While working at Warlord Games, at times we were a bit shorthanded – after all, the company is one of the biggest manufacturers of 28mm miniatures, and a leader as far as historical minis go. Therefore, some of the projects had to be done outside of standard working hours, like this project that I did as freelance: Warlords of Erehwon.

The game is a warband-size wargame set in a rather generic fantasy system, with a distinct oldschool feel to it. It’s supposed to be a game that allows you to reuse all those dusty 30-year-old orc miniatures that you haven’t looked as since the last Warhammer tournament you went to. The design follows the lead – the main direction was ‘unobtrusive and easy to read’.

For consistency reasons (with Warlord Games’ sci-fi system, Beyond the Gates of Antares), the logo had to be a plaque. I went with an elegant gold/green combination and a classic font. The details of wind roses decorated with orange gems are a nod towards the game being set in Erehwon / Nowhere, and correspond with the cartography motives within the book.

The main purpose of the layout in the book is ease of use and presentation of the diverse miniatures of different manufacturers. White background allows all of the minis to stand out brilliantly, while colour-coded chapters make it easy to navigate the book. The layout takes full advantage of the space on the page – using margins and grids, it supplies the reader with convenient cross-references, index notes and call-outs to the specific rules.

This almost 248-page book has been proofread, edited and laid out by me as a part of this project. The most fun was probably liaising with different manufacturers and using their minis in the book. Contrasted with gloss white paper, they look full of colour and life. Working on the grid and having a bit of a play with each and every spread made them unique and interesting. They’ve all been design to support a specific part of the rules while upholding the consistency within the book.