In Lone Warrior 135 the ever-industrious Kenn Hart ask for articles on the theme ‘How I got started in a period of solo wargaming’. This set me pondering and I wondered if my recent experiences would be of any interest to fellow SWA members.
Firstly, if I might be permitted, some background in order to set the scene. From 1981 onwards, while in the real world I had a full time job in telecommunications, in the evening and at weekends I was the Observation Post columnist for Military Modeling, after I had taken the feature over from Terry Wise. Apart from writing some books, that’s all I did. During, and prior to, this time, most of my war games were solo and postal affairs, often planned and maintained at work, then played out on the dining room table. We then moved to a bigger house which meant that I could have my own war games room, complete with 8’x4’ permanent table, thousands of figures, figure display cabinets, bookcases etc. While there was still an element of solo play, most games tended to be with visiting ‘firemen’, usually members of our Rayners Lane War Games Group (RLWG).
I retired from full time Telecoms employment in July 1992 and from then on worked at home, concentrating on these various projects, including being the editor of Practical Wargamer magazine throughout its existence (1987-1999); some SWA members may remember this publication. To these were added some more books, my Soldier Box column for Military Modeling from 1990 and editing Regiment magazine from 1994, all for MAP/ASP/Nexus. All this was splendid and great fun - I even went to HMGS East in Gettysburg as Guest of Honor (sic) - but in early February 2001 it all came crashing down when I received a telephone call advising me that Nexus was ceasing publication of Regiment, with immediate effect. Thus no job, no income, but still with mortgage to pay. The result was that we sold our house in Harrow and moved out to live in the Cotswolds, an area where we had been on holiday many times during the previous 15-20 years and where property is much cheaper.
More than a little disgruntled with the publisher, I stopped my Observation Post and Soldier Box columns in Military Modeling. More than that, I lashed out at the hobby, as if it was somehow responsible for the recent events. I left the Solo Wargamers’ Association - and for that matter, a number of other societies of which I was a member - even though I had been in the Solo Wargamers Association since its inception. My figures - 6mm, 15mm, 25mm and 54mm - and scenery were all given away to fellow RLWG members, as were most of my pictures, prints, militaria and books. I kept just a few paintings, some 6mm armies and few carefully selected favourite books. These were duly installed in my room in the new house, a small but cosy 6’x6’fourth bedroom and I took a year out. After 35+ years in the hobby, two magazines, some books and umpteen articles, I was out of it - big style.
As is the way of the world however, the effects of what had happened gradually wore off as we appreciated just what a haven of peace and calm, populated by thoroughly nice folk, we had moved to. Once all the immediate jobs had been dealt with to the satisfaction of domestic management, my thoughts slowly returned to war gaming. Given our new location, clearly solo play would have to be the order of the day. I wasn’t ready to join a ‘local’ club - I think that the nearest one here is around 15 miles away - and I certainly didn’t want to start another RLWG.
Soloing presented no real problems as I have had many solo games and campaigns in the past - I had even written a book about the subject (Military Modeling Guide to Solo Wargaming [Argus Books 1988] - cheap plug). It was just that I hadn’t indulged in some time, why; I’d even left the SWA!
A video and a chance conversation provided a solution to the problem. The video was The Patriot, essentially Braveheart moved to the American War of Independence (AWI), but watchable for all that and featuring effective battle scenes. Inspirational all right, and I hadn’t wargamed the AWI since the 1970s. But what scale, as the 6mm size wouldn’t really suit the small forces that tended to be engaged in that conflict. The chance conversation was with a former RLWG man who mentioned that he had a load of AWI 20mm plastics he really didn’t want, and as I’d given him so many figures on moving, what about if he sent me those? The figure duly arrived - one advantage of plastic figures is their cheapness to post - and were tipped out on to the former kitchen table that now serves very adequately as a desk in ‘my’ room. I was impressed and units immediately started forming in my mind’s eye. As the rules used often dictate unit sizes and base sizes, I then moved on to consider this aspect while I painted some of the figures. (Guess who didn’t bring one single AWI uniform reference book to the new house…)
I won’t bore you with my trawl through the various rules, but currently I have it down to two sets, 1776 and Warfare in the Age of Reason, probably opting for the latter. I bought a couple of related titles - ironically enough, ones I’d previously had in my library. Further, I realised that any AWI forces must be limited, otherwise (a) they wouldn’t fit with my concept of the period, (b) the armies would be too large for my limited storage facilities, (c) games are restricted to the dining room table once more and (d) my armies would lose their AWI ‘feel’ and perhaps take on the appearance of 18th century European armies of the period. Now, that was a thought. Charge! and The War Game were two titles with which I would never part and thus were here on the shelf. What about if I used these 20mm plastic figures to create fictitious 18th century armies?
I was hooked and well and truly back on track. Cap in hand, I contacted Kenn Hart to ask if I might rejoin the SWA after my self-imposed 12 month exile - ‘You never left’ was the reply.
I’ll stop there and summarize by saying I started with solo play, left it and I’ve now returned, and I cannot recall enjoying the hobby any more than I do now. Thank you for reading this, setting my thoughts down on paper has been an interesting exercise.
[Stuart, Thanks for sharing this with us and it will probably put to bed all those rumours that whizzed around the wargaming world when Practical Wargamer ceased to exist. I know that when I suffered an ‘industrial injury’ for quite sometime I was in a very static type of life style and wargaming was a real mental crutch on which I could lean and escape from the real world. I also know that editing Lone Warrior helped tremendously in getting the old brain matter working again and I really believe it helped me to get into higher education, degree etc., etc. Unfortunately I do not get the time to solo has much as I would like but I do enjoy reading about how other members get on and claim to be the Association’s, if not the world’s greatest thief of ideas to enliven my games. Thank you for you frank and open letter. I must now complete basing my Montrose Scots ready to use the new Warhammer ECW rules. Kenn]
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