The Eternal Napoleonic Enthusiast

Loads of Command and Colours block and card driven goodness - just as well I am currently, to use the theatrical expression, ‘resting’ as there are an awful lot of blocks to be labelled!

Back in the early days of my wargaming career my main passion was the Napoleonic Wars. This coincided with the release of the film Waterloo and of course, the Airfix 20mm range. I suspect that many a wargamer of a certain vintage could tell a similar tale! The years have rolled by and historical periods have come and gone in and out of fashion during my wargaming journey but the Napoleonic Wars was always there or thereabouts, waiting patiently for the command, “Now’s your time, Crook!” (Or something similar….).

Now that I am staring down the barrel of premature and enforced retirement following my recent redundancy, my planned bout of ‘front loading’, aka laying in gaming supplies for the additional spare time I will have (even allowing for the ‘to do’ list of domestic chores!), has proven to be one of my better decisions. The material you see in this post is a direct result of this.

Whilst no wargamer will ever admit to having everything they need I am happy to say that I am probably closer to this ideal than I have been for many a long year! I think that main reason for this is that I have made a number of decisions that have shaped my collection in a more orderly fashion based upon, dare I say it, that which I am most interested in as opposed to those occasional bouts of whimsy - ‘ooooh shiny! - in the face of something new and tempting.

1815 from the strategic angle and of course a naval game - I also have a copy of Wooden Ships and Iron Men lurking around, together with S Craig Taylor’s splendid grid based ‘Ship ‘O the Line’

The Napoleonic Wars has just about everything I need from a historical period gaming wise on both land and sea. Everything from skirmishes with a handful of figures up to army level battles with the added bonus of a healthy and rewarding naval side. There is no shortage of printed material as well as a healthy selection of fiction based on the period. Chuck in the occasional foray on the big and little screen and you have it all.

Since moving away from the Isle of Sheppey in 1977 as a dyed in the wool Napoleonic gamer I have tried just about everything else from the time of the Pharaohs to ‘Cold War gone hot’ type games and so Napoleonics kind of fell by the wayside a little as I explored many new and shiny things. Some of the latter have stayed with me - especially naval and aerial - but always there was that gnawing away at a corner of my soul, a reminder of glorious days gone by as armies of painted plastic 20mm Airfix figures went into battle, marching to the tune of Bruce Quarrie’s rules to do battle amongst the Merit trees and walls, repurposed Airfix Waterloo Farmhouses and pan scourer hedgerows. 

I have no plans to paint any Napoleonic figures anytime soon. I have everything I need for tabletop battles via Command and Colours (I have the whole lot) and my block armies for anything higher level. I am undecided about skirmish level games but who knows? Maybe the brushes might come out at some point but certainly not in the immediate future. In fact, the only thing that is likely to be painted anytime soon for the Napoleonic wars is most likely to be ships.

Now I had planned to explore age of sail gaming using scratchbuilt models in the same way as I did for the ACW. This idea is still hanging around but for now I am looking at something rather more ambitious - simply because I should have the time to do so.

What does this all mean?

I had always promised myself that I would go back to the Napoleonic Wars in a meaningful way - my brief foray into the Del Prado collection was a pointer in this direction - but the biggest obstacle was always the land side and painting a collection to use. With the benefit of experience, coupled with the block armies, Command and Colours, the Portable Napoleonic wargame and my planned excursion into naval using models I can at last give the period the attention it deserves. 

Humbled. Truly….

Just a quickie to thank everyone that has commented about my news and offered words that have been really comforting and encouraging. At present I am feeling rather philosophical about things and fortunately both Laurel’s and my own chesty ailment seems to be over the worse so things are a little brighter than last week. Probably the best way of describing how I am seeing things is as follows:

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

Onwards and upwards!

Thanks all!

Goodbye to all that….

It is what it is….

It has been a challenging week. Laurel and I have been struggling with chest infections, sore throats and in her case, a severe sinus infection. My original final redundancy meeting was scheduled for Monday but instead took place today. The result was still the same.

I am now officially redundant.

At 63 years of age.

Reckon that is ‘Game over Man!’ As a wise Colonial Marine once said.

Overall my feelings are mixed but for now I shall be taking stock etc so will probably not be posting for a couple of weeks.

In the immortal words of a former governor of California - ‘I’ll be back….’

Wings of War/Glory and “Der Tag”

Transatlantic goodies - one more parcel to come!

The first two of three deliveries from across the pond arrived this morning and has enabled me to complete the British component of my Wings of War/Glory 1:144th 1918 set up. This consists of the following:

4 each of SE5, Sopwith Camel and Sopwith Snipe

2 each of Bristol Fighter, RE8 and DH4.

