Memories, Tangents and the Power of the Pastoral

 Charles Stadden 30mm BEF released fifty(ish) years ago

It occurs to me that wargaming the Great War is not going to be a straight forward thing. 

 

Let me elaborate. If  decide I would like a nice new unit  for the Peninsular War then I can choose a regiment and some figures and just paint them. I may have visited the Regimental Museum, or read a few histories or even had a drink on the Battlefield, but its not going to awaken much in the way of personal memories or provoke thoughts on art or music.

 

 

But so far almost every bit of pondering and background reading that I have done has set me thinking and remembering.  Even the figures take one back fifty years in a second. I vividly remember getting a flyer from Norman Newton of London drawing my attention to the new release of Stadden 30mm WW1 for 1914.  They were sure I would be as impressed with them as they were.  Well they were right and I still am but I still haven't bought any,is now the time?  But no machine guns or cavalry, perhaps better stick to 20mm.

 



Always something new in Woolworths!

I started my reading reading with Max Hastings new book on the first months of the war, 'Catastrophe'.  Quite good, I certainly enjoyed it though I have no very firm views on who wasto blame for the war itself.  One change I certainly noted was that the Serbs are rather less popular than they were 50 years ago. 

Next to an old favourite.

The Penguin edition I read then,
 now I have a first edition with an annotated cast list. Plus la Change

I enjoyed it as much as ever, though once again it reminded me of how close we are to the events. Robert Graves was still very much alive and living in Majorca in the late seventies when I used to walk around the beautiful mountains of Deya were he lived.  Of course, although his house was pointed out I would never have dreamt of bothering him, we are both British after all.

 

I hope Graves achieved the peace that he sought in his remote rural isolation. Which got me thinking about the way in the twenties and thirties many ex soldiers sought a return to the countryside in some form or other. Whether as tramps or living Rogue Male style in isolated shelters the most damaged withdrew from contact.  For others a study of ornithology, fishing or folk music connected to some  link in nature that gave comfort, and led to expressions as diverse as   A G MacDonald's 'England their England'  or Vaughan Williams 5th symphony.

 

First printed 1933 and read to destruction by me

 

 Sadly, I notice that once more their are ex servicemen  unable to cope with return to family and the 'normal' world living rough in the mountains around here. Often only noticed after their eventual suicide.  Only a very few, but far too many.

The Complete Angler 1653

 

 

Which made me check some rough figures, in WW1, counting the Spanish flu epidemic 2.6% of the population died.  During the English Civil Wars 3.6%  are guessed to have perished. Now I am not interested enough to research the numbers of homeless and vagrant persons recorded in the restoration. But I do remember that greatest of all nature books Izaak Waltons 'Complete Angler' written by an ex soldier and published in 1653.   As they say in Faltenland, "Plus la Change".

 

All that and still no real choices about rules and type of game. But lots of ideas and next time I shall get down to some wargaming nitty gritty.

A Napoleonic Ramble round Welshpool

As may become clear in the next post, (I was employed as a journalist once upon a time, so I know the merit of a snappy intro or even in this case A Snappy Nappy intro.) I have been pondering upon those occasions where through contact with an artefact, a battle field visit, or a work of art one brushes against the past in an almost tangible form.

 

I'm sorry, I'll start again.

 

Most of my wargaming life has been taken up with the Napoleonic Wars through reading, painting and playing games. As a result I have a strong though possibly slanted perception of that period, but I have been trying to lay that aside and consider in what ways that history impinged on me as a child living in a small Welsh market town. In effect, pre wargaming.

 

 

 Surprisingly I have three quite strong memories.  The first two concern the French Prisoners of war that were imprisoned around the area. In the local museum was the rather splendid guillotine above.
It is constructed entirely from carved mutton bones presumably retrieved from the soup or stew.  It is a working model and as soon as I grasped its purpose I was  fascinated by it. What the unknown prisoner was thinking when he spent so many hours carving it is not recorded. Possibly he was dreaming of the day when the real thing would be set up on the square outside the Royal Oak and bring Equality, Liberty and Fraternity to Mid Wales.

