The Sarissa Precision merchant vessel is typical of merchant ships plying their trade across Mare Nostrum or Mediterranean sea.

The merchant ship’s main function was to transport lots of cargo over long distances and at a reasonable cost. Merchant ships transported agricultural goods, for example olive oil from Greece, wine, grain from Egypt’s Nile valley, and raw materials such as marble, granite, iron bars, copper, lead ingots, etc.

Small merchant vessel at sea showing typical sized crew

Sail rigging

A typical merchant vessel in a Roman harbour.

Unlike warships, merchant ships did not have to be fast or very maneuverable. Since they anchored to ports, they also did not have to have a flat hull like warships and had instead a V-shaped hull and a ballast which rendered them more stable. They also had double planking which strengthened their hull thereby allowing them to transport heavy cargo.

A cut-away view of a small merchant ship.

Our knowledge of Roman shipping comes from two sources, ancient drawings and illustrations, and shipwrecks. The large number of shipwrecks found around the Mediterranean illustrates not only the quantity of shipping that took place, but the perils of traveling by sea in earlier times. We can verify this based on the detailed account in Acts of the Apostles of Paul being shipwrecked on his way to Rome. Depending on size and intended use of the ship, the hull shape could be either symmetrical or asymmetrical. In the first case the stern and bow were essentially identical. In the asymmetric version, the bow was located at a lower height. The bow was sometimes concave, due to the presence of a cutwater. These were added not as a ram, but a structural modification to improve the vessel’s sailing ability.  

These divers can be seen recovering amphora from a Roman shipwreck.

Roman merchants moved all sorts of goods and foodstuffs by sea. Commercial vessels were known by a variety of names, such as corbita, gaulus, ponto, or cladivata, depending upon the region. Overall, the ships demonstrated great uniformity in design. This would be expected given the level of maritime commerce within the Empire. Innovations and improvements were quickly shared and disseminated within the industry.

I am not sure how this might be used in a game of “Gangs of Rome” other than a piece of terrain or scenery. I am thinking that one useful purpose could be a scenario where some robbers have to escape back to their getaway ship in the harbour. The main thing is that it looks good and will add to the aesthetics of the port.

Since ancient Roman machines were made at the most of perishable wood materials, there are no remains of ancient Roman cranes and only small parts of components have been found in archeological explorations like pulleys, cable pieces, and iron reinforcements.

The main direct sources of Roman times on the design of ancient Roman cranes can be found in artistic representations, and other information can be extracted from a literature that has been rediscovered and reinterpreted in the Renaissance, mainly referring to Vitruvius work (see below).

In ancient Rome, cranes were used for construction works. The Roman crane was manned by four men on either side of the machine. The crane was able to lift up to 3,000 kg. After upgrading and applying some modifications, it could lift up to 6,000kg.

A treadmill crane reconstruction in Germany.

Archeological remains and literature sources are used to work out design considerations and reconstruction activities on an ancient Roman crane. Design requirements have been elaborated by looking at the Vitruvius work as republished during the Renaissance and by comparing practical aspects of material and manufacturing both in ancient times and today possibilities. Marco Vitruvius was the author of a book, known today as “The Ten Books of Architecture“, a treatise written in Latin and ancient Greek about Architecture. It was dedicated to the Emperor Augustus.

This makes a great dockyard or building site scenic piece.

Best Wargaming birthday gifts

When I began writing this I thought (yes it does happen occasionally), “Guru you’ve stuffed up again. You should have posted this a month ago and made sure copies were left everywhere”!!!

1. Miniatures: The obvious choice, if you let them know what to get. Hint leave a catalogue out with things highlighted!
2. Rule books: This would be great for US to play if I only had the rules!
3. Games: Leave a copy of your gameology (or other games retailer) wish list on the table
4. Books: Leave a selection around so they know the sort of stuff you are interested in.
5. Paints, brushes and tools: Must-haves for any hobbyists who want to make their collection look the best. You can always use more so this is an easy win for gift givers.
6. Terrain, basing and markers: Even the most invested hobbyist can always use more of these. The “oh look at this, isn’t it great!” may actually work!
7. Gaming aids: If I only had this laser light I would be able to hang all of the pictures straight on the wall!

Remember: If they get it wrong you can always buy it for their birthday!

