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.
Gaming the un-gameable… Private Baldrick: I heard that it all started when a bloke called Archie Duke shot an ostrich ’cause he was Hungry. Captain Blackadder: I think you mean it started when the Archduke of Austro-Hungary got shot. Private Blackadder: Nah, there was definitely an Ostrich involved, Sir… [from Blackadder Goes Forth] Who on
For the Senate and People of Rome! Rules Set of Choice: To the Strongest! “Ancients” was never really my thing. I’d dabbled in it though. At university I had a 15mm Early Republican Roman army. However, I soon abandoned ancients for other eras – mainly the Second World War and Horse & Musket. The problem
Neither English, nor Civil… Oliver’s army is here to stay Oliver’s army are on their way And I would rather be anywhere else But here today (Elvis Costello) This has long been one of my favourite periods, and so the “War without an Enemy” has been one of my gaming standards for many years. The
Edwardian Firepower & Krupp Steel I never really wanted to do another naval period. Three seemed more than enough. However, one day Colin Jack from the Edinburgh Club invited me to join him in a 1/3000 scale Pre-Dreadnought game, using a set of rules he developed – ones that later became Perfidious Albion. I’d used
Some of the ugliest ships known to man The mid-19th century was a real transition time for warship design – sail to steam, wood to iron, smoothbores to rifled guns, roundshot to shell – and the American Civil War landed plump in the middle of it all. While some wargamers dismiss this as a boring
Mare Nostrum While this naval period doesn’t get as much play as it should, the great little ship models (from GHQ) make it something of a treat when they do appear on the tabletop. Several years ago I was writing figure reviews for the now defunct Osprey Military Journal, and the guys at GHQ sent
Messing about in boats Many years ago I wrote a set of Second World War Coastal Forces rules for a participation game called Plywood, Petrol & Tracer. That still pretty much sums up what this is all about – small wooden boats filled with highly-explosive fuel firing tracer rounds at each other, or torpedoes at
¡No Pasarán! Spanish Civil War in the Journal I’m not going to write much here – not yet. This is just a holding page, waiting for me to get round to filling in some more background. Suffice to say I play the Spanish Civil War as a skirmish period – the same as I do
Fighting the Nazis on every Front (but mainly in Normandy) Second World War in the Journal I don’t play Nazis, or at least I try to avoid it. Every wargame club has its members who glorify the Nazis, and who field SS units and King Tigers at a drop of a hat. I’ve not one
Teaching the Colonials a lesson… American War of Independence in the Journal This is probably my oldest 25mm period, and until recently it showed. Being the first “proper” 25mm army I painted (and my painting standard was a lot lower than it is now) then they all look a little .. er .. basic! Therefore