Much more civilised is the next, a story told to me by my Grandmother. How the French Officers were allowed to wonder about the town having given their parole, the only stipulation was that they had to swear not to pass beyond the parish boundary marker. They resolved this by walking freely where they wished but they were always preceeded by a hired local carrying the uprooted  boundary maker in a wheel barrow. I suspect this story is so good that it is told about other parts of the UK Nevertheless it was told me by Gran who was not a lady widely read in Napoleonic memoirs.

 

 

 

Then there was the Sergeants Row, these canal side cottages were still standing in my infancy. They were made available by public subscription as housing for NCO's who were present at the Battle of Waterloo. This was spoken matter of factly as if the Sergeants had just slipped out for a pint and would soon be back home.

 

 

Then in 1968 two things arrived, the Wargamers Newsletter articles of Fred H. Vietmeyer and his giant wargames and the wonderful vision of what a battle should be  in David Howarth's beautifully illustrated  'A Near Run Thing'.    The Napoleonic Wars had changed for ever.

So without banging on about Methodism or free trade laws or God forbid, demographics, it is surprising that these little contacts still existed 150 years later.  Which will bring me on to what I am really thinking about currently,  wargaming the Great War.

A Small Digression

 

 The Serjeant freely admits to being a man of narrow horizons, and nowhere more so than the question of figure size if its not between 20 and 30mm then its damned as contemptible nonsense.

So it was with some surprise that I accepted a commission to paint a 54mm figure.

 Mr Peter Johnston of the excellent Spencer Smith Miniatures had arranged  the figure on behalf of a friend who wanted it for a present for his wife. Well I owed Peter a few favours and the money is always nice, anyway how difficult could it be. So I embarked on the first 54mm figure of my life.

 

 

The customer wanted a figure that displayed a hare as its heraldic symbol and had Parsifal in mind as an inspiration. So Knight as idealised hero, no rusty armour or stained clothing but also he did not want it to look like a toy,  and it had to have green in the colour scheme. Peter had sorted him a very nice Tradition figure of a knight in high Gothic armour then it had gone to a figure sculptor to be customised with the stunning Hare added to the shield in Milliput.  Then finally on to me for painting
and the chance to ruin all of the skilful work and money invested so far. No pressure.

 

 I wont go through all of the work in the two months I had it. We decided on white trappings for the horse which I knew was best but desperately hoped to avoid as the most difficult thing I know to paint. In the end the horse trappings had 16 thin coats just to look white. The other challenge was to reproduce the shield four times each one looking the same. After several grotesque attempts I gave up and photo copied the shield onto thin paper which I soaked in pva and stuck to the casting. I just hope they don't peel off in time. More pva and then paint over to blend in.

 

The base and lettering needed a new skill set. I found that I used much finer brushes than on 25mm figures and that my Vallejo paints stepped up to the challenge while those of Games Workshop were simply not good enough. The internet was a Godsend especially the National Armouries website, the Saddle is a direct copy of the war saddle of Henry V.

 Overall I enjoyed the experience but I certainly will not be starting a collection of my own anytime soon. Of course I can see things that could be improved but overall I am happy and the customer was delighted and I even finished it in time for him to give it as a gift.

What did you do for the Great War anniversary, Daddy?

Like the Gentleman above, The Serjeant is pondering his next move.  How to respond to the waves of war anniversary fever that are sweeping the country.

It seems impossible to turn on the TV without Michael Gove or Max Hastings popping up to tell you how beastly the Hun are, and while common sense might insist that it will all be over by Christmas it is hard not to get swept along to the wargames recruiting office by the cheering crowds.

It is not that I am indifferent to the war, far from It like most of my age it was Grandfathers war and seemed at once very real and impossibly far away. One Grandfather served in the pre war Yeomanry as a trumpeter and survived unscathed till the last day of the war when a sniper blew his jaw away, the other lost both legs to a mine in Palestine and worked for the rest of his life squatting on the table as a tailor.  Uncle Jack was a Sergeant who lost an eye when a disgruntled soldier paid off a grudge by using an inspection of rifle barrels to thrust the muzzle into his eye. These were people I knew and talked to.

