Back in the saddle & Recap '21

Much has happened in the last year and work and the arrival of a new family member took priority over my hobbies. Finally my life has stabilized again so I can again dedicate some time to one of my favorite and most fulfilling hobbies, historical miniature wargaming. 

I plan to retake my Western European WW2 village project and my Peninsular War Llardona 1808 one. 

Looking at the short term future I'm especially curious about the advent of a 02 Hundred Hours, a new small skirmish game about small night commando raids during World War 2. It was developed by Graham Davey (Grey for Now), one of the main developers of the successful Test of Honour. It's stealth mechanics makes it quite different than any other proposition I've seen on the market.

Another title I'm keeping under watch is Dead Man's Hand by Great Escape Games. It's a simple small skirmish game set in the old Far West, a theme my gaming partner is especially interested in. 

My final wargaming game count for 2021 was:

14x Test of Honour

11x Sharp Practice 2

6x Chain of Command 

All in all, I consider it a decent and variated amount. 

Llardona 1808

To give some character to my ongoing Peninsular War project I decided to call it "Llardona 1808", strongly inspired by the great Sidney Roundwood's Laarden 1688.

The focus of my project will be to reproduce a stereotypical Catalan small village and the clashes around it. The creation of a fictional location gives me a certain amount of creative freedom on the narratives of future games. 

The name is created through the union of the Catalan word "llard" (which unsurprisingly stands for lard) and the toponymic suffix "-ona" which can be found in different cities and villages around Catalonia (Barcelona, Cardona, Girona, Solsona, etc.). 

As in most historical gaming related projects, I try to research as much as possible to be as accurate as I possibly can but at the same time allowing some leeway for extra kicks and giggles. Bear in mind that I engage this project as an excuse to learn about the conflict and the era, which means that I'm obviously not an expert and I most certainly will make plenty of mistakes. 

To gain a broad knowledge on the conflict I decided to delve myself into the book series A History of the Peninsular War by Sir Charles Oman, written at the end of the 19th century. I found it to be close enough to the period to have plenty of contemporary sources, but distant enough to allow a colder analysis. And well, it’s engaging and fun to read.

Going Peninsular

As it's said "plans don't survive contact with the enemy". And my 2021 plans did not survive the first contact with my playmate. After serious consideration we decided that we'll focus the next months on the Napoleonic era. Specifically the Peninsular War. 

The Peninsular War has always been a conflict I wanted to learn more about. Especially since I've done plenty of trips around the Iberian Peninsula and its landscapes are quite dear to me. From the wet cold North to the more arid South. 

We determined that the system that seems more suitable to simulate the guerrilla warfare that occurred there is TooFatLardies Sharp Practice 2. 

Guerra del Francès

As the conflict is quite broad, I've decided to start focusing in the nasty skirmishes and battles in the fierce Principality of Catalonia. What is commonly known as "La Guerra del Francès" (in Catalan). The conflict in Catalonia can even be considered its own autonomous conflict. While it has some links to the Peninsular War, there are many features exclusive to it.

To understand the importance of Catalonia, one must learn how Napoleon ordered its annexation to the metropolitan France, to keep it under his personal power, unlike the rest of the Peninsula that was given to his brother Joseph Bonaparte. 

As the well known British historian Charles Oman said: "Far more than any other section of the Spanish nation do the Catalans deserve credit for their unswerving patriotism. Nowhere else was the war maintained with such resolution.". "There was no recognized leader, no general of repute, to head the rising of the province. Yet the attack on the invaders was delivered with a fierceness and a persistent energy that was paralleled in no other quarter of the Peninsula. For six years marshal after marshal ravaged the Catalan valleys, sacked the towns, scattered the provincial levies. But not for one moment did the resistance slacken; the invaders could never control a foot of ground beyond the narrow space that was swept by the cannon of their strongholds. The spirit of the race was as unbroken in 1813 as in 1808, and their untiring bands still held out in the hills, ready to strike at the enemy when the least chance was offered. Other provinces had equal or greater advantages than Catalonia for protracted resistance: Biscay, the Asturias, and Galicia were as rugged, Andalusia far more populous, Valencia more fertile and wealthy. But in none of these was the struggle carried on with such a combination of energy and persistence as in the Catalan hills.

