Saturday, 21 March 2015

Of the playing of games- what do you think?

I've been looking at my 1/72 tanks and plastic mountain in the shed and fancy taking them forward,probably with Grant's Battle ! rules, as a project. Ive also been musing over gaming recent history ( or so it seems to one born in 1960) ie WW2. For some reason I feel happier proceeding in terms of imaginations like the Duchy of Volare- Cantare or Army Black, Green etc .Am I just being precious or what ? What do you do and why?
Posted by at

11 comments:

  1. Ian21 March 2015 at 09:35

    It's a tough one. I don't want to wargame WWI due to it's high death rate but am happy to wargame WWII which should make no sense. Anything after WWII other that the Vietnam war has always been off limits.

    It is personal though, I think you have to go with what you are comfortable with and not with what others think is right.

    Ian

    ReplyDelete
  2. Robert (Bob) Cordery21 March 2015 at 10:28

    Tradgardmastare,

    I am facing a similar problem. I have a lot of WW2 stuff and want to re-fight the Eastern Front campaign ... but I don't want to include the atrocities perpetrated by both sides. Neither do I want to represent units of the SS or NKVD.

    So what should I do?

    At present I don't have an answer, but I am tending towards the imagi-nation route. One benefit that does present itself if I do that is that I can use generic weapon and troop types (i.e. A tank is a tank ... and not 'This is a Pzkpfw III and that is a T-26') thus avoiding some of the rivet-counting detail of some rules.

    If my memory is not letting me down, I seem to remember that Phil Barker had a Russian-style Cold War army that was named after a North American tribe ... because they were 'red' Indians.

    Just my thoughts.

    All the best,

    Bob

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ian21 March 2015 at 11:51

      I think it's possible to have a campaign set on the Eastern Front that keeps away from the SS and NKVD, especially the first year.

      I too would be uneasy fielding the SS with figures but have happily used SS in ASL, maybe the cardboard makes this OK????

      Ian

      Delete
    2. Robert (Bob) Cordery21 March 2015 at 13:32

      Ian,

      True ... and I managed it in a recent mini-campaign I ran. The problem arises once the 1942 campaign begins, and both sides begin to use 'extreme' measures.

      Does using cardboard counters rather than actual figures make a difference? It shouldn't ... but somehow I suspect that the former are easier to use than the latter.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
    3. Ian21 March 2015 at 16:03

      Hi Bob

      I think you can leave out the brutal effects of 1942 in so much as not providing the troops that are well known for the actions though regular troops did more than their fare share in truth.

      Regards cardboard, it should make no difference but I find it does for me, though I try not to play any of the scenarios were such as the ZOB are used (Jewish resistance) mostly as they tend to be not a lot more than route out and destroy type games that when placed against the background of atrocities to the Jews makes this very distasteful.

      Ian

      Delete
  3. The Good Soldier Svjek21 March 2015 at 10:39

    Imaginations are easier as your not bound by historic organizations and troop and vehicle types , Tony

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ross Mac rmacfa@gmail.com21 March 2015 at 11:37

    I see no reason why Red/Blue armies shouldn't be used for modern or recent history games after all modern armies train that way.

    Nothing wrong with wargaming the whole history if desired but the fictional setting lets you either remove social/political aspects from the military or to create your own world in which case 20thC technology is no worse than 21stC or 18thC.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kevin22 March 2015 at 11:16

    I much prefer imagi-nations over real history. You have more flexibility and can avoid having to play with unsavory units. You can even change the timeline. For example, my sci-fi games are essentially World War 2 in space. http://warwellwg.blogspot.com/2014/12/attack-on-selenia.html

    ReplyDelete
  6. tradgardmastare22 March 2015 at 12:35

    I would not field SS,NKVD etc myself either.
    I'm thinking of going with Army Black, Army White & Army Red/White/Green at the moment though things may change...
    I liked the imagination idea of Charles Grant in Battle!- Myopia.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous22 March 2015 at 14:26

    I happily war-gamed WWII and played a LOT of cold war games. Then the Falklands happened and it all got way too close to home. Near future/sci fi armour became the only way to comfortable play modern games. became

    ReplyDelete
  8. Tom28 March 2015 at 11:14

    I think gamers of all periods overlook the more unpleasant side of history, specially when we focus on uniforms and technology. Imaginations in certainly one way to go, and for a 'recent' conflict you could even build up the forces of Freedonia or something similar and populate it with some characters.

    For another perspective, I recently read a biography of Charles XII. I knew little other than the battles of Narva and Poltava, but was surprised and a little shocked to read of the behaviour of the Swedes in Poland, Ukraine and Russia where they burned villages and killed civilians and prisoners of war; things that we've heard about in WW2, some 230-plus years latter. For years I had the view promoted by 18c rules that this was an era of gentlemanly and 'civilised' war between professionals.

    And will this new knowledge stop me playing horse and musket games? I doubt it, though it will temper my view of some characters and armies. I may well post some more thoughts on another blog.
    regards,

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)