My main childhood recollection though is of the hordes of little black coated old ladies all spinsters who my mother invariably whispered had  lost their sweetheart in the Great War. Yet none of this seemed to have much to do with the Charlie Chaplin like figures who jerked and jumped about to comical effect on the Great War TV series.

For many years the view was that the War was just too horrible to be turned into a game. But times change and just as people who experienced the siege of Jerusalem or the sack of Magdeburg could be forgiven for overlooking the gaming potential involved so with the passage of time we too are now shaking off the old prejudices.

Now I yield to no man in my admiration of the Olympian disdain of the National Army Museum who finding this and next years Waterloo celebrations simply too vulgar to cope with are shutting down for two years.  Yet I do not think I have the style to carry it off, protestations that I am really much more interested in Montmirail will only result in a regular receipt  of white feathers.

So what to do, well it has to be 1914 and it has to be plastic, after all it is only two more years to the 50th anniversary of the release of the Airfix WW1 set.  And here all the hifaluting ideas come crashing to the ground. We currently have a nation wide shortage of plastic figures for the Great War, or at least Hat's versions.  

Well you would wouldn't you? If you were a major manufacturer and WW1 was one of your flagship lines you would think now was the obvious time to remove them from production and leave your retailers with no idea of when they may be re issued.  After scouring the net I have bought what may be the last three boxes of WW1 French in the UK.  If all goes well I shall return with more of he next of the project (assuming I can find some Germans to oppose them).

In the meantime I want to say a personal thank you to every one of my 22 followers who turn in each year for my annual post.

Gadzooks and Prithee! Tis well I packed my Prancing Pantaloons.

Is it just me or does anyone else feel that Cavaliers have really let themselves go, the last thirty years?

In happier days.

I was recently painting up some of the Hinchliffe Prince Ruperts Cavalry Charge figures. In case anyone doesn't remember or wasn't born yet these were pretty much state of the art when released in 1979. In fact I went straight to the Hinchliffe shop and bought mine the week they were released, I then put them in a box until I had time to do them properly.

So when I got them out again, last month, I was rather taken aback by the amount of feather plumes, lace embroidery and gold brocade which adorned them. I had forgotten that modern research had completely changed the English Civil War wardrobe.

Back then the well dressed horseman had a brightly coloured felt hat adorned with several ostrich feathers. Now of course, he wears something shapeless his Gran has knitted for him, (and lets be frank, she's not the most talented in the sewing basket.)

Prince Rupert, as the latest research shows
 that he really looked.

And not just garments but the colours have changed too. Goodbye to the yellow, scarlet or purple regts. Those are just the flags, any clothing issued will be in Grey or Venetian red, a shade so dull as to make rust appear positively psychedelic.

Thats if you even get a get a uniform, Parliament issued many thousands but always forgot the trousers. I can see that the absence of keks would be a shock to the new recruit but must everyone of them have come straight from digging out the dung pit without changing? Surely one or two would have been caught out wearing their best and brightest.

Charles II is unimpressed by the neglect of the English trouser
trade during his absence.

I have several hundred horsemen kitted out according to the latest word from Partizan Press and a more shabby dull and depressing group you will struggle to find. Enough! No more!

Break out the Royal Blue and Post Box red. Red feathers and gold edgings shall abound, it is time that Cavaliers made a comeback and the Revolution starts here.

A contemporary Dutch Cavalier, self portrait 1657 - not so shabby?

Google chrome is eating my posts

I have tried three times to put in a new post and each time it has disappeared. I have a new machine arriving next week and will have the software set up to enable frequent and entertaining posts. Utill then sorry for the delay

What I did on my Holidays.

It was my own fault, I should have known better. I should simply have put down my whisky glass, risen from the leather chair and walked from the roaring log fire at Asquith Towers into the deep Cotswold snow.

But when the present Mr Asquith, leaned forwards and confidentially asked me if I had heard of the Gottstein Flats I simply responded brightly, " Oh yes, Drag Racing?"