Or maybe you’ll just get a mug instead.

Or maybe just some socks

Every Tuesday night we catch up with our eldest son for dinner and gaming. Normally we play a game with our grandchildren before dinner and then play a game with the adults afterwards.

Tonight my son and I decided to introduce David (eight) and Charles (six) to the delights of wargaming.

I have been trying to get Necromolds Monster Battles for ages but cannot find one any where. If any of you out there know where one is available please let me know. This is a game that when you attack your opponents playdough model you “splat” them which the kids would love.

With that not being available and, them both being dinosaur fanatics, which you will remember from our Museum exploits, we decided to have a battle with dinosaurs. The rules can be found here.

All six of us became either a T-Rex (a munch munch munch) or a Triceratops (a stab stab stab) for the evening.

We ended up playing one game with all of us before the ladies retired to talk knitting and such like and left the male grown ups to take on the two young boys.

The munch munch munch’s of Grandpa and the two boys take on the lone stab stab stab of their mother. To the delight of all the munch munch munchs present.

The tide was quickly turned with one munch munch munch a pile of bones and the other taking on three stab stab stabs.

Another munch munch munch goes down while the other is attacked by one of its own. So much for Jurassic kinship.

Ouch that hurts!

Come on I’ll have ya!

Oh well so much for the carnivores. Grandpa and the grandchildren zip and three!

With the ladies retired it was grandpa and dad’s revenge on the boys. Yeah right!

Thing started well for the old guys with a stab stab stab a pile of bones.

The two bull dinos take each other on.

Oops things are getting a bit hot here!

First one stab stab stab down evening things up.

Then two and then three for a humiliating defeat on the old guys! Down 3 to 1! being a competitive bunch the old guys wanted another game to even things up and this time we took the victorious carnosaurs.

One all! With things on track.

Two to one and things were looking good for the munch munch munchs!

Two all and the old guys were staring at another humiliating defeat by a combined boys age of fourteen.

Hmmm………. a six to one dice swing seals the old guys fate.

I hate this game! What idiot designed it!

What a great and hilarious way to celebrate young David’s eight birthday and Grandpa’s sixty ninth! At least I was able to enjoy the munch munch munch on the birthday cake.

Relief depicting a harbour on a Sarcophagus (3rd century AD) found at Porta Latina in Rome. Now in Vatican Museum (inv. 927)

I was wanting to use the Sarissa Precision Warehouse as part of a small Roman wharf, a bit similar to what they already produce. Unfortunately their one was a bit too small for me as I wanted something that was substantial and an “eye-catcher”. Also I already had most of the Sarissa pieces I needed. All I needed was the wharf itself.

The plan was to have one whole side of the town the wharf, with the warehouse and factories adjacent. The military architect Marcus Vitruvius Pollio was engaged to draw up the plans.

He provided this detailed drawing that was accepted by local Propraetor.

As the Aedifactor required to bring this to fruition I needed to work out how to actually build it. I wanted a solid looking dock made of stone rather than a wooden structure. To fit the crane it needed to be at least 120mm deep, and 900mm wide to go across one complete table side. The completed structure needed to be stored in the “cave” so it needed to be made out of something solid. I first looked at 4mm mdf which I could have engraved the stone work in, but building stairs would be a problem, unless they were an add on making the build more fiddly. I had a left over piece of 20mm thick chipboard, which might work. The height was about right and it would be solid enough to take any storage in the “cave”. The problem is the soldering iron engraving would not work meaning that I would have to use the cardboard tiling method I have demonstrated elsewhere. This is very effective but too time consuming for the size I was looking at, and sticking the cardboard to the side would be problematic. I then thought of dense yellow polystyrene, which would be easy to work with, but would not stand up to being knocked about in the “cave”. Back to square one. I decided to have another look at some on-line options with my “goto” mdf, suppliers and finally came across this from TTCombat.

Three would cover the board edge, it was deep enough for the crane and had the stairs. In addition it was a flexible terrain piece as two pieces could form a central elevated plaza for a number of game systems. Problem solved. It would delay the completion of the town dockyard, but it wasn’t as if I didn’t have other things to work on in the meantime.

This photo gives you an idea of the layout I am after. In order to finish this I need to finish the market in the centre, including market stalls, the wharehouse a small merchant ship and the dockside crane. I have all of the scatter terrain and civilians so then I will be able to work on the combatants.

