Cutting one's coat according to one's cloth

Regular blog readers might find some of what follows covers things that I have previously written about on my blog, but for completeness – and to help me to clarify my own thinking – I have written about how I arrived at the situation I find myself in today.

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When I retired in 2014, I had visions of spending loads of time wargaming and doing wargame-related activities ... interspersed – of course – with going on cruises, doing the usual round of household chores, and fitting in all the other things that normal life demands.

In anticipation of this, during the early years of the new century we spent quite a lot on money converting our house's loft into an home office, a shower room, and what became my toy/wargame room, and for the first years on my retirement I was able to use the latter almost every day.

Then real life made itself felt. A simple test showed signs of blood in my faeces, and on investigation it was discovered that I had a small cancerous polyp in my intestines. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic I went into hospital to have a minor keyhole surgical procedure to remove it. The operation did not go according to plan and I ended up with what turned out to be an irreversible colostomy.

Two years later, what I thought was a minor problem with my urinary system turned out to be prostate cancer ... and since then I've undergone chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery. The cancer is still there, but it is under control and does not seem to be getting any worse.

Now, these two cancers rather took the wind out of my wargaming sails, but I carried on as best I could. I found things a bit more difficult as I was spending lots of time either undergoing treatment or tests, but what time I was able to devote to my hobby was very enjoyable ... and then I broke my right leg, just above the ankle.

I had been experiencing problems with my legs for many years, but by 2024 they had become very weak and climbing the stairs to my toy/wargame room was sometimes very difficult. On the evening of 10th April, I stood up from a living room chair in order to go to bed, and as I walked forward, my right leg gave way and my fall broke my leg.

What followed was nearly three weeks in hospital and then twenty-two weeks confined to bed at home. For the first sixteen weeks, my axonal polyneuropathy – the cause of my weakness – had left me unable to walk, let alone climb the stairs up to my toy/wargame room. At the time, the prognosis was that I would probably be confined to a wheelchair and not walk again, but thanks to the Royal Greenwich Reablement Team and six weeks of intensive physiotherapy was not only able to stand again on my own two legs – with the aid of a walking frame and walking sticks – but actually begin to learn how to climb up a flight of stairs.

Twenty-five weeks after I had broken my leg, we had a stairlift installed, and on 2nd October I was able to use it to go up to bed the first time in nearly six months ... and a visit to my toy/wargame room soon followed.

It soon became apparent that it was very unlikely that I was going to be able to fulfill my dreams of wargaming as much as I had hoped when I retired. Just getting upstairs – even using the stairlift – was tedious and very restricting. If I went up there, I felt marooned ... and if I didn't go up, I felt cheated of the enjoyment I get from wargaming. This dilemma has hung around every since, and every attempt I have made to find a solution has not exactly been a failure but has proved unsatisfactory.

This is where I now find myself ... and until I can find a workable solution, I cannot seem to make significant progress. This is not to say that things have been in a state of limbo; I've been working on my Belle Époque project and I've been gaming on a regular basis at Dice on the Hill. I've also been playing around with a new version of my PORTABLE WARGAME rules for use with my Belle Époque project and trying to devise a set of campaign maps for this project.

So, what do I need to do? I need to create a truly portable wargame that is light and small enough so that I can either bring downstairs and set it up on our dining table or that I can set up on the worktable in my toy/wargame room. I have the figures, I have the draft of a set of rules that might be suitable, and I have loads of Hexon II terrain ... but the latter is not as portable as I need.

I’ve been playing around with possible alternatives to the Hexon II … and I am giving serious consideration to using either a square gridded cloth or board. The choice of squares makes sense for several reasons:

• Late nineteenth century warfare tended to be linear in nature, and using a square grid reflects this.
• It is easy to mark up a cloth or board with a square grid.
• It harks back to games like Joseph Morschauser's FRONTIER and Dr. David Charles Ballinger Griffith’s POLEMOS.

At present I am looking at using 5cm x 5cm (2-inch x 2-inch) squares. I've used this size of grid square in the past (e.g. The Attack on Morobad) ...

