James Woods has authored three booklets on his Seven Years Wargame campaign and I have found them to be very enjoyable. As a matter of fact, I frequently pick them up when I am looking for something to read which will allow me to "escape" and enjoy someone else's view of the hobby. I thought it would be interesting for us to learn more about James and his approach to wargaming.
HAL - James, can you tell us something about your background?
JAMES - I have retired from a career in Sales, Sales Training, Sales and General Management, including more than a decade with Standard Oil under the ESSO Petroleum banner, and then made a career switch into the fledgling computer industry at the end of the 1960s.
For the next two decades, I sold, and managed teams selling, computer systems ranging from the largest mainframe to mini computers to all lines of business, including a decade between IBM and Sperry Univac. In general, when selling high-value capital goods, a campaign strategy is called for, and an element of flexibility has to be built in to cater for any deviations caused by unforeseen circumstances arising out of intermediate meetings. In business, as in wargaming, it is unlikely that you will be able to forecast the reactions of another person with 100% accuracy. The analogy with wargaming is reasonably valid as far as the logistics of the campaign are concerned, but breaks down when addressing the confrontational aspects of the wargame.
Perhaps I have been a wargamer for so long as a reaction to having to suppress this area of confrontation. This all sounds rather pompous and, just in case there is anybody out there who thinks that there is no confrontation in sales, I would only mention the fact that a customer once set two guard dogs on me while I was trying to collect on an overdue invoice for ESSO Petroleum!
HAL - How and when did you become interested in the hobby of wargaming with historical miniatures?
JAMES - My mother's best friend had a husband who worked in aero-engineering and had a hobby of mould building and modelling. Before and during the Second World War, squads of workmen were employed cutting down iron railings surrounding public places and private gardens for scrap to help the war effort, so there was clearly no metal available for anything as frivolous as models or toys. In the comparative glut of scrap metal which followed the end of the war, I became the proud owner of about 30 Zulus made of Lord-knows-what alloy and about 54mm in size, excluding a lot of flash. That is the 'how' of the start of my interest; the 'when' was about 1946 or 1947.
HAL - Are you interested in other periods of history and, if so, do you pursue them on the tabletop? Tell us some details about your wargames armies.
JAMES - I am ashamed to admit that I tend to focus on whatever period is current, to the virtual exclusion of all others. Previously, I owned some 1,600 'Willie' figures in 30mm for the Napoleonic period, and I was happily occupied with those for about 15 years. Before that, at various times, and for varying lengths of time, I had collected and played with almost every available period. The only exceptions are Sci-Fi and Fantasy, neither of which has ever had any hold on my imagination, and it must be a flaw in my character make-up that I have to have some basis in historical fact before researching and collecting figures on any subject.
HAL - One of my main goals for when I retire is to conduct a solo wargaming campaign. I have collected wargames campaign information (books and articles) for years with this thought in mind. Perhaps that is one of the things I enjoy most about your booklets and writing. How did you decide to do a wargames campaign and how did you set it up? Why the Seven Years War? Your campaign is strongly historical, James. How did you decide to use as strong of an historical approach as opposed to a mixture of historical and "fiction?"
JAMES - In 1970, Donald Featherstone published Wargame Campaigns, which persuaded me to formalise my existing arrangement and, in 1973, the release of his book, Solo-Wargaming, served as the basis for all of my wargames. As mentioned elsewhere in your excellent publication, the catalyst for my wargaming efforts was the release of Charge! in 1967 and, while I progressed with the popular periods via Wargamers Newsletter, it was always in my mind that, should the opportunity arise, I would return to the 18th Century of Charge! The availability of figures and research material meant that I opted for the Seven Years War, although it was a close-run thing with the War of the Austrian Succession. My approach to wargaming starts from the historical basis, and I am sure that this is coloured by the fact that I am such a fan of Charge! that I regard the writing of Young and Crawford as among the best I have encountered in any wargaming field, and I would not presume to try to equal them.
HAL - Can you tell us about your 15mm Seven Years War Armies?
JAMES - I have around 12,000 figures covering all of the major combatants on mainland Europe, and a sample layout was printed by you in MWAN #112. Apart from growing at approximately the rate of inflation, the major change concerns the ratio in use; I have come down from 54:1 to 40:1, and the only justification for the huge amount of work involved is that I think that the larger units look better. I would like to thank you again for the opportunity of airing these lists, and I have personal experience of the printing gremlin which duplicated page 146 at the expense of page 147, but I am sure that the 15mm family of the French commander of the Upper Rhine Army will, in time, come to forgive you.
HAL - Something else I enjoy in your writings, James, is your approach to the hobby. It seems to me that the figures in your games are not that important; they don't have to be perfect. Nowadays we are so spoiled (especially including myself) as to availability of figures, quality of paint jobs, terrain, etc) that sometimes we spend so much time getting exactly what we want for our wargames that we (I) don't do anything with them. Can you tell us something about your approach to wargaming in this regard?
JAMES - The answer to this is rooted in the history of how I came to wargaming. When I received my 30 Zulus, they had neither opponents nor terrain pieces and, so, everything had to be improvised or imaginary in the sole interest of getting the figures into a game. This has made me most appreciative of the work of manufacturers and professional painters, but for many years I have known that I would never have sufficient money available to be able to afford everything which I would like. If the alternative is to completely abandon the hobby, then it is not one which I would lightly contemplate.
If we decide that we must compromise, then it need only require a stretch of the imagination no greater than that which we employ without thought to the consideration of horizontal and vertical scales.
The area of least compromise would be where we are driven to be collectors. There is nothing wrong, in my view, with being primarily a collector, for whom wargaming is, at best, a peripheral interest. One advantage to this aspect of our hobby is that the collector can afford to take the time to amass troops to whatever level of finish yields him most satisfaction. I think that a large percentage of wargamers have some element of the collector in their make-up.
