WAB remembrances twenty years of AtG

[Jjonas]

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

[Tim Haslam]

Brilliant
Thanks for all your contribution over those 20y Jeff
 

[Pattus Magnus]

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.

[Jjonas]

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.

[DalyDR]

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!

[Jjonas]

And as I recall your Persians turned my troops into pin cushions!

[Wellington]

Good old WAB times ... Warhammer Histrocal Weekends ...

[Easy E]

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.

[Jjonas]

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.

[n815e]

Oh, this brings me back.

Your Alexander book and Allen Curtis’ Punic Wars book were a fantastic pair!

[Jjonas]

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.

[NurgleHH]

I allways wonder about the started, but never released books for WAB. Did you know something???

[Jjonas]

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.

[NurgleHH]

They are lost forever, I‘m afraid. A real Desaster

[jcspqr]

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.