First Look at the New Edition of BLB!

 A flip through by Martin at 7th Son Wargaming!

Beneath the Lily Banners QRS

Here's the quick reference sheets for Beneath the Lily Banners (2025). After a couple of games, these are all you'll need to run the game!

You can also download a PDF here and a "printer friendly" version (no background) here!

Beneath the Lily Banners PRE-ORDERS are up!

It's here!

Beneath the Lily Banners is a tabletop wargaming rules system designed to immerse players in the epic and dazzlingly colourful world of 17th century warfare. It can be used with miniatures of most scales with the main focus being 28mm models. Games are played with as few as four and as many as 100 units per side. Action can be set at small scale engagement level by altering the model to man ratio from 1:35 to as low as 1:3. This turns battalions to companies and squadrons to troops. The rules involve simultaneous movement regulated by orders and the skill levels of opposing commanders. Results can be achieved in an hour for a small encounter or over multiple sessions if recreating one of the era’s many massive battles. This is the fourth edition of the system which was first published in 2008.

From the fields of Flanders to the deserts of Iraq, the sweltering heat of the Caribbean to the Ukrainian steppe, the virgin wilderness of North America to the ancient ruins of the Peleponnese.  Advance your armies to victory and glory!

hard cover, 184 pages

This is a PRE-ORDER. Books will ship to buyers in November (or as soon as we get them)!  Order your copies here!

 The League of Augsburg Shop

Warfare Miniatures USA

Beneath the Lily Banners

 Pre-orders coming soon...

A Lonely Place to Die, Part Two

I'll have some thoughts on this game in a follow up in a few days...

A Lonely Place to Die

At long last... five years in the making... Adventures in the Desert, issue two!

 Part two hopefully by this weekend!

Back to the Sudan!

It's been a while since I visited 1885... I've added some units in the last year and never got around to blogging about them... More soon!

Project Collection 2025

I suck at blogging these days. I've been painting a fair amount, just can't seem to post on a regular basis, so here's a photo dump from 2025 so far...

My projects are all over the place! I have more Confederate ACW, more This Quar's War: A Clash of Rhyfles, and four brand new battalion packs of Warfare Miniatures WSS French on my painting table (available as soon as I can paint up units for the shop). I want to add more units to my small Crimean project as well.

I need a clone...

Dronningens Livregiment

Another unit for my growing Danish army... Warfare Miniatures, of course! The mounted officer is from one of the Cuirassier Officer packs (tricorns & front plate only).

Preparing to advance with support of the Danish Grenadier Corps and Dutch artillery!

Officers of the Garden til Fods disagree about where to deploy, but both agree it needs to be AWAY from the camp!

More soon!

The American Civil War

Despite living in Virginia where you can't throw a rock without hitting an American Civil War battlefield, I've never collected armies for the period in 28mm. Sometime back in the 90's I collected a fair number of pre-painted 15mm ACW models, but sold them when I decided to go all in on Napoleonics (Jeez, it's been a minute since I've painted anything for that period, too). Earlier this year I stumbled on a great eBay deal for a Perry Miniatures Battle in a Box - American Civil War. It was quite by accident, but I remembered the fun of buying those giant Warhammer boxed sets in days of yore - models, terrain, and rules in one package! I dropped the cash, but wondered if I'd even get around to working on the set with everything else on my painting desk.

When the set arrived, it was just much fun as I thought it would be to dump everything out of the box. My wife watched bemusedly as I sorted through all the toys. After a quick glance at the rule booklet that came with the set I happened to remark, "These are designed for children, but will make for a good introduction to the period." My darling bride replied, "That sounds like my speed... maybe I could play."

...

I started building stuff that evening.

Basically there are enough models included in the box to field four units of infantry, one unit of cavalry, and two guns per side. Not world conquering armies, but enough to get started. Of course I immediately discovered I didn't have quite enough models for the way I wanted my units arranged so I promptly order a few more kits.

Given how easy these are to paint, it took far longer than I liked, but I managed to finish my initial goal for the Union infantry!

My wife is originally from New Jersey, so she'll be the Yankees (I got the squint eyes when I told her this, but she hasn't made me sleep on the sofa yet). These are flagged as Pennsylvania troops, but my first expansion will be a New Jersey brigade. I've actually designed things to be pretty generic and could re-flag these units if desired. Stands can even be rearranged to make regiments of different sizes (one of the reasons I've kept the command stands separate).

The cannons are also finished, but not yet based, so I'll take pics of those after I finish the Union general. I'm skipping the cavalry for now. The rules for cavalry in the quickstart rules don't do a great job of representing them. I'll worry about

I can't start a project without considering long term goals. Obviously my first order of business will be to paint the Confederates. After that I want to add two more infantry units to each side and break them into brigades of three. Each side will then get their cavalry, complete with dismounted elements. Limbers for the guns, brigadiers, and a couple of vignettes will round out the armies. After that? We'll see...

