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
WW2 Naval, General Quarters (3rd edition), 1/2400 scale Following our theme of virtual games, this week my chum Gyles and I decided to play a simple naval game via Skype. As it was up to me to choose, I opted for part of the Battle of the Barents Sea, fought on 31 December 1942 off
The Second World War, What a Tanker! 1/56 scale (28mm) This was our second foray into the world of Skype gaming. This time, I took charge of a brace of T-34s, while Gyles led a pair of German tank destroyers into battle. We started off at opposite ends of a 6×4 foot table, with fairly
The Second World War, What a Tanker!, 1/56 scale (28mm) This was a first. Orkney might have the lowest Covid incidence per population in the UK, but we’re still saddled with Tier 3 restrictions. That means no face-to-face gaming. So, Gyles and I decided to try something – a game using Skype. I moved my
Miscellaneous – Eastern Renaissance, 28mm Who would have thought it! A year into this bloody pandemic, and we’re still doing Lockdown Painting posts! Strangely, this is a painting project I never expected to tackle. You see, I thought I have enough Cossacks. I’ve got about fifty of them – mounted figures – which I mainly
The Age of Chivalry, Lion Rampant, 28mm This week we jumped at the chance to play a game in a local hall, while conforming to current Covid restrictions. The result was this multi-player “grand skirmish” involving Thomas’ Burgundians, Gyles’ English, Lindsay’s Flemish and my French. there wasn’t much in the way of foreplay – this
The Napoleonic Wars, Black Powder, 28mm I got the chance to stage a game at very short notice, thanks to a small window in the lockdown restrictions. My friend Gyles fancied a Napoleonic game, and wanted to field his new Saxons. Lindsay wanted to play, but had to do so virtually thanks to Covid restrictions.
The French & Indian Wars, Rebels and Patriots, 28mm With Orkney under the fairly light Level 1 – Light of Covid restrictions, we were finally able to stage a game, albeit one played out according to the still fairly restrictive rules. So, we’re able to manage one game every two weeks now, which is a
The Age of Fighting Sail, Kiss Me, Hardy, 1/1200 scale This was another lockdown game, played with my near neighbour Gyles. He fancied something nautical this time, so we opted for the Age of Fighting Sail, and Kiss Me, Hardy. The idea was that a small squadron of five French ships-of-the-line had broken out from
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,
