Miniatures offers some of the finest aspects of gaming to its devotees. It has color, physical substance, numerous rules systems, a long history leading to a body of expertise, and aesthetic appeal. For those interested in tactical combat and enjoyable gaming, a table full of fully painted and arrayed figures borders on the sensual. But for the historically oriented gamer, miniatures has always had a distinct flaw, one shared by almost all tactically oriented game systems. Namely, the lack of connections between the game scenario being played out and the contingencies of the real world, such as what might be off one side of the game table and if the skirmish or major battle of today would lead to another confrontation tomorrow. This restricted scope in both space and time has led those who wish to look at their gaming from an historic perspective somewhat less single-minded than the current battlefield to look to the concept of the campaign game. THE CAMPAIGN GAME In a campaign game a set of circumstances portraying the actual conflict of nations over more than a short period of time is developed to provide the scope missing from a scenario that begins and ends on the gaming table. Historic forces for an entire nation become involved instead of just those of a particular battle. And along with these extra forces come the additional concerns of the strategic scope. Those that deal with the battlefield over the next set of hills, the forces that must be left behind to guard another border, and the often startling realization that an army lost today cannot defend or threaten tomorrow. But many that have turned to campaigns to put a bit of reality into their miniatures gaming have become discouraged by the time, energy, and research needed to develop a good campaign background. After all, to do a credible job one must effectively create another entire game, but one set on a strategic scope and reflecting strategic conditions. These people have been going in the right direction, however. And, if I may be so bold, I would like to suggest a solution not only to the problem of bringing scope and reality to your miniatures scenarios, but also to creating a credible campaign background without undue effort. Try a board game! THE SOLUTION Board games are generally scoffed at by miniatures players. After all, as the very popular and effective ads have been saying, 'compare our army to theirs'. But the problem is that actually making such a comparison is difficult. From a visual point of view there is nc doubt that a tank miniature is superior to a cardboard counter with a silhouette when both represent the same unit. But in miniatures how do you really represent an army? For pre-Napoleonic periods it can be done fairly well, and such an army can often be fitted on the table, but as pointed out above, the other army that the country is using to defend elsewhere cannot be portrayed for lack of space (or money, since miniatures are anything but cheap these days, as we all know). Once into the 19th and 20th century it becomes very difficult, if not impossible, to actually fit an army on a reasonably sized gaming table (say 4 X 8 foot). Armies have gotten too large and dispersion of forces too great. So though it is easy to compare 'our' tank to 'theirs', actually comparing armies is a bit less feasible, but the strength of the board game was never at the tactical level anyway. The first professional military board games were strategic level games used to teach strategic level lessons. Similarly the first commercial military board games were at the strategic level and, until the advent of PANZERBLITZ, they were all either strategically or operationally oriented. Board games made their big push into the tactical area in search of sales, not because it was something they were good at depicting. And by taking advantage of the particular strong points of board games, particularly in the strategic area, miniatures players can find for themselves ready made backgrounds for their campaigns. THE BOARD GAME Most board games are composed of a playing map of the topic area, often sectioned by a hexagonal grid to regulate movement, a set of printed and die cut playing pieces representing military units of indicated sizes, and a rules book detailing the game mechanics. In a strategic game, such as those that we are interested in, the map will usually cover a number of nations of the period, the units will often represent very large formations such as corps and armies, and the rules will not only give the mechanics for movement and combat, but will also include political and economic provisions as well as historic limitations of the sorts that apply to sovereign states. It is all the material except the combat system that comes along with the board game that we are interested in. For combat resolution, when required, we will return to our miniatures gaming table. But first we must pick the game to become our background. TWEEDLE DEE DUM OR TWEEDLE DEE DEE Board games, like miniatures rules systems, board games come in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and complexity levels. The first step of setting up a campaign using a board game for the background is to pick the game to be used and it is in this area that many attempts fail. Though strategic level board games are not as common as operational and tactical types, there will usually be a minimum of 2 or 3 available on the topic you are looking into. For instance, the Napoleonic period has half a dozen strategic level games of particular years or groups of years and at least two games that cover 15 or more years of the Napoleonic period as a continuous campaign. At this point the critical factor becomes the complexity level that the gamers who will be participating in the campaign wish to use in the background game. In general the more complex games will take more time, though they may also cover various historic aspects in greater detail. A good rule of thumb is to go with the game representing a complexity level no greater than that which the individual wanting the simplest game specifies. Though this effectively gives a veto to the player wanting the easiest background game it also means that no one will be strained by having a background game of more complexity and time requirements than they wanted. Thus they are more likely to stay in the campaign actively. GETTING STARTED Players should be assigned to forces in the board game that will be the