The game, in two minutes
A miniature wargame is a turn-based strategy game played on a table. Each player builds an army list within a points limit, deploys their miniatures on a board with ruins, woods or hills, and takes turns to move, shoot and fight. Distances are measured with a tape and outcomes are settled with dice.
The other half of the hobby happens before the game: assembling the miniatures, priming them and painting them. An army takes months to be ready and is never quite finished, which is part of the fun. In Ashcombe the community is small and mixed: people who have played for twenty years and people who opened their first box last month.
A tournament is played in a day. A league — which is what we run here — is played over months: one round every two or three weeks, with the game arranged between the two players. Nobody has to set aside a whole Saturday.
The five games we run
Each has its own season, its own calendar and its own table. You can play one, several or all of them.
Warhammer 40,000
The most-played science-fiction wargame in the world. Space marines, orks, necrons and aeldari in a far future at permanent war. It is the one most people picture when they say «Warhammer».
5 rounds · 3 seasons a year
Kill Team
Skirmish for two: about ten miniatures a side instead of a full army. The cheapest and fastest way into the hobby.
5 rounds · 3 seasons a year
Blood Bowl
Fantasy American football. Orks, elves and dwarves kicking each other while trying to score. It is played for touchdowns, not victory points.
11 rounds · one season a year
Age of Sigmar
Epic fantasy with four grand alliances: Order, Chaos, Death and Destruction. Lighter rules than 40,000, so it resolves faster on the table.
5 rounds · 3 seasons a year
Frequently asked questions
- What is wargaming?
- Wargaming is a turn-based strategy game played with miniatures on a table. Each player builds an army, paints it and moves it across a board under rules for movement, shooting and combat resolved with dice and a tape measure. It is half strategy game, half modelling hobby: you build, you paint, then you play.
- Can you play Warhammer in Ashcombe?
- Yes. Ashcombe has an active community for Warhammer 40,000, Age of Sigmar, Kill Team, Blood Bowl and Middle-earth. Ironvale Hobbies & Gaming runs seasons of each in collaboration with The Anvil Room, and games are arranged on Discord between the players themselves.
- What do I need to start?
- A miniature army for the game you pick, the rulebook, dice and a tape measure. Most people start with a starter box, which brings miniatures for two sides and the basic rules. The army does not have to be painted to play your first game, though the league appreciates it.
- How long does a game take?
- A full game of Warhammer 40,000 or Age of Sigmar takes between two and three hours. Kill Team and Blood Bowl are shorter, around an hour and a half. That is why league rounds last weeks rather than an afternoon: each pair picks the day that suits them both and plays the whole game, without a clock.
- Do I need to know how to paint?
- Not to play, but yes to enjoy the other half of the hobby. You can start with unpainted miniatures or a base coat, and improve from season to season. Many people come in for the game and stay for the painting, or the other way round.
- How does a wargaming league work?
- Each season has a fixed number of rounds. Each round the system pairs you with somebody at your level whom you have not faced yet — that is the Swiss system — you agree when to play, and when you finish you enter the score. The result counts when both players confirm it. A win is 3 points, a draw 1, a loss 0.
- Is it expensive to start?
- It is a hobby with an initial investment: a starter box and basic paints. After that, spending is optional and spread over time, because an army grows little by little and miniatures do not wear out. An army built for one season serves for every season after.
Where to play in Ashcombe
The league is organised together with The Anvil Room. League games are played wherever suits both players, and each season's finals are played live at the shop.
Everything else happens on Discord: pairings, reminders and results. You do not need to know anyone to join — you get an opponent in the first round and from there you meet people.