2026 Games Count

[Chris Pringle]

Ligne was a massive encounter that convinced Napoleon he was on to a winner and could sweep all before him!
Pity Blücher had not read that script.

You could never accuse Napoleon of being under-confident.

Bluecher broke the mould: most Allied commanders Napoleon had faced were daunted by him and consequently cautious. Not so Bluecher.

[T13A]

Hi

Played my first wargame of 2026 yesterday, Ancient British v Early Imperial Romans, using Basic Impetus 2 (BI2). I played a fair amount of Impetus games up to around 2018/19 when I went over to 'To the Strongest!' (TtS!) for ancient and medieval games (once I managed to get over my ingrained fear of using 'grids' on the table top). Anyway just felt it was time to for something different from TtS! (also had a game of BI2 just before Christmas). Had an enjoyable game with my good friend Phil, but that said, it did remind me of all the reasons we moved from Impetus to TtS! in the first place.

Cheers Paul

[Chris Pringle]

Colonials: Sudan/Little Big Horn (BBB rules).
A really clever disguised scenario.
AAR here:
https://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/2026/01/little-big-horn-in-sudan.html

[T13A]

Hi

Excellent game of 'To the Strongest!' today, Egyptians v Assyrians, lots of light chariots going all over the place. Nail biting last few turns with the Assyrians just coming out on top. Lots of fun all round.

Cheers Paul

[Chris Pringle]

Napoleonics: Uclés (1809). (BBB rules)

A division-sized Peninsular War action in which historically the French inflicted an utterly one-sided rout on the Spanish.

Our game of it recreated the lop-sided casualty count but was far more interesting, close and exciting than that might suggest. AAR here:
https://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/2026/01/not-so-one-sided-ucles-1809.html

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

So,this week,3 games of A Song of Blades and Heroes
And a game of Burrows and Badgers tonight.

[Chris Pringle]

WWII, set during the battle of Kursk. (Scott's home rules.)
Two platoons of tankriders on T-34s attacking a platoon of 305th Security Division with one PaK 38.

A lot like the Winter War game I reported in December: a simple frontal assault against a dug-in enemy. Like that Finnish game, this involved a surprising degree of tactical subtlety and was an absorbing game. Halfway through, when all my T-34s had been knocked out and my infantry were faced with having to dash across open ground from the captured trench to attack the German second line, I was tempted to give up. But I soldiered on and a judicious human wave attack (OK, more like a ripple) managed to overwhelm the last Germans on the last turn.

Za Rodinu!

[Chris Pringle]

So,this week,3 games of A Song of Blades and Heroes
And a game of Burrows and Badgers tonight.

Those badgers sure are keeping you entertained, aren't they, Will!

[sunjester]

After repeatedly having to cancel games due to a nasty chest bug, I've excelled myself with six games of A Song of Blades and Heroes in just two nights!

[sunjester]

Two more games this week, Wars of the Roses with orcs using Midgard and ECW trying out FK&P with Last Hussar. I can confirm that LH is a crap at drawing cards as he is at rolling dice!

[Last Hussar]

I can confirm that LH is a crap at drawing cards as he is at rolling dice!

Yep.

[Big Insect]

So far this year I have played 8 games of Art de la Guerre.

6 x 15mm games in an weekend International 'classical' period competition, at Alicante, Spain.
Where my Armenia army lost to two Sarmatians, one early Imperial Roman, 2 Carthaginian armies and beat another Carthaginian. There were 60+ players competing, with players from Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Italy, the Uk and even New Zealand.
My learning was primarily that I needed to throw better combat dice. I won the Initiative in all 6 games & had fab command dice, but my shooting & melee dice were dire. Still, it was a great way to kick-off my 2026 competative gaming calendar.

This weekend I am 1 day into a 2 day ADLG 28mm comoetution at the PAWs show down in Plymouth. I've played 2 games so far, with my Scots Isles & Highlanders, both narrow losses. First against a Lowland Scot & then against a Catalan Grand Company. Tomorrow morning I face a Navarrese. What can possibly go wrong     

[fred.]

In Jan I have played three games of Armoured Clash and one of Live Free or Die

[pierre the shy]

We played LR2 using English and French Hundred Years War troops on Friday.....the French commander assidously manuvered to avoid coming into effective range of the English archers while beating the snot out of serveral of our other foot units with his fierce foot.

More messing about in triremes last night, so far the Athenians have done a pretty good job of convincing the Spartans that while they are good at fighting ashore at sea they are not so good, but the game is far from over...

We are lucky to be able to leave the game set up between sessions.   

[Chris Pringle]

Three games this week! (All BBB.)

Franco-Prussian War: Loigny/Poupry.
Always produces a nailbiter.
Produced a "Reflections on Wargaming" essay this time as well:
https://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/2026/02/why-do-some-battles-become-favourites.html

Austro-Prussian War: Langensalza.
A great little tabletop teaser. I didn't give it nearly enough thought, so got comprehensively beaten by Anton.

ACW: Pea Ridge.
A very different, very characterful scuffle in the woods between two armies of contrasting quality.
Full AAR to follow.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

BKC IV tonight
Western Desert, 138th Borcester Light Heavy Infantry under Lt Colonel Antrobus failed to shift a dug in selection of Kamofgroup Philios.
Mostly because the 139th couldn't be bothered moving.
88s are brutal!

[pierre the shy]

We concluded the Athenian/Spartian trireme game quite quickly last night, with the Athenians continuing to dominate proceedings     

Started another game "somewhere in the Aegean Sea" with quite a few islands and shoals which makes manuvering by squadrons a lot more challenging.

[sunjester]

Just one game this week, a fantasy game with Midgard Heroic Battles

[Chris Pringle]

Played an excellent game tonight.
Peninsular War (BBB): Vitoria.
This was refined version of the scenario we played in 2024, as briefly reported here:
https://bloodybigbattles.blogspot.com/2024/03/bbb-busy-busy-busy.html

No report this time. Suffice to say I found it just as hard playing the French as I had to play the Allies! Really good scenario by Mark that presents both sides with an interesting challenge and produced a game that followed the historical shape of the battle pleasingly closely. Will be just one of a number of such jewels in the forthcoming BBB Peninsular War scenario book.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Warhammer Old World
Gobbos Vs Lizzies
Another loss
Sooooooooooo close...
Another turn and the Lizzies were in trouble.