My map of Zubia: The current state of play

After the very positive feedback that I got, I have decided to persevere with the map of Zubia that I had begun to create using MS Paint.

I have made a few changes. These include:

• Making the map slightly larger so that it is now equivalent to the size of twenty-four (six wide by four high) mini-campaign boards.
• Changing some of the colours that I have used to make the map clearer.
• Adding some more hills and mountains.
• Adding the course of the Zubian Canal to the extreme right-hand side of the map.

The resulting map now looks like this:

There is still some detail (such as the locations of buildings) that is probably too detailed and too restrictive for a campaign map and I may well replace these with a simple light grey hex or hexes to indicate a settlement. I also need to add the place names, and I hope to do that next.

Mimi and Toutou Go Forth ... revisited

Many years ago I wrote a simple set of naval gunboat rules so that I could take a game to COW (Conference of Wargamers) about operations on Lake Tanganyika during the Great War. I later published them in GRIDDED NAVAL WARGAMES.

Last weekend, fellow blogger David Crook asked for copies of the damage record cards I had drawn for the game as he wanted to use the rules. As he needed damage record cards for several other ships that took part in these operations, I drew them for him. As a result, I now have a total of six damage record cards and these are shown below:

HMS Mimi

HMS Toutou

HMS Fifi (the captured SMS Kingani)

SMS Kingani

SMS Hedwig von Wissmman

SMS Graf von Goltz

My map of Zubia ...

... turned into a bit of a monster ... BUT creating me taught me loads of useful lessons!

I started out by drawing maps of all the battlefields that had featured in my previous Zubia-based wargames. The end results looked like this:

Secundria.

Zigazag.

Wadi Halfwa.

Abu Nasir.

Massala.

A-Nahr.

I then created a large hex grid (33 hexes wide by 30 hexes high) and pasted these maps in their relative positions to one another. Once that was done, I filled in the blank areas with hills, mountains, oases etc. My final map looked like this:

The finished map of Zubia. The approximate locations of the maps shown above and shown by the red rectangles.

The finished map of Zubia. Click on the map to see an enlarged view of the map.

I am rather pleased with the outcome but about halfway through creating it I realised that it was far too big to be practical. That said, it has given me the opportunity to use MS Paint to create a relatively simple hex map drawing system.

Other people's Portable Wargames ... Nick Huband's Battle of Mons battle report

On the day before the 110th anniversary of the Battle of Mons (23rd August), Nick Huband refought the battle on a 6 x 6 square grid using his World War I adaptation of the Portable Wargame rules. He shared the following description of the wargame on the Portable Wargame Facebook page as well as the photographs featured below.

I used the 'Over The Top' rules in the Second Portable Wargame Compendium with a few tweaks; if a square is attacked by a single unit, every unit in the square is attacked simultaneously (this reflects the punishing effect of "bunching"), rifle range is two squares and I left out the reserve areas as they're not really needed in the early encounter battles. The 6 x 6 board is a very condensed version of the battlefield with the Mons-Conde canal running across the centre of the board and the town of Mons on the right.

The opposing forces were similarly condensed with twelve battalions (stands) of German infantry, two of Jaeger and two of cavalry, supported by four stands of artillery and three of machine guns. The British forces comprised ten battalions of infantry, three stands of artillery and one machine gun stand. The stretcher bearers, dressing station, and despatch rider are just eye candy! Strength points were 70 SPs for the Germans and 45 SPs for the British. The length of the game was set at 10 turns.

The Germans representing the 18th Division of Kluck's First Army arrived from the north sequentially and deployed to assault the canal and bridge on the British right. On turn 4, Jaeger and Cavalry arrived to threaten the British left flank (the cavalry were dismounted as I haven't got any suitable German cavalry on foot).

The action proceeded much as the actual action, a grinding advance by the Germans to reach the canal with both sides suffering from rifle and artillery fire (I'm beginning to understand the value of good artillery preparation!).

By turn 7 the Germans had crossed the bridge and there was fierce fighting in the town. On the other flank after a lengthy exchange of fire across the canal, the dismounted German cavalry finally rushed across the bridge threatening, the British left flank.

