More than likely, every one of us has suffered some personal tragedy during our lifetime affecting us or a close loved one. Even though the extent of the incident(s) may vary, we have a tendency, as human beings, to react to it in a strong manner even though others around us may be encountering even more serious life situations. It is the way we are.
I have known Andrew Doyle of 3-D CONTOURS (214 Black Knight Road, Ellisville, MS 39437; 601-520-4590) for at least fifteen years. He produces quality hand-crafted terrain items and offers a painting service as well. Although I have never taken advantage of his painting, the vast majority of my wargames terrain is from Andrew. River and stream sections with bridges, ridges and hills, wooded areas, fences and stone walls, individually based farms, houses, and villages, crop fields, Franco-Prussian War French railroad embankments; the list goes on and on. I have always been more than satisfied with Andrew's quality of work and have never felt that I was over-charged for his work.
Andrew is like many one-man wargames operations in our hobby. He offers his products for sale via the mail and attends some wargaming conventions. He works out of his home and his business is a fulltime effort, though not by choice.
Some ten years ago, Andrew was enrolled in a university graduate program when he was diagnosed with brain tumors. MWANer Dr. Michael Lowry, a neurosurgeon, performed the operation to remove these tumors from Andrew's brain at no charge. I've wanted to recognize Michael's kindness for years; now I can. Thank you, Michael! However, when brain tumors are removed, brain tissue is invariably and unavoidably removed as well.
This leaves the individual with impaired cognitive functioning. In other words, their attention, memory, and learning abilities are no longer up to the standard they were prior to the growth of the tumors. Andrew could not return to the university to finish his graduate degree.
For many years as a Speech Pathologist, I worked with both stroke and brain-injured individuals. I know the limitations they face in ordinary life situations, much less in an educational setting or the work force.
Andrew adjusted to his limitations and the new life-style imposed upon him as best he could and concentrated on 3-D CONTOURS. I remember talking to him sometime after the surgery when he returned to his terrain making. He related how he moved much slower, had some memory problems, and in general, everything just took a longer time for him. An unfortunate outcome of Andrew's situation was that his wife decided she could not cope with his medical condition and divorced him. Another major life adjustment for Andrew to make.
So, let's see what we have -- a young man, married, attending graduate school, looking forward to his life. Diagnosed with cancerous tumors, has brain surgery, suffers the expected cognitive effects, and finds himself single, without a career, and facing the possibility of more tumors down the line. Not fair, not right, not what one expects out of life, but reality.
Quite different from my life and probably yours, even though we more than likely have encountered some bumps along the way.
I gave Andrew a call yesterday to see if he as coming to the LITTLE WARS CONVENTION as he did last year. No, he wasn't coming. His cancerous brain tumors have reappeared - there was only a ten percent chance that they wouldn't - and his prognosis is that he has two more "productive" years. Beyond that time period, he has perhaps another two years of "life" ("unproductive" years, as Andrew refers to them). Any surgery at this time would just remove additional brain tissue impairing his abilities even more. I'm very sorry, Andrew, but my expression of sorrow seems so inadequate to the situation.
So far in this column, I've written a lot of "words. " Words like cancer, university, career, tumors, divorce, impairments, adjustment, etc., but for every word that I've written and you've kindly read, there are hundreds of "words" that, for Andrew, have been associated with each and every one of them. Let's just take a look at one word - "adjustment" - what words accompany what this process entails? Anger, fear, uncertainty, disappointment, disillusionment, loss, frustration, resistance, hope, acceptance, bitterness, despair, despondency, depression - I could go on and on but I think you get the point.
What can we do to be of help to Andrew? When I talked with him, he told me that he'd thought of writing a letter to MWAN informing MWANers that if they wanted to add any of his terrain to their collections, they should do it soon. How's that for a realization on Andrew's part?
We could order items from Andrew. We could also look through our hobby collections and pick out those items that we've been intending to get rid of but never took the time to do so. Put them for sale on BARTERTOWN (www.bartertown.com), E-Bay, MWAN's Sutler's Wagon, or your local wargaming convention or club meeting. Either have buyers make the check payable to Andrew Doyle or donate a portion of the purchase price to Andrew. If you use the Bartertown or MWAN approach, mention that the proceeds (or a percentage thereof) will be going toward Andrew's benefit. Let's see what we can do. Thanks very much!
