Might as well admit it I’m addicted to … imagi-nations?*

During odd moments over the past few months I have been putting together a guide to the imagi-nations I have created for my Belle Époque project ... and began to realise just how much I enjoy the process of creating them.

The process involves an understanding of the military and political history of the period as well as some knowledge of geography and vexillology (i.e., the study of flags), and to me it is as interesting and absorbing as some people find – for example – genealogy. (I used the latter as an example because my wife is a genealogist, and when she gets on a 'track' [i.e., tracing one of the more obscure members of her family] she can become absorbed in the process for hours ... and sometimes for weeks and months!) Furthermore, once you have created one imagi-nation, there always seems to be the need to create another to act as a adversary ... and then another to possibly act as an ally to either side ... and then another ... and another ... and by that time you are addicted to creating imagi-nations!

Many years ago, Graham Evans (who writes the Wargaming for Grown Ups blog as well as being a prolific wargame designer) wrote two articles that were published in Wargames Illustrated (Nos. 24 [August 1989] and 37 [October 1990]) in which he identified several wargaming 'types':

• The Boardgamer
• The Traditionalist
• The Re-Enactment Man
• The 1500 Point Man
• The Fantasy Frother
• The Pseudo-Wargamer

Having recently re-read the articles, I seem to have become somewhat of a 'Traditionalist' as I have aged although I did notice that I also seem to share some of the characteristics of several of the other 'types' Graham identified. I would therefore like to suggest that I fall into a not-so-new-but-not-yet-identified 'type', The Imagi-nation Man.

The Imagi-nation Man is often a solitary wargamer who enjoys collecting and painting toy soldiers for a specific period but acknowledges that they will never be able to replicate the armed forces or the battles of that period in full. They like to fight wargames that have a before and after narrative, but they deem accuracy to be less important than 'fun' and are happy to incorporate a degree of anachronism as long as it isn't too glaring. (For example, no AK47's during the American Civil War, but wargame armies wearing styles of uniforms from the 1870s are quite acceptable when seen alongside ones wearing uniforms from the 1890s.)

The Imagi-nation Man is not a 'rivet counter', and although they are probably very knowledgeable about the weaponry etc., of the historical period they enjoy most; to them a rifle is a rifle is a rifle and a cannon is a cannon is a cannon. They tend to favour what appear at first glance to be simple, playable rules that use easy-to-remember game mechanisms but that are also subtle in the way they work and the results they generate, and although they may fight a lot of their wargames solo, they do enjoy the social side of the hobby, and will gladly fight wargames with like-minded wargamers who are happy to overlook their mild eccentricities.

'El Presidente' of that little-known South American imagi-nation of Paprika. At the time when this scurrilous cartoon was drawn, Paprika was involved in an arms race with neighbouring Ribena, and 'El Presidente' decided that in the circumstances the country needed to be ruled with a firm hand. In this he was assisted by the 'rather dubious head of intelligence, about whom the less said the better', seen above in the somewhat Bond-like pose behind 'El Presidente'. It is rumoured that former head of intelligence is now a senior professional wargamer and probably one of the oldest soldiers still wearing the uniform of the British Army, whereas 'El Presidente' resides in retirement somewhere in Southeast London, living on his dreams and a meagre pension. Any resemblance between the characters featured above and real people is not coincidental!

This is Imagi-nation Man ... or at least my version of him! I wonder just how many of my regular blog readers identify with my description of this wargaming 'type'?

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* With apologies to the late Robert Palmer.