The Non Figure Wargame

Whilst sorting through my collection (as I periodically do - usually in the search for some items to list on ebay!) I came across some draft rules I was experimenting with a short while ago for a generic Horse and Musket period wargame using wooden blocks rather than figures. Before continuing I should point out that I am an indifferent painter of figures and to be honest, I only really enjoy painting 'machine' type units - hence the interest in ships and sci fi type stuff. If it is organic then I seem to get in a flat spin at the prospect of painting it! It was this in mind that I embarked on a project painting Cuisenaire Rods for use as wargames units. sadly this did not amount to anything usable - the basic problem is that I was trying to use blocks almost in the same way as figures and it just looked plain wrong. I would use a 2 x 1cm block to represent an artillery piece with 2, 3 or 4 1cm cubes as gunners. So after a couple of weeks of effort and frustration I gave it up as a bad job and abandoned the idea. The exercise did give me much food for thought however and so the next evolutionary step will be more in line with how I think blocks should be used i.e. as whole units, rather like the blocks employed on military maps.

I have absolutely no problem with using blocks instead of figures and in fact, given my interest in numerous periods it probably be an advantage to use them rather than model soldiers. For example, a red block could represent a British unit anywhere from Marlborough to the Sudan. A Blue block would be even more versatile - Napoleonic French, ACW Union, Prussian and so on. My problem is with what to use for the blocks and how to make them aesthetically pleasing. I suppose really I am looking at something akin to Kriegspiel type blocks but for a more modern type of game (modern as in using the gaming techniques of today rather than as a description of the period under consideration). Armed with a supply of blocks and some appropriate sticky labels (I would need to draft in help for that as my PC artistic skills are minimal!) for the types represented then I would be well away. Maps would be easy to construct so no worries on the terrain front and the whole thing could be as cheap as you like. Just because there are no figures on the table does not, in my opinion, make it any the less of a wargame - it is just a different slant on the hobby. In point of fact, the Command and Colours Ancients boardgame system by Richard Borg uses blocks with sticky labels on for the units and these could very easily be used for a tabletop game if required. Columbia games also use blocks in their award winning series of strategic level games and certainly, poring over a map and moving blocks of troops around is probably more in line with the generalship experience than using figures.

Before I am hung, drawn and quartered and then burnt at the stake as a heretic I must say that I have absolutely nothing against using figures for wargames - at the moment I am looking at a couple of figure based projects myself - and I will continue to use them myself as the occasion warrants. However, it is my opinion that if the aesthetics can be gotten right then the use of blocks is a perfectly viable supplement to the use of figures. My problem is getting the aesthetic part right!

P.S. If using blocks was good enough for the Prussian General staff amongst others then who am I to snub my nose at history?

