Saturday, August 1, 2020

Wargame Blast from the Past

At Projects & Procrastination blog, a new campaign is about to start. What really caught my eye was the fact that he is using a map from the old wargame book, Sham Battle. Long before this blog was started, I played a game using the rules and map in this book. It was also the only wargame I took pictures of.

The capital of Redina; Redton. It was to fall to the Bluvian Army.

The battlefield after the war. The dead still lay where they fell. These are the only pictures I have  (that I know of) of all my wargames before this blog.

11 comments:

  1. Great pics John! I have no photographs of my early wargames pre-2008. I think because Photography was relatively expensive before digital and especially cameras on mobile phones, taking pics was reserved for "special occasions" and vacations.
    What rules did you use to fight the game?

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    1. Your point on photographs being expensive back then is true. I did take a lot of photos back then (I could show you hundreds of photos of my dog), but I think that's one reason. I also would write little reports on the battles for my our enjoyment. Still, I'm surprised I didn't take more pictures.
      I used the rules in Sham Battle. If you look at the second photo, you can see the artillery square on the upper left of the picture.

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  2. Very O.S. , I have a copy of that book, an interesting read but very of it's time I think .

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    1. It is an enjoyable read. As it was a post WW1 book for kids, it was pacific with it being a sham battle between the two sides. Still, anyone with interest in wargaming history should at least give it a read.

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  3. A very nice use of the ‘Town in a bag’ buildings!

    I’d certainly be very interested to read more about the rules that you used and the outcome of this battle.

    All the best,

    Bob

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    1. I believe one reason I played this game was I had got a large collection of Town in a bag on Ebay.
      I used the rules from the book itself. Perhaps sometime I will write out a battle report, and do a map showing the movements.

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  4. I have no photos of my games before 2016 sadly.

    As I mentioned to Maudlin Jack Tarr, Best of luck with your Shambattle campaign. There are some more illustrations from Shambattle at the late Thor Shiel's site - I like these colourful tin hat figures http://www.thortrains.net/shambattle/

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  5. I do wish I had photos of the wargames my brother and I fought in the early 1970's; however, as the cameras we had back then were cheap point and shoot cartridge camera, I'm sure they wouldn't come out.
    I actually bought my copy of Sham Battle from the Thortrains website. When I first got my copy, I was thinking of buying some old metal toy soldier molds and cast a couple of armies based on the illustrations in Sham Battle. After my one game, I decided against it.

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  6. I have a number of photos from past decades but few of the ones I still have are terribly clear even when not blurry.

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  7. These pictures were taken with a film 35mm camera using the natural light in the basement. The new digital cameras sure makes the job easier.

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