The Highlight of My Wargaming Year

Ours is a wonderful hobby. As odd as it might sound I believe that involvement with it genuinely enhances my life. It provides me with a welcome relief from the stresses and pressures of everyday life. It appeals to my creative side through the collecting and painting of armies or building terrain, while dreaming up scenarios lets loose my imagination. It delivers intellectual stimulation by requiring a well devised plan to defeat an opponent (don’t get me wrong I don’t lack intellectual challenge in my life since every day in my work I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time finding solutions to complex operational problems, but being able to apply the intellect to a realm without external constraints is utterly liberating). Perhaps most importantly it brings together like-minded people from very different social backgrounds where they can engage in a bit of friendly banter and character assassination, experience the elation of victory and the sting of defeat, and all the while do no actual harm to anyone - although undoubtedly one day some PC obsessed group will declare that the hobby is warmongering, harmful to society and must be banned.

I sometimes wonder how people survive without wargames in their lives. How do they fill their head-space when stuck their daily commute without being able to let their minds ponder just what would have happened if in the third turn of the last game they had rolled a three instead of a one for the morale test that caused that dragoon regiment to falter and if they hadn’t faltered would they have ridden over that battery and would it have changed the course of the game? How do they survive at work with all those endless team meetings (or worse still steering committee meetings) without letting their mind drift and consider whether or not to expand the French Napoleonic army by another five battalions while their colleagues are droning on about cost indices and how the latest increase in the price of oil is going to impact on the annual result?  Without working out the scenario for the next game in their head how do they block out the noise of the never-ending HR seminars on how to avoid unintentional bias in the workplace or the Health and Safety lecture on why you shouldn’t walk through the office with an uncovered cup of coffee lest you collide with someone and douse them in near boiling liquid (just how the human race survived for 4 million years of evolution without guidance from health and safety consultants utterly confounds me)? 

I have thought a lot about this in the last week (especially one day when I sat through a risk assessment session where three individuals spouted on about the need for seven levels of system redundancy when just the fourth level was severe enough for the operation to grind to a halt) as I prepare for our annual week of wargaming at Lake Tarawera, near the city of Rotorua in the central North Island of New Zealand. Long term readers will recall that this event has a history of more than 30 years, starting  as just a weekend – arriving on Friday night and departing Sunday afternoon – but has now developed into almost a full week.

Away from work (and until the last couple of years away from cell phone reception), eight blokes gather to play five specially organised games, eat far too much food (without a single piece of tofu or anything else that is specifically “good for you” on the menu) and  drink far too much good wine. In the company of good friends we solve the problems of the world over dinner - maybe members of the G20 should take a leaf out of our book and we would have world peace, prosperity and global economic stability in a single night over a couple of bottles of Pinot Noir.

I think for all of us it is a highly anticipated week. The event was not held last year for a variety of reasons and it was sorely missed.

The unfortunate fact is that we spend so long looking forward to it – writing scenarios, building armies and preparing terrain - but when we do actually get there the days seem to slip by so quickly and before you know it Sunday has arrived and we are packing up to head home.

All that said, right now I am packed and ready to head off tomorrow morning. At around 7:30 AM I will set off hollering "YEE-HA" as I drive down my quiet suburban street, probably much to the concern of my elderly neighbor...but she will get over it. I will probably follow that with my best impression of Willie Nelson singing "On the Road Again"...well the first couple of lines anyway because that is all I know and my fellow suburbanites don’t need to be subjected to my appalling singing.  Four of us will rendezvous at the home of one of our members and pack most of the gear we need into two cars. The logistics can be challenging with many boxes of terrain and literally thousands of figures requiring transport – I have often wondered if the transport of such large volumes of metal figures to and from Rotorua causes a temporary shift of the Earth’s axis and may be the root cause of Global Warming. There are less figures this year because the games are smaller, but the volume of terrain is large. Heading off around 8:30  in the midst of rush hour traffic, tradition dictates that we will stop at Matamata for mid-morning coffee and a pastry. For those unfamiliar with New Zealand geography Matamata is also known as Hobbiton because it is where the Hobbiton village movie set was built, and is still maintained as a tourist attraction, for the "Lord of the Rings" and the "Hobbit" films. The drive then continues to Rotorua where we stop for another tradition, lunch at the Pig and Whistle pub. A trip to the supermarket follows for a bit of food shopping for the week before the final 20 minute drive to the lake. The weather for tomorrow is forecast to be fine, but even on the coldest and wettest of winter days the location is stunningly peaceful. I know that as soon as I arrive and walk out on the deck I am almost instantly relaxed and all of life’s problems will dissipate - of course that could have a lot to do with the fact that the second beer is being consumed as my foot hits the deck. 

As the week progresses I shall try to post some snippets of the various games.

Ours is a truly wonderful hobby.

More Americans...two types

This week sees a great deal march off the painting table.

First up are the two remaining figures from the War of 1812 command pack, including a figure of Madison in civilian dress, who will make an excellent militia commander, I am sure. It is just as well my friend Julian had the pack of unpainted Old Glory generals on hand because my order from Foundry has not arrived and I need the figures for a game next Thursday - not that it is anyone’s fault but mine because I ordered them quite late.

Next are four units, plus three command figures, from the American Civil War refurbishment project.

This makes six regiments completed in the project. Four regiments, four gun sets and a cavalry regiment are still to be done. I need to have another two regiments completed by next Monday.

War of 1812 Generals, and more.

In eleven day’s time I have a War of 1812 game planned. It has been more than two years in the planning and all the troops have been collected and painted by myself and Keith (at Bydand blog), but I had failed to ensure that I had the required number of American generals. Hurriedly I ordered some from Wargames Foundry. Then I had the horrible thought that they might not arrive in time to be painted for the game.

