Campaigns and Earthworks

Wargame campaigns are funny things and we've tried a few over the years (and more are planned).  One of the first large scale campaigns we did used a somewhat truncated map of Ireland, over which we fought a bloody ACW campaign.

"Say cheese"

We decided to use Ireland as the basis for the map because a) Bruce Quarrie had suggested it in the Airfix Magazine Guide No. 4 "Napoleonic Wargaming" and b) we happened to have a map of Ireland.

Campaign Map from Airfix Magazine Guide No. 4

Not having access to a Xerox machine (this is quite some time ago) our map was made by (Geoff) tracing the master map and adapting it somewhat.

Hand drawn map of Ireland, somewhat adapted

Map movement was conducted using the classic matchbox chest of drawers method and battles were fought using the old Circa 1863 rules, which produced a gruelling, yet I think accurate, outcome.  Anyway, what has this got to do with earthworks?

Cautious Confederate attack on Federal positions

Well, one of the battles involved an attack by superior Confederate forces on a Union held village (Ballina).  It was judged that the Federals would have had time to throw up some defences and therefore it was necessary for me to make some earthworks.

Since then, these have lain in a box (only getting the occasional outing) but it was always my intention to fill in a few gaps and refurbish what I had already made, so this is what I did last week.

Stage 1: glue polystyrene to cardboard

Raw materials comprised strips of polystyrene pizza packaging (i.e poor man's foamboard), cardboard, matches, polyfiller, fine sand and PVA glue.  The polystyrene (suitably scored to allow it to key) was used to create the overall profile and then this was covered in filler.

Stage 2: profile with filler and attach matches

Once all this had dried out thoroughly I spread PVA glue thinly over the front slopes and added fine sand to give it some texture as the filler I had was too smooth (it was what I had to hand at the time). 

Stage 3: sit back, take out your pipe, and admire your handiwork

Everything was then undercoated in matt black and the earth slopes painted in a reddish brown colour (I used Tamiya XF-79 Linoleum Deck Brown) in order to match the pieces I already had.  The woodwork was painted with Revell Acrylic Dark Earth (82) and everything was dry-brushed with a sand colour.  And here they are lined up on the kitchen table with some Airfix soldiers manning them, veterans from the original battle.

A selection of what's in the box now

I was particularly pleased with the gun emplacements which featured in the battle mentioned above.

Suspiciously empty gun emplacement

You will notice that the emplacement I've shown is empty.  This is because, although the Federals had had time to prepare defences, they did not happen to have any artillery.

This was not known to the Rebels who approached very cautiously, only to find that the guns pointing at them, apparently fiendishly waiting until they got to cannister range, were merely tree trunks shaped and painted to look like guns.  Quaker guns.  Well, I laughed: but then I did say that campaigns could be funny things.

Claymore 2011

I managed to get to SESWC's Claymore last weekend, as I have tried to do each year whenever possible.  I think the first one I went to was in about 1980 when they used to hold it in Adam House in Chambers Street; and the purchase of my first flat in Edinburgh in the mid-90s was no doubt subconsciously influenced by the fact that Claymore was by then using Meadowbank Stadium, just across the road.

The venue is now the spiffy new Telford College at Granton a mere 20 minutes cycle (it's downhill) from where I live on the southside (did anyone spot me in my black and green cycling gear?) and the event is bigger than ever, but just as friendly and accessible.

The problem with Claymore though (or should I say the problem with me) is that I find that I am probably too out of step with the way things are in the hobby now, in that there weren't really any games on display this year using the rules, scales or periods that I play (or would like to play).  I suspect though that this is because when I finally get into a period it can take me a decade or so to get the armies up and running....

However, it is great that such an event is organised in the capital every year and there is always inspiration to be found somewhere, even if you realise it later on, so kudos to SESWC for organising Claymore and running it so well.

Despite my slightly negative feelings about it all (I was worried there that I may be turning into Keith Flint) I did manage to achieve something and that was to find the last book in the five-volume Tank Battles in Miniature series, written by Messrs Quarrie and Featherstone, that I've been collecting fitfully for the last five years, and here it is:

I can't remember which vendor sold it to me but he kindly offered to double the price when I incautiously mentioned that I'd been looking for this for ages in order to complete the set.

And the delayed-reaction inspiration?  Well, I've ordered Black Powder and intend to expand into what will be a totally new period for me.  More of that later (see you in about 10 years!).

Wish List No. 1

When I started this blog I characterised myself as a Wishful Wargamer: someone who spends most of the time looking out the window thinking and much less time at the workbench or wargames table doing. This tendency is exacerbated when living on a remote, and admittedly tropical (it’s raining, actually), island (as I am now), mainly because: I’ve no wargaming kit with me at all (apart from copies of DBA 2.0, Regimental Fire & Fury, Great Captain, etc.), everything takes months to get here, mailing costs are high and anyway by the time anything arrived I’d be off the island and gone.