By turn 9, towards the end of the day, the Germans were gaining the upper hand in the street fighting and the British had reached their exhaustion point and broke off the action. Casualties were 33 SPs for the Germans and 24 SPs for the British. This is very close to the estimated casualty ratio based on 1,600 British casualties and some 2,000 German casualties (based on analysis of German records - and not by Terence Zuber). Also the game took 9 turns, just under a day (10 turns) just as it did historically. This gives me some confidence in the effectiveness of the rules.

The start of the action with the Germans just coming into view.

The Germans start to deploy.

British defenders of the canal under shellfire.

The German attack developing with the cavalry and Jaeger coming up on the left.

The German attack developing with the cavalry and Jaeger coming up on the left.

Hand-to-hand fighting in the town.

Fighting on the left flank.

The struggle for the town continues until the British reach their Exhaustion Point and break off the action.

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Please note that photographs featured above are © Nick Huband.

Starting work on my map of Zubia

I have been thinking about drawing the first map for my Belle Époque project, and having extensively wargamed conflicts in that country, I looked back at the maps and photographs of the battles I had fought ... and realised that they would provide me with the basis of a Belle Époque campaign map of that country.

A selection of these maps and photographs is shown below:

The campaign map of Zubia from the 'Portable Colonial Wargame' book.

The 'Bombardment of Secundria' from the 'Trouble in Zubia' book.

The 'Advance from Port Zub' from the 'Trouble in Zubian' book.

The 'Attack on Wadi Halwa' from the 'Trouble in Zubian' book.

The 'Defence of Massala' from the 'Trouble in Zubia' book.

The 'Evacuation of Abou Nasir' from the 'Trouble in Zubia' book.

The map of the area where the 'Battle of Al-Nahr' was fought in the 'Portable Colonial Wargame' book.

My next task is to see if I can draw a hex gridded map that will incorporate as much of the above as I can. In theory, this should be a relatively simple task ... I hope!

Things To Come: The 'Attack of the Hill People' battle report: A YouTube video

This new video contains a battle report of a wargame that I fought over ten years ago.

The scenario for the wargame is based on a section of Alexander Korda and H G Wells' film THINGS TO COME and depicts the attack by the Army of Everytown on the Army of the Hill People.

An earlier background video to this scenario can be found here.

The video can be seen here on the Wargaming Miscellany YouTube channel.

Heroscape on the North-West Frontier

Some time ago I gave some of my surplus Heroscape hexed terrain to fellow wargamer and Peter Laing enthusiast Ian Dury. He has recently sent me some photographs of the Heroscape hexed terrain that he has repainted so that he can fight action on the North-West Frontier. It looks very impressive, as the following photographs show.

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Please note that photographs featured above are © Ian Dury.

Things To Come: Background to the 'Attack of the Hill People' scenario: A YouTube video

This new video (which I uploaded yesterday) provides the background to a scenario that I fought over ten years ago.

The scenario is based on a section of Alexander Korda and H G Wells' film THINGS TO COME and depicts the attack by the Army of Everytown on the Army of the Hill People.

The video can be seen here on the Wargaming Miscellany YouTube channel.

Experimenting with my video editing software

When I started out making videos for my Wargaming Miscellany YouTube channel, I received a comment that my videos might be improved by the addition of a musical sound track.

At the time, I was still trying to learn how to use my video editing software, but over the past few days I have been experimenting with adding a musical soundtrack to a couple of videos I have made. These give the background to a wargame that I fought over ten years ago as well as a battle report about that tabletop battle.

These two videos will be uploaded by the end of the week and I would appreciate helpful feedback.

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I had hoped to use the soundtrack from THINGS TO COME on these two videos, but as I could not find a suitable electronic copy of the music, I ended up using MARS from Gustav Holst's Planet Suite instead. The details of the recording that I used are:

The Planets, Op. 32: I. Mars, the Bringer of War played by the London Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Sir Colin Davis.

Something to build

It is a very long time since I made a model kit, but recently I bought a Faller kit from an eBay seller.