The Ports on the Tiber

The overall look of the wharf worked out exactly the way I wanted.

Just a quick post today as we have a lot of family stuff on this coming week and I need to do a lot of work in preparation.

My son sent this cartoon to me on discourse overnight. This made me think how my deepest desires have changed as I have grown older! Hmmmmmmm…………..not sure that I really want to go there.

Where can I find that demon!!!

When I asked my son for her telephone number he wasn’t sure but said it had a 666 somewhere in it!

I have just added a new page to my blog which will include some of the games and rule sets that I have put together over the years. The link to the page is HERE.

I will periodically add new ones so it will be worthwhile having the occasional look to see if there is anything new.

The first set is a one page set of pirate rules “Scurvy Dogs”. This is a fast paced skirmish game based in the golden age of pirates. I have included the rules, the two sets of cards required, and some sample pirate gangs.

I intend to add the following sets of rules over the next few weeks:

• Proelium Lacertis (Battle of Lizards), which is a Dinosaur fighting game based on a hex grid table using any available toy dinosaurs; and

I have also added:

• Vae Victus, a Roman Barbarian skirmish game using 75mm plastic figures;
• Sand Sweat and Camels for 20mm WW1 in Palestine;
• Flames Along the Mohawk, a French Indian War set of skirmishing rules where your small detachment gains skills and expertise from game to game.

I also hope to add in the next few days:

Tennyson anyone? A 54mm game representing the Charge of the Light Brigade. Each player is in command 0f one of the units in the Light Brigade,s and you a vying with each other to be the first to reach the Russian guns and survive. The unique movement system uses lines of Tennyson’s poem.

They Were Expendable for small ship action in WW2.

This was actually the first building I put together, but one of the last to get painted – go figure. It is a large model with interior courtyard surrounded by various farm buildings.

For this building I wanted it to be a bit more versatile and so replaced the cardboard tile roofing with “teddy bear fur” thatching.

This will not only make it useful for the Roman Empire but also for Dark Age Roman Britain and even for Napoleonic games in Spain and Portugal.

A Roman Britain noble pays homage to a visiting priest.

French Voltigeurs about to be ambushed by the 95th Rifles.

I am quite pleased with how this building has turned out, and especially its versatility.

Having studied five years of philosophy it was a real find to be able to pick up a book about games written in the Socratic style.

The Grasshopper is a character from Aesop’s fables, where the ant gathers food all summer while the grasshopper plays. When winter comes the ant eats and the grasshopper dies. In the book, Grasshopper is a philosopher in the Helenistic tradition – he is well aware of the dangers of the coming winter but decides that playing is the philosophically sound choice, though it leads him knowingly to his death. Grasshopper acts as Socrates to two pupils – Prudence and Skepticus.

In the mid twentieth century the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein famously asserted that games are indefinable; there are no common threads that link them all. Bernard Suits: disagrees with this and argues that “playing a game is a voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles.”

Suits goes on to argue that games can be meaningfully defined; he also suggests that playing games is a central part of the ideal of human existence, so games belong at the heart of any vision of Utopia.

Originally published in 1978, The Grasshopper is now re-issued with a new introduction by Thomas Hurka and with additional material (much of it previously unpublished) by the author, in which he expands on the ideas put forward in The Grasshopper and answers some questions that have been raised by critics. If you are purchasing it make sure you get the later edition with Hurka as co-author.

Why is this book useful for gamers and game designers? Well, it works, not because it establishes universal truths, but because it situates these truths in a social context. As games are a social activity the text is therefore useful for anyone concerned with the social or political dimensions of games.

The book is essential for those interested in the philosophy of game design.

I have included a Bibliography below of books/articles on the topic for those who may be interested:

Aarseth, Espen. (2017). Just Games. Game Studies, 17(1), http://gamestudies.org/1701/articles/justgames.

Bäck, Allen. (2008). The Paper World of Bernard Suits. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, 35(2), 156-174.

Bateman, Chris. (2015). Implicit Game Aesthetics. Games and Culture, 10(4), 389-411.

Boluk, Stephanie and Patrick Lemieux. (2017). Metagaming: Playing, Competing, Spectating, Cheating, Trading, Making, and Breaking Videogames. Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press.

