It is that when two Englishmen get together they form a Club. It may be this natural gregariousness which causes wargamers to decide to band together although there are more tangible reasons for such a grouping. In the first place, a wargamer or wargamers may lack suitable facilities at home for wargaming to be on the scale he envisages. He may wish to pit his ability against other wargamers in wargames of periods other than those to which he is accustomed and on a larger scale both in the size of the forces and the battlefields.
Over and above all this the real value of a wargames club lies in the fact that it enables large numbers of players to band together and realistically fight out projects of a much larger scale than could be contemplated in the home. They are able to form a mutual collection of figures, so that a large army can be quickly formed by each man contributing perhaps 50 to 100 figures. Variety can be given to wargames by grading club members as commanders in accordance with their ability and experience.
If the club is fortunate enough to have a permanent home then terrain and battlefields can be left out so that lengthy battles can be fought; battle honours of regiments engaged in club games can be displayed on shields or flags adorning the walls and a system of honour awards to commanders can similarly be displayed.
For nearly a year the Wessex Military Society banded together to refight the English Civil War, each member contributing a force not larger than two regiments of infantry (composed of pikemen and musketeers) or two squadrons of cavalry or one regiment of infantry and one squadron of cavalry. Each member was allowed one gun. The campaign was coordinated through the mail by an army officer who has made a study of the period and the campaign was set out in three sections, North, Midlands and South and the results of the battles coordinated so that the six armies were placed in a League in accordance with the number of points.
It is essential that all members of wargames clubs should participate in the wargaming activities and that none should be left standing on the sidelines without taking an active part in the proceedings. One such method of audience-participation which has the merit of being extremely novel, highly individualized and capable of being completed in a short period of an evening meeting is the method known as individualized wargaming. In this, each member is given one model soldier who represents him (the member) on the battlefield. Each participant takes orders from his officer and actually carries them out as though he were a real soldier in warfare.
A much neglected sphere of military operations is that of logistics - the Quartermaster game in which one wargamer on each side plays the part of the quartermaster and handles the logistics problem is a novel and interesting project for a wargames club.
Wargame clubs may want to consider the following situations to create wargames for their enjoyment.
The Franco-British Dispute in the Sudan - 1885 Period
This is an action in which the advance guard of both forces have met and are endeavoring to hold their positions until reinforcements have arrived. Each side has sent a courier back to their main body asking for assistance, his movement is governed by the drawing of a courier card. In addition, the commanders of the main bodies are required to make certain decisions as to the reinforcements they send - these decisions are governed by the proficiency rating of the commander. For three players - two wargamers and an umpire.
German South-East Africa - 1916 Period
This is a Colonial campaign with many unique and interesting features. Both forces are working in columns over unknown territory, each force has one Guide only with one column having some idea of their movements whilst the others are working blind. In addition both sides have motor vehicles, cars, motorcycles, tanks and armored cars, of extremely variable mechanical natures so that at any time they may break down and completely block a defile or otherwise interfere with the plans of their commanders. Essentially, this campaign requires a third man to work the map-moving. Not only does he chart the progress of the columns of both British and German but also he decides and informs the respective commanders of the type of terrain over which they are passing and may be fighting. For three players but could be a club project.
The French and Indian Wars - Mid-19th Century
The scene is North American in the days when white uniformed French troops with their Indian Allies fought amid rivers, lakes and forest against the red-coated British aided by Rogers Rangers. This was a campaign fought between the large scale battalions of the 37th Foot and the Royal Roussillion Regiment of the French Army described on page 159 of my book ADVANCED WARGAMES. Each regiment consisted of about two hundred men together with fifty or so Indian or Ranger Allies. The scope of this campaign was colorful and fascinating, including forest tracks, rivers, log forts and lakes traversed by the Indians in their birch bark canoes and by the French or British in their small boats mounting a single gun and towing log rafts behind them. Rules had to reflect the formal type of fighting of the period, with considerable license given to the Light Company of the British forces and to the unconventional fighting of the Rangers and Indians. For two, three or four players or as a club project.
Two Armies Against One - Napoleonic Period
In this campaign a French and Austrian army were seeking to trap and destroy a British army whilst maintaining their own line of communication. The British were living off the country. It was a project in which a considerable amount of map-moving was necessary and ideally is carried out by two wargamers with a third man handling the map-moving and umpiring. This particular campaign included an interesting method of deciding the composition of the respective armies in addition to the tactical feature of the single British force attempting to defeat individually its two opponents. For three players.