The other two reasons why I am a wargamer lie in the realms of the tactile and the visual. In the tactile area I include not just handling the models, but carrying out the whole process of wargaming with model soldiers. If this is the major source of satisfaction afforded by our hobby then, in theory, it would not be necessary to paint the figures at all and, judging from advertisements of figures for sale, quite a few of our colleagues seem to be in the tactile camp.
I think that I fall into the category of visual appreciation of our hobby. My greatest satisfaction derives from the `look' of the thing and, unlike the many perfectionists among us, I am reasonably content in surrendering some fine paint in an individual unit for the overall image of the total scene. Many a happy hour has been spent appreciating the full-colour cover picture on the dust jacket of Charge, and all of the photographs of the 'Playing the Game' section stuck with me then, and have remained with me since, despite modern exposure to beautifully arranged scenarios, wonderfully photographed. One of the benefits of being a solo wargamer is that I can, at will, call a halt to a wargame and just stand looking at the scene.
HAL - In your first booklet, you mention you use a modified AGE OF REASON for your gaming. How did you modify this excellent rules set? What made you select Tod Kershner and Dale Wood's rules set?
JAMES - There are too many small amendments to list without running the risk of sending your remaining readers to sleep ('Too late!' did I hear?). The purists will, no doubt, be horrified to hear that I do not make allowance for infantry forming square, and I also do not allow infantry melees. If time is any consideration at all, I dispense with morale throws and use an amended casualty table instead. Further, being a solo player, the number of figures on a stand and the stand size are largely immaterial as long as the overall picture is valid.
The selection of a rules set is, to a large degree, a personal matter, and I felt that AOR came closest to my appreciation of the feel of the period.
HAL - How long, in real time, has this campaign taken you? How long, in wargaming campaign time, has transpired?
JAMES - I began research on the project almost 15 years ago, and seriously started on the campaign 10 or 11 years ago. Deducting continued research time, I would think that the campaign has been running for longer than the actual war, and I am now coming to the end of 1759.
HAL - When I do a campaign, I want to write a narrative about the events. However, I suspect this is going to be something that I have to force myself to do. How did you make yourself stick to writing about your campaign for such a long time?
JAMES - The discipline of writing does not come easy, unless it is purely for selfconsumption, and, in any event, my tip would be to do the writing as close as possible in elapsed time to the wargame event; it is amazing how much more difficult it gets with as little as a week between the event and the write-up. Any longer than this and you start to create your very own 'fog of war.'
HAL - What has been the most and least enjoyable aspects of this project for you and why?
JAMES - The most enjoyable aspect, head and shoulders above any other, is the sheer quality of the people I have met or dealt with in the course of this project, and I would like to just mention four of them, in the order in which I had dealings with them: Ian Hinds, of Hinds Figures Ltd.; Dave Ryan, of Caliver Books; Stuart Asquith, former editor of Practical Wargamer, and, at the risk of a maidenly blush, Hal Thinglum, of MWAN. I believe that anybody would be proud to call any of these men friends. From these people, and many others, I received assistance and encouragement over the years, and the whole project would have been still-born but for the wholehearted support of my son, David, who not only operates all of the computer equipment, but also takes the precious photographs.
The least enjoyable, but arguably one of the most important, aspects of the project is keeping track of the voluminous records and general paperwork, and before anyone suggests that I computerise the project, I would advise that that particular course of action has been considered and firmly rejected.
HAL - How much longer do you foresee this campaign going on before it comes to a conclusion?
JAMES - Because of the campaign design, it cannot run beyond 1763, but it could stop at any time from 1757 on since it depends on a dice throw at each year end. At the end of 1759, a throw of '1,' '2,' or '3' on the die will cause the death of Elizabeth Petrovna of Russia (some three years prematurely), and effectively end the campaign.
HAL - Do you have another campaign in you? If so, what would it be?
JAMES - I feel that I may have one more campaign left to do but, given past experience, I can assure you that it will not be the Hundred Years War!
HAL - What made you decide to have your booklets detailing your campaign professionally printed?
JAMES - The quality of the workmanship on Volume 1 is far beyond anything which I could hope to achieve but, unfortunately, not enough of the wargaming public agreed, and so I had to change printer for a smaller run of Volume 2. The economics involved are fraught with difficulties and, in general, I would advise thinking twice before considering professional printing. I think that what I am saying is do not do it unless you are prepared to totally write off the entire investment. The Litmus test I used was to ask myself if I would buy it had someone else written and published it. Unfortunately the answer was yes!
HAL - What advice would you give someone, such as myself, who plans on conducting a campaign? Would you suggest that it remain as historical as possible?
JAMES - By its very nature, a campaign is going to involve a significant, though hopefully not infinite, amount of time, so I would suggest that, whatever approach you finally adopt, it is one with which you feel totally comfortable. When you view the finished product, you may be surprised at how much of your character and personality is reflected in the work.
HAL - If an MWANer is interested in obtaining your campaign booklets, how could they do so?
JAMES - This whole area is very much up in the air at the moment, as I am still undecided whether or not to publish Volume 3 separately or, alternatively, to go for a short run printing the first three volumes in one cover. The only volume currently available is Volume 2, unless Dave Ryan at Caliver Books has managed to obtain any copies of Volume 1 from the publisher. Sorry that this is a rather incomplete answer but, for the moment, it is the best I can do.
HAL - Thank you, James, for taking the time to take part in this interview. Is there anything else you'd like to add?
JAMES - I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for conducting this interview, and wish you every success with your already splendid magazine and your future wargame campaign. Thank you. __ _
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