The First Rule of Wargaming and the Spirit of the Wargame
The First Rule:
‘Nothing can be done contrary to what could or would be done in actual war.'
- From 'The Rules of the Naval War Game' by Fred T Jane
The Spirit of the Wargame:
‘Wargames are played, for the most part, without the supervision of an umpire. The game relies on the integrity of the individual players to show consideration for other players and to abide by the rules. All players should conduct themselves in a disciplined manner, demonstrating courtesy and sportsmanship at all times, irrespective of how competitive they may be. This is the spirit of the wargame.’
- Adapted from 'The Spirit of the Game' in 'The Rules of Golf' as published by the R&A Ltd.
Bolærne Coastal Fortress
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[image: Bolærne kystfort. Østre Bolærne festning. Bolaerne coastal fortress]
In the outer Oslofjord, between where I grew up in Tønsberg and live now in
Mo...
Panzer Replacements - 2nd Company
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The last of the replacement early war panzers, another light panzer
company. More 3D resin print models from Battlefield 3D.
A couple of Panzer IIIs and ...
Should we be worried about these comments?
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I posted my latest blog entry on 12th July and on the night of 27th July
somebody posted the following Anonymous Comment:
*Anonymous*27 July 2026 at 22:47
...
DBA in the Garden
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After our DBA themed armies evening a fortnight ago Chris set up another,
only this time in 15mm and in the Far East, with everything linked through
the ...
The Portable Ironclads Wargame: Definitive Edition
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*What a winning combination of useful titles with which to base a project
around! Methinks these will be rather well-thumbed by the time the models
are r...
A Complicated Man
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We went to see 'The Odyssey' this weekend, and enjoyed it.
And who doesn't go and see a film and feel inspired to put together some
kind of game afterwa...
Hyboria Ladder Campaign
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The following is a quick post to confirm how the latest foray into Robert
Howard's Continent of Hyboria has been structured.
The winner of the first g...
Prepping for Aspern Essling & Eggmuhl
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We're hoping to do Aspern Essling and Eggmuhl next month, which has meant
that I've been doing some quick work bringing the Austrian collection up to
sp...
Ratisbon Campaign Day 6
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*21 September 1813 – Southern Germany – Day 6*
The French attack Ratisbon
7th French army – occupy Lappersdorf
8th French army – attack Ratisbon
9th Fre...
The Officer's Mess
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When I made my list of "periods" I was unsure about my assorted melange of
troops from the War of 1812, the US vs Mexico war and the 1830's Canadian
rebe...
Battle of Britain Campaign - Game 7 Battle Report
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This Battle of Britain campaign update is from a game played a couple of
weeks ago. It has simply taken me a little while to get around to writing
it up,...
Plodding through the heat: Keeping on re-basing
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It won't be a surprise to anyone in the UK, but it has been exceptionally
hot here in the past few weeks. and that has slowed down pretty much all
activ...
Painting - the "wash and brush-up" method
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As promised, here's an attempt at a step-by-step guide to the evolved
painting method using Contrast Paint and Army Painter washes followed by
acrylic to...
1812 Napoleonic Russians
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I might have bought a "few" 54mm Napoleonic Russians...
The 100 or so at the back were given to me for free from an old customer a
while back.
They n...
Camberwick Green - My New Project.
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I've decided to do a CAMBERWICK GREEN Project by collecting the figures by
Robert Harrop.
I've ordered this book which will give me ideas for making the ...
North American Campaign - interlude - minelaying
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This little campaign is loosely based on events in the Spanish American
War and Russo Japanese War. As a test of the Funny Little Fleets
pre-dreadnough...
Portable Aspern-Essling, 21 May, 1809
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The battlefield: Aspern on the left, and Essling in the distance
The infantry of Massena's IV Corps about to occupy the villages
This is my 'Portable' rend...
Edmund's Civil War Marines
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I recently found another set of Edmund's Toy Soldiers at a reasonable
price. This set is Civil War US Marines in dress uniforms.
Marines brought to lif...
Nice books!
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I have had these books on my desk for some time, I find them fascinating
and they are both well thumbed and worth a quick review.
*1. Battlegroup!*
T...
A New Alliance
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The recent invasions by the Midlish armies, have led to a new coalition of
the weaker, less aggressive peoples. On the eastern border of the
Midlands, ...
Wild West Town Tabletop Shootout
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I recently acquired a collection of 1960’s era wooden Old West Buildings
made by Hausser Elastolin. The idea was to marry them with some 1970’s
Timpo Sw...
Return to the Hobby
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It has been quite a while since I last posted here. When I started my tool
truck business back in 2021, most of my hobby time disappeared almost
overnigh...
WW2 ‘German’ Don Cossacks
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I've had these in stock for a while now and as I may have work for them in
a forthcoming game it was clearly time to paint them!
They're certainly a co...
Forest Dragon 3D Sculpts
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A Christmas pressie to myself ...
... and on the inside.
Not the best presentation with their packaging.
Contents are revealed.
Can you tell what the...
Winter Break: A Beary Simple Wargame
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*A Beary Simple Wargame *made it out of the box today. My daughter set out
the terrain while I cleaned up lunch and we played while the boys took
their...
Warp Speed into 2025
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The last year has been quite challenging. I suffered a stroke in November
2023 and have spent the last year or so in recovery. I'm not there yet, but
do...
Update and WIP
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[image: Merry christmas wallpaper design]
Well, it certainly has been eventful, this year. Shortly after my last
post, far too long ago, some things...
Blog Closing…
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This blog will be closing down on 1st July. I have a fairly expensive
hosting package that I no longer need as I am only running Black Hat and
selling pain...
New Accessions – tidying up …
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So, 3 items under the camera … Chris gave me a P&G SU-76i quite a while
ago, and I’ve been meaning to get round to it … the SU-122 I did years ago.
It’s a ...
Solo Play Testing
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The next Seven Years Wargame with the "Usual Suspects" has moved to the
right by a couple of weeks. One of our group, who has been unavailable for
a few ...
Warplan 5/5 Campaign System
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I'm afraid I couldn't find a way to reproduce the snazzy double headed
arrow in 5/5 in the text so will have to do with this instead.
Warplan 5/5 came o...
Take the High Ground
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“Take the high ground”. These were Captain Scarlett’s latest orders in the
ongoing campaign to repel the Teutonians from Albionia’s green and pleasant
lan...
Initial...
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...deployments.
Seconds out...first two rounds, of 15. In the Blue corner (US invaders):
On the right flank, a unit of US Regulars, an artillery battery, a...
I have been wargaming for as long as I can remember. One of the first toys that I was bought was a wooden fort that was garrisoned by assorted lead soldiers ... and I have never looked back!
The first wargames book I bought was CHARGE! (although I had taken out [and repeatedly read] Donald Featherstone's WAR GAMES book beforehand [and many thanks to John Curry for republishing it!]).
My first 20mm figures were the good old Airfix Guards Infantry and Band (in shocking pink!), soon followed by others as they were released, and by 1968, when I bought my first metal Hinton Hunt 20mm figures, I had a large collection of World War II figures, tanks, guns, and aircraft.
I was a founder member of WARGAME DEVELOPMENTS and have been the treasurer and membership secretary ever since. I have also organised – along with Tim Gow - the annual conference (COW – Conference of Wargamers) for more that fifteen years.
My main interests are wargaming any wars from 1850 onwards, although I have a special interest in Colonial, the Spanish Civil War, and World War II wargaming. I also have a special interest in wargames that use square or hex grids for movement and weapon ranges.