The Attack on Morobad. It used a 12 x 12 grid of 5cm x 5cm (2-inch x 2-inch) squares on a sand-coloured felt cloth. The Great Wall of Morobad was homemade from wooden Jenga blocks mounted on 5cm x 5xm MDF squares and the palm trees were mounted on bases made from Fimo.

... and an 8 x 8 grid would be 40cm x 40cm (16-inches x 16-inches) and a 12 x 12 grid would be 60cm x 60cm (24-inches x 24-inches). Both of these would be ideal for my requirements.

Another advantage of using this size of grid square is that my existing Belle Époque collection is mounted on 4cm-wide MDF bases (Infantry on 4cm x 2cm, cavalry on 4cm x 3cm, and artillery on 4cm x 4cm bases) that fit inside this size of grid square. In addition, I will be able to mount terrain on 5cm x 5cm MDF squares (or multiples thereof), of which I have a plentiful supply.

This is the current state-of-play with regard to my plans to create a truly portable wargame that I can easily carry up and down stairs from my toy/wargame room or fit on my worktable. Now all I have to do is to get hold of a suitably-sized piece of felt material or board ... and then I can start being creative.

Desperta Ferro ... back numbers

As regular blog readers will know, I am very enamoured with the Spanish military history magazine, DESPERTA FERRO. I bought my first issue in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria during our Christmas cruise and my next three copies when we revisited the city during our recent cruise.

I was looking at the magazine's website and realised that there were four back issues that covered periods of particular interest to me ... so I ordered them! They were delivered in less than a fortnight and I have been looking though them with great interest.

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DESPERTA FERRO – ESPECIALES (No. 36): EJÉRTICOS DE LA GUERRA CIVIL (I): EL EJÉRTICO ESPAÑOL EN 1936 (ARMIES OF THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR (I): THE SPANISH ARMY IN 1936)

• Ejército y sociedad. De la Restauración a la República (Army and Society: From the Restoration to the Republic) by Alfonso Iglesias Amorín
• En vísperas de la catástrofe. Las Fuerzas Armadas en julio de 1936 (On the Eve of the Catastrophe: The Armed Forces in July 1936) by Roberto Muñoz Bolaños
• La reforma militar de Manuel Azaña (Manuel Azaña’s Military Reform) by Justo Alberto Huerta Barajas
• Marruecos y las raíces del africanismo (Morocco and the Roots of Africanism) by Daniel Macías
• La industria militar española a comienzos del siglo XX (The Spanish Military Industry at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century) by Manfredo Monforte Moreno
• Entre el antimilitarismo y la defensa de la República. La Unión Militar Republicana Antifascista (Between Antimilitarism and the Defence of the Republic: the Republican Antifascist Military Union) by Eduardo González Calleja
• El orden y la ley. Las fuerzas de seguridad republicanas (Order and Law: The Republican Security Forces) by Sergio Vaquero Martínez
• Conspiradores en uniforme. Las tramas militares contra la República (Conspirators in Uniform: Military Plots against the Republic) by Francisco Alía Miranda
• La travesía del fénix. El desarrollo de la aviación military (The Phoenix’s Journey: The Development of Military Aviation) by Marcelino Sempere Doménech
• Vidas paralelas. Los generales Domingo Batet y Manuel Goded (Parallel Lives: Generals Domingo Batet and Manuel Goded) by Fernando Puell de la Villa
• El difícil camino de la modernidad. El armamento español en 1936 (The Difficult Road to Modernity: Spanish Armaments in 1936) by José Vicente Herrero Pérez
• La división de las Fuerzas Armadas ante la sublevación (The Division of the Armed Forces in the Face of the Uprising) by Alberto Ayuso García

DESPERTA FERRO – ESPECIALES (No. 40): EJÉRTICOS DE LA GUERRA CIVIL (II): EL EJÉRTICO ESPAÑOL DE ÁFRICA (ARMIES OF THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR (II): THE ARMY OF AFRICA)