The Exchange

 With a  resigned sigh he explained to me one of the great legends of the wargaming world. How in 1937 the master flat maker Otto Gottstein collaborated with a young Oxford scholar to produce a range of 30mm solid figures for a proposed series of fantasy novels.  The novels eventually appeared but the moulds were lost forever.  



Safe at Last


The Great Man leaned closer, " but what if I told you I have been offered a chance to buy them? They have turned up in the effects of a warlord in the Carpathian Mountains. Why don't you come along, I could do with someone to drive the Bugatti and you could do with a little holiday."

He neglected to mention that the Russian Mafia and a Major Wargames Manufacturer were also in the market for the moulds. So it was that several weeks later I found myself wresting with the wheel of the roadster on a high mountain pass in the dead of night, while beside me grim faced and steely jawed sat Mr Asquith cradling a sub machine gun in his lap. On the back seat a bloodstained case of master figures and  far below us twinkled the lights of pursuing cars full of G**** *******P copyright enforcers.

And that is why I have been too busy to write my Blog recently.

All of which was a picnic compared to working out this new Blogger system. Google permitting, more posts to follow soon.



The Asquith Wheels



On Holiday until 11th February

When the legend becomes fact print the legend: Bavarian Blue.

It has always struck me as a bit odd that people who are very knowledgeable about the uniforms of their period will admit that of course Bavarian Blue in the Seven Years War/ Napoleonic Wars/ Franco Prussian War was much darker during that particular period. Yet somehow the implication is that this was something of a temporary departure from the usual light blue that they wore through the rest of history.

Last year I was commissioned to paint the Spencer Smith 30mm Bavarians for their 1870 range. Wanting to get it right I started looking at some references which provided a surprisingly wide range of hues.

Inevitably the search started with the Osprey volume German Armies 1870-71 vol2, and very good it was too. I have cropped the picture above as I want to use the image for the purpose of fair review not just rip off the illustrators work. Nevertheless I am sure you can see that this comes in at the lighter end of blue shades and is not far removed from the classic idea that we have of traditional Kornflower blue.

Next I had the idea of looking at botanical illustrations of the Kornflower itself but this proved a dead end as they varied just as widely in the shade used.

So next up to the uniform bible itself, the works of Knotel. Surely he would be accurate especially on a German subject.

Now then, this looks pretty good, darker certainly but nevertheless light enough to clearly be a long way from Prussian Blue. I would have been quite happy with that but by that time I had started looking at the work of German war artists and it struck me that they were choosing a colour even darker.

Carl Rochling depicts the colour well here.

Then a bombshell; I had put out some feelers in Europe and out of the blue came this picture from the Bavarian Army museum.

I think you will agree Mr Rochling has it pretty well depicted. And yet this nagging doubt how could Knotel have got it wrong?

Well there is this one small thought. During the victory parade at the end of the war commentators noticed that the dye on the Bavarian uniforms had faded to a dark purplish colour. What if the uniform in the case has also changed over time? And Rochlings picture was painted in 1894, what if it was based on an actual uniform but a faded one? I regard the argument as still unproven though I do personally lean toward the darkest shade of blue.

And finally after all that what did I paint my own Bavarians?

Bavarian Blue of course. Who in their right mind would pass up the chance to have such colourful figures on their table. In any case I could not face a lifetime of having to justify the colour used every time I put them on the Table.

And as John Ford said : "When the legend becomes the truth, paint the legend".

Thank you for your kind comments.

Many thanks to all of you who have taken time to comment on the return of this Blog.

Conrad asks about the chap with wine bottle, he is 20mm and comes from a set entitled armed Catholic clergy by CP models . I am not enamoured with all of CP models products, I have never felt the need for SS execution squads on my own table. But doubtless they fill a niche and they do make very fine figures. So tucked away amongst their lists are several quite characterful sets.

DaveWargamer wonders whether I should cut the 'spare leg' away from my standard bearers. An interesting idea, but I am left wondering why, having chosen a figure I admire, I would then want to start hacking bits off it? Nevertheless it is heartwarming that people are willing to help with suggestions and advice.

