It's been a long time since I've graced the pages of MWAN, but that has given me the opportunity to do a lot of thinking about the hobby. Which, hopefully means you'll be getting some new insights. Or maybe not, but it sure feels good to come home again.
If you were going to live on a desert island and could take only one period of wargaming paraphernalia with you, what would it be? Over past years, many have volunteered their thoughts on this question in the pages of MWAN and their speculations made for some interesting reading. The odd thing is, something like this actually happened to me in that I was forced to start the hobby over again from scratch. In the process of rebuilding, I've learned quite a few things that I thought I'd pass along.
First, I learned how hard and expensive it is to become a wargamer. I've read the many laments about the difficulties of recruiting (something I'm not advocating). But, after re-equipping myself in a limited as opposed to my previous lavish style, I'm convinced that those in favor of recruiting need to turn their efforts to the creation of boxed set skirmish games that would allow quick entry. There are a few of these around. For example, the latest edition of The Sword & The Flame comes with plastic figures, a die and painting instructions. But why not a reissue of Napoleon's Battles or Fire & Fury with a few brigades of plastics?
I think those of us who have been in the hobby for a while don't realize how much stuff we've accumulated over the years. I'm able to look at this from the unique perspective of someone who no longer has a garage full of cabinets, crammed to the eaves with books. prints, terrain, buildings, paints, glues, flocks, fillers, files, brushes and a ton and a half of lead. We think it's easier to get started than it really is, because we sort of take all that inventory for granted.
Now that I can no longer find that oddball paint color, just-the-right-size brush or scrap of metal foil I had hamstered away, I realize just how much a novice is missing - and just how long it takes to accumulate it all.
That said, my second observation is that there is a certain liberation that comes with starting again. No need to fret over all that unpainted lead, is there? And no storage problems, for sure. Plus, the opportunity to make careful purchases with the benefit of a lot of hindsight.
So, you're probably wondering what period I chose. Surprise! After a lifetime of l5mm Napoleonics, I chose 25mm (eyes getting older) Colonials in the Sudan period instead. The period has always been interesting to me, and as I did my research prior to embarking on the project, I was struck by a wonderful, terrible idea. More about that in a second or two.
I was determined to use a simple set of rules for my Colonial gaming, something that could work solo, if need be. So, I chose The Sword & The Flame to get started. If you're not familiar with the set, it uses units of 20 infantry, 12 cavalry and artillery units with 4 man crews.
I reasoned there was no need to do unit after unit of khaki-clad troops. Rather, I'd do one unit of each troop type I could identify, which actually offers a lot of variety. The period Rifles are clad in green and scarlet, the Mounted Infantry in grey and khaki, the Highlanders in red with kilts or trews and so on. The 6 6 enemy" can include brown and blue clad Sudanese regulars with British or Egyptian officers, white uniformed Egyptians, Fuzzy Wuzzys in various shades of white and the Ansars with their colorful patches. Did I mention the Naval Brigade? Or the Indian troops? Or the dragoons, lancers, camel mounted cavalry, Royal Marines, and the postal workers brigade?
Anyway, I decided to just do one unit of each type (except for Fuzzys), so I could have fun painting and field a colorful array of miniatures. Further, I decided to use figures of a single pose for rifle armed units with a different pose for the officer and non-com. For native units armed with swords and spears, I decided to get as wide a mix of poses as possible. This would help represent formed vs unformed formations. And make painting a lot easier than the days when no two poses in my Napoleonic brigades were exactly the same.
The wonderful, terrible idea came next. Why be so accurate? Why limit my units to the Sudan" Why not allow figures from all Victorian confrontations to play? If I put aside historical purity and had a unit of Chinese Boxers fight alongside Fuzzys, it wouldn't matter as far as the rules were concerned. So, this opens up a wealth of possibilities. For painting enjoyment, for elaborate fictional scenarios and for what I finally decided was what I wanted most in my second-time-around in wargaming - pure and simple (duh) fun.
You can imagine my delight when I heard that the Foundry were doing Darkest Africa and that Old Glory might take a run at 25mm Colonials. I now have Connoisseur and Redoubt figures for my first units, but I've always liked to mix and match manufacture., s where mms permit. Look at me. Another lead glut coming on after all that preaching.
So, I'm on my way. I have a unit of Fuzzys done and another of Rifles almost finished. The latter are running at the trail with one hand holding their sun helmet. Dressed in rifle green with scarlet piping and led by a whistle-blowing officer and bugling bugler, they'll be the first British unit on the table. I have in mind replaying the scenario offered in the TS&TF rulebook, where a British unit fights off 3 units of Pathans in the process of trying to determine whether a well is available at an abandoned outpost. I'll probably use Fuzzys, Ansars and possibly an Egyptian army unit as opposition, so they'll have to be terribly clever to survive.
I'm planning on creating a fictional country with plenty of factions and reasons to fight. Will also name all the British troops and keep records of their performance throughout a campaign I hope will take me many long years to complete.
So, that's what I have been and will be doing in the conceivable future. Looking forward to all your comments and will entertain buying old 25min (large) colonial lead and/or references, if you have any to spare and the price is right.
I also must mention that I have connected my computer to the cable instead of the phone line, making my Internet access incredibly fast. So I've now had time to surf the web for wargaming sites and I have to report there is a rich feast online, no matter what your interests are. My very next column will review and highlight some of the best I can find.
Keep those cards and letters coming!
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© Copyright 1999 Hal Thinglum
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