Sunday 14 November 2021

Two Side Dishes

Rather than getting on with finding a suitable table and running the ECW siege-campaign I talked about before the Summer, I've been faffing about reading and listening off topic.

The listening has been the We Have Ways of Making You Talk podcast with Al Murray and James Holland. But at least with a podcast I can get on and do other things.

The reading part has lately steered to the Second Anglo-Sikh War (after reading about the first in Flashman and the Mountain of Light). My book of choice here is Amarpal Singh's the Second Anglo-Sikh War. It's a bit of a whopper at over 500 pages and very good too. The same author has written on the First ASW and on the Siege of Dehli during the Mutiny. I've been thinking of Colonial wargaming for several years without actively doing anything about it, beyond buying A Portable Colonial Wargame and the Men Who Would Be Kings rules.

If I do go ahead, I've narrowed down my theatre of interest to the NW Frontier. As for period, well, I've been thinking of going right back to the 1840s and then following through successive generations right up to the 1930s. The intention is to approach it at skirmish or at most brigade level, playing scenario driven games with named characters. Not to be taken too seriously with silly names and possibly even an Imagination type approach. Expect bad puns. Also there could be an element of the Great Game involved, with devious Russian agents stirring up trouble. All being well, a brave British political officer might return the compliment causing trouble on the Tsar's frontiers which Count Karl Gustav Stutterheim will have to deal with. Suitable Russian figures can be found in ranges covering the Russo-Turkish War and right up to the Russian Civil War. Who knows.



I might stick with 10mm figures, or I might even go up to 20mm since I need new terrain/buildings anyway, I needn't be constrained by what I have currently. Pendraken have a number of ranges that I can probably use as proxies, if not always directly what I want.

The second possible side dish is the Spanish Civil War. Now this is something that has interested me since the early 80s, although I haven't done much reading on the subject since university days. To me the kaleidoscope of factions involved on both sides is a key feature. I was intrigued by Trebian's approach to handling different factions, so I popped in an order for For Whole the Dice Tolls and I'm slowly working my way through that now.



There's a lot to go through. For a start, modern warfare (and by my standards the 1930s is modern) is more complicated than the Horse and Musket era. All the different capabilities of AFVs for one thing, to say nothing of aeroplanes. It's more than I'm used to. If this goes ahead, I'll continue with 10mm ranges since I can use some of my existing stuff like woods. I also already have some T26s and a couple of trucks that could be used. Before taking the plunge, I will have a run through of the rules using my Continuation War figures as proxies. They are already mounted on bases compliant with Trebian's recommended dimensions. There are some spare Finns/Germans in helmets in the box of unpainted stuff. I might even get away with painting these up as Spanish regulars at this scale. Economy is the watchword!

19 comments:

  1. Sikh Wars sounds interesting as does the NWF. The Great Game mid-century also sounds good.

    If you want a hand figuring out FWTDR, I could lend a hand. There is a lot to work through in that book.

    Happy journeys!

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    1. Thanks Jon. I might well take you up on that. Admittedly I’m still on my first reading and I’m tired but there appears to be a lot to absorb.

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  2. Sikh war sounds fascinating, a change is as good as a rest.

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    1. My only concern with the Sikh Wars as a wargaming venture is that they’re not really asymmetrical like the ‘classic Colonial’ wars. Both sides are made up of troops trained in the European fashion, with the exception of the Sikh Gorrachorra (sp?) irregular cavalry.

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  3. Very interesting - I’ll be following your progress. I note Peter Pig do a good range of SCW stuff in 15mm.

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    1. Yes, Trebian uses them. I’ll probably stick with 10s though.

      Now Colonials is up for grabs though. Any recommendations?

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  4. The book sounds a great read and something to ponder for the future. The Great Game has lots of potential and was something I intended to do at one point, but have lost interest at present. Who knows but maybe it will come back at some future point.

    The SCW is a great conflict to game and Graham's book is excellent. I've yet to give it a proper read through as I've been using BKC and the SCW supplement of late which has worked well for my joint campaign.

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    1. I read BKC once but it seemed complicated. Maybe I’m just used to the simplicity of horse, foot and guns and should just get used to the fact modern wars have a technical complexity.

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  5. Hello old chap,

    NW Frontier eh? Plenty of potential for games large and small.

    Bob Cordery's Ultima Cruzada is a great source of information on the SCW and his Aribba Espana rules are also worth a look.

    Email incoming re the NW Frontier.

    All the best,

    DC

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    1. PS Trebian recommends Bob’s book too, so that’s on the list if I go ahead.

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  6. Hello there old chap,

    I forgot to mention although I suspect you probably already know that Pendraken have a great range for the NW Frontier if 10mm is the thing for you.

    All the best,

    DC

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  7. Hi David, shame I didn’t go to Salute instead of suffering a disappointing match in Aldershot.

    I’ll get back to you about the email. Need to have a look.

    Not sure what I’ll do yet re: NW Frontier. The Pendraken range is good for the 1890s. Maybe the tribesmen will do for earlier and later too?

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  8. Always nice to have new projects to look forward to - I would have thought for skirmish level, character led games, you might want larger figures than 10mm, although they are great for keeping battle area a manageable size and to reduce this cost of the force and complexity of painting, of course!

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    1. That’s what I was thinking. I think I’d rather go for 20mm than 15mm, but not up to 28mm. For some reason I’m not sure of.

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  9. Funnily enough, I've been reading GA PA great northern war blog for all his wonderful 28mm sikh wars stuff ,lovely stuff and SCW is very tempting, Bueno is a useful book I find,I quite like the Osprey too.
    Best Iain

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    1. Must have a look at the GaPa blog. Haven’t been over there for a long time.

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  10. Both ideas sound interesting, good luck with whichever you choose! If considering the NW Frontier in 20mm, and if you like figures with 'old school' charm and character, I was looking at the Jacklex website, and they say: 'If you are fighting on the North West Frontier then the Russian figures from the Russo-Japanese War range might provide Queen Victoria with an additional adversary!' - which sounds rather like what you mentioned..

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    1. Good call on the Jacklex range!

      Spotted you and Dave at Salute on YouTube. In the background of the Poltava table whilst Per ‘Roll a One’ was being interviewed.

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    2. ha ha, yes, thanks for pointing that out; we inadvertently did quite an effective 'photo-bomb'! Quite embarrassing, didn't realise they were doing an interview. It was a fantastic table, though. I think part of the time we were chatting with Nick Dorrell from Wyre Forest/Pike and Shot Society. Must buy those rules!

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