The picture at the top of the blog is taken from the wonderful French Magazine 'Uniformes' and shows french Cuirassiers relaxing sometime at the turn of the 19C. Not least interesting is the padded garment or Gilet they are wearing. This was worn under the Cuirass but is rarely illustrated.


And I leave you with a tantalising taster. What the hobby has lacked for some time is a blog or site dealing with 30mm figures similar to the excellent Lone S Ranger or other 20mm resources. I am awaiting exciting news on this front which I will share with you all as soon as it appears.

Just for Hugh

To celebrate the return of this blog

The Gentlemen of the Chorus perform the closing number from

'Holger Eriksson: The Musical'

A Happy New Year -- the story so far.

Thank you to all of you who have taken the trouble to check this blog from time to time, and an apology for my tardiness. Nevertheless I have returned.

It is likely to be a staccato start as I am taking a three week holiday at the end of the month in order to celebrate my 60th birthday. I also anticipate changing my computer and broadband provider. Yet in the face of such overwhelming clamour from my readers what else could I do?

My first task as been to struggle with the blog controls and remove all of the streamlining and visual chrome designed to make the blog eye catching and happening. It took some effort but I am now proud to observe that it has all the style of a 1950s copy of the Times and is just as reader friendly.

It has been an eventful few months since I last posted. Classic Wargaming has gone, Battlegames has gone and come back again and some stuff has happened to countries around the Mediterranean.



I have to say that what I have been painting this month has hardly been exciting. 20mm civilian figures to be exact, I need a couple of hundred for my Spanish Civil War games this year. I had about 40 metal figures from various manufacturers but the gap is being filled up with the old Airfix Platform Figures and Railway Workers sets now marketed by Dapol. Apart from the shock of finding that a two bob kit is now £6.00, I have been pleasantly surprised by the quality of these forty year old little figures. I strongly suspect that they were sculpted by Charles Stadden

So finally, a very happy New Year to you all. Celebrate well and play it safe, just like the chap above.

Sabbatical

The Serjeant intends to follow the example Miss Emma Watson (a particular role model of his) and take a break until the autumn.

It is his intention to return then, invigorated, with a revamped blog and hopefully something interesting to say.

He wishes to make it clear that any rumours that he was bullied into this are completely unfounded.

Too good too miss

I normally confine my musings on the history of wargaming to the Christmas period but recently my good friend, (and source for all things German) Martin T, wrote such an interesting addition to my thoughts on wargaming and the occult that I simply had to reproduce it in full here.

A rare shot of the venue for the infamous 1927 National Convention

Over to Martin......

In response to your recent blog entry "The Mystery of the Fourth Wargamer...", after studying the picture I have come to the conclusion that the man in the centre "chanting from a book" is probably intending to make the figures move of their own volition...

This brings me to another matter involving the Forces of Darkness, namely the way in which perfectly normal, rational people become possessed by malignant spirits (lets call them entities) when they go near a wargames table. You have probably seen this yourself- faces contorted with fury over some minor point not dealt with by the rules, etc. Although I have never seen anyone actually throw a table over, I have witnessed people packing up and storming out in the middle of a game... rules which seem to give particular scope for these entities include WRG 6th Edition Ancient Rules, and the Napoleonic rules written by a certain Mr Quarrie...

Further to your comments about Aleister Crowley in the same blog entry, I have come across the following in the book "Collision of Empires. Britain in Three World Wars 1793-1945", by A.D.Harvey (incidentally a great read for anyone interested in the British war effort in these wars; it also has a great deal of comment and detail about Britain`s allies and enemies): In 1907 J.F.C. Fuller, later a military theorist, historian and Major-General, published his first book- "The Star of the West: A Critical Essay on the Works of Aleister Crowley". This was originally the winning entry in a competition for a study of the works of Crowley with a prize of £100, set up by Crowley; it was the only entry, and Crowley never paid the £100.

Fuller later went on to write various pieces for Crowley`s magazine "The Equinox". Harvey then goes on: "Fuller`s instinctive leaning towards hocus-pocus also appears in his writings on military tactics, even a quarter of a century after his final break with Aleister Crowley: "It [the tank] is a two-dimensional weapon when compared to infantry, which is a one-dimensional arm; that is, it moves in lines and fights in lines. Whilst the old tactical form of war was linear, the new is based on plane surfaces (areas) and is developed in cubic spaces - three-dimensional warfare".

