Well, I thought I was going to phase out of wargaming. My eyesight is shot and I can't paint like I used to and I don't have the time and I sold off all my "keepers" to pay for car repairs and bills and stuff.
Then I came across this website of a group of gamers in Texas. I think if you type httD://zeitcom.maigen/58aero.html it'll get you in there somewhere. Wow! This is the kind of stuff I love, steam, colonial empires, and dinosaurs in German helmets. What more is there, really!
So I show this stuff to my gaming buds and they all love it. Each player can pick a nation and go at it. I opt for Chile. Chile, Peru, and Bolivia had a war amongst themselves from 1879 to 1884. I think every major world power had observers there. The Peruvians fielded an Italian unit; there were ironclads, monitors, machine guns, Krupp Guns, ACW surplus artillery, Ericson's gun torpedo, Harvey's towing torpedo, Ley's torpedo, Hardley's torpedo and McEvoy's outrigger torpedo. The Peruvians used massive booby traps and had cavalry mounted on ponies with lances. Combining this little great war with the ideas presented on the website I mentioned and I decided to build a quasi-Chilean army incorporating the more colorful units of Peru and Bolivia. Then I said, "Hey, I could put anyone from 1850 to WWI in this army."
Vehicles are steam powered and as luck would have it my local Kiddiecity toy store was stuck with all this Jules Verne stuff from Disney's Atlantis that they were almost giving away: armored cars, WWI trucks, tricycle flamethrowers, and a huge monitor type ironclad. Take them apart, glue on some cardboard, cut some stuff off, spray them and dry brush them. They looked great. The huge ironclad was easily cut up to make two awesome 25mm ships.
What to do about troops? I had sold off everything I owned except for some WWI Foundry French and their field piece. Well, that's a start. They work. The Chileans were actually equipped like the French Army. Next stop eBay; buyer beware. I got a nice buy on 60 beautifully painted "sugar Wars" Pass of the North figures for $1.50 each. Cut the tops off the Spanish helmets from a few of them and now they wear hats. Then I get 20 Prussian cavalry at a buck each. Well, they were either 20mm or real old 25's, and they came shipped from Canada in an envelope! I got out the pliers and glue and put them on wood bases on the kitchen table. At first I was pissed off-the wrong size and terrible packing.
But as I sat there looking at them I remembered driving 60 miles in the winter back in the early '70s to the only hobby shop that carried military miniatures; getting there at 8:00 and waiting until they opened at 10:00 or 11:00 or 1:00 or not at all, just to buy some Minifigs. My paint jobs sucked as a beginner, but some of those units, though not pretty, had real heart. So, I was happy in the end to get these poorly painted, bent up cavalry. They're all veterans and I think I hear one of the re-straightened officers give out a tiny "hooray!" So that's my game plan. I'm going to build my ever-conquering Chilean army out of little guys that no one wants anymore. I'll comb the convention flea markets for the unwanted who wish for a second chance to feel the felt under their bases again, and a nice retirement home.
You can field your pretty boys. Just don't come up against my Chilean steamroller. Just like in the real Pacific war of 1879 to '84, the Chileans don't take prisoners.
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© Copyright 2003 Hal Thinglum
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