Mr. Wessencraft has been an avid wargamer for three decades and has written several books and numerous magazine articles on the hobby. What makes him different is his analytical and practical approach to the hobby, an approach that trims away the fat, the excess, the unneeded and anything that impedes or retards fun and playability. His motto might seem to be "If it doesn't work or takes too much time, throw it out." The Benedict Arnold Society have been avid fans and disciples of wargaming according to the book of Wessencraft and thus, it was both an honor and a privilege when Hal Thinglum requested that I do this interview. I thank Hal and Mr. Wessencraft for what was for me a thrilling opportunity and a real wargaming boost of morale. Mr. Wessencraft's books are probably long out of print, but can probably be obtained through one's interlibrary system and I can only urge MWAN readers to seek them out if only for a look at wargaming by one of the great minds of the hobby.
Charles F. Wessencraft's Autobiographical Sketch: I was born in South Shields in N.E. England in 1928. I am married with two children. During my National Service I was commissioned in the Royal Artillery. Five years ago I took early retirement, having been Principle Administrative Officer for 12 years at 12 Museums and Art Galleries which included two Roman forts. For over 25 years I have lectured about Northern Battles. I now spend my time wargaming, painting landscapes, making dioramas for museums and organizing and leading one-week tours of the North of England and Scotland for the Caravan Club. Life is just great!
DAVID: You seem to be able to wargame in all historic periods; are there any you believe are really not quite gameable?
CHARLES: I wargame in all periods from Ancient Egyptian to Zulu Wars. I do not wargame this century (1) from choice and (2) I feel the scale is so vast it becomes almost impossible to represent in an interesting manner.
DAVID: What are your favorite historical periods?
CHARLES: They vary. I am genuinely interested in all periods pre-20th Century, reading anything that comes my way. I therefore have a broad knowledge without it being particularly deep.
DAVID: What are your favorite wargaming periods?
CHARLES: Malburian, SYW, AWI and ACW.
DAVID: How did you first become interested in wargaming?
CHARLES: I was brought up playing with toy soldiers. One night I met Duncan Brack. He had two Jack Scruby ACW armies and a book called WAR GAMES by Donald Featherstone. We played and I was hooked. That was back in 1362 - nearly 30 years ago. One of my prized possessions is an autographed copy of this book.
DAVID: Do you always author or do you prefer to author the rules you use in your wargames?
CHARLES: I belong to a club -- no name, just a group of about a dozen friends who meet every Wednesday and sometimes on Saturdays. Over the years we have developed our own rules. We buy, try and usually reject commercial rules. The quest is never ending for the perfect set. This is one of the great things about the hobby.
DAVID: Since you have written a book on the ECW, wargaming that period must be close to your heart. It seems that every British wargamer enjoys the ECW, perhaps because there are Britons of all types on both sides. Why do You find it so fascinating?
CHARLES: Of course, it is fascinating, but so are all periods. Living in England, I have visited most of the battle sites, not only ECW but also Saxon, Viking, Medieval, Jacobite. I have been to Waterloo, Blenheim, and yes, Gettysburg (I spent three days there. I was up at 5:30 one morning at the High Water Mark - the entire field laid out before me - alone among the guns overlooking the line of Pickett's Charge. This was one of my own high water marks).
DAVID: Did you know Brigadier Peter Young of Wargame and Sealed Knot fame?
CHARLES: Yes, I met Peter Young in the Tower of London of all places. I went down to London for a day of lectures on the ECW. He was a great, larger than life, character.
DAVID: Do you have a favorite wargame figure scale?
CHARLES: 15mm. 2. .& 6mm I find too difficult to handle and see - it's my age, you know. About half my collection are 25mm but they are becoming too expensive. Also, using 25mm, I find we tend to fight wall to wall, shoulder to shoulder with no room to manoeuvre.
DAVID: Do you prefer small scale/battalion level or grand tactical games or does it depend on the historical period?
CHARLES: I prefer grand tactical, usually based on a figure scale of 50-1, but we fight Ancients & Medieval on 20-1 with individually based figures. So yes, it does depend upon the period.
DAVID: Do you have a favorite military hero whom you admire?
CHARLES: I have three; (1) Lee, one of the tragic figures in history but a gentleman in all senses of the word; (2) Marlborough, surely the perfect tactician and (3) whoever I am trying to emulate in my next game.
DAVID: From an American standpoint it seems that any British wargaming author can not help but be compared with the prolific Donald Featherstone, yet your ideas and his are quite different despite being contemporaries. Do you feel your ideas are more streamlined or refined than his?
CHARLES: Don started me in the game so I owe him a great deal. I have had the honor of playing at his house, on courses with him and assisting him refight Hastings in 1966 on the 900th anniversary. Yes, we are different, but the similarities far outweigh the differences and I am proud to know him as a friend.
DAVID: Have you done wargame campaigns? Were they successful, satisfying?
CHARLES: Yes, I have taken part in many campaigns. No, they are rarely successful. I can not really be bothered with all the paperwork, missing players, etc. People tell me that fighting single battles gives a lack of purpose. Recently we refought the wars of the Roses. Here each battle had little effect on the next one, so we start at First St. Albans and worked our way through to Bosworth Field. With battles often five years apart, what kind of records are you supposed to keep?
DAVID: Do you have a favorite historical site that you have visited or would like to visit?
CHARLES: Gettysburg is the best laid out battlefield I have ever visited. In Britain, Scottish battlefields are well depicted. Hastings and Bosworth have good displays. I am an authority on Flodden Field and have written a book about Otterburn, moving the battlefield some four miles.
DAVID: Do you enjoy painting wargame figures?
