This blog is about playing with toy soldiers. Seriously. I dump a bunch of plastic figures (army men, risk figures, proper painted figures) onto a table, and use dice and a ruler to fight a battle. I enjoy facing the same strategical and tactical problems that real, historical generals faced- but without the bloodshed.
Technically I use 1:72 or 20mm plastic figures, because they are SO much cheaper than metal or lead. Until now however I haven’t actually played a game with them, rather I have been using risk figures or army men simply because I haven’t any real figures painted up. With about 800 figures (I told you plastic was cheap) ready to paint, hopefully that will change soon.
A French Infantry Corps deploys along a ridge- painted by me
I wargame lots of different time periods- ancient, crusaders, wars of religion, English Civil War, Napoleonics and Russian Civil War being some of my most common periods. I’m also meaning to expand into the French and Indian wars, the Vikings, Lord of the Rings, the dark ages and world war two while I’m at it. Clearly, wargaming is dangerous for your sanity! (I’m also thinking of trying those cool-looking 6mm figures… :0!)
I play by myself most times, for a lack of other gamers in the vicinity. That’s not actually so bad, as that way I win every game! I’m currently working on developing systems to reduce the amount of control I have over both sides of the battlefield- some fog of war, uncertainty and random events.
This blog will feature battle reports from my games, painting reports and musings as I hunt for correct uniforms etc, and terrain reports as well- as I ask for and report any helpful tricks to make those trees (without spending about $7 a tree!), hills, houses etc. Books and other resources I find to give me a better idea of the history behind the wars will also feature here regularly as well.
French Infantry, 1808-1812, painted by moi
Finally, I actually have a real life, as a external university student living in the far north of Australia, with a passion for politics, Christianity and history, which I will be trying to post about regularly (once a week) here.
Next up, a battle report of a Lord of the Rings skirmish game!
Josh
“Not an entirely sensible idea”