Fortunately my friend Julian had a pack of Old Glory War of 1812 US command and I offered to paint them so that we would them for the game. Here are four of the six figures in the pack (the remaining two are painted but not yet based).

Also completed and based is the second unit of refurbished American Civil War troops and a command stand for the same.

Late WWI Game

Today’s regular Sunday game was a WWI battle set in 1918.

The scenario was set in northern France with a French brigade, supported by an American Regiment, in pursuit of the retreating Germans. While the French troops paused for morning coffee and croissants in a ruined village, the Germans turned back with two infantry regiments and a company of storm troopers to slow the pursuit.

The German plan was to go hard on the right with the storm troopers and the weaker of the infantry regiments, while the stronger Westphalian regiment supported by an A7 tank would hold the French right until the stormtroopers made some headway, then turn that holding action into an assault if there were prospects for success.

Things started well for the Germans with their artillery having good effect, but the stormtroopers failed to break the French and retired in disorder.

On the German left the French managed to drive one, then a second company of Westphalians and their  FT17 tanks became entangled in a slugging match with the A7, which the A7 eventually won.

Meanwhile on the other flank the German artillery and machine guns took their toll on the French and one regiment quit the field while the second regiment retired. This left the Americans to carry the fight on their own on this flank and they too began to suffer from the German gunfire and ground to a halt.

Here the game fight ended. The Germans, despite taking heavy losses had stalled the Allied pursuit.

I didn’t take a lot of photos, being too heavily engaged in the game, but lots of fun as had busy all.

Refurbishing an Army

According to his biographers, Grady McWhinney and Judith Hallock, Confederate General Braxton Bragg was a “naturally disputatious” individual throughout his entire life. His career, both before and during the Civil War, was a string of conflicts with superiors, subordinates, peers and the government.

I think that nothing sums up his awkward personality better than the story told by U.S. Grant in his memoirs about Bragg when at a pre-war posting the held the dual roles of company commander and post quartermaster. As company commander he made a formal request in writing for an item which as quartermaster he rejected, noting the reason for the refusal on the reverse of the request. Still feeling the need for the items for his company he felt obligated to contest the rejection which as quartermaster he felt equally obligated to reject again. Unable to resolve the dilemma he went to the post commander who responded: “My God, Mr. Bragg, you have quarreled with every officer in the army, and now you are quarreling with yourself.”

For anyone interested in Civil War biographies “Braxton Bragg and Confederate Defeat” (volume 1 by McWhinney and volume 2 by Hallock) is an excellent critical review of a pivotal Confederate general and is highly recommended.

But why am I discussing the eccentricity of Braxton Bragg? Two reasons really. The first is that the story of his dilemma came to my consciousness on Thursday when dealing with some frustratingly difficult individuals, and second it creates a nice segway to the main point of this post which that while my lead pile is at this point flattened, my options of things to paint are not exhausted. This is because a few months ago a long time member of our group found himself struggling to get to games. He had moved to a more remote area out of of the city and advancing years combined with family health issues drove him to the decision to down-size. While he has kept his huge collection of Napoleonic ships, he very generously donated a number of his collections to the group.

One of those collections is his  American Civil War Union army. Made entirely of figures from Dixon Miniatures range the army is in poor repair and in need of some care. I have undertaken its refurbishment.

The first unit is the only zouave unit in the collection. Originally painted as an all dark blue uniform I opted to redress the unit as Duryee’s Zouaves, 5^th New York Volunteers with red trousers and blue jackets. The repainting was not a huge task - the sharpening of some of the colours and applying some washes - although I did find the Dixon figures a little awkward to work with, and they were rebased in my usual manner.

This task will proceed with some pace and will act as a useful filler between now and my return to figure purchases in August.

Peninsular British Finished…almost

This week has seen the completion of the final two battalions I am doing for the Peninsular War.

One battalion has red facings, the other blue, neither representing any particular regiment.

The second battalion is smaller, comprising of three stands instead of four, just because it is the way the packets of plastic figures worked out.

Also completed are two spare light dragoon figures for use as couriers. One has been done in the Tarleton helmet for the Peninsular and one in shako for the War of 1812.

The reference in the title to “almost” is made because the command for the 60th Rifles is yet to arrive (and won’t be ordered until late this month). In addition to that I do need a few command figures and I am quite keen on the rather nice Peninsular artillery sets that the Perrys have made - I do have six of the Victrix guns, but they are all of the later solid trail guns that are more suitable for the War of 1812, later Peninsular and the Hundred Days. Then there are the new limber and caission sets…(sigh)…

…but for now the lead/plastic pile is flattened.

Half Yearly Review

As June staggered to its end I did a quick refresh of year to date painting progress. The first six monrths was busier than I anticipated with eight projects worked on (one yet to be started).

The breakdown of completed items is 745 foot figures, 42 mounted, 4 guns, 2 pieces of equipment and 90 scratch built items (ranging from various markers to the recent fortress model). A respectable total I think.

Using the painting points concept as a guide this works out as follows:

So what is next? Well things will slow down for a bit. The last of the British infantry are on the table now and their completion will mark the flattening of the lead/plastic pile. After that there will be very little for another month as our annual wargames holiday takes place then I have the kick-off of a major project at work that will distract me for a couple of weeks and will delay the arrival of the next order. That order, when it does come, is pretty much a gap filler, just completing items to fill holes in other projects. The Swedish Napoleonic project is suspended until the range expands a little more and I can rearrange the garage for better storage. I will do a little more work on the Revolutionary French, but the real plan for the rest of the year is to set up a gaming space and work on some terrain tiles.