A Corps Campaign - Napoleonic Period
This is a method of fighting a campaign in which one force represents three on the table. By dividing the map into three and calling each force a Corps (so that the entire army is formed of three Corps) the campaign takes place in the form of two or three separate battles, the results of which are coordinated at the end to obtain a final result. Thus if the right and left Corps of Blue Army have won their games and advanced forward whilst their center Corps has been defeated and retreated it is necessary, in the final coordinating, for the flank armies to conform to the retreat of their entire Corps thus maintaining their line. For two or six players.
Austrians and the French in Italy Mid-19th Century
The time-consuming factors of map-moving in wargame campaigns are not always to the liking of wargamers, who resent the time taken up that could be utilized in fighting on the actual tape-top battlefields. This "Narrative Battle" is an attempt to get round that factor whilst still maintaining some of the interesting elements of a campaign. It is a fairly elaborate affair, requiring the ability to leave a terrain in situ for perhaps weeks at a time. The method is to write a narrative to suit the battle - in this case around the campaigns in Italy in the late 1850's between the Austrians and the French which included the battles of Magenta and Solferino. It was a battle involving a considerable number of figures formed into an Austrian Army allied to a Bavarian Army against a French Army which included Colonial troops such as Zouaves and Turcos. The narrative related how both forces made contact and fought a set-piece battle on a prepared terrain. Part of the enjoyment of this campaign lay in the elaborate terrain that was built, almost of a semi-permanent nature because the battle was scheduled as a prolonged affair likely to consume three, four or five nights of wargaming. Although still in the Horse and Musket period of wargaming, the weapons used in this period fired more frequently and accurately and at a greater range. This has the effect of making cavalry less important and guns more vital whilst infantry were capable of protecting themselves in a more adequate fashion than in the Napoleonic period for example. All these factors need to be reflected in the rules governing the game in this period. For two, three or four players.
The Apache Uprising - 1865
This campaign was a combination map-wargames affair in which two squadrons of the 7th US Cavalry and the 2nd Texas Infantry made up of seven companies of twenty men each, had to garrison two forts, patrol the area of the map and fight the Indians whilst protecting four settlements dotted around the countryside. Each of the settlements was defended by five settlers and the game included built-in rules for defending the settlements if attacked by the Apaches. Points are given for objectives and casualties. This is an extremely interesting and fast-moving campaign that can sometimes be over in a single evening! It has the merit of being played by relatively small numbers of troops, all of which can be obtained through the inexpensive AIRFIX range. For two or three players.
The Relief of Fort Mazzoni - 1870 Period
This is an interesting campaign in which a relieving force attempts to reach a besieged fort. The rules governing the game give scope for considerable choice of decisions by both commanders and has the merit of not requiring other than a diagrammatic map - the terrains are laid down to choice as required. Although this is a map campaign, it is instructed in such a manner that only two players are required to handle it.
The Raid on the Batteries - 1880 Period
The Germans are constructing coastal batteries dangerous to British aims. An operation is mounted to destroy these batteries - it consists of a landing party of sailors and marines from a gun-boat who are to link up with a force moving overland. The whole operation requires to be mounted with a high degree of surprise and the rules allow for the landing to made undetected or to be discovered by the defenders of the batteries. At the same time these defenders are given the opportunity of sending off a courier to a nearby force who may or may not send reinforcements of a size and at a speed determined by factors built into the rules. This is a highly interesting amphibious operation which requires a coordinating umpire to be successfully carried out. Suitable for three, four or more players or ideal as a club project.
The Naval Landing Party - 1885 Period
A small British infantry force has been trapped in some ruins on a mountain top and are besieged by a large force of natives who are unable to capture the position and intend winning it by starving out the besieged infantry. Two British gun-boats are sent with a Naval landing force to get the infantry out. They need to fight their way ashore, escort the infantry back to the boats all in the face of superior numbers of natives. This game poses problems of varying firepower. On the gun-boat are two small quick firing one pounder guns; the landing party brings with them two Gatling guns, whilst the rifles of the sailors and infantry are superior in range to the Jezails of the natives. The superior number of natives are balanced by the firepower factors together with the discipline and morale of the Naval and army troops. For two, three or four players.
The South African Revolt - 1885 Period
This is a campaign in which British forces stationed at various points of a large map discover, through patrols and luck at varying intervals, the presence of three Boer commandos who are attempting to raid their area. In addition to garrisoning various post, the British forces also have task of safeguarding civilians and their livestock in outlying towns and settlements. The game includes rivers and a lake on which a British gun-boat operates and a further complication arises when natives resist the attempts of a British patrol to arrest a chief suspected of ritual murder. The British commander has the problem of coordinating his forces without weakening them at any strategic points. For two, three or four players or as a club project.
Back to MWAN #116 Table of Contents
Back to MWAN List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Magazine List
© Copyright 2002 Hal Thinglum
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com