• El Ejército de África en julio de 1936 (The Army of Africa in July 1936) by Jesús Albert Salueña
• Las primeras columnas en la Península (The First Columns on the Peninsula) by Joaquín Gil Honduvilla
• El reclutamiento en el protectorado (Recruitment in the Protectorate) by Mimoun Aziza
• Regulares, mehalas y Tiradores de Ifni (Regulares, Mehalas, and the Ifni Tirailleurs) by Alberto Guerrero Martín
• Lógica colonial y guerra civil (Colonial Logic and Civil War) by Alba Llavina Ros
• La Legión en Guerra (The Legion at War) by José Luis Rodríguez Jiménez
• El retorno del “moro”. Nacionalismo, estereotipos y propaganda (The Return of the “Moor”: Nationalism, Stereotypes, and Propaganda) by Xosé M. Núñez Seixas
• Las unidades coloniales en el Ejército sublevado (Colonial Units in the Rebel Army) by David Alegre Lorenz
• La vida cotidiana del soldado marroquí (The Daily Life of the Moroccan Soldier) by Alí al Tuma
• La caballería de Regulares en combate, el Tabor de Alhucemas n.º 5 (The Regulares Cavalry in Combat: the Alhucemas Tabor No. 5) by Jesús Martínez de Merlo
• Mohamed ben Mizzian. El único general español de origen marroquí (Mohamed ben Mizzian: The Only Spanish General of Moroccan Origin) by Fernando Puell de la Villa
• “Hombres de Mola” y “hombres del sur”. Los africanistas en el franquismo (“Mola’s Men” and “Men of the South”: Africanists in Francoism) by Roberto Muñoz Bolaños

DESPERTA FERRO – ESPECIALES (No. 44): EJÉRTICOS DE LA GUERRA CIVIL (III): LAS MILICIAS REPUBLICANAS (ARMIES OF THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR (III): THE REPUBLICAN MILITIAS)

• Paramilitares. Las milicias izquierdistas de preguerra (Paramilitaries: Left Wing Militias before the War) by Eduardo González Calleja
• Cubriendo el vacío. La disolución ejército y la organización de Milicias (Filling the Void: The Dissolution of the Army and the Organization of Militias) by Fernando Hernández Sánchez
• El Quinto Regimiento de Milicias Populares (The Fifth Regiment of Popular Militias) by Juan Andrés Blanco Rodríguez
• El Comité Central de Milicias Antifascistas de Cataluña (The Central Committee of Antifascist Militias of Catalonia) by Manel López Esteve
• Milicianas. Mujeres reales detrás del mito (Women Militians: Real Women Behind the Myth) by Sofía Rodríguez López
• “Sangre de la juventud”. Las milicias socialistas y de la JSU (“Blood of Youth”: The Socialist Militias and the JSU) by Fernando Hernández Sánchez
• Euzko Gudarostea. Las milicias nacionalistas vascas (Euzko Gudarostea: The Basque Nationalist Militias) by Roberto Muñoz Bolaños
• La revolución en el frente. Las milicias anarquistas en Levante (The Revolution at the Front: Anarchist Militias in Levante) by Julián Vadillo Muñoz
• Líster y Mera. La forja de los mandos de Milicias (Líster and Mera: The Forging of Militia Commanders) by Luis A. Ruiz Casero
• En defensa de la revolución. La formación del Consejo de Aragón (In Defence of the Revolution: The Formation of the Council of Aragon) by Assumpta Castillo Cañiz
• Retaguardia republicana. Comités y violencia revolucionaria (The Republican Rear Guard: Committees and Revolutionary Violence) by Fernando Jiménez Herrera
• Armas para el pueblo. Balance de las milicias en combate (Arms for the People: An Assessment of the Militias in Combat) by Daniel Raya Crespi

DESPERTA FERRO – HISTORIA MODERNA (No. 54): LA GUERRA RUSO-TURCA 1877-1878 (THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR 1877-1878)

• La gran crisis de Oriente (The Great Eastern Crisis) by Lucien Frary
• De los Balcanes al Cáucaso. Campañas de la Guerra Ruso-Turca (From the Balkans to the Caucasus: Campaigns of the Russo Turkish War) by Andrei Pogăciaș
• La reforma del Ejército ruso, 1856-1877 (The Reform of the Russian Army, 1856–1877) by Roger R. Reese
• El asedio de Plevna (The Siege of Plevna) by Ömer Turan
• La última cruzada. El paneslavismo durante la gran crisis de Oriente (The Last Crusade: Pan Slavism during the Great Eastern Crisis) by Denis Vovchenko
• Las batallas del paso de Shipka (The Battles of the Shipka Pass) by Alexander Statiev
• El Tratado de Berlín, la mecha que prendería la Primera Guerra Mundial (The Treaty of Berlin, the Fuse That Would Ignite the First World War) by Lucien Frary

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There's lots here to get my teeth into ... and to think about.

