Rules Tinkering & Redesign

 “History is the interpretation of the significance that the past has for us.”

— Johan Huizinga

Papercraft Romans awaiting a playtest
battle with Germanic tribesmen.

This past week I started getting an idea for a new set of kid-friendly historical miniatures gaming rules. Having covered World War II tank combat in Panzer Kids and small unit action where individual soldiers each play a role in Skirmish Kids, I began wondering if I evolved the latter rules to accommodate full units in ancient, medieval, and pre-20th century battles on a larger scale. I started jotting down notes, typing out a few ideas, considering how elements of Skirmish Kids would have to change to accommodate battles with lines of infantry, cavalry charges, and artillery (and all that across the ages). I started drafting stats for various units I wanted to field in playtest games. And then I stopped myself. Does the world really need another set of wargaming rules? Do I really need that, even despite my personal design preferences for kid-friendly games? Haven’t I enough game projects requiring attention? Don’t we have enough rules already? Perhaps it’s the restless, unfulfilled creative drive within me, or my urge to share my interest in using games to help people learn about history, or that maybe this one might catch the attention of a publisher other than myself who can better produce and promote the game. And so I soldier onward, despite the leering shadows of doubt whispering “Why bother?”, ignoring my depleted reservoir of time and energy and enthusiasm, oblivious to the adventure gaming world’s inevitable indifference at yet another wargaming rule set.

Playing with Battle Box: Age of Sail

 “If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.”

— Seneca

I’ve dabbled in many historical wargaming periods over the years. The Age of Sail remains one for which I’ve never really found an accessible game — in both cost and rules — until now. Feral Wizard’s Battle Box: Age of Sail promises to deliver an intuitive game with plenty of tactical choices in a small package (much like its previous game, Battle Box: Napoleonic Wars). The game ran a successful Kickstarter back in the spring and should deliver physical components by the end of the year...but backers received the print-and-play component files when the campaign ended. So I printed out some cards and rules and played a few battles using my craft store sailing ships and my large-hex light-blue ocean canvas. After a few games to help me grasp the mechanics and strategies I found it offered a host of player choices to add depth to what seems on the surface a basic Age of Sail game.

Craft Store Lament

 “The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.”

— Carl Jung

The times constantly change, more so, it seems, in a volatile capitalist society with a general government administrative “policy” of instability, uncertainty, and chaos. We fear change. Even at the craft store. Over the years, and certainly more recently, I’ve noticed my usually reliable stable of craft stores gradually shift away from providing plentiful resources for various adventure gaming hobby endeavors. One expects prices to increase over time, though not quite the jump we’ve seen recently. But the stock seems to ebb and flow depending on fads in the crafting hobby, predicted on customers’ purchasing habits and what influencers deem is fashionable at the moment. Which inevitably means gamers are paying more and finding fewer game resources at craft stores. I suppose I will grudgingly get used to it, venting, as I sometimes do, here at Hobby Games Recce.

Watch, Read, Play: French & Indian War

 “Fathers, both you and the English are white, we live in a Country between; therefore the Land belongs to neither one nor t’other.”

— Chief Tanaghrisson

French and Indian War provincial militia
re-enactors march forth at Fort Frederick.

I don’t expect many Americans to have much familiarity with the French and Indian War (1754–1763); Europeans might know it as one theater in the larger Seven Years War (1756–1763) which some historians consider the first true “world war.” It’s an interesting period in American colonial history. Major European powers continue to stake claims to lands in the New World, with the British and French clashing primarily on the frontiers in New England and the mid-Atlantic. British colonists remain subject to the crown, yet, being separated from their governing body by several months’ treacherous voyage over the ocean, have cultivated a sense of self-sufficiency bordering on entitled independence. Over my years of reading and playing games about it, I’ve come to realize it sets up many of the issues over which Americans fought for their independence from Great Britain and highlights many issues we still face. One can more easily investigate the French and Indian War through movies, books, and games to gain a greater understanding of the conflict’s many aspects and outcomes that influenced the American War of Independence...and beyond.

Morschauser’s Wargame Rules

 “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”

— Henry David Thoreau

I’ve enjoyed many of John Curry’s volumes in his History of Wargames Project, from republication of early wargame rules and historical wargames used for training and analysis to treatises on matrix games and other serious wargaming. I recently acquired one that had previously eluded me, Joseph Morschauser’s How to Play War Games in Miniature: A Forgotten Wargaming Pioneer: Early Wargames Vol. 3. I was initially lured to it by the claim it included an introduction of a gridded play surface into miniature wargaming, but I pleasantly found it filled with intuitive, concise rules, options for basing, and overall solid advice for miniature wargaming newcomers just as relevant and inspiring as when it was first published more than 50 years ago. It was a refreshing affirmation of many miniature wargaming elements I’ve come to enjoy over the years: concise simplicity; based units; flexibility between open battlefield and gridded surface; flexibility between eliminating units or keeping a roster for a multiple hit system; and an overall informative and welcoming approach to hobby.

