Alexander the Great’s Campaigns: A Guide to Ancient Political and Military Gaming

 Upon request I have just republished a classic book by the one and only Phil Barker.

  

The story of Alexander the Great is of a young titan who took control of what its neighbours thought of as a backward nation, used an army of radically new kind invented by his father to impose unity on the highly civilised but bitterly quarrelling states of Ancient Greece, then turned east as the champion of civilisation. His strategic and tactical genius quickly crushed the huge Persian Empire, the most feared military power of his day. Continuing east, he imposed his rule on nations beyond the boundaries of the then-known world, battling against armies relying upon huge and terrifying unknown beasts. Before his premature death at the age of 32, Alexander had conquered the Middle East, Asia Minor and large tracts of India, and was about to turn his attention on Rome and Carthage. Had he succeeded, known history would have been significantly different.

The chances he took in leading his troops personally into battle, exposing himself to end-less danger and being frequently wounded, give wargamers endless opportunities to alter history for themselves. The continuous intrigues, betrayals and jealousies between the various military and political leaders give tremendous scope for imaginative and Machiavellian players, while the individual battles - which are described in vivid detail - will certainly tax wargamers’ tactical skills.

This book includes a detailed and accurate account of Alexander as a military commander as well as all the information on march rates, logistics, pay, loot, sieges, armament, organisation and other related factors required by wargamers. It describes the troops of Alexander’s own armies and their opponents, their tactics and weapons and how these altered to meet changing circumstances, As well as being a tremendously exciting and imaginatively stimulating read, the book is thus an essential reference source, at once of immense value to Ancient wargamers and food for thought to serious historians.

The author is widely acknowledged as an authority on the period and. as well as being co-author of the famous Wargames Research Group ‘Ancient’ rules, has written widely on the ancient world.

Celebrating WRG’s contribution to Wargaming

Bristol Wargaming Society, my local club, were pondering the world of wargaming; who had contributed to launching the hobby we all enjoy? Actually, there are only a dozen or so people who were instrumental in those pioneering days of the 1960’s, 1970’s and 1980’s. The club wanted to arrange a local event to celebrate the contribution of WRG, in particular that of Sue Laflin-Barker and Phil Barker. So I found out when Phil and Sue were passing Bristol and invited them along to the day’s celebration and to mark the launch of Sue Barker’s new book, An Introduction to Ancient Wargaming using DBA 3.0.

 

The centre of the day consisted of a small DBA competition using DBA 3.0. DBA is very suitable for multi-game competitions, the games do not take too long and so the loser can rapidly field another army in another game in an attempt to exact their revenge.

DBA 3.0 game being played under the watchful eye of Phil

The day was also the opportunity of people to play DBA against Sue Barker in some friendly games (She used the figures and scenery from her new book). Sue demonstrated that German warbands were a formidable force against Roman blades. (If a blade is forced back by a warband it is destroyed). There were also tutorials on DBA 3.0 for the uninitiated.

Nick Pope, the club chair, looking despondent after being beaten by Sue

 

Some local clubs put on DBM participation games to demonstrate the rules and to encourage people to have a go.

One of the DBM games put on by the Abbywood Irregulars

 

The Hordes of the Things (HOTT) is a popular micro game, allowing fantasy armies from all genre’s to fight it out on the table top. The club expert spent the day showing people the rules and playing a series of friendly games.

Playing HoTT against Sue and Phil

 

The Barker’s wandered around the event chatting to people in the way that dedicated wargamer’s do, browsing the various trade stands. People took the opportunity to get them to sign various books and rules by them to the extent their arms started to get tired!

One table that caught everyone’s interest was the display showing a portion of the 55 set of rules/ books published by WRG from 1969 until today.

Some of the 55 books published by WRG

 

The event was only designed as a local event, and it grew somewhat beyond the original plan. Many people contacted us afterwards and asked if we could repeat the event, on a larger scale, with more publicity. Several WRG 6^th edition ancient enthusiasts were particularly ‘miffed’ they were not able to demonstrate one of the classic games of ancient wargaming.

It was very successful day, Phil and Sue enjoyed themselves.

Thanking Phil and Sue for the contribution of WRG