Shed Wars 13th Birthday & the Annual Review

Hi Folks

Despite my promises at the end of last year to keep this blog current I have been a very naughty Eric the Shed ! This year has seen the fewest number of posts since I launched some 13 years ago - yes that's right Shed Wars is now 13 years old. To be precise its birthday was in the middle of December and I have used that date each year as a recap of the previous 12 months activity. This year I missed the deadline and its only by the skin of my teeth that this post is going out on New Years Eve.

As per previous posts here is a short summary of views, hits, followers etc...

Growth this year was around 12% and I reckon by the end of 2025 I'll hit the 2.5 million milestone which quite frankly is staggering. Some of these views are almost certainly bots but I can report that the spikes seen in previous years and the number of inane comments from folks in china trying to sell their wares has dropped off considerably. 

Lets move onto the annual review which unfortunately is going to be rather short and I only got round to a few posts during the year. Why ? Well as I reported in 2024 Mrs Shed and I moved home and this year we started on the renovation of the new property. Our builders moved in towards the end of summer and are still on site. The property has been badly neglected over its lifetime and as a result we have been hot by a plague of issues that needed to be rectified, without wishing to bore you with the details I can say that when the work is completed (hopefully Summer 2025) it will be great but we will be considerably poorer.

Our new home came with its own extensive gardens and woodlands. These have also been neglected over the years and my role as head gardener and chief landscaper has been pretty much full on for the past 12 months. Its been a blast and I feel that we are finally making progress.

That saying Monday nights have seen a continuous stream of games (both table top and board game action) with my regular local friends. We have played across multiple periods and some of the highlights are featured below.

From a painting perspective I was finally able to complete both my Greek and Macedonian / Successor armies. 

Greek Army 

 

Macedonian Army

The two armies represent about 2000 figures in total, and since I completed the Macedonians I have been busy painting the Persians. All told I reckon I have painted in excess of 1500 figures this year. This figure includes the 600 Persian foot which will in appear in a post in the New Year.

Sadly I built no terrain in 2024

As for the games we obviously had to use the figures shown above in a couple of big games. These included the Battle of Chaeronia  - as Philip of Macedon swept aside the Greek states in his invasion of Greece

To The Strongest Greek Engagement - Sparta versus Athens

Keeping the Ancients theme going we fought a very entertaining refight of Mons Grapius (Rome vs Scots)

Another highlight of the year was our retake on the Battle of Lewes (it was so good we fought it twice !)

Which reminds me we still have to refight the Battle of Ely.

My Zulus once again made it onto the table for our epic refight of Isandlwhana. This is a game that never disappoints....its very brutal and cinematic

 

Finally you may recall that I entered Shed of the Year this year. Sadly I didn't get through to the public vote but as part of my application I did produce this short film. I was rather pleased with the final result...

So thats it for a short summary of the year.

What of 2025?

My current Wargaming priority is to complete my Persian Army  - at present the foot is mostly complete and will be shared in an upcoming post, I then have the task of assembling 200+ cavalry and painting these chaps. Yes it going to be another big army ! Hopefully these chaps will be on the table by Summer.

As Summer approaches the house should be done and I can then truly launch the Shed Wars Experience. The new home will have guest accommodation on site so if you are interested in sharing these Shed Wars adventures please do drop me a line on the website - www.shedwars.co.uk

In the meantime I wish you all a very Happy New Year !!

Eric the Shed

 

 

Battle of Chaeronea (338BC) - A 28mm Wargame

 Afternoon All

Following my last post which focussed on my completed Macedonian/Successor army (HERE) , it was about time that this force saw some action on the table. 

Over the last couple of Monday nights we have refought the Battle of Chaeronea in two very brutal games.

This post wont detail the specifics of the battles but suffice to say that the Greeks won the first engagement and the Macedonians the second. These were extremely tight affairs and the results could have gone either way. This is definitely a balanced game.

 

Background

The Battle of Chaeronea was fought in central Greece in 338 BC. It was fought between Philip II of Macedonia and an alliance of Greek City states (chiefly Thebes & Athens). The battle was the culmination of Philips desire to be the dominant player in the North Aegean Greek peninsular and resulted in a final victory for the Macedonians.

The two sides met on san open plain near the city of Chaeronea which was boundaried by the Kephisos river and the foothills of Mount Thurion. The two sides were relatively well matcjhed with about 30,000 troops on each side. However the Macedonians were significantly more experienced and had much greater numbers of horse. Alexander, Philip's son commanded the Macedonian Companion horse on their left wing. The Macedonians fought with 15ft long pikes (sarissas) which gave them a longer reach that their Greek hoplite opponents. Many of the Greeks had been pressed into service to face the Macedonian threat and were as a result somewhat raw. The Athenians took the Greek left wing with the men of Thebes holding the right. The honour of holding the end of the Greek right wing fell to the Sacred Band, an elite unit of 300 hoplites.

