RSS FeedAngus Konstam is an author and historian - visit his website at
www.anguskonstam.com or e-mail him at anguskonstam@aol.com
He's also a wargamer and a former member of the South East Scotland Wargames Club, which meets in Edinburgh on Thursday evenings.
See
The Age of Mary Stuart, The Pikeman’s Lament, 28mm We hadn’t had a game for a few weeks thanks to Scotland’s tight lockdown restrictions. Still, Gyles and I still managed a small socially-distanced game in the garage. As we couldn’t take all day with this, we settled on a skirmish set in the Age of
The Second World War, Chain of Command, 28mm There’s still no sign of the Orkney club opening in the foreseeable future, so instead we held another game in my house. This time we headed off to the South-West Pacific, for a clash set on the north coast of Guadalcanal. This was a “Big CoC” game,
The Roman World, Infamy! Infamy, 28mm This evening, Gyles, Lindsay and I tried out Infamy! Infamy! for the first time. These are a new set of large-scale skirmish rules from The Too Fat Lardies stable, and looked really promising. In fact, they’re the reason I’ve been painting up a warband of Ancient Germans. This would
The Age of Chivalry, Lion Rampant, 28mm This a slightly strange one – a game played in a converted bus in the wilds of Orkney’s West Mainland. The host, Lindsay, wasn’t taking part, while I was otherwise engaged on the other side of the island. So, the photos and the basics of the game review
This folks, is kind of important. We’ve moved! From 1 September, we won’t be Edinburgh Wargames anymore. We’ll be Orkney Wargames. This change has been a long time in the offing – for a year and a half really, since I moved back to the islands. At the moment, it doesn’t matter which address you type
The Roman World Infamy! Infamy! 28mm One of the things that happened during Lockdown was the Two Fat Lardies published a new set of rules. Infamy! Infamy! is a large scale skirmish set, and draws on the previous Lards sets like Sharp Practice, Dux Britanniorum and Chain of Command. I’d rashly decided to build
The Second World War (French Indochina), Homegrown rules, 28mm As promised, here’s another look at Bill Cainan’s amazing tabletop setup for the French Indochina War. This time we’re focusing on Fire Base 5, part of the De Lattre Lines near Hanoi, in the Red River Basin.This actually looks a lot like an American one from
The Second World War (French Indochina), Homegrown Rules, 28mm My pal Bill Cainan has done it again. He pretty exclusively wargames the First Indochina War (1946-54. To entertain us while most wargame clubs are still closed, he sent me a bunch of pictures of a madcap project of his. He recreated a massive French defensive
The Napoleonic Wars, General d’Armee, 28mm Well, this was a red letter day. It was my first game since lockdown began. Huzzah! Actually, it wasn’t a full-one game – just a small “learning curve” one, played out on the dining table. Still, to get my toys out, and to shuffle lead with real people (well,
The Second World War, 28mm Just before lockdown started, there was some talk in the Orkney club of using Chain of Command for the Pacific Theatre. I really like CoC, but until now I’ve stuck to Normandy. It took the collection of a box of jungle terrain of mine I’d left at the Edinburgh club
The Second World War (French Indochina), Homegrown Rules, 28mm To entertain us during the pandemic, my chum Bill Cainan (a man with Orkney connections) has sent us a few images from his French Indochina collection.The first are of some of his Dinassault forces – his French riverine kit. Here’s what he had to say: Five years ago
The French & Indian Wars – Update I know things have been a bit slow lately. I haven’t been to a wargame club since mid-March – over four months. No games at home either, thanks to lockdown. So, all I can do is paint, and work on my various projects.So, here’s a little run-through of
The Second World War (French Indochina), Homegrown Rules, 28mm I have to confess I haven’t played a game for over a month. Fortunately, others have. So, here’s a spectacular game report from my chum Bill Cainan, an honourary member of the Orkney Wargames Club. These are just too good to miss. Bill wargames the French
The Back of Beyond, Setting the East Ablaze, 28mm This, strangely, was my last proper wargame before the lockdown. It was a get-together of the League of Gentlemen Wargamers, who meet up in Kirriemuir in north-eastern Scotland three times a year. This game will probably be our last until the end of the year. Anyway,
The Napoleonic Wars, Black Powder, 28mm This game took place half a lifetime ago. Actually, it was only two and a half weeks, but since then the world has turned upside down. It’s also our last game at the wargame club, at least for the foreseeable future. I’ve got one more game to post after
Pre-Dreadnought Naval, Perfidious Albion, 1/1000 scale Apologies for the delay in posting this – and the next few reports. I suppose it’s fortuitous really, as with Covid-19 on the rampage, and all socialising on hold, then its good to have a backlog. Silver lining and all that. This was a fictitious naval game, set in
Queen Victoria’s Little Wars, The Men Who Would be Kings, 28mm This was an attack and defence game, with the Boers dug in around the hamlet of Witkerk (“White Church”) in the Transvaal. The British appeared out of the veldt to the north. The hamlet lay just north of a ford over the Mizinyathe River.