Bristol Fighters - if you look closely you can see the twin Lewis gun option used on the white half winged aircraft 

A pair of Sopwith Snipes

A rather natty looking Sopwith Camel

The last of the Germans are in the final parcel due to arrive shortly and so they will be represented as follows:

7 Albatross DVa, 1 captured Sopwith Camel, four Fokker DR1, 2 Fokker D7 and two Fokker D8 (the monoplane fighter I have christened the ‘Stachel Special’)

There are also two each of the following: Halbastadt, Roland, Rumpler and Hannover.

In an ideal world another brace of Fokker D7s would be nice but they are not essential. 

“Der Tag”

Monday, May 20th at 4:30pm I shall learn my fate in respect of being at risk of redundancy. We shall see how it goes.

My Own Private Kobayashi Maru

The Kobayashi Maru scenario was first encountered in the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Captain Kirk’s solution to the scenario passed in Starfleet history and was, as Spock observed, unique.

I am currently going through what is proving to be a rather torturous redundancy consultation at work. Thus far the number of meetings has exceeded the normal number required to execute such a procedure as points are being batted back and forth.

It is exhausting and not without a degree of stress attached to it.

I am pretty certain that the outcome is inevitable but I am determined to leave no stone unturned in an attempt to stave off the end and have begun to see this very much as my own Kobayashi Maru - the ‘no win’ scenario of Star Trek fame. It is after all a test of character and so I am determined to fully engage with the process rather Han going meekly into the wilderness.

I am only two years away from retirement in any event but would have preferred to have reached that particular milestone under my own steam as I believe the likelihood of me securing another role where I can work on a fully remote basis is pretty slim.

Another incentive is that the ‘to do’ list being prepared by Laurel for me is large enough to register as a roundabout on Google Maps….

A Waterloo Footnote - Literally!

The front cover of the digital version….

….and the contents.

The footnote to page 4 - I cannot help but be delighted by this!

A short while ago mention was made of a book that was freely available on the net written by the esteemed author and historian, Charles Esdaile. The book was entitled Wargaming Waterloo and at the time I thought ‘Oooh, goody!’, downloaded it onto my IPad and then proceeded to forget about it!

Imagine my surprise and delight then, when my old friend Bob Cordery emailed me this morning and drew my attention to the footnote on page 4 of the text (see the picture above). So I am now contained in a footnote in an academic publication about gaming one of the most famous battles of all time that coincidentally happens to be a personal favourite of mine!

I had no idea about this and so naturally am rather pleased to be so noted. I did chuckle at ‘The many projects developed by Crook’ part of the footnote - I wonder if the esteemed Prof. Esdaile knows how many of these projects I have started or more importantly, how many I have finished!?

The three blog posts can be found here:

Waterloo A La Carte….Game Number 56, Part 1

Waterloo A La Carte….Game Number 56, Part 2

Waterloo A La Carte….Game Number 56, Part 3

I should also point out that the above idea was not entirely original in that I adapted a similar hex based concept designed by ‘Old Trousers’ of ‘Numbers, Wargames and Arsing About’ fame. The idea was originally mentioned in the following blog post:

“Yes, Wonderful Things!”

Hard to believe this was four ago - the figures have long gone and so I now have another method of getting my Napoleonics fix, but more of that at a later date.

Many thanks to Bob Cordery for bringing this to my attention!

Bank Holiday Weekend Boot Sale Bargains

Very different but welcome all the same. 20p for the Duggan title and £1 for the Macintyre. 

A short while ago Laurel took delivery of a powered wheelchair for use outdoors and what a boon it has been! It gives her a huge amount of independence which is especially useful when out shopping and in this case, visiting our new local boot sale.

Her chair is not really designed for use on grass and so the boot sale we visit takes place in a park and ride car park just off the A12 near Chelmsford and so is fully paved.

My personal boot sale pickings have been pretty slim this year so I was delighted to come away with the goodies you see in the picture above. 

I have read Count Bohemond by Alfred Duggan but had not seen the title above so was very pleased to get his for the princely sum of 20p. I am rather fond of the crusades so this was a welcome addition to my fiction library. 

The Naval War Against Hitler I have not seen before but for a £1 it was definitely worth a punt albeit probably a little dated.

A nice sized and unused cutting mat for £1 and a brand new (still with tags etc) laptop case for £3 - not that I have a laptop but it will be useful for my IPad and keyboard combo and headphones.

All in all then not a bad haul and a pleasant way to spend a sunny Sunday morning!