Focus
It becomes more clear to me that what I need in this hobby is "focus." I need to be able to lay out a plan for my entire hobby involvement and stay with it. Easy to say though difficult to achieve. Although when I initiate a new wargaming period, I sit down and write out what my intentions are, I rarely stay with what I've said I'm going to do. There are plenty of reasons for this occurring: a manufacturer coming out with a new line of figures within my period of interest, electing to expand the collection to include additional manufacturer's figures, changing (usually increasing the number of figures per unit or number of units within an army) the organization, etc. Every five to seven years I seem to go through a "down-sizing" phase where I will list the number of wargaming periods I have and those which I am interested in and I'm always surprised as to how extensive this list is. Of course, I (we) don't need so many periods not to mention having multiple figure scales within the same period. It also seems as though even though we may "down-size" our collections, we (I) end up doing the same thing five years down the line.
Part of this, I am sure, is because of the stage of life I am at. When I started out in this hobby, I'd been working for only a few years and we had very little money to spare for purchases. Everything I bought had to be planned out carefully. I remember sitting in my office planning how I was going to spend my $12 mileage money check on my hobby.
This is what I've been doing the last few months. After we moved to our new home, it really dawned on me that I have a "lot of toys." I could always justify my collections because I (1) enjoyed the process of putting projects together, (2) love toy soldiers, and, (3) greatly enjoyed painting my own figures. When I reached the point where I could no longer paint figures, it was necessary to become more "selective" about expansion of periods.
However, what amazes me is that I can spend all this time deciding which periods to keep and which to sell and get them down to six (FPW, Peninsular War, and ACW in 20mm and ECW/TYW, SYW, and the Sudan in 15mm) and within a matter of days, start planning another project in 25mm because a manufacturer has released a new line of figures! Scary! Thus far I've managed to resist ordering the figures but I've got a number of pages written as to organization and plans for the period.
The above subject brings to mind the fact that I sincerely marvel at your ability to read/tolerate my editorials for nearly twenty-three years as probably fifty percent of my output, if not more, has been concerned with what I happen to be doing in the hobby as I am writing. There have probably been two main themes: my plans to collect toy soldiers and my plans to reduce the number of toy soldiers I have on hand! How long should you be able to write about that subject?! You are a very patient and understanding group of people to consider my ramblings as a form of entertainment. You should all consider "getting a life" but I do appreciate it!
My father, Harold, died March 15th following a three-year struggle with Alzheimer's Disease and finally, a massive stroke. He and I never had the type of relationship that I wanted (a possible selfish thought); although we had some things in common such as a love of history and music, I guess we had too many differences and considering the complexity of human nature, who knows why I/he felt that way. I mention this for two reasons which are important to me: his attitude toward me changed quite dramatically because of his appreciation of my involvement with MWAN, something I could never quite figure out; I'd always thought my educational and professional accomplishments would win him over rather than publishing a little hobby publication. Secondly, and more importantly, my Dad would have liked me to mention in MWAN that he was a combat infantryman in New Guinea during WWII.
His service to his country was something Dad was extremely proud of, as was I. When I saw him for the last time a month before he died, he gave me a copy of his discharge papers to keep. Fourteen months ago, he fell and fractured his hip and I took a family leave and cared for him for two months until he could walk again. Even though he didn't know who I was, we formed a close relationship during that time and I am thankful for that. I noted that a major figure manufacturer increased the price of 28mm figures to 85 pence ($1.85 in the US). It seems to me that more and more 28mm companies are creeping toward $2.00 per figure, something the fantasy portion of our hobby has experienced for some time. I sat down and figured out figure cost factors versus salary over the last thirty years that I've been involved the hobby. In 1974, when I started, I bought ten HINCHLIFFE Napoleonic line infantry in greatcoats for $2.50. If I prorate my pre-retirement salary compared with $1.85/28mm figure, the ratio is the same between 1974 and 2004. Interesting, huh!
I'm a bit surprised as to how many MWANers are retired - we've talked about the "graying" of the hobby for years - perhaps there is something to it! I used to daydream about having the time to sit in the basement and paint figures to my hearts content without having to ration time to do so. I'm sure we've all had those thoughts over the years. Those who are retired tell me they greatly enjoy the opportunity to devote more time to their hobby and I find the same. Here we go again - are you ready? I've been busy building up unpainted figures for my 15mm SYW project and have expanded (of course you have) the original project intentions of armies for Prussia, Austria, and Russian, to include France, England, and Hanover, as well as the minor powers such as Saxony and the Reichsarmee. I ran a search on the Reichsarmee and was amazed at the amount of material I found! Reichsarmee uniforms can essentially be obtained by using Prussian or Austrian figures. My plan is to use the SHAKO SYW variant with many references to the excellent KONIG KRIEG table of organization. I find that I am "adjusting" to the "smaller" battalions of twelve figures. Working on this project reminds me of why I love this hobby - my reading of SYW material excites me and after some night-time reading, I fall asleep envisioning toy soldiers moving about my tabletop. The more I read, the more I want to know about the SYW, or any period for that matter. I guess this explains why we get excited about starting a new period and/or scale. In our minds, we translate what we read to the possibility of recreating it with toy soldiers. If not, we'd have one Ancients army, one Renaissance, one Horse and Musket, and one "modern."