Investigating my recent blog hits

I recently mentioned that there didn't seem to be much let up in the number of hits my blog was receiving ... so I did an investigation.

Over the past three months, my blog appears to have been 'visited' by people from the following countries:

This makes for interesting reading. For example, I don't believe that 183,000 Vietnamese, 164,000 Brazilians, and 138,000 Singaporeans have – over the past three months – been motivated by my random thoughts and deathless prose to be bothered to read my blog. So, I must assume that most of the hits from these countries – along with those from India, Hong Kong, Bangladesh, and Iraq – are the result of AI bot activity.

Is this what one of my regular blog post readers looks like? Judging by the above data, the answer is 'Yes'!

I suppose that the above isn't much of a surprise ... but it did set me wondering how much money I might have earned if I had chosen to monetise this blog, something that I have always resisted doing ... and will continue to resist.

The Timeless Traveller: A recap and an update

First, an update of last week's action, as written by our gamemaster, Paolo:

The group has joined the 10 days celebration for the retirement of Sir Thinkertop in his marvellous ship, the Timeless Wanderer.

The ship is an exceptional piece of transportation, swarming with magic, people, and entertainment. The group is here to celebrate and have fun, but also, some members of the group have other 'motives' to be onboard. In the first hours on the ship, the group have met Alondra Winterleaf, an historian who is doing some research in the area, the Silamane Twins, performers that will entertain the celebration on the third day, and Umbert Darkbark, shady character that has promised to 'supply' special items to the group. They also met other guests and servants on the ship.

Highlights of the Morning:

• The security of the boat has no tolerance for 'funny business'.

• Our Stormshifter is really, REALLY interested in meeting the captain.

• Some stories about an ancient cult and ruins of a temple.

• And the sweet and mystical twins will perform on the third day, hoping to entertain all in the ship, specially the servants.

During last Wednesday's session:

The Stormshifter met the Captain ... and managed to cause the ship to veer off course and got himself removed from the ship's bridge. He then rejoined us in the ship's main room.

From there, we all went to the casino ... where we all moved to a table where a roulette-style game was taking place. It involved the use of a small mouse-like animal (a nofling) that ran around the table grabbing all the bets and then standing on a winning number. Whilst the Songweaver engaged a dwarf who was sitting at the table and winning every game, I watched what was happening ... and was immediately struck by the fact that the whole game was crooked! I grabbed the nofling ... and then let it go. The nofling was immediately put away and replaced by another ... and the dwarf stopped winning!

At this point, the Songweaver ate something that caused him to vomit across the table ... and during the ensuing disturbance, I took the newly-boxed nofling out of its storage bag. and hid it under the table. Once he had recovered, I passed the animal over to the Songweaver and asked him to try to sell it to the dwarf. By this time we had all adjourned to the bar, where the dwarf laughed off our offer. At this, the Stormshifter managed to take the nofling from its box and hid it in the dwarf's compendious clothing.

The Stormshifter then summoned the guards and reported that the dwarf had stolen the animal! When they heard this story, they laughed ... because the dwarf was the ship's supplier of noflings!

At this point, I had to leave the session as my stoma began to give me serious problems. Hopefully my companions will let me know what happened after I left.

Lone Warrior No.231

I recently resubscribed to the Solo Wargamers Association, and over the weekend a PDF of the association's journal, LONE WARRIOR arrived attached to an email. I read it with great interest, especially as two of the contributors are people I know; John Curry (who is a long-time member of Wargame Developments) and Carl Luxford (who is a regular reader of this blog)

John's article examines the various ways in which solo wargamers can use AI such as ChatGPT, including designing solo adventures for RPG and solo wargame rules.

