Saturday 10 November 2012

Historical Battles - Portable Wargaming Style


No prizes for guessing what this picture is from!

It occurred to me this morning, whilst browsing idly across the net and other blogs, that all of the games I have fought this year in the man cave have been based around hypothetical actions. They have all been great fun to fight for various reasons and for the most part have 'felt' like that which they are supposed to be representing. This can be attributed to a variety of factors - the quality of the rules, the fertile imagination of the chap running the game (?) - very important when using blocks - or the feedback from those that have read the after action report. One thing I have yet to do though, is to tackle a refight of an actual historical battle. I have run a couple of Battle Cry scenarios to be sure but in all three cases the donkey work of translating a battle into a game ad already been done.

Right then....

I have decided to tackle a historical battle before the end of the year using the Big Battle Portable Wargame as the rules of choice. I am undecided as to which one or even which war at this point and so will open this up to the readers of this blog to decide. The first stage will be to pick the war in question and then to find a suitable action to refight and the only restriction is the fact that I do not at present have any desert terrain to speak of.

The wars I am considering are as follows:
  • The Russo Turkish War 1877
  • 2nd or 3rd Afghan War
  • The Zulu War
  • The Balkan War 1912
  • August 1914 -Western Front
I have managed (after prompting from Peter Douglas - many thanks old chap!) to set up a poll so that readers can vote for their particular favourite. The plan is to have the war decided upon over the course of the next couple of days (with the result announced on Tuesday) and then I can start the deep dive research into the battle I want to fight. I will make the battle the big finish for the year and will of course post the development process leading up to the battle itself.

I plan to get some other games in before the end of the year but this one will be the grand finale. Essentially then, you decide the war, I pick a battle and then the refight will provide my end of year entertainment!

14 comments:

tradgardmastare said...

Russo Turkish war is a bit different and I,for one, would like you to proceed in this direction.Just a thought though...
best wishes
Alan
p.s failing that zulus please,thousands of em...

Peter Douglas said...

David

I have two votes.
1. Russo-Turkish war
2. Learn how to add a poll to your blog - it's one of the blogger "gadgets" and it's dead simple (I did it once).

Cheers
PD

David Crook said...

Hi Alan,

I must confess that having that brand new shiny book on the war of 1877 makes a compelling argument for that particular fracas!

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Peter,

Post duly amended with the poll duly added!

All the best,

DC

Robert (Bob) Cordery said...

David Crook,

I have voted ... for that good old favourite the Balkan Wars!

All the best,

Bob

David Crook said...

Hi Bob,

Many thanks for the vote! As it stands at the moment I cannot decide which one I would choose although I will hit a snag with one of them as I rather foolishly added it to the list without realising that my library is pretty bereft of titles on the subject!

Whoops!

All the best,

DC

Ray Rousell said...

I've gone with the Balkan's War, It's the one I know least about.

David Crook said...

Hi Ray,

You are a man of rare taste and refinement! Luckily so am I and this is a period I have a reasonable library of!

All the best,

DC

Anonymous said...

I voted Russo-Turk since you've got the book-might as well make use of it.

David Crook said...

Hi SAROE,

The book is a superb title and will give me much inspiration for battles set during the war - even naval possibilities feature as well.

All the best,

DC

Peter Douglas said...

DC

Poll looks good -who says that you can't teach an old dog new tricks? FYI I have now voted - with far less drama that Stateside events this week and no hanging chads I trust.

Cheers
PD

Steven Page said...

David, I have voted for Russo-Turkish as well, although Balkan War 1912 nearly took the vote. Either way I am sure you will produce a fascinating game for us.
-Steve

David Crook said...

Hi Steve,

Many thanks for the vote and I hope I can come up with something special on the back of it!

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Peter,

Many thanks for the vote and the 'how to' prompt!

All the best,

DC

PS I am getting quite caught up with it now!