Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Age of Myths, Gods and Empires => Topic started by: Jjonas on 29 November 2022, 07:20:33 PM
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I posted a beginning page to reminisce about the Warhammer Ancient Battles Alexander the Great supplement. As we reach a twenty year milestone I wanted to begin posting a few pages, since I'm so slow at posting. I thought it would be a good place to start with the art by Giuseppe Rava and Jonny Hodgson. It is difficult to believe that it has been so long. Plus I'm very pleased that the game still has a worldwide group devotees, and that both WAB1 and WAB2 are played by this determined lot of gamers with their "crazy" single based models.
You can see more of Giuseppe's work and art prints at:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100051111677742
https://ancientbattles.com/Alexander_the_Great_Warhammer_Historical_2003/Warhammer_Ancient%20Battles_Alexander_the_Great_%28AtG%29_supplement.html
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Brilliant
Thanks for all your contribution over those 20y Jeff
lol
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I missed out on WAB back in its heyday, but I was lucky enough to pick up the rules and some supplements, including Age of Alexander. I actually reread AoAlex about a week ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Aside from the army lists and rules modifications, the historical overview and illustrations and photos are inspiring.
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Thanks. I’m glad you enjoyed it. There has been a lot of new material and research printed since it was finished. I should give it a careful read and point out where ideas have changed or been challenged. One thing for sure the nature of the narrative is always in flux since our sources are not consistent, contemporary, or both.
Much of the Chaeronea setup and conclusions are based of reverse engineering other situations. Since publication there has been a lot of work done to promote Persian sources and Babylonian scrolls which don’t always see things the same way as the western point of view.
So many great books on Alexander since 2002, and so many more models in all scales. I reckon that besides not having been able to deliver a Successors volume I miss not being able to revisit and revise AtG for WAB to fix and update based on all the new stuff.
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Twenty years already? Good grief! Can't believe it's been 18 (+1/2) years since I brought my Achaemenid Persians to Historicon. Good times!
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And as I recall your Persians turned my troops into pin cushions!
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Good old WAB times ... Warhammer Histrocal Weekends ...
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This book is a great resource to anyone interested in the period, whether for wargaming or not.
I would love to see what the Successor one would have looked like, but alas it was not to be.
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This book is a great resource to anyone interested in the period, whether for wargaming or not.
I would love to see what the Successor one would have looked like, but alas it was not to be.
Thank you for that comment. Yes the Successor volume was my first goal, but situations pushed it back. Losing my wife to cancer did not help during the process. The eventual switch to WAB2 meant that most of the meat and potatoes of the army lists were passed forward. Many people saw the draft copy of my MS before GW burned it, so at least folks used it to forward their own ideas. Some folks have the draft lists for play testing. Of course all of this was happening while Star Wars Galaxies was taking most of my time so a lot of things back then were a blur due to overwork and trauma. I’m just pleased as punch that what got “out there” was well received.
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Oh, this brings me back.
Your Alexander book and Allen Curtis’ Punic Wars book were a fantastic pair!
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Oh, this brings me back.
Your Alexander book and Allen Curtis’ Punic Wars book were a fantastic pair!
Thank you! Allen and I tried to make our books as compatible as possible. Great Pyrrhus vs. Roman games were the payoff for our work. Some of my most memorable games ever have been my Pyrrhus list (the unpublished one) vs. his veteran legions army. One thing I regret was not having a local opponent with a WAB Republican Roman army to match up with. I even got to loan out my anti elephant cart.
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I allways wonder about the started, but never released books for WAB. Did you know something???
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Books that were in progress by certain authors and groups when the Yahoo WAB Group was in full swing that never were released.
Greek and Persian Wars
The Successors of Alexander
Samurai warfare
Armies of Chivalry seemed to overwrite some others that were planned such as Crusades book.
Maybe a Trojan War book?
This is where it gets foggy in memory because of the cross over with WAB2 which combined a lot of the stats and ideas of the “ether” supplements.
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They are lost forever, I‘m afraid. A real Desaster
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There was a Hundred Years War book and a second Asian themed book to complement Art of War. Those at least I saw drafts of, plus what Jeff mentioned.
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I got the chance to play test the draft Successor’s supplement in a WAB event, would have been a great supplement once released.
