Having intended to write an article for some time my thoughts turned to what I could write about. My inspiration came jointly from a series of articles in Lone Warrior and MWAN (Midwest Wargamers Association Newsletter) on the following themes, “How I got started in a period of solo wargaming” and “Where do you see yourself in the hobby?” i.e. collector, painter or player. This got me thinking and typing.
My early experiences of solo wargaming go back to my teens (early 1980’s) when I first read and was inspired by Donald Featherstone’s “Wargames” and started to game using unpainted Airfix and Matchbox figures, (good to see some of these ranges and kits being reproduced now, took me back a bit when in the local model shop the other week). Initially my interest was in Napoleonics and ACW, but obtaining a copy of Gavin Lyall’s “Operation Warboard” soon moved me into WWII, adding in model vehicles and tanks to complement the figures. Still no painting, as then I was more interested in playing than painting or modeling.
My first dabble with painting figures came when I bought some boxes of the Esci Zulu War figures (always a favourite period, must be something to do with Michael Caine and Stanley Baker) put some basic terrain together and hey, presto - a whole summer holiday shot by! By this time I was also regularly reading the wargames magazines available: Miniature Wargames, Wargames Illustrated, Practical Wargamer and Wargames World and my interest in the hobby was in full swing.
Wargaming took very much a back seat during my late teens and early twenties, to be replaced unsurprisingly by, shall we say, “wine, women and song” or more accurately “beer, women and rock music”. It wasn’t until some years later that I picked up a wargames magazine and during a long train journey rediscovered my interest in the hobby.
It wasn’t long before Minifigs 15mm Napoleonics were being bought painted and ready for action, magazines and books purchased and I became an SWA member. Napoleonics remained my staple diet for a couple of years before I thought of 25mm and a change of period. Firstly I had always been interested in other periods and didn’t want to have to choose one over another and secondly I thought that by buying a small number of figures covering a number of periods I could skirmish game each period. This would save time and money in building other large armies like my Napoleonic French, British, Russian and Prussian.
How wrong I was!! The variety of period’s theory worked a treat, over the last few years Napoleonics have been joined by Dark Ages, SYW, ACW, Wild West, Colonial, WWII, Vietnam and Future Wars. However, the idea of small numbers of figures didn’t. What started out as 10-20 figures has built into 200+ in some periods. I blame the proliferation of so many fine figure ranges! Each show I attend means more figures; I can’t help it, they all look so good. Unfortunately my painting doesn’t match my buying and the amount of unpainted lead I have accumulated has increased dramatically.
Over the last few years I feel I’ve moved from being a player to more of a collector. My Dark Ages army still sits 2/3 painted and I can count the number of games I played last year on one hand. Family life, study and work have all taken their toll on my wargaming activities. However I still get much pleasure out of the hobby, reading and researching, perusing trader’s catalogues and daydreaming of new periods or variations on the ones I currently favour. I‘m currently in the process of putting display cabinets in my office to house my figures, so even if I’m not gaming with them I can still enjoy them.
In case you’re wondering from the title, why I prefer solo wargaming, no it’s not because I have no friends, rather that I don’t particularly want to join a wargames club. If I want to start a new period or try a new set of rules I do; if I want to leave a game unfinished or stop in the middle to carry out a piece of research, I can do so. It’s not that I have anything against wargames clubs. I simply prefer solo gaming as my own personal escapism. Happy soloing!!
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