I was talking to Greg Principato (Of Dice & Men) the other day when he told me that the ORIGINS Convention would be combined with GENCON in 1988. Needless to say I got excited over the prospect of the major national wargaming convention being held close by. It appears that HMGS-MIDWEST will be responsible for organizing and running the historical games (they did a good job at this year's GENCON).
As an avid 25mm Napoleonics gamer (I'm also the US distributor for Peter Gilder's Connoisseur figures and Peter Moreby's Elite Miniatures in my "spare time") I started thinking about what kind of project would be appropriate for the largest wargaming convention in the world. it didn't take too long to cone up with an answer for what game to do. As an admirer of the Peter Gilder style of Napoleonic wargaming (1000's of 25mm figures on vast expanses of gorgeous terrain) I decided to do the game that style using Peter's rules IN THE GRAND MANNER.
Sooo. . (here it comes) I'm planning on doing Waterloo with 25mm figures at a scale of 20 to 1 on a playing surface approximately 30 X 15 feet (we're talking in excess of 8,000 figures here gang!).
The folks I game with have decided to indulge me in this undertaking (they're as crazy as I am) and even now are furiously painting French, British, Allied, and Prussian figures. However, there is still room for recruits (Boy, is there still room). So if anyone out there is a 25mm Napoleonics gamer and wants to reserve a command in the gane of the decade by getting involved and painting/supplying figures, give me a call (312-940-7617) some evening or drop me a line (Keith Leidy, 2625 Forest Glen Trail, Riverwoods, Illinois 60015).
Plans call for the game itself to be run by the "Master" Himself, Peter Gilder, as I've already conned, oops, talked him into coming, over from England for the convention. I've also convinced him that no one but he could do justice to Hugomont and La Haye Saint, so he said he'd build them for me when he's here this fall. If you read MINIATURE WARGAMES you've seen countless examples of his handy work (maybe held have time to do a seminar or two on painting/terrain building at the convention,
Having played Waterloo (among other battles) at Peter's Wargames Holiday Center England, all I can promise you is the game of your life (up to this time, there's still Austerlitz, Wagram, Borodino and Leipzig). So if you think you can do better than Napoleon or if you love reverse slope defenses, this is the game for you.
Even though the convention isn't until August of 1988, that's not a lot of time for a project of this size. I'm working on the terrain layout now, it's from a British survey done in September of 1815. Time permitting, I'll keep you all posted on our progress via the pages of MWAN. Like the title says "I'll probably shoot myself later, but" .... WATERLQO!!!
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