That's all we'd need, in a simplistic manner, to recreate history on our tabletops.
I am basing the size of my Russian army on the Russian organization for the Battle of Zomsdorf. The Prussians are organized so as to be able to recreate any of the SYW battles as are the Austrians. I am having a little more trouble deciding how to organize my French and British as I haven't read that much about the "Western" theater of the SYW.
I am adding more cuirassier units to my 15mm ECW/TYW armies because there were a lot of cuirassiers in TYW armies. Aside from those additions, this period is pretty well completed. I plan on using Howard Whitehouse's ECW rules.
As to my 20mm ACW project, I just need a few more mounted officers and MUSKET MINIATURES ammo carriers (to denote batteries out of ammo) to complete this collection. It is based upon the FIRE & FURY organization of the Battle of Gettysburg. I want to add some more Confederate infantry command stands in the event that I decide to try other ACW rules sets operating at the regimental level. I'd also like to find a gunboat to represent the "Tyler" at Shiloh. I'll bet that J&T MINIATURES' 15mm ACW gunboats could pass for 20mm.
The 15mm Sudan project is close to completion. I choose the early Sudan because I find it to be a much more interesting time period. Gordon Pasha has to use what illtrained troops the Egyptian government sends him as the Mahdi's army continues to grow. I don't have much interest in 1898 British firepower. I will probably dig out several rules sets I wrote some years ago for the Sudan and come up with something that feels right. I'll be borrowing heavily from Howard Whitehouse's rules for this period, a most enjoyable and entertaining read! I think Howard is redoing these rules. The only thing I really need is some 15mm Bashi Bazouks, both on foot and mounted. Why hasn't anyone made them in 15mm? Even in 25mm, there aren't many companies producing them (OLD GLORY and CONNISSEUR come to mind). I'm well aware that when I ask such a question, I am evidence of how spoiled we have become in this hobby. It would be easy to use ACW Zouaves for Bashi Bazouks and there must be suitable mounted figures in one of the many Middle Eastern figure lines. When PETER PIG (Martin Goddard) released their new 15mm Sudan line recently, I anxiously checked the contents as I was sure Martin would have some Bashi Bazouks but he didn't. I'm still thinking of dropping him an e-mail and asking him to consider it. Sometime ago, I did submit a request to EUREKA in Australia to make some utilizing their "300 Club" where people sign up for a certain number of figures and when that number reaches "300" (in 15mm; "100" in 25mm), they commission their sculptor to create it. However, the last time I checked their Website, nobody else was interested. Besides, EUREKA seems to be producing their figures in 18mm anyway and this is too much of a height differential for me compared to the figures I am collecting.
I need a few more mounted officers for my 20mm FPW project as well as some "hasty works" (for French infantry to occupy) that could be used for the ACW as well - I'd sure enjoy finding more readable books on this fascinating period. This brings to mind that some years ago, we had a lot of wargamers writing books/booklets on specific historical periods from a "wargaming" slant - I don't see this happening anymore. I never passed up these publications if I had even a remote interest in the period though I must have been in the minority as otherwise, we'd still be publishing them. I've often thought that I would enjoy putting together a publication concerning a specific period of interest, much like my MWAN articles encompassing where to obtain figures, terrain, rules sets, etc., as well as organization. I would add a short historical background, scenarios and campaign ideas. I've also thought there might be an interest in selecting the major battles of a period, recreating them and writing about each one. Perhaps we've learned that such authors/publishers take a considerable financial risk because the market just does not make it worthwhile. What do you think?