First forces

To keep the first investment reasonable and versatile I'm planning to acquire enough miniatures to develop a French Light Column (as stated in the rulebook) manned by Voltigeurs and Dragoons. On the "allied" side, I'm pondering adding a Light Column that includes light infantry and riflemen, as well as some Catalan "Somatent" Skirmishers. 

These forces will allow me to represent the clashes in the late war, from 1812 to 1813. The idea is to keep expanding them with new Catalan units like the Miquelets, as well as Spanish regulars and even Royal Marines that conducted raids over the coast. 

In the black powder era there's few miniatures producers that can beat Perry Miniatures, so I'm planning to build the bulk of the forces with their amazing figures. 

Terrain

Battleground is key for any miniature recreation and I have set my eyes on the Charlie Foxtrot Pantile collection as In my humble opinion is the one that represents more faithfully the Southern European / Mediterranean buildings.  Unfortunately the consequences of Brexit and all its inconveniences may force me to simply purchase a token order. 

Chain of Command comeback

To get ready for my Chain of Command comeback I decided to choose a balanced force of both British and German troops. The idea is to be able to practice common basic tactics like fire & maneuver leaps. 

When we have more confidence in the rules I want to delve into one of the Too Fat Lardies pint sized campaigns. The option that better suits the forces and setting seems to be  Operation Martlet. That one simulates the historical fight between the British 49th Division and the 12th Waffen-SS division "Hitlerjugend" around the Rauray Spur. 

Depending on how successful this campaign is, I may mull adventuring into its sequel the Scottish Corridor.

Figures

At this moment I'm working to finish a line infantry platoon both for the British and the German (Wehrmacht Heer). 

As mentioned, the campaign is designed for a Waffen-SS Panzergrenadier platoon -the infantry that followed the panzer units be it on trucks, half-tracks or even riding on the tanks-, but it can really be played with Heer Panzergrenadiers as they are pretty much organized and equipped in the same way (with the added bonus of being less controversial* to certain people). Said that, immersion and realism is always a plus, so time permitting I may work on some of my Warlord Waffen-SS figures. 

*For those unaware, the Waffen-SS was the "private" military branch of the NS-DAP party. Initially composed of nazi fanatics and careerists from Germanic nations, it later became an international multi-cultural but politically-driven volunteer force. At the very end it even included conscripts. Some of its units were infamously involved in numerous war-crimes.

Vehicles

In my collection I have already a ubiquitous Panzer IV, a Panzer VIA Tiger and a British Sherman Firefly but I would like to acquire a nice British tank like a Warlord Sherman V,  Churchill or a Cromwell.

In addition I also have in my "to do" list to build a Bren carrier. 

Terrain

My main goal terrain-wise is to be able to gather enough buildings to be able to recreate a countryside farm or a tiny village. If possible with buildings that could be at the same time representative of western Europe - especially France's Atlantic Coast and Benelux- and America in the last 2-3 centuries. 

A key building for every town in Western Europe is the local church. So far I have been looking for a nice small church / chapel without much success. 

As the campaign also involves countryside terrains, I'd like to acquire a farm building with at least one of its typical side buildings: barn and stables. I have found different possibilities:

- Sarissa La Belle Alliance

- Charlie Foxtrot Farmhouse 

- Charlie Foxtrot Dormer House 

As a side buildings:

- Charlie foxtrot outside wc

- Charlie Foxtrot Workshop / store to represent a barn.

Although those don't represent properly the most common buildings in Northern France that were made of stone walls (no plaster). 

Finally some modern industrial buildings to represent the outskirts of a Western European town. And that could also be used to represent Eastern factories. 

- Sarissa factory office 

- Sarissa factory unit 2

On support terrain I would like to find a solution for minefields as well as finish some of my resin fortifications.

Last but not least, some scatter terrain:

Charlie foxtrot memorial needle and graveyard set.

Markers

Marker-wise I have been pondering how to create a nice marker to display the injured status.

In addition I'm also thinking on how to build nice unique jump-off markers for the British forces, as at this moment I use parachuted containers that suit airborne troops better. 

Is historical wargaming dying out?

Today while painting some miniatures and preparing some terrain I was listening to one of the episodes of the Too Fat Lardies' podcast -Oddcast 35-. They brought to my attention a video from Little Wars TV concerning the apparent death of historical wargaming.  