"Several questions arise from the above:Did Fuller, who had an interest in the occult, ever wargame with Samuel MacGregor Mathers, a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn? If so, in how many dimensions?If we set up an 18th Century wargame with linear formations and tactics on a plane surface, would it then be three-dimensional? What might this look like?Why are some people more prone than others to possession when near a wargames table?

Martin T.



Unlike Martin I have actually seen a wargames table turned over, and yes it was WRG 6th. Assyrians and Romans if I recall correctly. But you know the funny thing is, now that I think about it I cannot remember anyone actually touching the table?

Addendum : How should I paint this?

As I stated the Colonel of the Regt is to be the McNab of McNab and modelled upon an old wargaming flatmate.. The figure is a lightly converted Front Rank Bonnie Prince Charlie on a Willie horse. (my flatmate was a bit of a shorta**e. The shock of hair and purple suiting are also historically correct.)

But my question is this: if you look closely at the edge of his jacket and the cuffs you can see that it is edged with a fringe. Rather like Davy Crockett's buckskins. I am leaning toward painting this as white fur but I wonder if anyone is familiar with this figure or the source it was modelled from and can give me any better advice. I am not convinced by the idea of gilt fringe as I have never seen it portrayed in this way and it would surely be horribly uncomfortable as a cuff edging.

A Shiny New Year to you all

And off the painting table march a unit of well glossed 30mm French infantry from Spencer Smith's excellent Franco Prussian War range. And they keep on marching straight to the storage box, because 2011 has officially been designated Year of the Tricorne here at Martial Villas.

But more of that anon, let me rush straight into one of the questions that will be preoccupying us over the next year or so: Are there any rules which govern the creation of fictitious uniforms?

I know at least one gamer who delights in the creation of violent juxtaposition of colours and takes pleasure in his units looking like a clown convention. But alas not for me, my military milliners agonise long hours over what year light infantry units adopted black belting or when the sword began to be worn under rather than over the coat. And in truth it matters even more to a fictitious country for as Bob Dylan reminds us 'to live outside the law you must be honest'.

So recently when I began to think about a 60 man unit of Highlanders I was drawn to the idea of creating my own regiment. I had the castings from Garrison. These were a metal casting of Barry Minot's 30mm plastic AWI highlander. Originally designed for Spencer Smiths Connoisseur range back in the 70's they are rather nice little chaps that will comfortably fit from the end of the SYW to 1800 at a pinch. In order to boost that flexibility I decided that mine would be one of the numerous short lived units raised from the highlands that never quite got permanently established established on the army list. Montgomery's, Frazer, Keith, McKenzie, Aberdeen all came and went. But mine would be Grant's in memory of a wargamer I once shared a flat with for six months without ever understanding a single word he said.
So Grants it is and the Colonel will be the Mcnab of McNab. But what tartan would they wear? In search of inspiration I looked at the famous 'death of General Wolfe' specifically the group of onlookers. Just the mixed bunch you could see any day slowing down opposite a motorway smash. But look at the highland officer at the back - that's not a government tartan! I spare you the research involved but eventually I was able to try it out as a sandy base with dark green overstripe and quite a lot of orange. It would have been wonderful in 90mm but take my word for it, it looked awful in 30mm.

So the final result used an orange base and much brighter contrast. 60 figures took quite some time but painting is finished now and I am fairly pleased with the result. Overall a lot more work than just copying a plate but it is my own creation and I am happy that it could easily have actually been worn without the rest of the army throwing rocks!

The Mystery of the Fourth Wargamer: or The Devil Throws the Dice

Gentlemen,

let me invite you to close the curtains on the snow swirling outside. Draw closer to the fire and settle back with a glass of something to fortify the nerves.

I was chatting the other day to my old chum Harry Pearson, you remember he did a lot of research on the origins of Wargaming when he was writing up his Magnum Opus 'Achtung Schweinhund'. One of the fascinating aspects was the close association that developed back between the wars between wargaming and the study of the occult. Harry records how the great beast master Alistair Crowley and Dennis Wheatley, author of the Devil Rides Out were both keen wargamers.