Carl's article is entitled GAMING THE KELJA MOTTI (KELJA BRIDGEHEAD OR SALIENT) 1939 and contains a brief history of the events leading up to the outbreak of the Russo-Finnish War and the opening months of the war. It then describes the ten stages or phases of his refight.

1. The bombardment of the Russian 2nd wave of attackers.
2. The Finnish counter-attack on 2nd battalion 220th Rifle Regiment by 8th company 29 Infantry Regiment.
3. The Finnish counter-attack on 2nd battalion 220th Rifle Regiment by 2 further companies of 29 Infantry Regiment as well as 8th company 29 Infantry Regiment, the battalion’s HQ, and a heavy weapons company.
4. The Finnish counter-attack by 6th company 30 Infantry Regiment on the remnants of 2nd battalion 220th Rifle Regiment.
5. The Finnish counter-attack by 9th and 7th companies, 3rd battalion 28 Infantry Regiment on the remnants of 2nd battalion 220th Rifle Regiment.
6. The Finnish counter-attack by 8th company 3rd battalion 28 Infantry Regiment.
7. The bombardment of the Russian 3rd wave.
8. The Finnish counter-attack by 1st and 3rd companies 6th Independent Infantry Battalion.
9. The final Finnish assault led by a rifle company of 6th Independent Infantry Battalion.
10. Any surviving Russian forces capable of retreating try to escape from the Kelja Motti.

I was very pleased to read that he used the PORTABLE WARGAME to fight his solo mini-campaign. He adapted the rules to give each Finnish company and Russian company (or, in the earlier stages, each Russian battalion) its own Exhaustion Point.

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A one-year membership of the Solo Wargamers Association entitles you to four PDF issues of LONE WARRIOR. It costs $15 per year and payment must be made in US currency only via PayPal using the following email address: lonewarrior.editor.man@gmail.com.

I am taking part in an online American Civil War campaign

My old friend Professor Gary Sheffield has invited me to take part in an online American Civil War campaign ... and I have just issued my first commands to my Confederate troops!

The campaign is taking place on an island off the coast of the Carolinas that bears a remarkable resemblance to Sicily. Indeed, some of the place names do appear to be similar – if not the same – to some of the places on that Italian island!

Both sides have similar-sized forces:

• 27 x Infantry Regiments (6 x Elite infantry regiments, and 15 Regular infantry regiments, and 6 x Militia infantry regiments)
• 9 x Cavalry Regiments
• 4 x Artillery Batteries

The infantry regiments are organised into infantry brigades. Each infantry brigade comprises two to six infantry regiments, and each infantry regiment must be of the same status. A cavalry regiment and/or artillery battery may be attached to the infantry brigade.

The cavalry regiments can be organised into cavalry brigades or attached to infantry brigades. Each cavalry brigade comprises two to six cavalry regiments.

I hope to write blog posts about how this campaign unfolds, but in the meantime, I'm keeping my ORBAT and initial moves to myself!

The Timeless Traveller: My new fantasy role-playing role

Last Wednesday I took part in the first session of a new fantasy role-play game. It is being run by a very experienced gamemaster called Paolo and we are using the free version of the core Nimble RPG rules.

These are available online:

• Free Core Nimble Rules

Also available from the same website as free downloads are:

• Blank Printable Character Sheets
• Form Fillable PDF Character Sheet
• Premade Level 1 Heroes
• Adventure Maps

Of the available character types, I chose to be a Berserker named Ragnar Shortbeard, and thanks to ChatGPT, I look like this:

My fellow players include:

• A Cheat
• A Shadowmancer
• A Shepherd
• A Stormshifter
• A Songweaver

The story so far:

The richest man in the world has decided to retire, and to mark his retirement he is going to hold a ten-day-long party aboard the largest ship in his trading fleet. I had been approached by his head of security to act in an undercover role at the event, and along with my fellow adventurers, I had obtained an invitation to the party.

On going aboard, those of our party who had magical powers had to wear a special jewelled gold bracelet around their arm so that they could not use their powers during the party. Those of us who were armed had to hand over our weapons 'for safe keeping' although the Cheat managed to conceal a blade in their walking stick.