forces they will be bringing to the miniatures battle. Thus if Joe has an Austrian army it might not be a good idea to give him the French in the board game. If everyone has the various armies present then sides can be determined by draw, choice, or any other method you normally use. Next everyone must read the rules to the game, and it is often useful to do this as a group so that any rules modifications or interpretations are clearly understood by all. And write down such understandings for later reference. Finally you must determine how to get from the board game to the miniatures table to resolve combats and then how to get the results back into the board game. TRANSITIONS If you are lucky the rules to the board game will somewhere specify what was the composition of each of the units used in the game. This may be in the form of indicating the number of men represented by a strength or in a much more detailed format such as indications of specific numbers of individual weapons represented by the unit counter. When this information is available the rest becomes easy. Simply bring into the miniatures table resolution the number of troops indicated and with the weapons described. If the number is just in men, then you will have to use your historic background and perhaps a bit of research to find out the specific percentages of different types of troops that may have been included in an overall strength point number. For instance, if one strength point is indicated to represent 5000 men in a background game that covers 12th century Japan and the units come only in armies then you will have to find out about what portion of an army of that period and locale was infantry, what portion mounted, and what portions had various weapon types. Some miniaturists have long claimed that a major portion of the hobby was the research and here it will come to the fore. After determining the forces present something must be done about the terrain of the battle. Since it will be occurring at some specific point on the background game map, there will likely be some terrain indication from the map. Using this as a guide construct a pleasing and interesting terrain set up on your gaming table. Finally determine which player was moving and which was stationary to determine who sets up on the table and who enters. Some basic ruling might be used to reflect how the orientation of the table fits back to that of the map. That is, it would not be appropriate for one side to retreat off the gaming table in a direction that would, on the background map, cause them to walk out of supply, away from their communications line, or into another opposing force, though this should be allowed if the player so desires and some factor will have to be placed in the subsequent resolutions for that force to account for its poor situation. After the battle is completed on the miniatures table, use the same system that was used to produce the forces present to indicate how many were lost and remove these losses from the board game to indicate the battle results. In general ignore all other aspects of the board game combat resolution systems (though you may wish to use some of the retreat provisions in certain games). After resolving all battles required, just continue playing the background game until further combat occurs. The winner of the campaign will be the player who not only is successful on the miniatures table, but who also skillfully applies those results in the board game background by meeting its victory conditions. CONCLUSIONS Though it is more work to play a miniatures campaign than to do a bash and smash, it is also a lot more fun. Without some sort of tomorrow to which to relate the events of the table, historic gaming tends to take on a lot of the aspects of fantasy gaming (and we would not want anyone to be able to pin that one on us). Players certainly can produce a campaign background of their own by putting in a good deal of time and research, but since they are in effect producing a board game when they do this, it is often more effective to simply procure the existing board game that suits your needs, and then get at it. After you try it a few times I think you will find you enjoy having an historic background to your miniatures play so much that you will be urging all your friends to try it. We will then all have more fun. APPENDIX This is a sampling of the strategic level board games around my house that have seen campaign use, along with the publishing company and a rating as to complexity. If you look around I am sure you will find an even larger selection is available. THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR, Athens & Sparta at war, Simulations Canada (difficult). WARRING STATES, ancient China, Simulations Canada (easy). THE PUNIC WARS, Rome & Carthage at war, Simulations Publications (medium). CAESAR'S LEGIONS, Rome in Gaul, Avalon Hill (medium). JIHAD!, Muslim expansion in the 7th century, Simulations Canada (easy). THE CRUSADES, invasions of the Holy Lands, Simulations Publi- cations (medium). SIMON DE MONTFORT, Baronial conflict in England, Simulation Games (easy). MACHIAVELLI, Renaissance Italy, Avalon Hill (easy). KINGMAKER, the English War of Roses, Avalon Hill (easy). FREDERICK THE GREAT, Prussia at war, Simulations Publications (medium). LE GRAND EMPIRE, Napoleon 1795-1815, Simulations Canada (easy). CAMPAIGNS OF NAPOLEON, Napoleon 1800-1815, West End Games (difficult). NAPOLEON AT BAY, 1814 campaign, Operational Studies Group (difficult). ROCKETS RED CLARE, War of 1812, Simulations Canada (medium). LEE AT THE CROSSROADS, Gettysburg, Simulations Canada (difficult). LEE MOVES NORTH, 1862-1863 in the East, Simulations Publications (medium). A HOUSE DIVIDED, ACW 1861-1865, Game Designers' Workshop (easy). I WILL FIGHT NO MORE FOREVER, Nez Perce Indian campaign, Simulations Canada (medium). THE FRANCO PRUSSIAN WAR, 1870-1871, Simulations Publications (medium). WORLD WAR I, Europe 1914-1918, Simulations Publications (easy). WORLD WAR II, Europe 1939-1945, Simulations Publications (medium). DIVINE WIND, Pacific 1941-1945, Simulations Canada (difficult). SINAI, Arabs & Israel, 1956,1967, & 1973, Simulations Publications (medium). SEAPOWER & THE STATE, modern strategic naval warfare, Simulations Canada (medium). Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. IV #3 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1982 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com