However Harry is a little vague on what role, if any, the wargame played in Black Magic Rituals. Was a unit's reaction, for example, decided by counting factors or reading the entrails of a Black Cock . I decided an outright question was the best approach but all Harry did was turn pale and mutter something about not meddling in affairs best left alone before hastily leaving.

However I could not just leave it and I believe I have discovered evidence that the wargame may have had a more central and sinister place in the occult practices.
Look at the picture above. Published in John Garratts Model Soldiers 1959 it purports to show a wargame in progress. But does it ? Look at the central figure chanting from a book, the two identically posed acolytes surely those grins denote a state of drugged frenzy. And what do you make of the background? Why are they playing in front of a giant and rather ragged paper screen? What horrors do they wish to conceal.

"Oh enough," you scoff, "This is merely fanciful stuff".

So be it, but, look again gentle reader and tell me who is casting the fourth shadow?

Consider, the light is falling from the left and casting a shadow to the right of the figures. Three shadows are clear but who does the central one belong to? He cannot be out of picture since the shadow of the left hand gamer (or should I say worshipper) falls OVER his shadow. He could be behind the paper but look at the top of the wall no gap is apparent and if a door was behind we would see the outline of that as well.

No only one answer fits the facts a fourth gamer is about to materialise in the middle of the group. I would go as far as to be certain that the Prince of Darkness is about to appear to his followers.

In fact,.. Just a moment I can hear a scratching at the window, I must go and make it secure, I will be right back...................

In Wedge we Serve

Regular readers will be aware that at this contemplative time of year it is my wont to reflect back to an earlier and possibly more agreeable age. Above we see the typical wargamer of the post war years relaxing at his painting table. The gentleman in question is an American and seems to have stepped straight from the pages of a Nero Wolfe mystery. You will no doubt notice the rather natty summer weight double breasted suit, such informal attire for gaming became acceptable much earlier in the States than in stuffy England. I believe his 'fraternity ring' marks him as a Harvard or Yale man as indeed most model soldier collectors were back then. Yet there is a danger in deducing too much from these faded photographs. Wargaming is dreadfully lacking in written evidence for these early years and much like the Archaeologist we find ourselves forming complete systems of gaming from a tiny shard of dice or a crumpled piece of cardboard building. This is at best problematic so often the safest answer is simply to admit that we know very little of how these early gamers actually carried out their wargames.

Take the example above. One of the best known of early images of gaming taken from the great work Charge.
And detailing the battle of Sittangbad, yet look closer. What is that item in the top left corner? Yes the one running alongside the river with a Light Infantryman standing on it. I have tried telling myself variously that it is an improvised breastwork or a wharf of some kind.
But Please lets be honest, it is a Wedge. Pure and simple a Wedge in the middle of the battlefield. Why? I have no idea. Oh well just an isolated anomaly you say, but wait look at this picture of a group of US gamers taken some time in the fifties. Quite a lot to comment on in this picture I think you will agree and will return to it * but just for now concentrate on the far right of the table.

Yes that's right the gamer laying out his figures is clearly using a wedge to assist him. What did it do? and why did such a common and essential piece of equipment simply disappear from the history of the hobby. Perhaps one day we will now but for now we can only speculate.

* shall discuss some of the disturbing aspects of this image on Christmas eve as being a time more suited for the unusual and supernatural but in the meantime may I invite you to study it and decide whether you can discern anything strange.

Good Enough? What does that mean to you?

For me last years high points, were the works of Messrs Grant and Olley, and the finest of their books has to be Wargaming in History. In my opinion right up there with Charge and The Wargame.

No shortage of inspirational and thought provoking material, but the last week I have been mainly pondering on:

"It will be most unusual for wargamers to collect and paint armies of a particular period without an interest in the history and an understanding of the tactics of the troops and their uniforms."

