The Crimean War has tremendous potential and is sadly ignored by most wargamers but it offers many advantages over other Horse and musket eras both for beginners and experienced hands alike. For the tyro, the period gives the movement and colour of Continental armies together with lesser known elements such as the Turkish Infantry or French Light Cavalry, for which more flexible rules are necessary. A brief experience with Napoleonics would be sufficient to master the increased range and types of fire-power available to the major forces. Figures are readily available in metal or plastic. For instance only a very small alteration to Airfix Confederate Infantry, such as the removal of hat brims, etc., is adequate for British infantry. The more experienced can find tremendous interest in the details of the armies concerned from the absolute wealth of material available and interesting situations can be set up from comparing the various conditions in which the war was conducted: mountains and plains; winter and summer; drought and flood. The question of supply can be made important or not and of course, there is always the question of fortifications, mining, trenches and heavy artillery - never enough to reach the stalemate of World War One, but enough to be interestingly different. What of the armies concerned? British and French forces side by side (for once) fielded large armies designed to refight the battles of the Peninsula a generation before. They were faced by the might of Imperial Russia relying on a huge conscript army and their usual ally, "General Winter". At the beginning of the campaign the morale of the British was high, too high in fact, for the extended hostilities were to reveal the majority of their officers to be inexperienced and totally unsuited to the task of leading their men into action. The well-known "Charge of the Light Brigade" is but one example of this. The Crimean iar stands supreme among campaigns for wargamers as a "soldier's war", in which the common British soldier fought against a combination of enemies including his own High Command. Such is the period in which I am now interested and would therefore be grateful if any reader with experience of it will write to me and tell of any facets he has disdovered. At the same time, I would look forward to hearing from anyone interested in entering a postal campaign with me. It would be ideal if a number of readers will combine over this, the resulting chaos might have every resemblance to the conduct of the war itself - the ultimate in realistic wargaming? Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 117 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1971 by Donald Featherstone. 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