So, I’m currently spending a lot of time thinking and planning, perhaps when I should be doing something else. Anyway, here are some of the projects I’m thinking about and hope to get going again when I get back to Scotland at the end of April. Note that these represent periods where I’ve got the armies and resources more or less in place already and the wishfulness relates mainly to tweaking forces, adding terrain items and arranging and playing games. Subsequent posts will dwell on periods I’m aspiring to but haven’t started yet (but may do).

15mm Ancients
I’ve got a 15mm 500pt DBM Lydian Army - mostly Chariot figures (Magister Militum now), which I really like. I bought the first of these in 1994 and it took me 15 years to get them all painted (yes, really). I’ll probably stick with DBM as we’ve had some great games with it (Geoff has an early Achaemenid Persian army (Essex) which can be a challenge), although we might try out Great Captain (if I get time to read it here) or maybe even FOG instead. I’ve also got a copy of WRG 6th edition at home to use some winter weekend.

The Lydians need some additional odds and sods to be perfectly compete and I really have to rebase them properly (plain painted cardboard won’t do anymore). There are also one or two terrain items still to be made including scrub/rough going using sisal brush bristles and I’ve always fancied some walled vineyards and olive groves so these are on the list to make.

1/300 ECW
We’ve enough Heroics and Ros figures painted and based up to play DBR comfortably and have had some good games with them in the past. After reading Angus Konstam’s Journals though, I’m minded to try out Very Civile Actions as an alternative although I’m not sure how it will translate to 1/300 scale.

1/300 WW2
I’ve got enough Afrika Korps (DAK) vehicles and men to be getting on with here. We normally use Rapid Fire for our 1/300 games but incorporating more detailed AT fire tables and rules based on those in Bruce Quarrie’s Airfix WW2 Wargaming guide. Our experiments with WRG’s 1925-1950 rules proved that these were too detailed for 1/300 scale gaming.  Following recent discussions on various blogs it may be time to get Operation Warboard out again though.

I’ve made quite a few 1/300 desert buildings but still have one or two desert terrain items to make to be really ready though, although some of these (rocks and such) can be used with the Lydians (see above) and other planned periods. We had started an Operation Crusader campaign using the Berthier Campaign Manager a while ago and may need to kick start this again.

We also have some 1/300 forces for France 1940 and I have a long term plan to build up Russian and German armour for late Ostfront. Terrain and buildings for 1/300 ECW works for the French countryside nicely.

The Wishful Wargamer

Hello there.  This is my first ever post in my first ever blog so bear with me. 

I spend a lot of time thinking about wargaming but very little time actually playing games, hence the Wishful bit in my blog title  (I toyed with 'Wistful' but that made me seem a bit poignant and sad).  That said, I wanted to make a record of my various activities related to thinking about, planning and preparing for wargames and, hopefully, occasionally reporting on such encounters.  And as blogging is essentially a self-indulgent and potentially egotistical pastime, I may make the odd non-wargame related post, but only if it’s relatively interesting, in the scheme of things.

So, as is traditional, here is my version of that oft heard tale about "how one got started in the hobby".

I've been pretty much involved with wargaming since the early 1970s, playing with Airfix soldiers with my brother (British Commandos, Romans and Ancient British being the earliest that I can remember).  From basic, last man standing style, 'wars', which involved lining all our troops up behind defences and then throwing lego bricks at them (graduating to firing matchsticks from Britains field guns) my brother, and then I, discovered the existence of wargame rules.

The first of these were the (still enjoyable) Airfix guides, principally Bruce Quarrie’s WW2 and Napoleonic wargaming books.  Amongst many others, subsequent and influential books that I have to mention include Operation Warboard by Gavin Lyall and Sea Battles in Miniature by Paul Hague.

Oddly, it was only later that I discovered Donald Featherstone and all the rest of the greats.  To be honest although I’m not a classic wargamer (I’ve never read Charge or relied on Don’s earlier works, preferring his Advanced Wargames and Wargame Campaigns) I’m still a bit old fashioned and need a lot of convincing to change rule sets (doesn’t stop me buying and reading them though).

So, with regard to rules I’m a bit of a stick in the mud and I generally like to stay with what I know (WRG, I salute thee).  I’m going to post my thoughts on the various rules sets I’ve tried (or more likely just read), in later entries, so you can all look forward to that (or not, as the case may be).

Anyway, I’m looking forward to this blogging lark and I hope you are too.

Cheers

Brian