I've been spending a ridiculous amount of time working on the next big update for the website and army builder, so I thought it was time to share a little progress report!

When I started revisiting my old historical wargame, I honestly wasn't sure I'd manage to bring all those armies into the new system before the end of the year. It was something I really wanted to do, but I knew it would involve a huge amount of work. Well, we're not even in November yet, and I'm already getting surprisingly close to finishing it!

More than 60 armies from the age of Alexander the Great

Most of the historical army lists are now in place, with more than 60 factions covering the ancient world around the time of Alexander the Great. And rather than simply transferring the old profiles into the new system, I've been going through the armies again, checking their equipment, researching historical sources, adapting special rules and generating new illustrations for the troops.

I could have kept the illustrations I made & collected years ago, and honestly, that would have saved me an enormous amount of time. But the difference is really worth it. The armies now have a much more consistent visual style, and I find the whole thing far more immersive. There's something really satisfying about browsing through the lists and seeing all these different peoples, with their own weapons, equipment and military traditions, coming together in the same game.

One of the remaining challenges is the historical characters. In my old rules system, commanders had many more customization options, and aspects such as logistics and strategy were handled differently. When I transferred those characters into the current system, quite a few ended up feeling too similar, mostly focused on battlefield command.

The new system actually makes a clearer distinction between different types of characters. Some are primarily fighters, some combine combat abilities with leadership, while others specialize in strategy, logistics or other aspects of warfare without necessarily being exceptional warriors themselves. There are also archetypes that combine several of these roles, but those are generally meant to represent truly exceptional individuals.

That's something I want to explore more with the historical characters. I don't want famous generals to be distinguished only by having better combat statistics or stronger command bonuses. Some of the most important figures of the period were remarkable because of their political abilities, their strategic decisions, their management of supplies or their capacity to hold an army together. I'd love to bring more of that personality into their profiles.

Ultimately, I want these army lists to do more than provide units for a tabletop battle. I want them to make people curious about the period, discover the characters involved and perhaps inspire them to recreate some of those campaigns and battles.

Making the army builder easier to use

I've also spent quite a lot of time improving the army builder itself, particularly the way units are displayed and selected.

Until now, every unit was presented with a fairly large portrait showing its characteristics, equipment and other information. I still really like that presentation, especially when you're discovering an unfamiliar army. But when you already know your troops and just want to put together a list, all those large profiles can become a little cumbersome, particularly in armies with lots of different units.

So I've added a simple button that lets you switch instantly between the original detailed display and a much more compact version. Nothing complicated, just one click to change the layout. You can browse and select troops much faster in compact mode, then switch back whenever you want to check their characteristics or equipment. It's a relatively small change, but I find it makes the whole army-building experience much more comfortable.

I've also revisited the random army generator, fixed several problems and added something I've wanted for a while: the ability to complete an army you've already started building.

Let's say you're preparing a 600-point army and you've already selected your favourite units, worth 300 points. You can now ask the generator to fill the remaining 300 points with a random selection of eligible troops. I think that's going to be a fun way to discover different combinations, especially when you want to try something new without spending too much time thinking about every single choice.

Historical allies and more detailed units

Another improvement I'm particularly happy with is the integration of allied armies directly into the army builder.

The alliance system already existed in the rules, but building an allied force wasn't particularly convenient. You essentially had to work with separate army lists for the different contingents, which made the whole process unnecessarily complicated.

Now, when you're building an army, you can also select historically appropriate allied forces directly from the same interface. Each contingent remains a separate army for the purposes of the rules, with its own restrictions, but you can assemble everything together without constantly switching between lists. I've also added colour coding, so it's easy to see at a glance which units belong to which contingent.

I'm really pleased with how simple it feels to use. And for a historical setting like Alexander's campaigns, where armies often included troops from several different peoples, it opens up some very interesting possibilities.

Behind the scenes, I've also added quite a few new special rules, archetypes and equipment options. One particularly interesting addition is the ability to assign certain weapons or abilities to specific members of a unit rather than applying them to the entire formation. For example, a weapon might be available only to the sergeant, or perhaps to two specialists within the squad.

It might sound like a small technical detail, but it gives me a lot more freedom when designing units. I can introduce specialists, make squad leaders more distinctive and represent equipment variations without having to create an entirely separate unit profile every time. Not all these possibilities will be used immediately, but the foundations are there for future updates.

Taking the time to finish something I've wanted to do for years

This month, I deliberately reduced part of my 3D printing workload to spend more time on the game and website. It wasn't an easy decision, because producing miniatures is what pays the bills, but I realized that trying to keep up with my usual production schedule while working on an update of this size would make it almost impossible to finish within a reasonable amount of time.

So I've been spending pretty much every available hour researching, checking army lists, generating illustrations, adding features and working through the inevitable bugs. It's been exhausting, and I probably should have gone to bed a little earlier on quite a few occasions! But honestly, I've been enjoying it so much that I keep finding myself wanting to do just one more thing before stopping.

What makes me particularly happy is that I originally considered the historical army pack something I might manage to finish before the end of the year, if I was lucky. And now, with October not even over, most of that enormous job is already behind me.

There's still work to do, of course. Some illustrations need replacing, historical characters need more attention, and the new systems need to be checked carefully. I've already started updating some images on the website, so you might notice a few inconsistencies while everything is being brought together. I'm hoping to get the next update ready very soon and restore a consistent presentation across the site.

After that, there will still be balancing, refinements and plenty of new ideas to explore. But that's something I want to take my time with. I don't want to rush the testing just to squeeze another feature into a release.

What's next?

My longer-term goal is to settle into a rhythm of substantial updates roughly every three months. That doesn't mean completely rebuilding the rules each time. I'd much rather keep improving a stable system, adding new armies, new periods, new options and a more comfortable experience for players.

And what I love most about this project is that the same game engine can take you from the battlefields of Alexander the Great to medieval fantasy warfare in Reign of Might, and then to futuristic conflicts in Damocles Wars. Different settings, very different armies, but a familiar foundation that makes it possible to explore all of them.

It's something I've been dreaming about for a very long time, and seeing it gradually become reality is incredibly rewarding.

Before finishing, I also want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has sent me messages of support recently. Some of those messages have been incredibly kind, and honestly, they mean more to me than you probably realize. Working on a project like this can sometimes feel a little lonely, especially when you're spending endless hours behind a screen trying to make everything work. Knowing that people are following the development, enjoying the ideas and looking forward to playing the game really helps me keep going.

Thank you for being part of this adventure. I can't wait to share the next update with you!

All the Best,
William