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.
Modern Wars, Cold War Commander 2, 1/300 scale Well, this was something different. For some strange reason a couple of the guys in the Orkney club have a thing for 1/300 scale tanks. Sean 1 had even built up a “Cold War Gone Hot” West German Bundeswehr force, c.1985, but never raised their Soviet opponents.
The Napoleonic Wars, Black Powder, 28mm We wanted a simple but challenging game this week, so I delved into Grant & Asquith’s “Scenarios for all Ages” for inspiration. They had one that was perfect: “A Vital Bridgehead”. In our version, the French were trying to get across the Bobr River, while engineers were rigging the
The Spanish Civil War, Chain of Command, 28mm First of all, my apologies for taking so long to post this. I’ve got writing deadlines, and finishing this bloody book is taking up most of my waking hours! Still, the other week we still had time for a game at home with a few of the
The Seven Years War, Post of Honour, 28mm With the club closed for Christmas and New Year, I staged a small game at home, with the two Seans. I loosely based it on the Battle of Mehr, fought on 5 August 1758 between a small French army and an even smaller Western allied force. In
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 French & Indian Wars, Rebels and Patriots, 28mm The wargame club was closed due to snow this week. Actually, there was no snow here in South Ronaldsay, but the west side of Orkney got blasted by it. So, my near neighbour Sean 2 came round for a small game at my place. He hadn’t
The Second World War, Chain of Command, 28mm This was the fourth scenario in our Chain of Command “pint-sized” campaign Operation Martlet. In the last three games the British 49th Infantry had driven the Germans out of the Normandy village of Fontenay-Le-Pesnel, and were now continuing their advance towards the south. This time they faced
Queen Victoria’s Little Wars, The Men Who Would Be Kings, 28mm I missed last week’s club night thanks to another engagement, so I didn’t get my game fix. To remedy this, I was planning to run a small colonial game with Mr. Babbage – the solitaire system that came with the rules. Halfway through though,
The Great War at Sea, Fleet Action Imminent, 1/2400 scale It’s been a while. Last week I couldn’t reach the club in Kirkwall ’cause the Churchill Barriers were closed – the causeways I have to drive over to get into town. Then, thanks to ferry cancellations and a gale, I couldn’t get to my big
The Seven Years War, Post of Honour, 28mm With just Sean 2 and I this week due to funerals and sports events, we played a game at my place rather than the club. That made sense as otherwise it’s a 30 mile round trip for both of us. He had to act as a taxi
Bismarck’s Wars, Fire & Fury, 10mm With two of our usual crowd off doing other things, Sean (1) and I were left to entertain ourselves at the club this week. I was surprised when, given the choice of a whole range of periods, he opted for this one. He tells me he likes the period,
Ironclads, Dahlgren & Columbiad, 1/600 scale We hadn’t played a naval game for a while, and so we opted for this – a sea battle in the era of ironclads, but without a single ironclad in sight! Still, David Manley’s excellent rules cope with wooden-walled steamships perfectly well. This game, a refight of the Battle
The Second World War, Chain of Command, 28mm For the second week in a row my car is in the garage, waiting for the mechanic to get cracking. So, as I couldn’t make it to the club, Sean 2 kindly offered to pop out for a Sunday evening game. He’d never played Chain of Command
Bismarck’s Wars, Fire & Fury, 10mm With my car in the garage I wasn’t able to get in to the wargame club. So instead, Sean 2 came round for a game – he lives a few miles away. As I couldn’t be bothered getting my full 6×4 foot table out, I set out the game
The Seven Years War, Post of Honour, 28mm With just two of us this week, and as we both live near each other, a half hour’s drive from the wargame club, we decided to stage a game at my place. When asked, Sean 2 opted for the Seven Years War, as he hadn’t gamed that
The English Civil War, For King & Parliament, 28mm When we decided on an English Civil War game this week, we reprised our fictitious little campaign nest in South Yorkshire. In it, the Royalist Earl of Doncaster (played by Sean) is locked in tabletop combat with my guy, the Earl of Rotherham. This week, Sean
The Napoleonic Wars, Shadow of the Eagles, 28mm This game was dictated by the fact that I picked up more boxes of cavalry than anything else. So, unsurprisingly we decided to stage a largely cavalry clash, which would take place near the village of Gülden-Gossa, to the south of Leipzig. On 16 October, during the