The Joy of Paper Soldiers

 “A toy is seen both as a bauble and as an intellectual machine.”

— Brian Sutton-Smith

Ranks of paper minis march across
the Great Bridge to disperse rebels.

The yuletide holidays infuse the darkest time of the year with wonder and whimsy. Twinkling lights. Savory feasts and fantastic sweets. Solemn carols and joyous hymns lifting our hearts. The mystery of gifts adorned with brightly patterned wrapping paper and shiny ribbon curls...and the exhilaration at their ultimate revelation. I’ve written before about the yuletide season filled with fantasy, especially from a bookish, geeky gaming perspective. Toys, and particularly those tied to my interests like fantasy roleplaying games, board games, and yes, even wargames bring added joy and playfulness to the season. Among my recent favorites are Peter Dennis’ fantastic paper soldiers. Peter’s Paperboys have brought great joy to my gaming recently. Since first discovering them during the pandemic, they’ve enabled me to quickly explore new periods in history wargaming, provided an alternative to purchasing and painting metal and plastic figures, and helped me prepare visually appealing public history game demonstrations to educate the public and engage people in wargames, history, and learning. They serve as innovative and versatile alternatives to more expensive, more labor-intensive options fielding armies for miniature wargames.

Beginner’s Intro to History Gaming

 “I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience.”

— Patrick Henry

Painting by Glenn Moore depicting
the British attack on the American
breastworks at the Battle of Great Bridge.

This past weekend I participated in the City of Chesapeake’s re-enactment for the 250th anniversary of the Battle of Great Bridge. Astute readers might recall I designed a very basic game — suitable for kids and newcomers to the adventure gaming hobby — for a smaller event in October commemorating the 250th anniversary of the Culpeper Minutemen mustering in response to the call to oppose British military action in the region of Hampton Roads. Some contacts I made there put me in touch with the Great Bridge event organizers...which resulted in my displaying and demonstrating my game and board at the re-enactment. I spent both days busy running many games, meeting some wonderful people, using the board to outline the battle, and discussing how one might explore history through games. On the drive home some of those discussions started me thinking (yet again) about good games newcomers might use to indulge their investigations into historical conflicts. One might follow a logical progression from entry-level battlegames to gridded-style games that can ultimately inspire even newcomers to devise their own historical simulations.

Wargame Calendar Challenge

“Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe.”

— H.G. Wells

One of the perks of my time working at West End Games was going along with the sales director to the GAMA trade shows to promote our game lines, notably the Star Wars Roleplaying Game. The trade show has changed a great deal over the years, but way back then exhibitors often chummed around with each other (also promoting their games) and traded product or gave away promotional items. Much of the “loot” I brought back I shared with colleagues (primarily dice), but a few I kept. On one trip to the GAMA trade show Osprey Publishing was celebrating its 25th anniversary; the promotional item staff gave out was a gorgeous, hardcover Osprey Illustrated Military Diary 1997. I never wrote in it. But it inspired me to explore historical periods and conflicts beyond what interested me at the time...and, as my wargaming hobby has expanded over the years, it’s tempted me with a historical game challenge: to run a game every week associated with a timely event.I have long admired the amazing graphic design behind the Osprey military history books. They often rely on primary photographs and original maps, but the highlight for me comes from the amazing original artwork depicting combatants, their equipment and uniforms, and the actions they fought. They’ve informed several of my historically based roleplaying game projects and have helped me research numerous elements for miniature wargames.

Revisiting the Battle of Ridgefield

 “On the 27th in the morning the troops quitted Danbury, and met with little opposition until they came near to Ridgefield, which was occupied by Gen. Arnold.”

— General William Howe

James Sharp's "A Skirmish
in America" (1780).

It’s summertime, which means I give myself a little indulgence to miss a week’s posting or two, or three (as evidenced by my blog archive in the sidebar). Sometimes I just need time to recharge, as many of us do in the summer months. Other times we’re so busy with various activities I don’t have time for thoughtful reflection and writing about adventure game hobby issues. Yet I still manage to find some inspiration, whether through rest or exploration, I can channel into Hobby Games Recce. We recently returned from a trip visiting family and friends in New England, including a stop at my favorite independent bookshop, Books on the Common in Ridgefield, CT, where I picked up the most recent book about my hometown’s RevolutionaryWar battle; inspiration for my wargaming exploration of this small yet influential engagement.

Attack Wing & Armada

 “Size matters not.”

