I really enjoyed Hal Thinglum's article in MWAN #104 on his Franco-Prussian War Project. Hal provided a lot of information and raised several interesting points. I decided to respond to them. Addresses for the companies I don't list are in Hal's article.
Books on the Period
Hal brought up the fact that there is only one recent book on the Franco-Prussian War by Howard and its dry and not inspiring. I tend to agree with this statement having read it years ago. Steve Dake who games the war in 25mm and has a great setup feels Howard's work is more political and places less emphasis on the battles. It seems strange that there hasn't been a major work published on the period in over thirty years.
A related book that came out a few years ago is "The Austro-Prussian War" by Wawro that Hal mentioned. This book is great, placing you right at the battles and not covering the politics as much. The battle maps are detailed enough to wargame the battles. As a prelude to the Franco-Prussian War, you learn about the problems that the Prussians had and how they overcame them later. This book might be available through On Military Matters (31 West Broad Street, Hopewell, NJ 08525, website http://www.onmilitarymatters.com).
Rulebooks
Hal wanted to see some comments on "Grande Bataille, Grande Victoire" rules published by Absinthe Press. Though I haven't played them, the rules stress written orders with better armies (the Prussians) being able to change their orders faster than bad armies (the French). Fire combat is percentage based with each infantry figure having a chance factor of hitting. Ranges are 4" for muskets with up to 16" for the French Chassepot. Each unit has a quality factor that is used for morale checks. Melee combat is resolved by taking the difference in quality factors and rolling on a chart. Since I gained in 6 mm at the time, using individual figures to resolve combat didn't appeal to me. The rules seem simple at 14 pages and cover the Crimean, 1859 Franco-Austrian, 1866 Austro-Prussian and Franco-Prussian Wars. Two supplements were published later and covered other conflicts like the Russo-Turkish War and Garibaldi. I bet that the rules are out of print. You might try writing Absinthe Press at P.O. Box 19142, Minneapolis, MN 55419-0142.
Hal also mentioned Principles of War (PoW) which is out of England. It is carried by On Military Matters. They also carry the army lists books. As some of you may recall, I've used it extensively for my obscure wargame periods. The rules feature strength rosters instead of removing figures for casualties. Also, dice are rolled for command points to fire and move units. I used PoW to game the Austro-Prussian War in 6 mm (I've sold most of my 6 min armies by the way). I gave up after trying a few battles because the Prussians always shot up the Austrians with the needlegun and the Austrians lost badly. I feel the problem is that the combat value of the needlegun is a little too high. But it seems to agree with what I read. When I spoke with Keith Frye who edits Clash of Empires, Keith felt that the Austrians tend to do badly using other rulesets. Finally, there is a PoW campaign book for the Seven Weeks War. It wasn't listed on the On Military Matters web site when I checked. It should be in stock eventually.
Figures for Other Wars
Hal also mentioned that he would like a list of figures available to game other 19th century wars. One war that has probably not been gained by anyone is the 1820's Greek War of Independence. Last year, Miniature Wargames had a series on the war in issues 196 to 198. In part two of the series, the author, Spiros Koumoussis announced he had figures available. I ordered my figures and received them last February. The figures come primed with no flash. The detail is exquisite! It's even more remarkable that they are home cast. They are cheap considering the quality. Infantry are 23 cents per figure and Cavalry are 46 cents each. Spiros publishes his own rules for the period with six scenarios. A wide range of Irregular troops are available. Spiros plans on having Regular troop figures available in the future. The only thing lacking are artillery crew figures. I don't know when they will be available. Spiros doesn't take credit cards but he accepts U.S. dollars and Western Union Money Transfers. Write him at 34 Ithakis Street, P. Kokinia, 182 33 Piraeus, Hellas-Greece for a list of figures and samples. I plan on writing on this period in the future for MWAN and Clash of Empires.
Another seldom if ever gained period is the 1830-31 Polish Rebellion against Russia. My interest was sparked by an article in Practical Wargamer magazine a few years ago. If you have Russian and Polish Napoleonic figures, you're set to game it. I've submitted an introductory article to Clash of Empires and plan on writing up several scenarios for that publication. I'll probably write a short piece on it for MWAN in the future.
A period that is slightly gained is the 1859 Franco-Austrian War fought in Italy. Since I had 6mrn French and Sardinian armies from the Crimean War, all I needed was to paint up some Austrians. 19" Century Miniatures carries 15mm Austrians that are cheap besides. I am not as familiar with 25mrn but Helion and Company and another manufacturer that escapes my memory might have them available. Though I game the period and have never seen it at a convention are Garibaldi and his 1000. 19th Century Miniatures and Frei Korps has figures available in 15mm. If you have spare civil war figures with kepis and blanket rolls, they can be used for Garibaldi troops. I've submitted two scenarios for Clash of Empires that haven't been published. I might write an introductory article on it for MWAN in the future.
A future period I might game is the 1877 Russo-Turkish War. 19t' Century Miniatures has a complete 15mm line available. Though few article have been written on it in wargame magazines, there are several older books on the period.
The work I have is Report on the Russian Army and It's Campaigns in Turkey, 18771878 by V.F. Green. This book has most of the information that you need and it has been reprinted by Battery Press (P.O. Box 19885, Nashville, TN 37219, website http://www. sonic.net/~ bstone/battery). It retails for $59.95. Battery Press has several reprinted books on the Franco- Prussian War. Check out their online catalog.
Conclusion
I've discovered that by gaming these obscure periods, it keeps up my interest. Plus, its even more fun to run a game at a convention and talk with fellow wargamers about it. Hopefully, figures for more obscure periods will be available in the future. Can anybody make some 15mm 1830's Carlist Wars in Spain figures for me please?
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© Copyright 2000 Hal Thinglum
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