More on this project soon!

For Ireland and King James!

We are happy to announce the release of our latest book, For Ireland and King James!

From the back cover:

It is time to give the Irish army which fought against Willem van Oranje between 1689 and 1691, the attention it has long been denied. For nearly three years it campaigned without proper resources and funding. Its opponents were in the main, professionals from all over Europe. 

Against a backdrop of enormous political and social upheaval it continued to fight for King James II/VII whilst being constantly weakened by factionalism and cynical manipulation from Versailles.

This book is a guide to the infantry regiments which fought in the final campaign during the summer of 1691 culminating in the Battle of Aughrim and the second siege of Limerick. It provides invaluable insight into the provenance, officers and history of each formation. It is lavishly illustrated by Clarence Harrison and provides inspiration for wargamers to recreate the campaigns fought in Ireland on the tabletop.

Hardcover, 88 pages, 32 color plates and two maps.

League of Augsburg Shop (for most of the world)

Warfare Miniatures USA (for, well... the USA)

This was a huge project and we are proud of the results. You can grab a preview PDF here!

God Save the Queen!

Done! It took longer than I liked, but I finally finished the small starter army for the British in my Crimean War project. I'm hoping to get these lads on the table soon to throw some dice against their Russian foes, which I finished back in January.

This was a great diversion from other projects and only took about four months to complete both sides. No army is ever really finished and I already have a few more units to add; but I have the attention span of a goldfish and I've already waded into the next project - the American Civil War! More on that soon...

Making a Start on the British for 1854

With the initial goal met for my Russian army, it was time to turn to some opponents and I decided to start with the valiant sons of Great Britain.

My starter army goal is similar, but not identical to the Russians:

• Three Units of Line Infantry (12 models each)
• One Unit of Light Infantry (12 models)
• Two Units of Cavalry (6 models each)
• One Gun (1 gun plus 3 crew)

The Light Infantry will be rifles so I can paint something besides red coats. I'm undecided on the cavalry, but they will either both be heavy (Scots Greys and Inniskilling Dragoons) or light (Light Dragoons, Lancers, or Hussars). Great War Miniatures doesn't currently offer British Lancers or Hussars and I might need to get creative, plucking these from other theaters (the Carlist War BAL and British Intervention Force 1860) covered by Perry Miniatures. There might be a few inaccuracies, but I'm not terribly bothered by that for this collection. I am aware Wargames Foundry makes these, but they are tiny compared to the GWM range.

I really to want to add "brigades" (two units, possibly supported by a gun or detachment of light infantry) of guards, highlanders, French, and Ottomans. Of course I'll need to double the size of my Russian army as well, adding naval troopers, light cavalry, and more Cossacks! That's how these things go when megalomania sets in!

With these armies complete, I'll have enough to play a small game of A Gentleman's War or Neil Thomas's Wargaming Nineteenth Century Europe. I'll probably end up making my own - it occurs to me that Donnybrook would work with a little tinkering since the units are so small. I'm not planning on refighting any of the historical conflicts of the period and may explore alternate history narratives such as "what if the Austrian Empire had joined Russia?" to broaden the theater (and the collection).

More soon!

The Russian (Tiny) Horde

I've been steadily painting, but for some reason blogging is a chore right now and I can't seem to be bothered to post on a regular basis. The blog has become more of a personal hobby diary for me rather than "Look at what I'm doing!" Regardless, my starting Russian army for the Crimean War and A Gentleman's War is finished! It's remarkably satisfying to reach a set goal.

My initial goal was three units of 12 infantry, but I've decided I want the Russian units to be 16 models strong and have a couple more packs on the way (alternately, I will be able to field four units of 12).

Artillery is one of the strengths of the Russian army, so I decided to field two guns for this tiny army. I plan to add limbers soon, but for now I'm happy to deploy them reversed with the crew marching ahead to depict them on the move.

I've painted these dragoons as the 1st and 2nd squadron of the same regiment (distinctions on the hat trim). Russian cavalry units tried to have the same color horses throughout the regiment and I thought black would make a nice contrast to all of the brown and tan greatcoats.

You can't have a Crimean War Russian army without Cossacks! I'm going to definitely build more of these ruffians, but I only needed one for my initial goal. According to A. V. Viskovatov, the flags of the Don Cossacks were the same as the line cavalry. They bore the inscription "For the Deeds of the Don Host to pacify Hungary and Transylvania 1849." Several regiments may have had other slogans, but I'm keeping my flags as generic as possible.

This has been a fun project so far. I have the British mustered on the painting table and I'll post my plan for them and some initial photos soon!