— Yoda

My son and I have been playing some Star Trek: Attack Wing scenarios recently, part of his exploration of the wide-ranging Star Trek franchise. In our past gaming endeavors we’ve indulged in Star Wars gaming, too (yet another franchise we love), including the X-wing Miniatures Game and Star Wars: Armada. Over the years we’ve managed to acquire fleets for those games to play engagements that catered to our interests as fans. While X-wing deals with fighter squadrons, Attack Wing and Armada feature massive capital ships. Although based on the foundations of the “FligthPath” system used in X-wing (and licensed for Attack Wing), the capital ships games play very differently from each other. While Attack Wing sticks closer to X-wing, Armada makes many adaptations to accommodate the larger ships, becoming a different game with similarities to its forebear. They’re both enjoyable games with solid systems for commanding capital ships in their respective fictional universes. After playing each for a while — and more recently enjoying our exploits with Attack Wing — I find, in the long term, I like Attack Wing more.

Exploring Star Trek Again

 “It is possible to commit no errors and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life.”

— Captain Jean-Luc Picard

Kirk and Khan pass nearby, trading shots,
in a Star Trek: Attack Wing game.

We’re a fandom family. Even so, our enthusiasm has limits; like most fans, we have our favorite films, books, and television/streaming shows. It’s not comprehensive. Even within a genre we can’t watch and read everything, nor must we like one thing because we happen to enjoy another, similar thing. Some past media fades as our interests change (and sometimes as the media changes). But overall we enjoy immersing ourselves in fantastic fictional universes that cater to our tastes. Star Trek remains perhaps one of the oldest fandoms among science fiction aficionados. And yet I suppose I’d characterize my activities regarding Star Trek over the years as “dabbling.” But now my teenage son’s getting interested in it after seeing Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan on the big screen (after a viewing of the classic Trek episode “Space Seed” that introduces Khan). So we as a family are exploring it (again, for some of us) and we’re enjoying some father-son Star Trek gaming, too.

Releasing Skirmish Kids

 “The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objects it loves.”

– Carl Jung

At long last I finally released my latest game project this week. Skirmish Kids is a wargame with a low figure count, small play surface (compared to most miniature wargames), and basic core rules to which one can add a host of options to give the game more tactical depth. It includes a host of notes for using it for historical scenarios as well as a few more fantastic genres. You can find it in full-color PDF at both my Itch.io and Wargame Vault online storefronts and in print in black-and-white at Lulu and, a first for me, places like Amazon. Skirmish Kids is the culmination of a long interest in this kind of wargaming and years of tinkering to present rules and options at a level kids and newcomers to the hobby can understand and embrace.

The Ever-Growing Painting Pile

 “My failures have been errors in judgment, not of intent.”

— Ulysses S. Grant

At the beginning of this summer, as I evaluated my current gaming activities and future purchases, I made a resolution not to purchase any gaming miniatures that required painting. I have a long list of minis to paint (grognards often call it “The Pile of Shame”), some from ages ago, some more recently acquired. So I thought I’d try making a concerted effort to avoid purchasing anything I needed to paint, along with an effort to paint more regularly. Oh, I managed for a bit. I bought some old pre-painted plastic Lord of the Rings tradeable miniatures to rebase and use for Skirmish Kids playtesting and photos. But then I ran into an occasional and irresistible dilemma: the purchase of opportunity...those must-have items you might not find again or might forget about later. And after that, well, my resolve quickly faded.

Remembering Axis & Allies Miniatures

 “Success lasts only three seconds. After that, you’re the same as you were before you had it.”

— Robert Shaw

My recent missive on print magazines — particularly my efforts to clip the most relevant articles from years of WWII History — reminded me how much I liked Avalon Hill’s Axis & Allies Miniatures game years ago. (Mark Painter’s nose-art-inspired advertising artwork also reminded me how much I enjoyed the game.) I bought into it when it released in 2005 and purchased occasional booster packs for the original and subsequent sets. Using the point system to create forces consumed most of my time, as I imagine it would for any collectible game where one builds a deck or combat unit. I mostly engaged in solitaire play, commanding each side in turn. I don’t recall much about the mechanics, but I remember I liked numerous aspects of the game; though ultimately the randomized booster packs necessary to maintain the collectible aspect became untenable. Like many games, it’s come and gone, forgotten after the initial buzz and now difficult to find, either in the original starter sets and booster packs or as single figures with cards on the secondary market.

A Comfy Backlog of Gaming

My son and I just got back from a very positive game convention experience – our first together since the seemingly mythical “Before Times” prior to the covid-19 pandemic – and while I’m unpacking things I’m keeping in mind games that engaged him as well as considering a comfy pile of games I urgently want to play when I find the time and/or a willing opponent. Some call this the “Shelf of Shame,” though rather than “shame” I view it as “opportunity.” Have I read all the books in my extensive personal library? No. But they’re available if the urge strikes me or I need to explore some references for a project. I view games the same way. And, of course, the pile isn’t that backlog of hobby game projects (painting minis, working on terrain, etc.) or the other backlog of game design/writing projects. But I like to strike while the iron is hot to engage my son through the intersection of gaming and his (and my) varied interests, such as history and Star Wars. So I’m looking at newly acquired games and how to get them – and my son – to the gaming table.

