What's In A Name?

Why the change of title you may well ask? Well when I set up this and my previous Blog, my wargaming consisted pretty much of just WWII battles, using Flames of War (Oh the shame!) and then Blitzkreig Commander II. So the title was appropriate. But over the years my wargaming has diversified somewhat and is a richer experience for this, thanks in no small part to fellow Bloggers across the Globe, but particularly to Keith Flint and Dave Fielder, who have opened my eyes to the joys of the Seven Years War, the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War etc.

Whilst at Chris Gregg's recently during a lunchtime chat, one of the other gamers aked my the title of my Blog, which I told him. He then matter of factly said "Well I wouldn't have bothered checking it due to the title", or words to that effect. And he was right. It gives a rather narrow definition of my interests which do not convey the current state of my gaming. So time for a change. After some thought, well a few hours if I'm honest, I came up with 'Wargames With Toy Soldiers: 1685 - 1985'. Why? Well read on dear reader, read on.

Toy Soldiers.

I've always talked about my wargames a playing with Toy Soldiers as I think it conveys my approach to the hobby. I know some whom will disagree with the 'toy soldiers' sobriquet, but I feel it reflects my rather relaxed view of my games, which are about enjoying all aspects of our wonderful hobby and if I happen to win, then that is the icing on the cake.

1685 - 1985.

One might argue a slightly arbitary time frame but it reflects my current gaming timeframe and frankly it has a nice ring to it. Details of this below:

The Monmouth Rebellion.

Over the past few years this has become of increasing interest to me, mainly because I live within a short walk of Keynsham, which was the high water mark of Monmouth's advance, plus a few other local landmarks linked to the rebellion. It is also an interesting campaign to wargame due to its fairly linear nature in terms of routes travelled, increasing size of engagements etc. Of course it also provides some interesting 'what ifs?' that can be gamed, something again that I'm finding increasingly of interest to me these days.

The Glorious Revolution.

A combination of factors put this on my radar a few years ago, from Pendraken's superb League of Augsburg range being released, the Monmouth Rebellion leading naturally on to this, as well as Keith's excellent Bydland Blog that had some AAR's that led me to buying Barry Hilton's War of the Three Kings rules. As with the above, there are plenty of interesting 'what ifs?' to be gamed (a theme you will notice developing!) as well as moving the action to Europe should you so wish.

The Jacobite Rebellions & The '45.

Not something that I had ever considered gaming until one night in a post game chat, Dave suggested we give it a go using the excellent Honours of War rules as a basis. I was hooked and the rest is history as the say.

The Seven Years War & ImagiNations.

I had no interest in the SYW and frankly had not heard of ImagiNations before, until a good few years ago I met up with Keith Flint at our old wargames club for some WWII games. This led on to games at his house where he introduced me to the SYW. A complete novice in all aspects, I very quickly became fascinated by the period as well as to me, the aesthetic purity of Linear Warfare. Plenty of reading and gaming followed which led to my buying some of the classic Old School wargames books that I'd missed out on as a kid and the joy of ImagiNations gaming.

The American War of Independence.

Honestly this interest came about I think as a result of buying plenty of figures from the Pendraken AWI range, with the intention of gaming the war. This has been stalled for far too many years, but may once again see the light of day at some point as I saw my partially painted forces recently. 

Napoleonics.

I think it fair to say that this is in the embryonic stage at best. Compared to the SYW everything seems rather confusing in terms of tactics, how cavalry and infantry behave. My knowledge is slowly improving but what I really need are more Face-t-Face games with someone who does know this period so that I can get to grips with the basics. At least I have bought some forces for the Vendee Campaign, which may broaden out into a sort of Quiberon Bay expedition type campaign. Watch this space...

Mid 19thC Europe.

A period we learnt about at school, but one that was not really on my wargaming radar at all. This changed with the arrival of Dave Fielder for games chez moi alongside the publication of Chris Pringle's superb Bloody Big Battles rules. I also had the pleasure to meet Bruce Weigle and the late Mike Embree at Colours for several years, which only kindled my interested in , to me, now fascinating period for wargaming. Currently this runs from the 1848 Revolutions and the 1st Schleswig-Holstein War right through to the Franco-Prussian War. As was seen at the recent Cotswold Wargames Day I have, as is my wont, added an ImagiNations slant to this which I'm really enjoying. Also there is the opportunity for some 'Invasion Literature' type games too, which I've played with Dave and have plenty of plans too for the future.

The American Civil War.

As with the above really in terms of Dave and Chris providing the inspiration to explore this period more fully. This has been ably abetted by the superb Stephen W Sear books on some of the most important battles of the Eastern theatre. I have plenty of Commission Figurine figures for this period, but may be tempted to go down the 10mm route as the new Pendraken ranges are so tempting...

A Very British Civil War.

A setting that has continued to grow on me since the original book first came out a good few years ago now. I love the fact that you have rather broad artistic licence in terms of materiel that you can field as well as the uniforms to kit your troops out with. Something that I think really only appeals to British players, but there is also plenty of historical incidents and actions that could be used to braoden the scope should one so wish. Alongside this I also dabble in the Spanish Civil War, but much prefer the AVBCW these days.

WWII.

Well where it all began really, with the Airfix magazines that my Dad had, the films and documentaries on TV, as well as those Airfix and Matchbox figures and kits that were part and parcel of the hobby back then. In all honesty probably still my favourite period, mainly due to the nostalgia attacjed to it.

Cold War Gone Hot.

I have not played any Cold War games for many, many years now, but did have lots of fun at the club in a campaign run by one of the members, using the original Cold War Commander rules. Then other periods outlined above came to the fore and so this fell by the wayside. This year on a whim I bought Cold War Commander II and since then my interest has been re-kindled. I've yet to do anything other than draw up some provisional lists, but this will definitely be gamed in 6mm rather than 10mm, the default 'scale' for my games these days.

No Ancients, Medieval or Pike & Shotte?

In short, no. I've tried to get into these periods but they have never really grabbed me or been able to maintain my interest for more than fleeting periods at a time. So for the moment they are parked as it were, whilst I concentrate on the above which do interest me.

So there we have it. Plenty to stop me getting bored, or to look at it another way, to keep flitting from one period to another without ever really settling on one for a decent period of time! At least currently I'm focussed on painting some opposition to my Ruthenian forces, so not all bad.

Well Covid cases are on the rise and we are being warned of a Covid & Flu Winter, so I'm not sure how much, if any FtF gaming I'll get in over the coming months. Not a lot probably but at least my solo games will carry on as per normal. So until next time, stay safe and keep healthy.