemarch drift https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-roman-invasion-of-britain.html Polemarch: The Roman Invasion of Britain We all know the narrative, do we not? Julius Caesar invaded, beat the locals and then went home again, twice. Then, after this reconnaissan... the roman invasion polemarch britain https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2015/07/wargaming-leisure.html Polemarch: Wargaming Leisure For most of us, wargaming is a leisure activity, a hobby, something which is chosen to indulge in, rather than being something required, or... polemarch wargaming leisure https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2011/07/cyrus-cylinders-and-confusion.html Polemarch: Cyrus, Cylinders and Confusion. A while ago I mentioned that the Hebrew Bible was quite positive about the Persians, as opposed to Greek texts on the subject. Cyrus is seen... polemarch cyrus cylinders confusion https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2014/11/ Polemarch: November 2014 polemarch november https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2014/08/abductive-wargame-rules.html Polemarch: Abductive Wargame Rules The problem with wargame rules is that they are written down. On the face of it, this is not too much of a problem, because without being w... polemarch wargame rules https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2020/10/english-military-news-pamphlets.html Polemarch: English Military News Pamphlets Every once in a while you come across a book which just gives you ideas. I have been reading one such which pumps into my mental economy (so... military news polemarch english pamphlets https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2013/03/seven-things-i-have-learnt-from.html Polemarch: Seven Things I Have Learnt from Wargaming I thought I might try to ponder what wargaming has meant to me as a learning experience. This is partly based on an idea from Ulrich Betz,... seven things polemarch wargaming https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2018/02/crocodile-infested-streams.html Polemarch: Crocodile Infested Streams If you look in some older wargame books, you will find some calculations as to how far a person can walk, across country in, say, fifteen m... polemarch crocodile infested streams https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2018/08/go-east-young-man.html Polemarch: Go East Young Man As the regular reader (and there is only one, especially given that it is August and everyone seems to be on holiday) of the blog will know... go east polemarch young man https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2016/06/anti-realistic-wargaming.html Polemarch: Anti-Realistic Wargaming As I am sure many of you already know, in the general debates over philosophy these days, there is much about realism and anti-realism. Hav... polemarch anti realistic wargaming https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2019/10/something-about-nellie.html Polemarch: Something About Nellie I was admiring the collection of boxes containing my rebasing efforts recently, and wondering what I was going to do next. The Scots in th... something about polemarch nellie https://bigredbat.blogspot.com/2013/06/new-polemarch-scythed-chariots.html The BigRedBatCave: New Polemarch Scythed Chariots Jim at Polemarch very kindly posted me these pictures of his new scythed chariots, which I believe will soon (but I gather not q... the bigredbatcave new polemarch chariots https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2017/01/amateur-historians.html Polemarch: Amateur Historians The problem, as I have tried to state it, is something like this: historical wargamers, as wargamers, read the historical texts in a certai... polemarch amateur historians https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2010/08/from-marathon-to-waterloo-in-order.html Polemarch: "From Marathon to Waterloo, in Order Categorical..." Good old Gilbert and Sullivan, eh? So, what have I learnt so far, a week into the project. Firstly, there is a heck of a lot of literature o... in order polemarch marathon waterloo categorical https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2025/07/the-reduced-aztec-show.html Polemarch: The Reduced Aztec Show Some of you may recall, a few weeks ago, my concerns over downsizing my collection of toy soldiers. I invited The Estimable Mrs P. to examin... polemarch reduced aztec show https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2017/01/twtytw.html Polemarch: TWTYTW I fear that I am becoming a bit of a one dead horse beater, having written far too much this month about text, interpretation, authority an... polemarch https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-earliest-wargame.html Polemarch: The Earliest Wargame It is, rather surprisingly, that time of year again, the bit where I try to do something a bit lighter as a kind of early Christmas present... polemarch earliest wargame https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2015/05/partial-history-and-wargames.html Polemarch: Partial History and Wargames I made a comment, in a comment, a bit ago that history is only ever partial. This is in fact ambiguous, and, possibly, was so deliberately.... polemarch partial history wargames https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2020/09/domesday-inquest-and-book.html Polemarch: Domesday: The Inquest and the Book It seems to be fairly uncontentious that there was a Domesday Inquest, and, of course, we have the Domesday Book (or books, for there are tw... polemarch domesday inquest book https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2011/10/chains-of-command.html Polemarch: Chains of Command It is often said (so it must be true) that the task of a command system in a wargame is the opposite of that in real armies. In real armi... polemarch chains command https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2011/11/wargaming-as-boxing.html Polemarch: Wargaming as Boxing In boxing, two adult humans enter a ring where they know that someone will be waiting who will attempt to do them harm. While there are some... polemarch wargaming boxing https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2023/01/naval-wargames.html Polemarch: Naval Wargames Another trip down memory lane this week. I remember, a long time ago reading this work. Just vaguely; I was not and am not particularly inte... polemarch naval wargames https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2018/08/what-is-military-history.html Polemarch: What is Military History? As I have mentioned before, one book tends to lead to another. After reading the account of the Nine Years War I mentioned a while ago, thi... what is polemarch military history https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2025/09/ancient-ends-and-new-beginnings.html Polemarch: Ancient Ends and New Beginnings After the War of Stuart Succession, I had thought to do some ancients wargaming. I had the Roman invasion of Britain in mind, and mined my b... polemarch ancient ends new beginnings https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2013/03/what-i-have-not-learnt-from-wargaming.html Polemarch: What I Have Not Learnt From Wargaming In a desperate attempt to follow up a previous desperate attempt at something approaching humour and possibly getting someone to read this s... what i have polemarch wargaming https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2010/11/second-stab-at-rules.html Polemarch: A Second Stab at Rules What happens if we change the basis on which we generate the rules? Following on from last week, where we took the hoplite to be the typical... polemarch second stab rules https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/ Polemarch polemarch https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2020/11/elephants-again.html Polemarch: Elephants Again Every once in a while I get a craving to put elephants on the table. I do not know what it is about pachyderms, but every wargamer I know (w... polemarch elephants https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2019/02/two-sorts-of-historical-distortion.html Polemarch: Two Sorts of Historical Distortion I vaguely mentioned before the break that G. R. Elton had some fairly swingeing things to say about historiographical distortion. In fact, ... polemarch two sorts historical distortion https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2023/12/siena-expands.html Polemarch: Siena Expands After my not-quite-a-victory at Piombino in the new Italian Wars campaign, I still had my own 1501 move to effect, even though my army was d... polemarch siena expands https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2016/07/somme-ber-reflections.html Polemarch: Somme-ber Reflections I am not, and do not intend to become, a First World War wargamer. There are a number of reasons for this, as I have noted before, along th... polemarch somme ber reflections https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2016/05/the-essential-wargame.html Polemarch: The Essential Wargame I commented a bit ago that often times, the study of war suggests that there are some invariants in its conduct. A war is undertaken in cer... the essential polemarch wargame https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2017/05/giving-past-its-due.html Polemarch: Giving the Past Its Due History is in a constant state of revision. One of the things I try to explain to people is that if they read a text, firstly, that text re... the past polemarch giving due https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2019/09/aztecs-again.html Polemarch: Aztecs Again I am, very slowly, rebasing my Aztec and similar sorts of troops. This is a slow process because I seem to have an awful lot of them, far ... polemarch aztecs https://ancientrules.blogspot.com/2014/05/out-of-sequence-post-leibster.html Polemarch: Out of Sequence Post: Leibster I didn't think that I would do this, but since some have been kind enough to nominate this blog for the thing, I thought it would be courte... out of polemarch sequence post