Summer Star Wars Games

During the summer I spend a lot of effort keeping my son busy (i.e., off his tablet in Roblox land), much to the detriment of my own writing and game design projects. Amid our usual goals and diversions – more frequent walks in the park, a short vacation, the admonitions to read actual books, weekly day trips – we’ve been attempting to game more often. Not as much as I’d like, of course, but I’ll take one or two after-lunch gaming sessions a week if I can get them. He’s getting to the age where he can comprehend the rules without me having to streamline them into a kid-friendly format; but his interest in various historical periods or media properties primarily drive his engagement in related games. This influenced our choice of games. It also encouraged me to take a brief respite from designing my current roleplaying game project (The Mage-Blight Hills) to revisit some basic skirmish rules I set aside a while ago.

Miniature Wargames’ Versatility

Many facets of the adventure gaming hobby have a do-it-yourself aspect (DIY). Roleplaying gamers spend time creating their own settings and scenarios. Miniature wargamers work hard crafting terrain and props besides painting and basing figures. Both forms offer flexibility in altering rules (“house-ruling”) to better suit people’s different styles of play or level of detail/complexity. (Less so board and card games, including board wargames, all of which, by their very nature, include everything one needs in the box, ready to go.) Which means roleplaying games and miniature wargames can combine their DIY suitability with gamers’ needs and preferences to customize the play experience for a particular audience, venue, or event. Over the years I’ve tried to introduce gaming to new audiences, most recently at the local museum. Although roleplaying games aren’t ideally connected with local history, historical miniature wargames possess the capacity for customization to a particular time and place...with some DIY legwork and a bit of research.

WEG Memoirs: The Mos Eisley Diorama

 “You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.”

– Obi-Wan Kenobi

Now and then I post the photo of me running the Star Wars Roleplaying Game at a large, boxed-in diorama of Mos Eisley starport at a convention. During my time at West End I built the diorama from scratch and set it in a custom-made box for transport. I subsequently hauled it around to various conventions, even after the company went bankrupt. It’s sat in the basement or storage for many years now, but occasionally I pull it out, dust it off, and take some photos of it with the 25mm Star Wars miniatures I still have. I’ve featured the diorama and figures here before; head over to “Schweig’s Gaming Roadshow Gallery” and scroll down (though I’ve posted a few photos again here). It’s a relic from my West End days that still stirs feelings of nostalgia for a time when running demos on a visually appealing table helped promote one of my favorite games.

Culpeper’s Toy Soldier Exhibit

 “Culture arises and unfolds in and as play.”

– Johan Huizinga

On February 4 we visited the Museum of Culpeper History for a Sons of the American Revolution ceremony honoring African-Americans and Native Americans who served in the American War of Independence (AWI). I appreciate these opportunities to learn more about different aspects of history and how they affect our appreciation of our modern world. After a brief overview of the service these oft-overlooked groups gave fighting for freedom, a descendant of Revolutionary War officer Captain Phillip Slaughter spoke about his enslaved servant Spencer accompanying him on campaign in New Jersey, Valley Forge, and elsewhere, taking care of horses and the mess and otherwise supporting Patriot armies in the field. The gallery was packed – the previously planned outdoor ceremony was moved indoors given the forecast cold weather – and we luckily found a spot to stand in a corner of the Civil War gallery next to an exhibit of Civil War toy soldiers made in France. It reminded me I hadn’t taken any photos of these game-related artifacts before, and returned later that week to take pictures for my own reference (and to share) lest the exhibit change in the near future.

Victorian SF & the Yuletide Invasion

Bastet, in the form of our cat Vader, couldn't
resist nestling down amid all the
plastic foliage.

I’ve wanted to run a Victorian science fiction miniatures game for a while now, ever since John from the 54mm or Fight! blog generously sent me a box of 15mm painted and based miniatures. In the wake of Queen Elizabeth II’s passing – and reflections on gaming and colonialism – I started developing a storyline in which I could fight battles between the various forces John sent, including French Foreign legionaries, African troops, some American Civil War zoaves, and a massive host of lizardmen. I pulled out my jungle terrain and Egyptian temple pieces, set them up on my three foot square green felt mat, carefully assembled and deployed my units, jotted stats on record sheets, prepped my dice and cards...only to realize the yuletide holidays were bearing down on me. Although I’ve done everything to set up the initial battle in a campaign, including developing an overarching storyline, playing will have to wait until after the holidays.