As someone in his mid-thirties -I'm 35-, I thought it would be interesting to bring my point-of-view to the debate table that is the Internet. As in the podcast, I think it's useful if I explain a bit my background in the hobby previous to give my particular opinion on the subject.

Catholic Miniatures

My first experience with miniatures -not wargaming- is kind of an odd one, I started with what could be called religious miniatures. My father was a deeply catholic man who every Christmas religiously built a nativity scene at home. The traditional one usually involves the actual nativity scene, the three magi kings in their camels and maybe adds some extras like animals and few village buildings around in around the 1:32 to 2:48 scale. 

As a fun fact, I discovered that in countries like Spain you can find huge markets with plenty of figures, terrain, animals, etc. to build nativity scenes. So you could say that most people there is into miniatures. 

When I was old enough, around 5, I used to help him, and expanded a bit the scene to include roman soldiers, markets, rivers, etc. To the point that at around 8 my father send me to a Catholic association that every year had a display of "nativity scenes" that was more like an ancient times diorama scenes including Roman military forces, plenty of buildings, fishermen in small boats in lakes, etc. Everything was build from scratch using woods, plaster, ceramics, etc.

A photo of a Christmas traditional miniature stand I took in one of my recent visits to Spain

WW2 Dioramas

One day while going to a big warehouse to buy some supplies, I happened to see some small plastic WW2 soldiers and vehicles -I guess around 1:72 scale-, and I couldn't resist. Since I discovered the Lucasarts Indiana Jones PC games when I was 5 I had been obsessed with WW2 and military history.  So instead of buying some extra paint bottles, I bought a couple of models and built my first WW2 diorama (a D-Day landing craft with soldiers exiting it). 

Since then I occasionally bought and build some military models from fighter planes to tanks as soon as I managed to save enough money for it. My allowance was meager, and as one can imagine, like any small kid I also had other -completely common- interests (like reading WW2 books about Waffen-SS and such, and play WW2 PC games). 

Into wargaming miniatures

When I was already a teenager, I started visiting a gaming store where I had Lord of the Rings roleplaying game sessions with my high-school gang. I felt in love with the Games Workshop miniatures sold there, and with my of one good friends we started building a small Warhammer Fantasy army. At that time I couldn't even imagine that historical wargaming existed, so my approach was to simply buy the most historical realistic army I could find in Warhammer. I choose the Empire, because it had a strong Germanic pike & shot feeling, and I enjoyed pushing the trays of infantry pike-men and shooting my artillery guns. 

Due to the lack of contenders to play with, my interest faded and I focused more on PC military simulation. 

When I joined the military as a professional soldier, I had to abandon everything I had at my parents home so I completely forgot about it. To this day I have no idea where my Warhammer Fantasy figures ended.

Rediscovering the hobby

Many years later, In 2015, I was visiting Stockholm's old town (Gamla Stan) and I happened to found a huge hobby-store. In the upper level they had a huge collection of Games Workshop stuff, that I felt naturally attracted to. Looking around I found a few odd boxes in a dark corner. They were something different. They were WW2 miniatures from Warlord Games. Like in my childhood days I could simply not resist. 

At that time I had no plans to play any wargames, but I really couldn't stop myself , so I decided to buy a plastic tank. The problem is that I could not decide between a British Firefly or its great opponent the Panzer VIA Tiger. So my wonderful wife simply offered to buy the other one. That's how I started my WW2 wargame miniature collection. Every trip we did to Stockholm I purchased a new vehicle. 

One day while talking to some of my PC military simulation friends online, I was told about a WW2 board game called Memoir 44. I purchased right away and convinced my wife to play some games with me. She loved it and we played plenty of games. 

We enjoyed it so much that I dusted off some of the Warlord's plastics I had on display and asked her if she would be willing to take the next step. She agreed. And we purchased the Bolt Action starting kit -and some extras-. 

And since then we have been playing different historical wargames (especially Test of Honour, Bolt Action and Chain of Command). Here in Finland wargaming clubs are rare and mostly focus on fantasy games like those from Games Workshop, so our flat has become our own private historical wargame club. 