It soon became obvious that the ship was not an ordinary one. To move from one location to another, all one had to do was to pass through a portal and state your destination ... and you were transported there. In addition, if you wanted anything like a drink or food, a servant would appear with it and then disappear as soon as you had taken it from them.

After going to the main room aboard the ship, we met several of the other guests, including someone who was dealing in recreational magic potions, twin sisters who are singers and who are booked to perform later during the event, and a lyre-playing bard who was performing on a dais in the centre of the room when we arrived.

The Royal Mail can sometimes get things very wrong!

I recently ordered some painted figures from an eBay seller, and they sent them to me once I had returned from our recent cruise. The seller made sure that everything was securely packed in bubble wrap and cardboard and placed into two substantial cardboard boxes that were taped together with loads of white parcel tape marked with the word ‘Fragile’ in red letters. They then passed it over into the care of the Royal Mail.

That is where things seem to have gone wrong.

I have no idea what they did to the parcel before they delivered it, but it looked as if the word ‘Fragile’ was not just ignored but acted as a trigger for them to treat the parcel with little care. When it was delivered, the corners of the parcel looked crushed and there was an ominous rattle when one picked it up. When it was opened, most of the packaging had burst open, and I would estimate that between 30% and 40% of the figures - which had been based in threes on plastic bases - were loose and quite a few were damaged.

This should not have happened … but it did. The seller did everything to ensure that the parcel and its contents were properly packaged, but the Royal Mail seems to have failed to do its duty to deliver the parcel in the condition in which it was given to them.

Is there any possible redress? Well, I could ask the seller to pursue the matter as the Royal Mail insists that it is only the person who posts an item who can initiate a trace … but that seems to me to be rather an imposition on a seller who sold me these figures at a very reasonable price. Furthermore, the compensation would be negligible.

I’ve decided to see if I can make the best of the situation and repair those figures that are repairable. Hopefully there will then be enough of them to form the basis on a further Belle Époque army.

Twelve million hits!

Whilst I was on my recent cruise, I did not have the opportunity to see how many hits this blog had received. It was therefore something of a shock to discover that there seems to have been no let-up in the number of hits it has been receiving each day.

Is it down to AI bots? I have no idea if it is or it isn't ... and I keep expecting there to be a sudden and rather drastic change in the daily hit rate sometime soon.

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12,000,000 hits!

It was only the at the beginning of March that my blog’s hit counter reached ten million hits … and yesterday it passed twelve million!

• Eleven million hits: 3rd March 2026
• Ten million hits: 3rd February 2026
• Nine million hits: 16th December 2025
• Eight million hits: 4th October 2025
• Seven million hits: 26th July 2025
• Six million hits: 6th September 2024
• Five million hits: 20th January 2024
• Four million hits: 8th November 2021
• Three million hits: 6th December 2018
• Two million hits: Unsure
• One million hits: 25th December 2015

For what seems like the umpteenth time over recent months, I would like to extend a very big THANK YOU to my regular blog readers. Without you continuing to read and comment on my blog, I am sure that I would never have reached these many hits.

Here's to reaching thirteen million hits … which at the current rate, could be sometime next month!

Have I found a way to end my campaign map analysis paralysis? I think so!

I recently wrote about my analysis paralysis, and I got lots of useful comments and suggestions. I looked at these in detail, and in the end I decided to take my inspiration from the campaign map used by Thistlebarrow (who writes the wonderful Napoleonic Wargaming blog) ...

Thistlebarrow's Napoleonic Campaign map. It is divided up into squares.

Thistlebarrow's recent Cordova Campaign map. It is divided up into squares, each of which represents a tabletop battlefield.

... and the maps I based on the Waddington's CAMPAIGN boardgame.

The main campaign map I created that was based on the Waddington's CAMPAIGN boardgame..

The map of France.

The map of Germany

The map of Russia.

The map of Spain.

The map of Italy.

The map of Austria.

These latter maps worked well when I used them for my Franco-Prussian War of 1810 campaign and I really should have thought about using something based on them for my Belle Époque, campaign map.

I think that have now identified a way forward ... and I hope to begin preliminary work on my Belle Époque campaign map over the next couple of weeks.

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Please note that the first two maps featured above are © Paul Leniston/Thistlebarrow.