Readers of this blog will no doubt be aware of my seemingly chronic inability to concentrate on anything for longer than a week or so and I have tried very hard over the years to combat this trait, usually without success. A short while ago I announced in all seriousness that I would be offloading great piles of sundry wargaming 'kit' and that I would be concentrating my efforts around the military and naval activities in and around the Mediterranean with perhaps a couple of forays to some old favourites e.g. the 1815 campaign and ACW riverine actions. I was going to dispose of my Dark Age material, some naval stuff, AWI and ACW on land and a few other odds and ends. the plan was to use the funds raised to finance the expansion of those projects that 'made the cut'.
That is all fine and dandy and, on the face of it, eminently practical. Sadly, it does not allow for the fickleness of the average wargamer; the sudden inspiration caused by a new range of drop dead gorgeous figures or a stunning title devoted to the subject in question.
I am as malleable as the rest of us in this respect and my head has been turned on many occasions by any one of the above scenarios mentioned. With this in mind I am going to hang on to pretty much all the stuff originally earmarked for disposal.
I tend to look at most periods of military history with the view to gaming them in some fashion. This in turn leads to the acquisition of figures and rules and to begin with I am enthusiasm personified. Usually this lasts at least until the next shiny thing comes along and then the usurped flavour of the month is packed, ignominiously, into a cupboard where it lays forgotten and unwanted.
I tend to come back to certain periods again and again so I guess these are my core interests - WW2 and Napoleonic were my original, 1970s choices although these have been added to with naval, WW1, ancients (in the pre -1500 AD sense) - and so these are the ones I should be concentrating on.
Its is funny that the periods I cut my teeth on are well represented in respect of books and films and the visual and dramatic appeal of these cinematic adventures should not be underestimated. Certainly they are visually impressive and as a young and impressionable teenager such epics as Zulu, The Battle of Britain, Lawrence of Arabia, Ben Hur, Spartacus etc have provided that all important 'wow factor'.
With this in mind I shall hang on to everything as mentioned although as to when some of these ideas will ever see the light of day is a moot point.
I will game the Dark Ages at some point, as well as revisiting the Napoleonic Wars (especially the 1815 campaign) and WW2 on land in some fashion - beyond the use of Memoir '44. My problem has been picking the types of games to play from within my chosen periods - from strategic down to skirmish level and all points in between.
I have finally realised that rather than fighting the lure of temptation I should shrug my shoulders and accept the fact that I am destined to plough a fickle furrow! This diversification of effort amongst numerous periods also places a premium on my time and so the use of small and self contained set ups (e.g. matched paires of DBA style armies) will be obligatory!
Oscar Wilde said: "I can resist anything except temptation." Perhaps he had a point there!
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