The model is one that was first introduced by Faller in 1965(!) and it has the code number B-924 and is named 'Old-town block'. The box looks like this:

I found photographs of the complete kit on the Faller website and I think that this will make a great basis for the capital of one of my Belle Époque imagi-nations.

I hope to put this kit together over the next week or so ... and by doing so I will able to feel as if I have made some progress on my Belle Époque project.

Dealing with the brick wall

After I wrote my recent blog post entitled HITTING A BRICK WALL, I have done a lot of thinking. One thing that I did was to read a blog post that I wrote back on 11th January this year. It was entitled A LONG, HARD THINK ABOUT MY FUTURE WARGAMING, and in some of the concluding paragraphs I wrote the following:

I have been mulling what my future wargaming priorities should be for some time. Until very recently I was still very undecided … and then I read an obituary about the late John Ruddle’s garden wargaming, and things began to fall into place.

In the obituary, the wargaming part of John’s garden was described as being L-shaped, with a long left-hand border that was split into Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, and Italy. At right-angles to this and across the bottom of the garden were sections that represented Africa and the Northwest Frontier of India. At the join of the two section was Turkey, and the lawn represented the oceans. My immediate reaction was ‘I’d love to do something like that, but my garden isn’t suitable.’ However, after some thought, I decided that an indoor version of something like it might be possible.

My current thinking is along the lines that I could create a terrain board for each of my Belle Époque imagi-nations using the game board/map from Waddington’s CAMPAIGN game as a guide. These terrain boards could be stored in my future wargame/toy room and be brought out and used as and when required. It would allow me to exercise my terrain modelling skills (something that I have recently rediscovered and that I really do enjoy!) and become the basis of an imaginary wargaming world where nations – both large and small – are constantly vying with each other.

I now realise that this might have been a bit too ambitious a project ... but I think that there is a kernel of a good idea in it. I don't think that I will have room to build and store a large number of terrain boards but I might have room for a number of home-made terrain cloths. Alternately, I might be able to find a way to use my Hexon II hex terrain system and my mini-campaign board.

This appears to run contrary to what I wrote so recently, but I can see no reason why I cannot buy a laptop with a bigger screen, and Sue has – within reason – agreed to get anything that I need for my toy/wargame room. This would remove the two things that are currently restricting the work on my Belle Époque project, and as my mobility improves, these restrictions should ease.

The brick wall is still there … but I’m finding ways to get around it.

Soldiers of the Queen (SOTQ) Issue 189

The latest issue of the Victorian Military Society's SOTQ (Soldiers of the Queen) arrived by post on Wednesday, and I have read it over the past few days.

The articles included in this issue are:

• 'A little crazy': Charles James Napier as Commander-in-Chief, India, 1849-50 by Professor Peter Stanley
• 'Pleasure marred by exaggerated apprehension' – Playing Polo in the British Army by Dr Andrew Winrow
• Reputation and Recrimination: Frederick Roberts, the Gough Brothers and the Second Afghan War by Professor Ian F W Beckett
• Index to main topics – Part Three (of Three) Soldiers of the Queen (Journal of the Victorian Military Society) by volume number (Volumes 1 - 186)
• Book Reviews by Roger T Stearn and Andy Smith
• Officers of the Victorian Military Society

Yet again there is lots in this issue for anyone with an interest in Britain's military history of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The index of past issues is extremely useful, and although I do not have access to every copy of SOTQ that has been published, knowing where to find a particular article may be very helpful in the future.

The annual cost of membership of the Victorian Military Society is:

• UK: £30.00
• Overseas: £40.00 [except for Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore: £43.00])

As I have written many times before, in my opinion it is well worth it.

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The Victorian Military Society will be holding a special event at the National Army Museum on Saturday 14th September. It is entitled ARMY, EMPIRE AND CINEMA and will be looking at how the wars of the nineteenth century have been portrayed on film. The speakers include Ian Beckett, Ian Knight, Mark Connolly, Rodney Attwood, and Christopher Brice.

The cost of a ticket is £20.00 for members and £25.00 for non-member and tickets can be booked online at www.victorianmilitary.org/shop.