Games
I’ve been involved in the hobby for more than 40 years and designing tabletop games for the last ten. This is where you’ll find the games I’m working on now, the worlds I’m still building, and some of the earlier titles that helped get me here. Most of what I do starts with something I want to explore, whether that is a period of history, an idea for a game, or a world I have been carrying around for years.
A GAME OF MEDIEVAL CONFLICT
The Barons’ War is my rules set for fighting the wars of the 12th and 13th centuries. It is built around leaders and the retinues who followed them, from knights and serjeants to archers, spearmen and the many other people drawn into medieval warfare. You build the force you want to command and fight battles where leadership, position and the decisions made on the tabletop are every bit as important as the men you bring with you.
What began with the struggle between King John and the rebel barons has grown into a much wider game. The Barons’ War now reaches across Europe and into the eastern Mediterranean, taking in campaigns, crusades, castles, towns and siege warfare. It is the historical game I keep returning to, and one I intend to keep exploring as new periods, places and stories give us more reasons to put armies on the table.
CURRENT PROJECT
THE BARONS’ WAR: SIEGE & URBAN WARFARE
For the last year I have been working on taking The Barons’ War behind the walls and into the streets. Siege & Urban Warfare adds castles, fortified towns and urban fighting, but the idea at its heart is simple: we do not play the siege, we play the battles that happen because of it. Convoys fight for the gates, garrisons sally out, siege engines are attacked, breaches are stormed and, once the walls are crossed, the fighting continues through streets, houses, courtyards and strongpoints.
The rules work as standalone battles or as part of a linked siege campaign where the result of one game changes what comes next. They are written to work across every theatre of The Barons’ War, from castles in England to fortified towns in the eastern Mediterranean, including Outremer Second Edition when it arrives in 2027.
Charging the Walls by Peter Dennis
WARHOST
Warhost is a fantasy battle game about a leader and the people who follow them into battle. You are not commanding an anonymous army. You build a warhost around its leader, choose the groups and characters who answer their call, and take them into battles where those people can earn reputations, suffer losses and create a history of their own.
Set in the Age of Fractured Crowns, Warhost is a world of rival Crownlands, old alliances and peoples shaped by the wars that came before. The Seven Crowns are still bound together by law and tradition, but they are increasingly divided in purpose, while Humans, Orcs, Elves, Dwarves, the Dead and others pursue their own ambitions. It is a setting built to give every battle a reason and every warhost a place in the wider story.
*28mm fantasy battles built on The Barons’ War rules engine.
CURRENT PROJECT
WRITING THE AGE OF FRACTURED CROWNS
I’ve been making notes, sketching ideas and writing fragments of fantasy worlds for more than 40 years. Warhost is where all of that finally has somewhere to go. What began as a sourcebook for The Barons’ War was really only the first step towards the world I had always wanted to create.
Now I’m building the history, Crownlands, peoples, characters and conflicts of the Age of Fractured Crowns properly. This is the world I want to keep writing about, developing and playing games in for years to come.
Fallen Elves by Marco Capparoni
PROFESSIONAL WORK
As well as my own games, I work with Wargames Atlantic as part of the senior team, contributing to game design, development and the wider direction of the business. After more than 40 years in the hobby, I have a broad view of what makes games, miniatures and ranges work, and I can bring that experience to far more than just writing rules.
Wargames Atlantic is an ambitious company with the production capability to take on projects at a scale that is still unusual in the miniatures industry. It gives me the chance to help shape new ideas from an early stage, contribute across different parts of the business and, of course, still spend plenty of time thinking about games and the people who play them.
These earlier games are an important part of my story. Each one taught me something, introduced me to new periods and communities, and helped shape the way I design games today.
Skirmish wargaming in Sengoku-era Japan, with a focus on character, narrative and striking miniatures.
Skirmish games set in the violent and colourful streets of ancient Rome.
Wargaming in the age of myth, with heroes, monsters and legendary battles.