The First Blacklands War

Many years ago, I took part in the Madasahatta Campaign. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the range of hardware and software that is readily available nowadays, and as a result, the records of the campaign are rather sparse.

The same cannot be said to be true of Archduke Piccolo’s FIRST BLACKLANDS WAR, which he has been fighting since August last year. He has been regularly publishing blog posts about the progress of the campaign, and a few days ago he wrote the last one.

The military situation at the start of the First Blacklands War.

The full list of his blog posts are as follows:

• A New Project That ... Isn’t ...
• The Blacklands War – the not-so-new project
• The Blacklands War – Beginnings
• First Blacklands War – Beginnings (2)
• First Blacklands War – Escalation
• First Blacklands War – The Second Week
• First Blacklands War – Battle of Stalacz
• First Blacklands War – Battle of Nicatiye
• First Blacklands War – Naval developments
• More Naval Developments
• Fleets completed ...
• Fleets painted ...
• Blacklands War – Naval ‘Stats’
• The First Blacklands War – The Third Week
• First Blacklands War – Duel of the Ironclads
• First Blacklands War – A peculiar battlefield
• First Blacklands War – Battle of Khalkidona
• First Blacklands War – Battle of Klyutch
• First Blacklands War – The War at Sea
• The First Blacklands War – The Fourth Week
• Naval Chromium
• First Blacklands War – A Blood-Letting at Dimitrovgrad
• Towards a Merchant Marine
• First Blacklands War – Battle of ‘Abstrati
• First Blacklands War – Battle of Kozani
• First Blacklands War – The War at Sea – Battle of Tekke Koyu (1)
• First Blacklands War – The War at Sea – Battle of Tekke Koyu (2)
• First Blacklands War – Siege of Scutari
• First Blacklands War – Battle of Vladicin Han
• First Blacklands War – Battle of Vladicin Han (2)
• First Blacklands War – Convoy
• First Blacklands War – Ship Stats
• The First Blacklands War – the Final Act
• The First Blacklands War – The End

This was a truly epic campaign that combined both land and naval action, and one that I think is worth great recognition within wargaming because it shows that it is possible to fight a campaign from start to finish without interest waning as it progresses. The blog posts also make for great reading, and a find it difficult to think that all but a few wargamers would not be inspired by reading all of the above!

The fact that Archduke Piccolo used an old map of mine as well as his own version of my PORTABLE WARGAME rules is purely incidental to my admiration for Archduke Piccolo's FIRST BLACKLANDS WAR campaign, and rather like Thislebarrow's ongoing series of Napoleonic campaigns, it shows just what is achievable if one puts ones mind to it.