u/LukMartens

Today, I playtested once more the rules for my skirmish game, 'The Battle for the Watchtower' several times. A gameplay lasts about an hour. It seems to be working out really well, though some fine-tuning was still needed. I’ve decided that the small lake will always be located in the center (instead of the tower). The warriors have to move around it, or can push an enemy in—forcing them to find a way out by the next round if they don't want to drown! The starting positions for both armies depend on where the tower ends up after the modular tiles are randomly placed on the 3x3 grid. The first two photos show different setups, while the rest are just atmospheric shots ;)

After several test games, I have concluded that my wargame, 'The Battle for the Watchtower', works well and is highly playable, though there was still room for improvement. I decided that the tile featuring the tower no longer has to be placed in the center; it can now end up in a corner or an outer column, depending on the draw. This gives the game a distinct direction. The biggest change, however, is the introduction of the fellow you see here in the added picture: a so-called 'thegn' (an Anglo-saxon noble warrior) carrying a draco standard. This figure plays a crucial role regarding the attackers' morale; if he is defeated, the balance of power can shift dramatically in an instant.
Feel free to check out the PDF containing the updated rules at this link; it replaces the PDF from my previous post. I have no commercial intentions, so anyone interested in giving it a try is welcome to do so.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vXg3g5Io4TpxNcaQ3KBLSSI2cYA4t-db/view?usp=drive_link

This weekend, I playtested my self-designed wargame, 'The Battle for the Watchtower,' several times. Placing the tower in the center turned out not to be ideal, so I adjusted that rule. All tiles are now placed by drawing them at random. If the tower ends up at the edge of the playing area—as seen in the first photo—the altered orientation suddenly creates much more interesting gameplay. The other photos are purely for atmosphere ;)

There we go—the terrain for my skirmish wargame, 'The Battle for the Watchtower', is now fully complete. As a final touch last night, I added a dilapidated palisade around the tower to ensure it wouldn't be too easy to reach. That is the game's scenario, after all: getting the warlord to safety inside the centrally located watchtower (which also doubles as a dice tower).
The game is lightning-fast, stripping away all time-consuming elements and bookkeeping. There are no cards, tokens, or counters cluttering the tabletop—just the miniatures, the dice, and a measuring stick.
Here are a few atmospheric photos. The final image shows one of the endless combinations possible with the nine modular tiles (25 x 32 cm).

In earlier posts regarding my self-written dark ages skirmish game 'The Battle for the Watchtower', I showed some pics of the modular tiles and the watchtower. There was some concern about warping of the tiles, but that's fixed by now (I glued them on thick MDF plates). The wooden tower itself is also finished now. It has a somewhat deteriorated look, which is on purpose. Before I began to build, I had already tried out a few test games (using cardboard tiles on which I had simply drawn the obstacles), and the rules turned out to work well. Now I can really start playing.

The watchtower for my custom wargame, 'The Battle for the Watchtower', 
is all but finished; it just needs painting. It also doubles as a dice tower, preventing
the dice from rolling too far across the game board or knocking over the miniatures.
Compared to the ready-made watchtowers available from various manufacturers online, this
one looks quite simple—even minimalist. While it is certainly tempting to add
plasterwork, arched windows, and various decorative elements, doing so would compromise
historical accuracy. In the Early Medieval period (the age of King Arthur)—shortly after
the Romans had left—such towers were often stark, straightforward wooden structures
devoid of frills. To add a bit of visual interest, however, I did hang those round
shields on it (even though, strictly speaking, that wasn't the practice).

9 modular game board tiles are almost finished. A former Fedex box will soon start a second life as a dice tower.

I'm working on a skirmish game called 'the battle for the watchtower', see:
https://www.reddit.com/user/LukMartens/comments/1wa4rm3/dark_ages_skirmish_wargame_with_zero_downtime_the/
I wonder, since I'm fairly new in this, if there are other games featuring modular game board tiles. Here is a picture of the work in progress. The white rocks have yet to be painted at the time this photo was taken. More pics to follow.
Fun fact: I did the math. Since there 9 rectangular tiles which can be rotated in 2 ways, of which the central one is fixed, there are theoretically 20.643.840 possible combinations, so no game will EVER be the same :). With perfectly square tiles and 4 possible rotations, the number would be 10.569.646.080. Phew!

Hi y'all,
I got this excellent 'Dark Ages Army Builder' set of Wargames Atlantic and I designed a two-player wargame around it, my main goal being to eliminate downtime and abstract mechanics.

So I stripped away the traditional phase-by-phase structure. I got rid of the initiative round which became redundant. Then I merged the tedious separate offensive and defensive phases into a simultaneous combat resolution with opposed rolls. I also skipped the morale phase at the end.

If you know the ancient Norse board game 'Hnefatafl' – it was the inspiration for the core scenario.

The entire ruleset fits onto just 4 pages (5 with introduction included). I’ve attached the PDF below and I'd like to get some feedback ;)

P.S. I am also a comic book artist. I created the accompanying drawing myself.

Hi Y'all

Just want to show my set of Dark Age Army Builder set from Wargames Atlantic. While not having the expert skills of the painter Matthew Leahy who did the examples on WA's website, I think it's good enough for 'player quality' (instead of 'display quality'). Apart from this set (48 pieces) there are two Footsore mini's (last 2 pics) as well.

That said: the figures shown on the website, while technically perfect, are a bit to 'clean' for my taste (fighting in the fields makes one dirty) and sometimes the colors of the clothes seem to bright or to vivid for the period. That's not criticism, just my opinion and a matter of taste.

So feel free to comment about my painted army. I have to admit I've never done this before. It's really a first for me.