My opinion

So, as seen in my lengthy story I've always been a military history buff, and with minimal exposure to miniature historical gaming I have always gravitated towards it one way or another. At the same rate I visited most WW2 museums and battlefields in Western Europe and the Nordics, and purchased tons of books, I have always been interested in miniatures and dioramas too. Just that I didn't even realize historical miniature wargaming was a thing until few years ago. 

I may be an odd case, but if when I was a kid I had known I could play tabletop wargames with WW2 historical figures I would have done it right away. And I know of plenty of kids interested in military history that would also follow that path. That's why I really don't buy into the belief that all youngsters tend to gravitate towards flashy fantasy and sci-fi games. 

There's also the argument that "PC killed the radi... -sorry- tabletop star". Which again I find it unfounded. Actually one of the reasons why I'm so invested in historical wargaming is that it allows me to take a break from a day in front of a computer screen. And bear in mind that I lead a PC military simulation community and participate in two events a week with them, so I'm not precisely a luddite. 

I don't even think that you need a huge social experience where you have to join a club and travel to plenty of places to enjoy the hobby -although I'm sure it's fun too-. As I said, I mostly play with my wife at home -it's a pandemic-proof system-. And thanks to Internet you can share experiences with people from around the globe.

Availability of figures and terrain has become a bit of an issue for me, as I live in a country with not much following. But again, thanks to the Internet I managed to purchase stuff from all over the World -especially from Blighty-. Although it's certainly pricey to import from abroad.

In conclusion, my opinion is that historical wargaming is not dying at all. But it has a huge issue, simply put: it lacks visibility. I have the perception that many people that could be interested and thrive in the hobby don't even know it exists.

Plans for 2021

 After my comeback I've been mulling what's the best way to start steady. As it's usually said, it's better to start small and simple and then transition to more complexity. 

Test of Honour: Sengoku

My first goal will be to rediscover Test of Honour, and its brand new expansion: Sengoku. I want to dedicate the year's first months to work on my Japanese backlog and relearn the Test of Honour rules as well as immerse myself in the new expansion book. Probably adding a few new figures and terrain to the collection -to avoid having to use western placeholders-. 

As its title hints, the expansion is about the Sengoku period (15th-to-17th century) when Japan faced near-constant civil war. It gives special rules for the clans of the era, new weapons and mechanics, as well as a bunch of new thematic scenarios.

Rethinking terrain

Now that I had a bit of idle time to think properly about my wargame needs and manias, I realize that I may have gone too far with my granular approach. Having ten thousand different items (tress, barrels, bushes, small buildings, etc.) to compose each battleground forces me too much time when preparing a game. So my goal will be to build small based dioramas that can be used as "scatter" terrain. 

Back to the breach

When I achieve a good amount of proficiency over Test of Honour, my plan is to work a bit on my insanely big backlog of WW2 stuff. Especially focusing on terrain and supports for TooFatLardies Chain of Command. 

I've been a "huge fan" of WW2 history since I was a kid. I blame Indiana Jones PC games that I discovered at the tender age of 5-7 years old. So naturally they have been one of my main interests in wargaming and built a -way too- big stock of plastics and metals. 

To be precise, my goal for this summer will be to work on the -overly done- Western front in 1944, from the Calvados Coast to the Ardennes forest. Especially focusing on the operation Overlord, operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge.

In Fall I plan to evolve to the Eastern front with the addition of a Soviet platoon, some buildings, and maybe even some Finns.

Exploring other systems

As history is not only about Japan and WW2 -even if it may sometimes seem so-, I want to explore a couple of small skirmish systems like Mortal Gods and Baron's War. I personally like small story-driven skirmishes' games because it allows me to have shift games in small spaces without having to use many overcomplicated rules -nor buy & paint a huge amount of figures-. Both could be considered spin-offs of Test of Honour. 

Mortal Gods. Is a close derivative of Test of Honour set in ancient classical times. Perfect to scratch the itch of Mediterranean Greek fights. I really hope they expand to include Rome and the Gauls. 

Baron's War. It's an unreleased skirmish wargame that seems to build upon the Test of Honour base to achieve a more elaborated game. 

Another large skirmish system I'm considering is Sharp Practice. Has been on my sights for quite a while now, and it would allow fast pick-up games due to the unit bases it uses.