The actual battle was a masterclass of Philips generalship. He drew out the Athenian forces to face his experienced phalanxes and wore them down in a brutal melee. As the Greek forces wavered Alexander lead a charge across the field splitting the City State Alliance in two.

At this point the Greeks morale crumbled and many fled the field. Only the sacred Band held firm dying to a man to give their companions are chance to escape.   

Wargaming the Battle

Using Hail Caesar this was a very straightforward battle to organise, both sides are comparable in size (number of units) and the field is open save for the flanks. 

Macedonians order of Battle

Right wing under Phiip (rating 9) plus two sub-commanders (rating 8)

6 units of Phalangites (veteran/Elite)

2 units of Hypaspists (veteran/Elite)

light troops (3 x slings, 3 x bows, 3 x peltasts, 2 x light horse) - all small units

2 units medium cavalry (small units)

Centre two subcommanders rating 8

8 units Phalangites

6 units of various light troops

Left Wing under Alexander (rating 9)

6 units of Phalangites

3 units of medium cavalry (Companions)

6 units of various light troops

Greek City States - all commanders rated at level 8)

Left Wing 

Eight units of Hoplites (of which four are levy)

Twelve units of skirmish troops - slings, bows, peltasts, lt cavalry)

Centre Wing 

Eight units of Hoplites (of which four are levy)

Two units of small medium Cavalry

Right Wing 

Seven units of Hoplites (of which four are levy)

One unit Sacred Band (Elite, Veteran Hoplites - count as Spartans)

Twelve units of skirmish troops - slings, bows, peltasts, lt cavalry)

The following are a series of photos from the games in no particular order

There are no special rules in play other than the standard attributes awarded to each of the units.

It became apparent in game one that the Greeks were better placed to attack given they would lose out against charging sarissas.

The game ebbed and flowed across a 16ft table

The ranked units looked fabulous - with about 1600 figures on the table

The impact of the cavalry was minimal in both games - they did manage to pin units but no stunning charges

In the first game the Macedonian centre collapsed under an assault by the Greeks - the flanks held firm giving the city states the win.

Fortunately we played this three aside and with a general familiarity of the rules across the table both games played out in about three and half hours.

We are going to try this battle with to the Strongest later in the year.

What next...well I have started on the Persians.

More games soon

Macedonian/Successor Army now complete

Good Afternoon Folks

Delighted to report that I have completed another army ! Back in March I notified the world that I had started on my Macedonian/Successor army. Link HERE. At the time I had purchased the forces and already completed 300 Phalangites in 2022. So wind the clock forward and the force is complete.

All the figures present are either sourced from Warlord Games or Victrix. All are 28mm and plastic.

The total force consists of

18 units of Phalangites /Pike ( each unit 32 figures strong)

2 units of Hypaspists (32 figures each)

3 units of heavy cavalry (8 figures each)

3 units of Companion Cavalry (8 figures each)

6 war elephants

10 command stands

When this force does come to the field it will be supported by the light troops and Hoplites painted for my Greek Army

The total force arrayed in three ranks covers a sizeable part of my table

The Macedonians (minus the elephants will battle my Greeks), then they will battle my next army project (Persians) and finally they will pitch themselves against each other (Successors) 

The Heavy Cavalry are gorgeous victrix figures. Four packs made up my six cavalry units - the shield transfers are spares I had from my Greek Project.

The Companions have been distinguished with purple cloaks and their long lances.

The cavalry commander started off life as a mounted Roman General but a head and shield swap brought him into line with the period.

Likewise my Macedonian General and standard bearer were Roman Generals but again a switch of heads and shields was all that was required.

The two units of Hypaspists both started og in the lives as Victrix Hoplites but again using head swaps they have been repurposed. 

The shield transfers are old GW ones I had knocking around

This unit I suspect might be refeered to as the Captain America unit ! Should have found some white stars

The core of the army are the Pike - all are Warlord Games plastic pike units. Ranked in fours with 32 figures to a unit

The famous silver shields !!

The infantry commanders are just spare plastic figures I had mounted on round bases

Finally I have six war elephants...these beauties are all from Warlord Games 

Each has been given a different paint style

Just need to add some tufts to these bases to finish them off....

So that's another force complete and they will appear in my next Monday night game.

Next up the Persians 

More soon