A Piece of Gaming History

This post is one of pure, nostalgic self indugence so I offer no apologies if it appears to be a touch 'rose-tinted spectacles' in its content. Back in the very early 70's, when yours truly was a mere slip of a lad and such things as PCs, laptops, mobile phones and Nintendo Wiis were the stuff of science fiction, we amused ourselves with playing football and other outdoor pursuits when the weather permitted, or made airfix kits by the shed load and played boardgames when it was too inclement to venture out. Actually the first kit I ever made solo was a Revell Polikarpov I-16 but I suspect that is being a touch pedantic.......Boardgames were another matter all together and I can remember receiving for my 12th birthday a copy of the Waddingtons Boardgame called Campaign. Boy was I pleased! I can safely say that that game (which I still have incidently) and the surfeit of bagged Airfix kits and boxes of figures around at the time was probably the main catalyst in my lifelong addiction to wargaming. The game is a stylised and abstract strategic level game based loosely on the Napoleonic wars. It features 6 countries - France, Spain, Austria, Prussia, Russia and Italy, each of a capital city (of 9 squares) and 4 major cities. Although there were 6 countries on the map the game was for 2 to 4 players only and Italy was always neutral. Prussia only appeared in the 3 player version. Each Army consisted of 4 cavalry pieces, 4 infantry and a general. Movement was determined by a dice roll and generals could move in any direction, infantry only diagonally and cavalry moved 2 squares orthagonally. Unlike DBA you could move a piece as far as the dice roll would permit. Moving large formations required higher dice rolls so quite often they would sit still if the dice were unkind. Combat did not use the dice (other than for moving into contact with the enemy) and worked on the basis that if either an infantry or cavalry piece was contacted by two enemy pieces then it was removed from play. A General needed to beaten by three enemy pieces in contact. He was not removed from the game but was driven back to his capital city and all his army had to go with him. The General was also the only piece that could capture a city and a capital city. Capitals could only be taken after the nations four other cities had been captured. Tactically a square of 4 pieces was a good formation as each piece was supported (i.e. in contact with) and so had to be neutralised by an enemy piece before another piece could be removed. A further complication was that infantry could only attack diagonally whilst cavalry used orthogonal attacks. Alliances between countries could be made (and broken) and it was almost an unwritten rule in my gaming circle that if anyone player looked to have a potentially winning advantage then he was fair game for the opponents to ally and keep him firmly in his place! I must have played this game hundreds of time over the years and devised all manner of 'refinements' for it - terrain effects, squared maps based on actual battlefields, differing troop types and even artillery grand batteries. I own several copies of this game - the others acquired from boot sales and charity shops - and have often looked at it with the benefit of many years gaming experience and pondered how it could be made into a more adult version. It would not be a hard task to employ DBA type combat mechanisms with the game pieces (coloured red, white, blue and green) to make a hybrid board/wargame. It may not have the appeal of painted figures but it would still be a wargame and would be as cheap as chips - knocking up a gridded map to use with the pieces with the terrain drawn on with coloured felt pens is not beyond even the most hamfisted of artists - self included!

Campaign, Airfix and Charge! - I suspect that many gamers 'of a certain age' have had cause to appreciate (or blame!) some or all of those for their lifelong hobby!

Items on the Agenda..Part 2

...................of course, I had forgotten to mention that there are a couple of boardgames I am on the hunt for which can be included in the PROJECTED section - not to mention the perennial problem of the Arab Revolt and how best to game that! Luckily for my Colonial/Small War forays I need not worry about rules as I have the set of choice already availale from the pen of the prolific Mr. Bob Cordery - 'When Empires Clash'.

One less problem to think about........;-)

Items on the Agenda

After having aired my career aspirations to the cyber world I decided that now would be as good a time as any to sit down and list EVERYTHING that I have on the go as either an actual or projected project. The main reason for this is so that I can prioritise my efforts and see where any funding may be needed. The list is not too onerous on the actual side but the projected version needs some work in terms of size.

ACTUAL

ACW 1/2400th ships
ACW 1/2400th land stuff
2mm Sci Fi (OGRE and mech stuff)
1/2400th 16th Century Galley Fleets
28mm Combat Zone Sci Fi Figures
Basing for 10 EM4 Gladiators
2mm VSF Land Ironclads
1/1200th WW1 Minifigs Ships
1/1200th Aeronef Fleets
WW1 Naval Rules
Balkan Wars - Naval and Land
Terrain for any or all of the above.

PROJECTED

NW Frontier
Balkan Wars
1/3000th WW1 French Fleet
A couple of War at Sea mini campaigns
Army level horse and musket rules (and armies to use with them!)
1/2400th Armada Fleets
15mm Pirates (HOTTs?)
15mm DBA armies (probably a matched pair)

Of the projected stuff all will need resourcing to a lesser or greater degree so I will need to decide at what level this will happen.

As ever, much to ponder methinks.

