Welcome back readers, it’s been a while (almost two years)!

So before we get stuck into the hobby goodness, what’s been happening?

Well, cutting a long story short, I’ve separated, moved, had a career change, and generally been trying to survive an incredibly hectic series of mishaps and adventures offline. But the dust is now settling, allowing me to get back hobbying! Those of you who’ve visited Eroberung before will also notice that there have been some changes to the site since I last posted in 2023. Unfortunately, I had to change hosting provider, and the process of rebuilding the site and importing past content did not go as smoothly as I hoped. HOWEVER, there have been some upsides, as for starters I’ve decided to expand the scope of the site from purely focusing on my Dusk Raiders project for the Horus Heresy, and decided to include all my projects from the worlds of Warhammer, as well as across the broad spectrum of tabletop gaming: Kicking off with Ion Age!

I first stumbled across the Ion Age setting in 2021 after seeing the models being proxied as “Old Hammer” style Space Marines by another hobbyist, and was intrigued by what I saw on Alternate Armies‘ website, culminating in buying (at the time) their entire range of 28mm Retained and Desteria miniatures, as well as the Moth and Firefight 2.0 rulesets. Fast forward to early last year, and I decided to also delve into their 15mm range by first buying the Patrol Angis core rules, as well as the Callsign Taranis and The Khanate Return expansion books.

“But what is Ion Age?” I hear you ask…

The Ion Age setting is the brainchild of Gavin Syme, the head of Alternate Armies: It features a science fiction, “space opera” -style setting taking place in a region of space known as the “Prydian Precinct” and is based, in part, on the real world Wars of the Roses (the English civil war between the House of York and the House of Lancaster, which led to the foundation of the Tudor line). Simply put, in the Ion Age, The House of York is replaced by the League of Yordan, the House of Lancaster by the League of Canlaster, and stuck in the middle of the this conflict trying to restore the peace is the Prydian Army. Although this cut-down precis really doesn’t do the depth of the lore justice, as the Ion Age has its own diverse pantheon of factions, characters, and technologies unique to the setting.

So what’s the appeal?

Where to begin(!): In terms of the setting, you’re getting a universe with a significant amount of well-developed fluff, Gavin and his team have poured a lot of love into the Ion Age, and it shows in the richness of the setting. Central to this, is the diversity of fieldable forces. From the core 15mm game of Patrol Angis, you can field Retained (Knights in powered armour), Muster (Regular Soldiery), and Planetary Militia (one step down from regular soldiery) from either Yordan, Canlaster, the Prydian Army, or a mercenary Condot Company. Whilst this might sound like a lot to take in, the fact that everyone shares a common armoury means that you do have choices, without being overwhelmed by faction specific parameters. Oh, and forget about powered armour being the province of transhuman eunuchs; in the Prydian Precinct everyone (of suitable station) can essentially don whatever arms and armour they desire!

The expansions, Callsign Taranis and The Khanate Return add to this, by expanding on this common armoury with vehicles and mecha, throwing in rules for structures, and adding another playable faction, in the form of the evil Khanate. The Khanate in particular are an ingenious creation. Ostensibly a horde army, they comprise of sci-fi versions of all your favourite fantasy tropes (Goblins, Dark Elves, Werewolves, and Ogres) united under a single banner, with a significant amount of flexibility in how you construct your force, with different “Legions” offering unique colour schemes and differing over-arching ethoses.

So that’s fluff, what about crunch?

I have to say, I really love the ruleset: It has a healthy granularity that maximises flexibility, but is streamlined enough not to feel unwieldy. Based on a D8 system with features such as activation tokens, alternating activitations, and the ability to break down and reform units during play, it excels at the type of skirmish level gaming for which it’s designed. It’s also not too unwieldy in terms of number of miniatures: The typical force size for a skirmish-level engagement is a “Lance” of 22 Retained Knights, which can be broken down into units of 2 (referred to as a “Mina”), 4 (referred to as a “Demi”, or 10 (referred to as a “Post”). You’re essentially free to construct your Lance as you see fit, but there are extensive tables that show you typical formations. Additionally, you’re also largely free in how you armour, equip, and skill the individual elements of your Lance. Throw in the aforementioned ability to break-up and reform units during a game, and you can easily break off specialised teams to pursue specific objectives or targets that fit the way you’ve built your force. Additionally, because Alternative Armies essentially function like an Indie publisher, there is a wealth of community support and freely downloadable in-house and community-created content, all available from the Alternative Armies website

So what are the cost implications?

Well, the hardcopy of the core rules is just 20€ and you can get that bundled with the two expansions for a little over 56€. In terms of miniatures, at 15mm scale I was able to get myself the entire range of Retained Knights and Desteria infantry models (excluding named characters), around 100-odd metal miniatures, for the princely sum of 135€ including posting and packaging. Although it’s important to note they come without bases, however Alternative Armies do a pack of a hundred 20mm MDF bases for 5,95€. So, for a little under 200€ you can get rules, expansions, and the entire infantry range. Compare that with GW’s 10mm Legions Imperialis which will cost you over 240€ for the core game and two expansions, without postage and packing, and you can see why I like it…

But is 15mm worth it?

In a word, “Yes”

I’m not going to lie, whilst I’ve dabbled in other scales (such as Dystopian Wars 1:1200 or Dropzone Commander‘s 8mm) I’ve primarily been a 28mm wargamer for most of my 30+ years in the hobby. Don’t get me wrong, I still love (and will always love) 28mm miniatures as much as the next hobbyist, but I’ve come to the opinion that, realistically, 15mm really is the absolute sweet spot for tabletop gaming. This is also borne out by the growing wave of 15mm content presently being generated by the community at large.

But let’s get down to the nitty gritty…

First off, we should talk about the practicalities of painting: Batch painting to a decent, playable standard at 15mm scale is much, much easier than at 28mm, as drybrushing and washes really do come into their own. Unlike 8-10mm scales though, 15mm miniatures still pack an enjoyable amount of individual detail if you do want to take your time with them. Second up, let’s talk transport: Transporting 100-odd 15mm miniatures and their movement trays is ridiculously easy. In a pinch, I could fit my entire collection into a small tupperware box. It’s also the same when considering terrain: 15mm-scale buildings and scenery are much more portable than their 28mm cousins!

Onto the Third plus point, and we have the ease of expanding your force at 15mm: It is ridiculously cost-effective to amass a signficant force at 15mm scale (especially in terms of vehicles, mecha, and other such beasts of war), whilst also maintaining that ease of painting and ease of transport, which means you can happily move your games from skirmish-level engagements to massive engagements with little to no hassle. And finally, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention compatibility with other rulesets: There is a significant (and growing!) community of gamers creating rulesets for 15mm miniatures: I’m personally going to be using my Ion Age miniatures with both their own Patrol Angis rules and the miniature-agnostic Eternøl ruleset from Electi Studios.

So, all-in-all you can see why I’ve started to dive more deeply into not only Ion Age, but also 15mm gaming in general. You can also expect more posts on this topic moving forward, as I’ve already added an Ion Age section to the site, which will include both 15mm and 28mm galleries of my own force (the 81st Infantry Regiment) as well as their background. I’m also planning a battle report using the Patrol Angis ruleset and its “Silent Player” feature for solo play as my next post, as well as another using the Eternøl ruleset for comparison, so watch this space…

For now though, welcome back to Eroberung, we’ve missed you!