The very first wargaming article that I wrote was published over fifty years ago in the WARGAMER’S NEWSLETTER.
It was about a solo battle that I had fought between Chinese and Japanese troops during the early part of the Sino-Japanese War. I used Airfix British World War I infantry and artillery figures to represent the Chinese …
… and Fujimi Japanese World War II infantry and artillery and Airfix Japanese infantry for the Japanese forces.
I’ve always had an interest in this war … for which I partially blame Herge's THE BLUE LOTUS as the story deals with the incident that leads to the outbreak of the fighting between the Chinese and Japanese.
Whilst browsing YouTube I came across a very interesting channel entitled WARGAMING CHINA ...
... which describes itself in the following way:
This channel focuses on the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression 1931-45 or the Second Sino/Japanese War 1937/45 as its known in the west. It is a channel for modellers, wargamers, armchair historians and lovers of toy soldiers or anyone who is interested.
Since discovering it, I have spent several hours trawling though the numerous (over fifty) videos on the channel, and I particularly liked the ones that featured the scratch-built ship models that have been used in some of the tabletop battles.
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A very interesting report Bob with some nice mechanics for handling solo play. The old Airfix box art is great to see too.
ReplyDeleteMaudlin Jack Tar,
DeleteI’m glad that you liked my trip down memory lane!
The box art on the earlier boxes of figures was a little less sophisticated than it is nowadays but had a certain charm that made it attractive and was also a helpful painting guide.
All the best,
Bob
Bob -
ReplyDeleteInteresting you should post this, as the Asian wars of 1931-45 have been somewhat in my mind lately. Of course I am in no position to begin a whole new project - not when I have a zillion others clamouring for attention.
I recently bought a book on the Chinese Civil War (1945-49) - one of Osprey's 'Essential Histories', published 2022(2010), and authored by Michael Lynch. No huge volume, nor very detailed, it strikes me as a useful primer.
Maybe, on the north and east fringes of Sangrian Rajistan, a certain Anti-occidental realm of Khitai has been undergoing certain upheavals... I can see a potential for 'proxy map games' to represent the massive scale of the campaigns... A semi-project, if you will.
Cheers,
Ion
Ion, "a semi-project" I've many of those.
DeleteArchduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteIf you can get hold of a copy, Osprey published CHINA’S WARS (https://wargamingmiscellany.blogspot.com/2016/03/chinas-wars.html) some years ago, and I can thoroughly recommend it as a source of information about Chinese military history during the late 19th and 20th centuries.
I like the concept of a ‘semi-project’. It’s fits in with quite a lot of things that I’ve been thinking about doing over recent years.
All the best,
Bob
Dan Foley,
DeleteI think that we’ve all had or thought about ‘semi-projects’!
All the best,
Bob
A bit of history there, Bob! And still going strong now. Long may your love of the hobby continue!
ReplyDeletePrufrock,
DeleteI am a bit of an ‘ancient’ wargamer … and intend to carry on for as long as I can!
All the best,
Bob
The Airfix figures were very versatile back in the day. Looks like I'll be spending a few hours on YouTube this weekend.
ReplyDeleteDan Foley,
DeleteI only wish that my Airfix figures had retained the paint jobs I did on them, but the soft plastic they were made from had a habit of shedding any paint that was applied to it.
I hope that you enjoy looking at the WARGAMING CHINA YouTube channel. I did … and came away with several ideas.
All the best,
Bob
That's very interesting! Who was the 'Sandars' you quote as an influence on the rules you used, and what was that influence?
ReplyDeleteI have also used the 'write alternative CoAs' method for solo play, but mine were quickly down from 6 (or 4) to 'weighted 3' - i.e 1-3 Option 1, 4-5 Option 2, 6 Option 3; I found it a lot easier to think of 3 options that didn't have to all be equally likely as 6 which did.
JWH,
DeleteI was referring to John Sandars, who wrote the excellent INTRODUCTION TO WAR GAMING.
I’ve used a variety of methods for generating order options for each side during solo wargames and this was my first experiment. It worked … but was by no means perfect.
All the best,
Bob
BOB,
ReplyDeleteGood to see the older AIRFIX box artwork - I certainly had some of these figures in my youth- I think a box of 48 plastic figures was about 50 cents from Mr Barnes Hobby & Cyle Shop here in Campbelltown- I use to save my school lunch money to buy a box of AIRFIX toy soldiers. Best Wishes. KEV.
Kev Robertson (Kev),
DeleteThe UK price for Airfix Series One models and boxes of figures was two shillings (2/- or 10 pence) which was my weekly pocket money. At the time, Airfix released several new models each month, and I tried to save enough to buy at least one and sometimes two once I had a newspaper round. (The first model I ever built without assistance was an R.E.8 biplane. I was eight-years-old and we had just moved into the first family home that we owned.)
I bought most of mine from the local branch of Woolworths or the local, independent department store, Roomes. (The latter still exists and I understand that it is still owned by the same family, some of whom I went to school with.)
All the best,
Bob
Fascinating stuff there Bob. I'm drawn to the Nomonhan battles of 1939, between the Soviet Union and Japan, due to the mix of units involved and frankly for something a bit different. Ditto the invasion of China/Japan in 1945. Rather one-sided as these things tend to be, but lots of fun for sure.
ReplyDeleteSteve J.,
DeleteI have always wanted to refight some of the battles between the Russians and Japanese but have yet to get around to it. Perhaps one day …
All the best,
Bob