The reason for the current lack of posts is that I am at present on holiday.
I brought my laptop with me, and I fully expected to get some work done on the next phase of my 1813 campaign, or at least on the new maps I want to make for it. These are two jobs, which I can never seem to find time to do at home, and two weeks away from the wargames table seemed like an ideal opportunity.
However I have found it really difficult to concentrate on wargaming and campaigning when away from my familiar surroundings. I have everything on the laptop which I would need to do either of the above tasks, but I just can’t seem to settle and concentrate.
Jan and I are visiting my son and his family, and the grand children aged 4 years and 10 months are just proving too much of a distraction.
In the middle of this wargaming desert I received a flurry of questions about our wargame rules. These were carefully written to suit our particular wargame needs. That is to say the number of figures we have, the table and scenery available and the wish to fight large Napoleonic battles on a reasonably small table with 28mm model soldiers. Not the type of rules, which I would have thought, would have a wide appeal. Particularly as they seem to go completely against the general trend of either single corps sized games with each battalion represented by 12 figures. Or at the other hand large tables covered with huge armies in the style of the late, and great, Peter Guilder.
It must be about two years since I first posted them on the blog. The intention was that anyone reading a campaign battle report could check the rules if they wanted. Since then there have been a steady trickle of questions and an ever-increasing number of visitors. Today the count stands at 6773 hits. Not bad for a fun set of rules which were only ever intended for use by Jan and I.
Anyway one of the questions asked was about reaction to charges. In the rules there is a special rule for Opportunity Charges. These occur at the start of the other players turn, and in certain circumstances allow the target to react by changing formation, providing that they first pass a reaction test.
One of the questions raised was whether this reaction test should apply to normal charges. In fact we do allow it in our own games, but I am not sure whether we should or not. Part of me feels that if you leave one of your brigades open to a flank attack, then you should accept the consequences. On the other hand that is not the sort of competitive Wargame that Jan and I usually play. We will often allow something not allowed in the rules, rather than ruin a good wargame. For example a very low throw, say double one, at a critical point in the game. We might allow it to be taken again. We would not do so for a campaign game, where we feel we need to be extra careful as there is a third party interest. But in a “fun game” we might well do so.
Normally I would have just made a decision yes or no. It highlights my feelings of “wargame isolation” that I did not do so, but botched the reply. On the other hand at least it will give me something to think about for the remainder of my holiday - at least when the grand children are not demanding my full attention.
Normal service will be resumed shortly.
I brought my laptop with me, and I fully expected to get some work done on the next phase of my 1813 campaign, or at least on the new maps I want to make for it. These are two jobs, which I can never seem to find time to do at home, and two weeks away from the wargames table seemed like an ideal opportunity.
However I have found it really difficult to concentrate on wargaming and campaigning when away from my familiar surroundings. I have everything on the laptop which I would need to do either of the above tasks, but I just can’t seem to settle and concentrate.
Jan and I are visiting my son and his family, and the grand children aged 4 years and 10 months are just proving too much of a distraction.
In the middle of this wargaming desert I received a flurry of questions about our wargame rules. These were carefully written to suit our particular wargame needs. That is to say the number of figures we have, the table and scenery available and the wish to fight large Napoleonic battles on a reasonably small table with 28mm model soldiers. Not the type of rules, which I would have thought, would have a wide appeal. Particularly as they seem to go completely against the general trend of either single corps sized games with each battalion represented by 12 figures. Or at the other hand large tables covered with huge armies in the style of the late, and great, Peter Guilder.
It must be about two years since I first posted them on the blog. The intention was that anyone reading a campaign battle report could check the rules if they wanted. Since then there have been a steady trickle of questions and an ever-increasing number of visitors. Today the count stands at 6773 hits. Not bad for a fun set of rules which were only ever intended for use by Jan and I.
Anyway one of the questions asked was about reaction to charges. In the rules there is a special rule for Opportunity Charges. These occur at the start of the other players turn, and in certain circumstances allow the target to react by changing formation, providing that they first pass a reaction test.
One of the questions raised was whether this reaction test should apply to normal charges. In fact we do allow it in our own games, but I am not sure whether we should or not. Part of me feels that if you leave one of your brigades open to a flank attack, then you should accept the consequences. On the other hand that is not the sort of competitive Wargame that Jan and I usually play. We will often allow something not allowed in the rules, rather than ruin a good wargame. For example a very low throw, say double one, at a critical point in the game. We might allow it to be taken again. We would not do so for a campaign game, where we feel we need to be extra careful as there is a third party interest. But in a “fun game” we might well do so.
Normally I would have just made a decision yes or no. It highlights my feelings of “wargame isolation” that I did not do so, but botched the reply. On the other hand at least it will give me something to think about for the remainder of my holiday - at least when the grand children are not demanding my full attention.
Normal service will be resumed shortly.
I've been known to take a small library with me on holidays with all the good intentions of reading it, and end up glancing at a few pages only (usually on the trip there and back). So, enjoy the tactical time with the wee ones!
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