Lastly, I'm collecting figures for my 20mm Peninsular War project for all participants and again planning on using the SHAKO rules. I really like how SHAKO handles "skirmished" units. You paint up three additional figures for the unit and base them on a single stand the same size that they require when they are formed. When you send out a unit to skirmish, you remove the formed unit and replace it with the skirmish stand. Nice and simple. You can do this with "small" battalions (i.e., usually twelve figures for infantry) though it wouldn't look right to me with larger battalions. I think that I've added four or five figures instead of the recommended three just because I think it "looks" a little better. Unlike most Peninsular War collections, I plan on having a Spanish army even though they probably won't last long on the table. I've been looking for guerillatype figures which could be used for Spanish militia; my plan is to mix the guerilla figures with "regular" Spanish infantry as the militia units, from what I've read, wore a variety of military and civilian clothing. I've also been looking for 20mm oxen for my Spanish artillery transport but not experiencing much success. Are we crazy or what!
One of the positive things I've seen in Napoleonic rules over the last ten years or so is that it would seem as though you can organize your armies for a specific rules set and still use them, as is, for other rules sets.
This doesn't seem to be the case for a lot of other periods. Why do you think this is? Is it because Napoleonics may be the most popular wargaming period and new rules authors consider this factor when penning a new rules set? I mean, how many of us, at this age, are going to rebase thousands of figures? We've already done that a number of times in our wargaming careers!
Since three of my six periods are in 20mm scale, I have become aware that that although more companies are producing 20mm buildings, there still aren't a lot of them available dependent upon the time period. MUSKET MINIATURES produces an extensive, and excellent, line of ACW structures; TCS has a fair number of European buildings; and a number of UK manufacturers produce some beautiful structures for WWII which can be selectively used for earlier periods. The majority of them are perfect for the FPW. The HOVELS 20mm WWII range of buildings, which I haven't seen, would probably fall into the same category. I have their 15mm WWII city buildings and they could easily be used for the FPW as well. I am not aware of any 20mm buildings designed for the Peninsula/Sudan/NWF although there are perhaps three 15mm buildings from the MAINLY MILITARY line which, in my opinion, are over-sized for 15mm but great for 20mm.
I've been trying unsuccessfully for some time to get some idea as to just how many MWANers game in 20mm, aside from WWII. I find it hard to believe that I have been supporting metal 20mm non-WWII manufacturers all by myself! I'd love to hear from you; send a letter to the Editor regarding your 20mm projects.
I've been thinking about a piece of terrain for my wargames table. Seems to me that it would be great to have about a four foot by six section of "plateau" or large hill. Six feet means it would go from one table end to the other and would be four feet long on the long end of the table. You could have divided into four geomorphic sections (each two by three feet) so as to make storage a bit easier. The slopes on both sides would be gentle and irregular so that it wouldn't look so artificial. You could add some small hills to it though I would probably want mine flat. If you have a four by six foot section of flat hill, you'd have room enough to place separate smaller hills on it. One problem would be roads, dependent upon what type of road system you use. I use masking tape which I find is more functional than anything else. Just lay it out and run a brown crayon on it. However, since my large hill would have hobby grass on it, I couldn't place masking tape on it without removing the grass when I take it off. If you use road sections made of resin, plastic, or wood, it doesn't look very good going up the slope.
The only possibility I can think of is to use the "flexible" road systems that are available to us today. The problem with them, that I find, is that they dictate the placement of your roads more than what I care for. You could, of course, place a permanent road system on your hill, though once you have it there, that is where your roads will be for every game you play. How high should this hill be? I would think one to three inches high would be just fine for most figure scales. Since I do 15/20mm, I'd probably lean toward between two and three inches high. Again, a very gentle slope on both sides. One problem I haven't been able to overcome, as far as doing it on my own, is how do you bevel the edge of the slope when it is irregular as to shape? I'm sure there is some type of tool one could use for this purpose. I'd love to hear about it if someone knows. My tree bases for 15mm/20mm would easily fit on top of the hill so I wouldn't have to drill holes for individual trees as you might have to on smaller hills. Another thought to make this type of hill more useable is to make "end" sections for the two sides bordering the side of the table. This would allow you, if you made the hill in four sections, to take half of the hill, place the six foot end against the table edge, and put the end pieces on each side allowing you to have a large hill on one side of your table.
I haven't priced lumber, but it would seem as though you could find a four by six foot piece of "wood" and maybe glue several together to achieve the height you wish. Of course, Styrofoam (the heavier type is great stuff as it is very strong) is another likely option although I prefer a wood base for this medium to prevent damage. With wood, you always have to worry about warping although using double-tempered hardboard dramatically reduces this likelihood. One could, as I probably will, commission Andrew Doyle to produce such a masterpiece of terrain!
Back to MWAN # 129 Table of Contents
Back to MWAN List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Magazine List
© Copyright 2004 Hal Thinglum
This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com