Caillois, Roger. (1961). Man, Play, and Games (Meyer Barash, Trans.). New York: Free Press of Glencoe.

Dor, Simon. (2018). Strategy in Games or Strategy Games: Dictionary and Encyclopaedic Definitions for Game Studies. Game Studies, 18(1), http://gamestudies.org/1801/articles/simon_dor.

Guanio-Uluru, Lykke. (2016). War, Games, and the Ethics of Fiction. Game Studies, 16(2), http://gamestudies.org/1602/articles/guanio.

Järvinen, Aki. (2004). A Meaningful Read: Rules of Play Reviewed. Game Studies, 4(1), http://www.gamestudies.org/0401/jarvinen/.

Juul, Jesper. (2005). Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Kretchmar, R. Scott. (2006). The Intelligibility of Suits’s Utopia: The View from Anthropological Philosophy. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, 33(1), 67-77.

Lastowska, Greg. (2009). Rules of Play. Games and Culture, 4(4), 379-395.

López Frías, Francisco Javier. (2017). A Kantian View of Suits’ Utopia: “a kingdom of autotelically-motivated game players.” Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, 44(1), 138-151.

López Frías, Francisco Javier. (2019). Bernard Suits’ Response to the Question on the Meaning of Life as a Critique of Modernity. Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, 13(3-4), 406-418.

McBride, Frank. (1979). A Critique of Mr. Suits’ Definition of Game Playing. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, 6(1), 59-65.

Paddick, Robert J. (1979). Review of The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia. Journal of the Philosophy of Sport, 6(1), 73-78.

Rockwell, Geoffrey and Kevin Kee. (2011). The Leisure of Serious Games: A Dialogue. Game Studies, 11(2), http://gamestudies.org/1102/articles/geoffrey_rockwell_kevin_kee.

Salen, Katie and Eric Zimmerman. (2004). Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals. Cambridge: MIT Press.

Suits, Bernard. (1967a). Is Life a Game We Are Playing? Ethics 77(3), 209-213.

Suits, Bernard. (1967b). What Is a Game? Philosophy of Science 34(2), 148-156.

Suits, Bernard. (1984). Games and Utopia: Posthumous Reflections. Simulation and Games, 15(1), 5-23.

Suits, Bernard. (1988). Review of Nineteen Eighty-Four: Science between Utopia and Dystopia. Philosophy of the Social Sciences 18(2), 265-270.

Suits, Bernard. (2014). The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia. Peterborough: Broadview Press.

Suits, Bernard. (2019). Return of the Grasshopper: Games and the End of the Future (Abridged). In Thomas Hurka (Ed.), Games, Sports and Play: Philosophical Essays (pp. 193-230).

Tulloch, Rowan. (2014). The Construction of Play: Rules, Restrictions, and the Repressive Hypothesis. Games and Culture, 9(5), 335-350.

Wark, McKenzie. (2007). Gamer Theory. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

In most of our games to date there has been some form of town or village, generally as an objective. The difficulty has been placing figures in the buildings without using some of the overly large ones, that would take up too much space, that I have in my collection with removable roofs.

I searched through my three regular mdf. building sources, Sarissa Precision, Knights of Dice, and TTCombat and come up with this cheap solution in TTCombat’s “last chance to buy” tab. As an aside there are some interesting other pieces in the same section that will only be around until the sell out that might be worth a look.

The model is a very simple 5 piece assembly, which is being phased out, but it was exactly what I needed. The tables will be used as scatter terrain for other projects down the track.

The building is just large enough to take a battalion of four 60mmX40mm bases quite easily and solves the problem while still maintaining quite an ascetic look.

They look good en-masse as a large village or town, or as individual “stand alone” pieces.

I built them “as is”, painted the inside walls with PVA glue, and sprinkled fine sand to give a rendered look inside.

As they were destroyed buildings I wanted that burnt out look and so just sprayed them with cheap grey primer, matt black and a light spray of undercoat white to paint them. Some quick dirtying up and dry brushing finished the models.

The buildings are designed not to start on the table but to replace more ascetic buildings when troops are garrisoning or occupying them.

I have purchased and put together six in case we have a large fight over a substantial town or village.

When the building are not in use to replace others in order to hold figures, they can double up as cool looking dice trays!

Here the French have scored 3 sixes for their skirmish roll.