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 a member of the Orkney Wargames Club, which meets in Kirkwall on Thursday evenings.
See their Facebook page for more info.
Misc. (Air War over Korea) Bag the Hun, 1/300 scale We took to the skies again this week – well, Nick and I did, in another Korean War dogfight. Nick took the Allied side, with four USAF F-80 Shooting Stars, two USAF F-51 Mustangs and three Fleet Air Arm Sea Furies. I had three Mig-15s,
Bismarck’s Wars, Fire & Fury, 10mm With Sean away digging holes in the rain-sodden countryside (he’s an sore-kneed archaeologist), Nick and I delved into the Franco-Prussian War, and this game based loosely on the Battle of Spichern, one of those frontier battles in August 1870. Nick’s two divisions of French were charged with holding the
Misc. (Air War over Korea), Bag the Hun, 1/300 scale I don’t really play flying games. The last time was a WW1 game some 16 years ago. However, some of the guys at the Orkney club are into them, so I thought I’d dip my toe into the water. I bought some little planes from
The Second World War, Chain of Command, 28mm I asked Sean what he fancied playing this week, and he opted for a World War 2 game using Chain of Command. So, that’s what we did. He’d be running late, so we started without him, with Nick opting to be the Americans, in Sean’s stead. This
The English Civil War, For King & Parliament, 28mm I’ve been remiss. Trips away and work got in the way of wargaming, and of posting games. My apologies, and I’ll do better, I promise! This clash was a renewal of the fictitious fight between the Royalist Earl of Doncaster (Sean) and his Parliamentarian counterpart the
The Napoleonic Wars, Shadow of the Eagles, 28mm This small Napoleonic game was based on a scenario from Grant & Asquith’s Scenarios for All Ages (1996), a book I often turn to for fun gaming ideas. this one, called ‘Breakout’ has a force guarding a ford, pursued by a slightly larger force. However, a light
The Second World War, Iron Cross, 10mm We fancied a ‘treadfest’ this week, and that’s exactly what we got! Sean and I (with some help from Aly) staged a small 10mm game set on the Eastern Front, shortly after Kursk. Sean took the Soviets, which left me with Das Reich. The game was played out
The Roman World, To the Strongest, 28mm I missed out on a game last week as I had a veterans’ meeting, but this week we were back, and off to modern-day Belgium. This encounter game was set near Ghent, on the small Narkin River, a tributary of the Schelde, or the Scaldis in Roman times. A
The American Civil War, Brigade Fire & Fury, 28mm For a while now, I’ve been building up units for the American Civil War. At first I was just doing Union troops, but when ‘Sean 2’ moved away with his Confederates I had to raise them too. This was their first outing. Sean (formerly ‘Sean 1’)
The Seven Years War, Honours of War, 28mm I hadn’t been at the wargame club for ages, so it was a pleasure to make it this week, and to have a wee game with Sean. [Note: He was ‘Sean 1’, but he’s back to ‘Sean’ again, as ‘Sean 2’ has moved away!] Anyway, he wanted
The Back of Beyond, The Men Who Would Be Kings, 28mm Hurrah! With Spring almost upon us it was time for the first ‘League of Gentlemen Wargamers’ get-together of the year! that involves a weekend in Kirriemuir (just an hour’s drive from the ferry port at Aberdeen), a large game, and a chance to catch
WWII Coastal Forces, Narrow Seas, 1/600 scale True to his word, Bruce agreed to fit in another game, on a rainy Saturday afternoon, while his wife visited friends. As we didn’t have much time, and he wanted to try another naval game, I settled on a Coastal Forces scrap – a British attack on a
The Age of Fighting Sail, Post Captain, 1/1200 scale This week, I wasn’t going to make it into the club due to car trouble, but fortunately my friend Bruce was up visiting – who’s both ex navy and vaguely interested in wargaming. So, we managed to fit in a game at my place. This was
The Age of Chivalry, Lion Rampant, 28mm My apologies for not posting sooner,. It’s been ages. Gaming has suffered due to high winds closing roads and causeways, snow, and then car trouble. Still, things are slowly returning to normal. As I couldn’t get to the club, this little Hundred Years War game was played at
Bismarck’s Wars, Fire & Fury, 10mm This week it was just Sean and I, and with another gale in the offing we scaled down the game, so I could make it home before the blast. The other reason we wanted to keep it small was that we were trying out a new edition of the
The Napoleonic Wars, In the Shadow of the Eagles, 28mm This little scenario was looted from my trusty Scenarios for All Ages by Asquith & Grant (1996). This one, “Seizing the Initiative” involved a table crossed by two rivers – let’s call them the Black Elster and the Blue Elster. The idea was, a small
The English Civil War, For King & Parliament, 28mm By popular demand we returned to the English Civil War this week. For once though, we didn’t game our continued feud between the fictitious earls of Rotherham and Doncaster. Instead, because Sean 2 wanted his pet Sealed Knot reenactment regiment on the table, we based them
