Napoleonics

Without ready access to a cup of tea and a madeleine, I cannot accurately recall the precise order of events that made Napoleonics my first (military history) love. Certainly there were the 1/32 Airfix figures, but there was also a book from the local library on the Waterloo campaign with an orange hard cover (the slip cover having long disappeared) that I read and re-read.

Eventually, despite my mother’s misgivings over their small size, I graduated to the Airfix HO/OO figures, which included cavalry and artillery and the fantastic battle set complete with farmhouse and wagons that I still own and use. Then, when I grew up to be a serious wargamer (about age 12 or 13), I sold them all off and bought metal 15mm Minifigs, French and Prussians for the 1813 campaign. Having acquired enough for Scenario 42 (of course) I then purchased no more for almost 20 years, by which time Minifigs had been through a couple of resculpts and my figures were out of scale with pretty much everything on the market.

Part 1: Attack and Defence

Scenario 1 Positional Defence (1)
A straightforward scenario with the defensive line anchored on a forest, some villages and three redoubts. The latter make this seem like a Napoleonic game, and the forces translate nicely into a Corps sized attack in Marechal d'Empire, so a first run out for 6mm it is. If only I had had the foresight to get some redoubts from Total Battle Miniatures...

Scenario 2 Positional Defence (2)
This time the defender holds a re-entrant and there is a lot more terrain.

My Plan

or "The Triumph of Hope over Experience".

Nothing as misguidedly optimistic as a timeline. Just the scenarios, with the period and any little tweaks I can already see I need to make. I will update this as the project proceeds.

Part 1: Attack and Defence

Part 2: Reinforcements

Part 3: Rivers

Part 4: Air, Rail and Sea

Part 5: Convoy and Ambushes

Part 6: Terrain Problems

Part 7: Encounter Battles

Part 8: Special Problems

Totals so far: 2 Ancient, 4 Napoleonic skirmish, 5 Napoleonic big battle, 3 Inter War, 2 WWII.

OK, now I’m really worried. Which idiot came up with this idea?

Fantasy..nope Ancients...oh wait...Dark Ages!

I really don’t like the fantasy genre. Apart from some very happy, but misguided, time spent playing ‘Tunnels & Trolls’ as a lad, it has simply never appealed, it’s just too silly. (Yes, I am acutely aware of the irony of that statement given the subject of this entire blog.)

I can’t stand Tolkein. The Lord of the Rings movies were rescued for me by the battle scenes, but otherwise faithfully recreated the crushing dullness I had experienced when attempting to read the books. (Half way through the first of the movie trilogy, my better half stage-whispered “Oh just get on with it! I could have been there and back by now.” Luckily the assembled elf groupies and dwarf botherers in the cinema were too engrossed in hobbit antics to notice.) As for Warhammer, well don’t…just don’t.

Ancients

OK, this is a long story, that gets embarrassing towards the end, before a last minute snatching of self respect from the jaws of shame.

It is one of Charles Grant père's fantastic books that bears responsibility for my interest in Ancients. I chose a copy of ‘Wargame Tactics’ as a school prize when I was 11. At the time I knew nothing of Byzantines and Sassanids and certainly could not spell or pronounce either. Yet Grant’s description of armoured horsemen, mixed spear and bow units and, of course, elephants, captured my imagination in a way that tediously one-sided Romans v Barbarians clashes never did.

The Periods

Over the years of not wargaming, I have haphazardly accumulated all sorts of half-starts and speculative purchases as whims took me and finances allowed. Embarking on this project did force on me a degree of rationalization not seen since the transatlantic move, but I think I ended up with a net increase in periods and armies, so that's not really rationalization, is it? 

Information

Introduction

This is a blog about wargaming, something I am not very good at.

When I say I'm not very good at it, I don't mean technically inept, although it's true, my figure painting and modelling skills are those of the aptronymous hound, lacking opposable thumbs and pie-eyed on pints of Dulux with Vallejo chasers. The quality of my historical research is also highly questionable, as you will no doubt be horrified to discover if you persevere with this blog.

Not wargaming...