For myself that is something of an understatement, all too often raising a new wargames army had been akin to taking a tiger by the tail - impossible to let go. Casually picking up a few 20mm figures for the Spanish Civil War because the Civil Guard hats were funny, resulted in a fifteen year study of the war (so far) and a couple of thousand painted figures, vehicles and buildings.

Perhaps that is the reason why I could never really come to grips with the 18C imaginations. I liked the idea well enough but frankly so much of it seemed to lack any substance or, to be honest, relevance to anyone apart from the author. I found myself very much more attracted by Peter Young's distinction between Imaginary armies and Fictional ones. Fictional characters and armies operate within the framework of a real world but one that is slightly skewed. Of course to do this it is necessary to actually know something of the world in which they are set, and I know absolutely nothing about the functioning of the Reichskrieg.

As a result I have spent much of the last month trying to come to terms with the Holy Roman Empire in general and the 18C Reichsarmee in particular. I now know how many Electoral Circles there were and which were ecclesiastic or secular. I can tell you the difference between a Landgraf and a Margraf though my spelling of either is pretty dodgy. I can list the rivals to Prussia as dominant states in the Empire at the end of the 17C. (Bavaria, Saxony, Hanover and Munster, since you ask. ... Munster????).

And how exactly does all of that enhance my wargaming? I don't know to be honest but the truth is that it does. I am looking forward to finally getting to terms with the period as next years big project. I have sorted out the figures that I wish to use and planned a painting style that will be quick and simple. I shall try to raise four small armies for the States of Hanover, Bavaria, The Ecclesiastical Circle of Munster, and Bohemia.

Above can be seen the first rough drafts for Bavaria, Hanover and Bohemia. (spot the fictional one) And below the first finished recruits for the Bohemian Wenceslas Regt of foot. You may notice that one figure is black lined and one is not. I think that I shall not bother black lining this army, to my mind the difference is not worth the time required and when the figures are glossed to a degree that a Guards RSM could see his face in them then it will not be that visible.

In conclusion we are looking at a project which is set up to be rather heavy on research but light on painting. Good enough? Well only time will tell on that but I am interested in how other people arrive at these decision's.

Hopefully more on these armys in the New Year, but next I shall return to my traditonal Christmas posts on Wargaming BF (Before Featherstone)

Whatever happened ...to that Flanderkin bloke?

Big John Wayne, The Duke himself, was given to saying " Never apologise its a form of weakness" .

Nevertheless, and with due respect, I feel a word of apology is due to the many who have clicked on this site in the vain hope of an update. Lack of Inspiration? Laziness? Aching shoulder? A bit of all those but it suddenly occurred to me that Christmas is almost upon us and I will wish to take another seasonal look at 'Wargaming Before Featherstone'. I had better blow the dust off the keyboard and get in a little practice first.

So let us take a quick canter through the events of the last six months. I have been mainly painting the new 30mm Franco Prussian range from Peter Johnstone at Spencer Smith Miniatures. These are a new 'Classic' range of genuine 30mm figures. The best news is that they match perfectly with the old but incomplete Willie range.
Most of the painting has been done for display models for SSM, though I have managed to put in a few for myself. So I can hardly claim to be a disinterested party, nevertheless I think these are a great range and it is

wonderful to actually be able to buy new 30mm castings. On which point I would also praise the Jacdaw 30mm figures from Old Glory UK, but more on those at a later date.
div> I have also enjoyed painting the 25mm Stadden range of Crimean figures. When you think that these were designed over 50 years ago they are amazing. Above a Guards officer stands next to a Foundry figure.

These figures are great fun to paint in a straightforward toy soldier style and really look the business in a nice coat of gloss varnish.

I also took a giant step forward with a chance buy on ebay which got me all my mini fig S range Heavy Brigade with one click of the button. This is how they arrived and apart from a re varnish I don't think I can improve on the original painting.

Finally just so that not everything is Old School and pre 1970, I have been painting up some of the excellent redoubt French Indian Wars figures. I bought these when they were first released 10? years ago and finally have been painting them this summer. A very welcome contrast to the other figures.

So nothing of any literary merit, just a shopping list really. Still it has actually broken the barrier of the first post again. Who knows perhaps in my next post I may manage something a little more interesting.