I am well aware that in the modern face-to-face tabletop encounters the era of thought out written orders appears to be a thing of the past. That said I find I cannot run a solo battle without giving orders/directions to individual units that I am commanding. Some are straightforward and others can be a little more complicated, however, what I like to use is reference points on the terrain. There are the obvious ones like woods, hills bridges etc. but I recently came across some terrain features, which I have found extremely helpful and blend into the terrain wonderfully. They are from the Ainsty – Fantasy Ligne and are as follows:
FL 30 – 7 x standing stone the highest being 70 mm high, one that appears to have toppled and a large flat stone, ideal for offerings to the gods. Makes an impressive mystic circle or the individual stones can be used as reference points on the battlefield. Cost £6.50
FL 31 - 4 x stones, 3 upright with the largest being 45 mm all with a raised left hand on them, while the flat stone has ‘II’ carved on it. Cost £4.
FL32 - 4 x stones, 3 upright with the largest being 45 mm all with a raised ‘Eye of Horus’ on them, while the flat stone has a runic ‘n’ carved on it. Cost £4.
FL 35 - 4 x stones, 3 upright with the largest being 45 mm all with a raised skull on them, while the flat stone has a runic ‘g’ carved on it. Cost £4.
By painting the hands, eyes or skulls in different colours it would be easy to locate the exact spot I want the unit to move to, i.e. Move to the ‘Blue Eye’ and then onto the ‘Red Hand’ and halt and form a defensive position around the ‘White Skull’. Get the idea? An idea to aid your tabletop movement and if I have given you the wrong information, because my packets got mixed up when I emptied them, check out the website at http://www.ainsty.co.uk or contact them at 01904 798496.
Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior # 142
Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Magazine List
© Copyright 2003 by Solo Wargamers Association.
This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com