The Trials and Tribulations of the Unemployed Wargamer

As many of you that read the blog may be aware I was made redundant from my last job some five months ago. you may also be aware that I worked within the financial sector, in the city of London to be exact, as a Compliance Officer with leanings toward Operational Risk (in which I am qualified to advanced level). After five months of trying and shed loads of interviews, applications, phone calls and letters I am still no closer to getting back into employment. This enforced absence has given me a lot of time to think about what I want from a career and how I should try to achieve it. The upshot of this soul searching is that I have decided to pursue a long held ambition to work in the field of further education - more specifically adult education and in a lecturing/training capacity. My plan initially is to sit the appropriate teaching exams whilst additionally studying to the appropriate level in my preferred subject - history. With this in mind (and certainly taking the financial side into very careful consideration) I shall be starting the first primer course in September with the main course taking up next year. I estimate that it will be around the two year mark before I shall be back in gainful employment (although I will of course be taking advantage of any temporary positions that I can fit around my studying) so my gaming activities will need to take a financial back seat as the basic mechanics of living will take priority. This is in itself a welcome challenge in many ways as it means I will need to fully explore the concept of the credit crunch wargame and ensure that I get the maximum return from any outlay into figures, models and books etc.

I am looking forward to the challenge of all this and the blog will be peppered with the odd mention of my academic progress thus far as well as updates on the gaming front. The medium of the blog has been for me an absolute god send as it has enabled me to not only air the concept of a particular project but to also receive much useful feedback and observations which is fully appreciated and valued. This has been particularly beneficial as for the first time in a long while I have actually been finishing things rather than abandoning halfway when something more attractive comes along!

I hope this entry has been received in the spirit with which it has been written and that those followers will continue to do so for the reasons mentioned. I just needed to make my situation known and in the public domain.

Thanks in advance for the continued support.

The Story So Far.........Part 2

You know how it is, you sit down with the best of intentions to tackle a job (in this case the ACW Ironclads sitting on the paint tray) and somehow, you just cannot seem to get started and when you do, disaster usually strikes. Well it was hardly a disaster but the painting was a little on the sloppy side and so I gave up after twenty minutes or so. Unfortunately, whilst my painting is firmly in the ACW at present my head is still wrestling with the new set of 1890 to 1918 rules that are going to replace DBSA - The Great War Gridded and so I guess this is the problem.

I felt that I had gone about as far as I could with the DBSA derived set and whilst it was enormous fun with the research and play testing sadly they do not tick enough boxes for me. The new set are a country mile away from the mechanics I used previously and are similar in two respects only - they are on a grid and no book keeping will be involved.

Thanks to the kind auspices of both Borja Sierra and Mark Dudley from two of the Yahoo groups I belong to (Naval Wargames and Old School Wargaming) I have a couple of (photo) copies of a set of Skytrex WW1 Naval Rules by John Hammond that made use of Fred Jane's Gun Rating for naval ordnance. This data will be used in the new set and I will be using a dice per barrel for the basic gunfire hit mechanic. Most gamers enjoy rolling great fists of dice so this will be a welcome addition. These rules are in fact pretty close to the play testing stage so I will report on progress as it occurs.

The Story So Far.........

Just a quick catch really to let you know what has been happening in the Rayleigh Factorium. The ACW ships are still underway - I have not touched a paintbrush this weekend but will resume this evening. The small extra order from Tumbling Dice has arrived and the model of the French Ironclad Gloire (that I shall be using as USS New Ironsides) is absolutely gorgeous! My other small order for some 2mm Sci Fi stuff for the OGRE project has also arrived and is very nice as well. As mentioned previously I have everything I need for this and as soon as the ACW stuff is ready I shall press on with this - prior to starting college. I have also changed the storage system I use for the 1/3000th ships. I was using magnetic strip on the inside of some polythene storage boxes I acquired from the local branch of Hobbycraft but the strip would not stick for very long and would curl up at the edges. I then had a brainwave and by using double sided sellotape was able to line the boxes with paper and then stick the strips onto this. the result is much better as the adhesive used on the magnetic strip 'takes' far better on the paper. The boxes themselves are 34 x 31cm and roughly 25mm deep so are a very handy size for the fleets I have thus far. I am also looking long and hard at the land element of the ACW Riverine stuff I have - the solution is fairly radical and I hope to have some pictures ready in the next couple of days.