From what I see at conventions as of late, it would appear as though more and more wargamers are reverting to an old practice; that of mounting figures on individual bases and hosting smaller games. The concept of mounting multiple figures on a single stand is one that was probably developed sometime during the early or middle sixties and allowed gamers to build quite large armies and conduct larger scale battles with those armies. I recall going to conventions during the middle/late seventies and seeing quite a few large games as a result of this.
However, with the advent of THE SWORD AND THE FLAM rules set, which utilizes individually based figures, I feel that many gamers have applied this old concept to other periods as well. There are many things to be said in favor of such an approach, especially at convention games. Rich Black has long maintained that we need to have lots of "small" games at conventions with simple, easy to learn rules, to enable games to be played within a three-four hour period and brought to a successful conclusion. This results in players being exposed to a number of different periods and also encourages newcomers to become involved in our hobby. I agree with this as I feel, as Rich does as well as a growing number of people, that a group does not have to stand around a wargaming table for an hour going ever the rules which very few people really understand anyway until they see them in action over a few games.
I still find large games to be very interesting personally, especially if they are well organized and conducted in an organized fashion by the umpire, but also have noticed that I tend to be considering the smaller games more and more. Three or four years ago, I built up a Norman/Saxon/Viking army to go along with Rich's force in the same period and together, we have built quite a sizable force, some 700 or so 25mm figures, more than we can use for any "small" action, of course, but that is the nature of this hobby, I suppose.
One rarely stops collecting figures when one actually has enough. Some company always brings out another line for the period of our interest and we purchase more than we need. My first wargaming army was a 15mm ACW collection which long ago reached the 6,000 mark. Until I built up other armies for the SYW, Normans, Saxons, and Vikings, and Zulu War, I played with them quite a bit but they have gone virtually untouched for about three years. Part of the reason for this is that I have become a 25mm wargamer although I appreciate what 15mm can do on the tabletop and I suppose I will never get rid of my 15mm ACW army because of this.
I have thought from time to time that I would like to build another ACW army, this time in 25mm scale, although I know that with the periods I have in the planning and buying stage; the Sudan, French-Indian War, Charge Project, Romans and Gauls, English Civil War, and Napoleonics, that this is not likely to occur. However, at this time, I find myself thinking more and more of purchasing maybe a hundred or so 25rnm ACW figures, mounting them on individual bases, and doing some large scale skirmish actions based on home grown rules.
Such a project makes sense when it is considered that large scale skirmish actions require less space and since I no longer have a 6 X 12 foot table, a good time could be had on a 6 X 6 foot space, or less. The set-up time is minimal and one is really looking at a different type of action; individual figures vs. armysized actions. A game can be thrown together rather quickly. Another thought is that one can easily develop role playing into a small scenario such as described above with players being in control of perhaps ten to twenty figures, the same as with Rich's Normans, Saxons and Vikings games.
With a maximum outlay of $75-100 for figures and probably a fair amount of terrain, perhaps a month at maximum for painting time for a hundred figures, and a week or so putting together some simple, basic, fun-type rules, one can have a whole new period, or second army for the same period with which to either hold quick, fast-moving games at his home or to host at conventions.
Another factor in favor of such a plan is that the average wargamer, although he would like to build armies in a variety of periods, is not going to really have the time, money or painting patience to do so. Utilizing such an approach would allow even the least motivated wargamer to have at least one game he can host.
As regards rules, there are probably a fair amount of commercial rules available which can be modified in one way or another so as to offer a most enjoyable game. From what I have seen the last few years, there is a real move away from exact historical accuracy in our rules sets anyway. Players no longer will give a game host a hard time over "that never should have happened," especially in the smaller, single-based figure gapes that I have seen. For people who want some guidelines as to skirmish type rules sets one can always subscribe to Wally Simon's PW REVIEW which always has a number of articles devoted to the subject or read THE COURIER for Wally's skirmish section.
If you think about it, there must have been many times when you would have liked to have held a spontaneous wargame but didn't have the time to pull out 1500 figures, figure out a scenario, lay out your terrain, determine army sizes, and then spend four hours playing it. Maybe the main game of the evening finished early and you have two hours of playing time left. Pull out your 50 or 100 figure skirmish figures and you have a game going in 15 minutes!
The serious wargamer who enjoys studying and working out movements of an army can still have his 5,000 15mm Napoleonic armies and not feel as though he is duplicating the period by purchasing 100 or so 25mm/30mm figures and doing skirmish level games. The compulsive painter/planner, such as myself, can easily fit in 100 figures mounted individually for a period that he has thousands for, even in the same scale - I always have a number of unpainted castings remaining after finishing a period anyway.
If anyone engages in this type of gaming, it would be nice to hear from them as regards any aspect of what is required, i.e., mounting, planning, rules writing, scenarios, battle reports, etc.
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© Copyright 1986 Hal Thinglum
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