Other ones I know or play tested
Wars of the Roses
Trojan Wars
Am sure there where others as well
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I got the chance to play test the draft Successor’s supplement in a WAB event, would have been a great supplement once released.
Other ones I know or play tested
Wars of the Roses
Trojan Wars
Am sure there where others as well
Was this the original WAB 1 version or the WAB2 version? Just asking for curiosity's sake. Thanks for the kind words. Work and life trauma conspired to drop further development of that book, or spinning it off into a stand alone publication. The good news is the work survives as passed along to other rules sets, and when I wrote the MS there was a dearth of Successor focused works available. Now there is a very rich body of work that fills in the time from Alexander's death to end of the Successor states at Actium. Now there is so many good sources I would hesitate to start.
Just in the last year the Paul Johstono book on the Ptolemaic army blew the roof off of a lot of dusty old writings. Even my thought of elephants at Raphia - as libertine as they were- have been rendered obsolete by the DNA findings that some Somalian herds were Savannah elephants.
A review:
https://networks.h-net.org/node/12840/reviews/10276496/beek-johstono-army-ptolemaic-egypt-323-204-bc-institutional-and#:~:text=Overall%2C%20Johstono's%20work%20provides%20a,decline%20in%20the%20Egyptian%20army.
An absolute deal on Kindle:
https://www.amazon.com/Army-Ptolemaic-Egypt-323-204-Institutional-ebook/dp/B09SBP71MX
Thanks
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Your were a trend setter!
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“Was this the original WAB 1 version or the WAB2 version? Just asking for curiosity's sake.”
It was a mighty draft of the WAB 1 version. Never played WAB 2 as we enjoyed WAB 1.5 so much
Still one of my favourite games and one that gets played a couple times a year…….time to dust off my Seleucids lol lol
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It was a mighty draft of the WAB 1 version. Never played WAB 2 as we enjoyed WAB 1.5 so much
Still one of my favourite games and one that gets played a couple times a year…….time to dust off my Seleucids lol lol
Cool, this was what the Early Successors lists were supposed to look like for WAB 1.0
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Thanks for posting that!
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Would be a great thing to get all these unreleased stuff - even as a raw version. WAB was a long time follower in my gaming life. I hope of a real renaissance of it.
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NurgleHH,
WAB is alive and well oop north in sunny Manchester!
3 events last year and at least two planned and all booked in for next year.
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Hi Jeff. It's frightening how fast time passes but a little bit of nostalgia is good for the soul. I was too late for the AtG play testing but I remember the days of the WABlist and some of the other 'secret' Yahoo groups fondly. Your web page at ancientbattles.com has been like an old friend too. It's still an Aladdin's cave of great ideas, information and painting with a place in my heart next to now sadly lost By Jingo! and the Perfect Captain. :)
There was a lot of creativity that sprung from WAB in those days. My own efforts to get a Roman/Caesar book to print sadly ended in frustration but I enjoyed the discussions and it was a good spur to read the sources.
Belated happy anniversary. :D
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Hi Jeff. It's frightening how fast time passes but a little bit of nostalgia is good for the soul. I was too late for the AtG play testing but I remember the days of the WABlist and some of the other 'secret' Yahoo groups fondly. Your web page at ancientbattles.com has been like an old friend too. It's still an Aladdin's cave of great ideas, information and painting with a place in my heart next to now sadly lost By Jingo! and the Perfect Captain. :)
There was a lot of creativity that sprung from WAB in those days. My own efforts to get a Roman/Caesar book to print sadly ended in frustration but I enjoyed the discussions and it was a good spur to read the sources.
Belated happy anniversary. :D
Frightening indeed! Thanks for the website praise. I only wish I devoted more time to it, so far I've never had to fund it since my hobby writing usually pays for it every year. Those other sites are sorely missed. Your lost Roman/Caesar book is another huge lacuna in the WAB sourcebook parade. Spartacus was ok, but it was a better campaign book than an army list IMHO. I also remember fondly the WABlist and devs list focus and attention to detail that everyone possessed and the drive that everybody had to try to make the system complete, competitive, and still casual enough to not drive off outsiders.
Turns out my actual "anniversary" of release is in July so I'm actually remembering when I was done, and it was off to the presses. But seriously I will need to host a game party where some Persians can get their revenge.
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An anniversary game is a great idea. Now where did I put my silver shield? ;)