CHARLES: No, I look upon this as a necessary evil as I can not afford to buy painted figures. I am often asked to judge figures at conventions and am amazed at the great detail some people can achieve. I regret to say that my own wargame figures fall far short of these high standards as I am always rushing to get them onto the table.
DAVID: Any possibilities of another book from you?
CHARLES: In 1976 I wrote a book about warfare in America, similar to my WITH PIKE AND MUSKET. However, I failed to find a publisher. Last year I was commissioned to write a book for Argus in their WARGAMING IN HISTORY series. This covers 1,000 years of warfare on the Anglo-Scottish Border and is entitled THE BORDER WARS. I hope to see it on the shelves within the next 12 months.
DAVID: Tell us about your diorama work. What were the subjects and did you enjoy it?
CHARLES: I was commissioned to produce dioramas for the National Trust for Scotland. These are now on permanent display at Culloden and Bannockburn, the first in 6mm, the second in 15mm. At South Shields Roman Fort I have made a model of the Fort 8' -0X5'-0, again using 15mm figures. Also on display I have made a gateway, a granary and a Roman Wall turret -- all using 25mm figures.
DAVID: Do you have any interest in collecting model soldiers, toy soldiers?
CHARLES: I have a collection of some 10,000-12,000 figures; I've never actually counted them.
DAVID: Your philosophy has wargamers using the same troops for several different levels - battalion, division, corps, army, just changing the rules rather than rebasing the figures. You also reject the use of artillery limbers as being superfluous in a game. Have these ideas made you an outcast with figure manufacturers or those who derive an income from selling as many or as many types of figures as possible?
CHARLES: I have recently bought some limbers for my ACW figures. I have no idea about my being an outcast. I know quite a few figure manufacturers and they never said anything. I find this an odd question. I would like to think that my books may have even helped to sell figures.
DAVID: What is your favorite military/historical book?
CHARLES: I think the Souvenir Guide to the National Military Park, Gettysburg is fantastic. Also Hughes FIREPOWER and Chandler's ART OF WARFARE IN THE AGE OF MARLBOROUGH. As I switched between periods looking for ideas, so my books rise and fall in favoritism.
DAVID: Do you have a favorite wargaming book, magazine or rules set?
CHARLES: I used to take Don Featherstone's WARGAMER'S NEWSLETTER. Since it folded, there has been a gap. However only this month I came across MWAN. It is very much like the other, except being American, it's about ten times as big. I take WARGAMES ILLUSTRATED, MINIATURE WARGAMES, and PRACTICAL WARGAMING. Rules? I'm still looking.
DAVID: You always seem to include weather in your wargames, why do you feel it important enough to use? Surely weather could be dispensed with?
CHARLES: Of course it can; except if you want to play Barnet without the fog; retreat from Moscow without the snow; Towton and ignore the wind. If weather is essential, put it in. Otherwise, ignore it. If the authorities do not mention the effect of weather on a battle, I assume it was good (whatever that means).
DAVID: Our group, the BENEDICT ARNOLD SOCIETY uses hexes and has a hex grid on our wargames table thus rendering rulers and other measuring devices unnecessary. What are your thoughts on this?
CHARLES: Delighted to know that your society uses hexes. I moved house last August and had to rebuild my wargames table. I took the opportunity to make a hex board (120mm, side to side). This of course led to new scenery - and new rules - and new armies! It has taken a full year - and I don't regret a minute.
DAVID: How do you go about writing a set of rules; not the flavor of history so much as deciding or inventing what mechanics to use?
CHARLES: Before I tackle a set of rules I read all I can about the period. Then (1) work out effectiveness of weapons and how they were used, (2) this leads to formations that may be adopted, (3) this leads to scale and so to movement ratios - foot against horse. Ignore time, it is really all ratios. Gradually the picture is built up. Now is the time to test play. Anything that is holding up the game should be cut and rethought and then cut again. The object must be to keep it simple and playable.
DAVID: Do you prefer fighting historical battles to fictional engagements?
CHARLES: Yes, it is here that I probably differ most from Don Featherstone. We both take the position and estimated numbers at the start of the engagement. In Don's games, if the 21st Lancers were known to have charged, then this must come into play in the game. I find this too restricting and prefer the players to do their own thing. As I understand it, if the 21st don't charge, then it isn't Omdurman, is Don's philosophy. It's just not mine.
DAVID: Was the Second World War a great influence on your life?
CHARLES: Naturally. My schooling was interrupted; I was bombed and spent four years as an evacuee.
DAVID: The British Empire and England in general have a great military tradition. Do you regret or miss the Empire or do you think the British Army continues to uphold it's fine tradition in theaters such as the Falklands and Kuwait?
CHARLES: I suppose the Empire began to crumble when we lost America (and I have never been able to decide whether this was a good thing or not - we obviously relied too much on the Hessians!). All empires are doomed to failure by their very nature. I am alarmed by the massive cuts at present being inflicted on our forces by the politicians.
DAVID: In a wargame, what side would you rather be on?
CHARLES: I have no preferences. Our club is very democratic. We arrive; we throw dice to form two teams; each team then dices for C-in-C. These two now dice for who are the Romans and who are Barbarians. It's as simple as that. No problems.
DAVID: When you wargame the ECW, do you use the rules from PIKE AND MUSKET or your PRACTICAL WARGAMING book?
CHARLES: No. You must remember that these books were written about twenty years ago. The hobby is a living thing and so our ideas change as we develop. We find WRG and most commercial rules too complex. I hate these rule books that claim "these rules are designed to create a fast game" and then prove to be so complex that you are still on the start line three hours later. Walk around a convention and see what I mean.
DAVID: Do you still find using single based figures to be practical in your wargames?
CHARLES: Yes, all our Saxon, Viking, Norman and medieval armies are singly based. I think that most of our other figures are in pairs, plus a few singles for casualties or skirmishers.
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