The Duchy of Tradgardland Blog by Tradgardmastare always throws up interesting posts.
A recent one asked about your favorite battle from the wargamers fictional world. It struck a chord.
The Franco Prussian War centenary was in 1970/71, so during Donald Featherstones publishing boom it was very topical and popular. As a youngster who only knew about the ACW, WW2 and Napoleon it was a period that was just far too obscure. And there were no plastic figures to hand.
Donald Featherstones Advanced Wargames was the first book I got from a library although it was swiftly followed by Charge! Or how to play wargames, by Lawford & Young. That library gave me a lifelong hobby.
It was a few years before I actually bought a book on wargames or rather received one as a present.
Advance Wargames is not a logical place to start wargaming. It did contain all the parts for a set of wargames rules. It was just that they were all dotted around and mixed up!
So it is not surprising that the chapter 14 about Games with more than Two players got me started solo campaigning!
Here are the vital words that I kept coming back to.
The whole issue of a small advance guard worked for me as I had no armies as such. I had a some ACW infantry, artillery and cavalry. They stood in for the French and Prussians who I had little interest in. When I obtained my first Airfix Napoleonics this battle idea was a regular one to feature.
Donald Featherstone always made me want to imagine a world around the game. And his writing I found very engaging.
The scenario sees some light infantry, light cavalry and horse guns contacting a larger enemy. And the scenario included generals with differing capabilities and couriers. Finally the scenario set similar objectives but with differing forces. So Asymmetrical Wargaming was a starting point for me.
I mentioned Charge! – the Battle of Sittangbad is of course another Asymmetrical situation. I quickly adopted that one as another favorite scenario.
And when I started my latest project – venturing beyond 1725 for the first time in decades – it was a scenario I used again. This time it was the post napoleonic era – 1815 to 1848ish.
And I used Charlie Wesencrafts Practical Wargaming – one book I did buy and still possess.
here is the link to that battle refought in 2021.
https://wordpress.com/post/thewargamingerratic.home.blog/1892
The Wargaming Erratic 