Well, I’m in a joyous mood. My call for articles has been answered, at least for this issue. And I reach my goal of adding to the page count. I am optimistic that you, the reading audience and members of the SWA, will continue to share your solo adventures with our readers. Keep those letters and stories coming, folks. I want us to grow Lone Warrior in content so that each of you gets more entertainment with each issue! Here at the Command and Staff College, I am busy revising a lesson on Guadalcanal. It was a four-hour case study that we completed this week. There were a few opportunities to improve the courseware so I am in the library chasing down more sources. Research is totally satisfying for me. I was a little surprised in the classroom at how few soldiers of this generation (thirty year olds) are familiar with the Guadalcanal story. This air, land, and sea campaign was the start of the U.S. counter offensive in the Pacific. The Japanese were unwilling to let the Island go without a titanic struggle in which disease carried off more casualties than combat. Both the U.S. Marines and the U.S. Army had plenty of opportunity to display unbounded heroism on the ground and in the air. The naval battles were horrific examples of big ships fighting it out, sometimes at night, in a fairly cramped area. There are dozens of potential wargaming scenarios that I will have to find time to sort out. But right now, my efforts are in a specific Napoleonic scenario. As you may know, I’ve been working some time at putting together a game that examines a couple “what if” questions about Waterloo. On 18 June, Blucher sent three of his four Prussian corps to attack Napoleon who was confronting Wellington at the vital crossroads immediately north of La Belle Alliance. The Prussians moved in parallel columns through some difficult country to eventually confront the French at Plancenoit, a serious engagement in itself and one worthy of wargaming. But what I want to look at is the countryside between Wavre and Plancenoit. What if the French could throw out some forces along the Prussian line of march? Could Blucher be slowed down sufficiently to allow Napoleon to finish off Wellington? The route the Prussians were forced to take included poor, narrow roads flanked by low hills and woods - excellent positions for ambush. With little room for maneuver, could a small French force hold off a Prussian brigade for an hour? Longer? The question grew on me and generated some gaming ideas to be played out solo. The construct of the game came quickly to me and you readers will see it in these pages before too long. As with many of my most intriguing ideas, I don’t always have the force structure (i.e. figures and units) on hand to do the game justice. This is particularly true of my Napoleonic armies. My problem is that many years ago I decided to base my figures using a 1:20 ratio in HO and/or 25mm scale. Thus, a standard French battalion has 30 figures (representing 600 soldiers) while the Prussians have 40 and the British anywhere between 30 and 50. The allure of Napoleonics is the vast choice of armies and troop types within armies and a wide selection of uniforms. Soon, in addition to the big armies, I was painting Wurtenburgers, Hungarians, Dutch-Belgians, Brunswickers, Saxons etc. etc. When I started, I built single battalion regiments but through the years I’ve expanded the French, Prussians, and other armies to regiments of multiple battalion. When this latest concept for a Waterloo scenario struck me, I had only five battalions of Prussian infantry, a regiment of dragoons, and five batteries. I obviously needed more! A Prussian brigade had three regiments of three battalions each plus jaegers. I had a lot of painting to do. First, I figured out what I needed to flesh out the regiments I had on hand. On the shelves of my cabinet were the beginnings of two regular regiments and one each of reserve infantry and landwehr. The figures were a mixture of Scruby (my veterans), Phoenix, Newline Designs, and Hinton Hunt. My battalions were painted in 1815 uniforms and represented various regiments of Blucher’s army. However, they did not represent a single brigade or corps. So, I decided to build an understrength brigade of four regiments with a total of 8 battalions (4 regulars, 1 reserve, 2 landwehr, and 1 jaeger). I also added a regiment each of dragoons and hussars (38 new figures) to my cavalry force. I had enough artillery already. This force of mixed training and morale would give me the variety I needed. I would have to decide if I could send a landwehr battalion to do a job, or if I needed to commit regulars. So, that’s where I am now as far as expending my wargaming energies – painting and mounting new troops. And I’m loving every minute of it. My sons are after me to paint some more of their fantasy forces (skaven and orcs are in the painting queue) but these will have to wait. Readers, you have every right to ask “And how is this information editorial in nature?” I guess I pass this on to you as a reflection of the sheer satisfaction we gain as solo gamers. We create gaming concepts and develop rules and scenarios. We design a force structure and select, purchase, paint, organize, and mount figures to support our games. We get to take one of our own good ideas and develop it from a mere musing to a full blown gaming event. And when we are done, we get to do it all over again. And, particularly significant, we get to share our pleasure right here in the pages of Lone Warrior! We solo gamers are truly fortunate people. Good Soloing! Back Issues Back issues are available for $4 each, which includes postage and handling. Send request and check to: Solo Wargamers Assn 1707 Ridge Rd. Leavenworth, KS 66048 Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior # 144 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by Solo Wargamers Association. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com