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.
Campaigns in Central Asia, c.1919-25 For those of you unfamiliar with the Back of Beyond idea, the name comes from a rules supplement to Chris Peers’ Contemptible Little Armies. Back of Beyond was a set of army lists and a campaign system which allowed players to recreate events which played out in Central Asia during
The Back of Beyond, The Men Who Would be Kings, 28mm This week’s game saw the inauguration of Sean 2’s new battle mat, which for obvious reasons was duly dubbed “the mould mat”. So, apologies if these pictures look a little – er – garish! Anyway, this saw a three-cornered contest in Tajikistan, close to
The Back of Beyond, The Men who Would be Kings, 28mm We revisited the Back of Beyond this week This was a border clash, fought just south of Termez, near the Russian-Afghan border, just south of Termez in Uzbekistan. the Bolsheviks were planning an invasion by their “Army of God”, led by Indian communists. To
The Back of Beyond, The Men who would be Kings, 28mm This little game, entitled (according to Google Translate) means “The Rival Tanks” in Usbeki, was all about tinkering with our house rules. You see, we’ve adapted this excellent little colonial set of rules for The Back of Beyond, and so we need bolt-on rules
The Back of Beyond, The Men who would be Kings, 28mm This week we had a visitor – my old chum Peter Marshall – which was an excellent excuse to run a multi-player Back of Beyond game. The 6 x 6 foot table was covered in buildings, representing Tashkent. the town was divided into the
The Back of Beyond, The Men Who Would be Kings, 28mm We planned a multi-player Back of Beyond affair for our pre-Christmas game, but one player had to back out. So, I came up with a three player game instead. The inspiration was this cartoon entitled “Save me from my friends”, with a voracious Russian
The Back of Beyond, Setting the East Ablaze!, 28mm It’s been too long. Remind me not to leave it so long between “The Back of Beyond” games. They’re just so much fun. This was a small game though, as there were just three of us. So, I made it a “quest”, shamelessly stealing the scenario
The Back of Beyond, Setting the East Ablaze!, 28mm This game was an almost forgotten pleasure – gathering with a few friends to shuffle lead. Of course, we had to do it while adhering to all the Covid rules, but it was a joy nonetheless. As I got to choose what we played, I settled
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 Back of Beyond, Setting the East Ablaze, 28mm First of all, let me apologise for taking almost four weeks to post this. I had a fire in the flat, and it’s taken me that long to start getting back on track. I was pretty busy. Then I hit technical problems, such as where in
The Back of Beyond, Setting the East Ablaze, 28mm By popular demand we staged another multi-player Back of Beyond game this week. It’s a “period” you can’t take too seriously, and this makes it an ideal pre-Christmas game. So, this one was set in the mean streets of Tashkent, and featured eight players – two
