Book Review- Solo Wargaming by David Heading

Hello There! While I continue to make terrain and further storage in the wargames cabin, I have been considering playing some solo wargaming. This is alongside visiting the New Buckenham Historical Wargaming Club, (when health permits), and putting on games with my wargaming friend, Adrian.

Adrian recommended this publication as he uses some of the ideas in it to run a imaginations campaign. His progress is on his blog here.

This 'Practitioners Guide' has the following chapters:

Chapter 1    Why solo wargaming, advantages, disadvantages, inspiration, guidelines, dice, cards, rest of book.

Chapter 2    Battles, setting up, types of battles, types of games, determining terrain, choosing force, generalship.

Chapter 3    Campaigns, choice, period, scale, setting up, campaign in a day, map moving, hidden movement, reconnaissance, communications.

Chapter 4    Personalities, logistics, randomisation.

Chapter 5    Siege, naval, air wargames.

Chapter 6    Advancing and further developments.

This is the first book I have read about solo wargaming and I found it very helpful, informative and thought provoking.

It was clearly and logically set out and did not flood the text with illustrations of well painted figures, which do not support the text or lend anything to the narrative.

While this is not a rule set, it provided ideas, guidance and inspiration for many different aspects of the hobby. Some of which could even be used for multiplayer games and campaigns too.

The prime problem of solo wargaming, impartiality, with the ability to take informed decisions for both sides, is handled early in this book. This has always been a question of mine, as to how to remain neutral in controlling both sides without subconsciously favouring one of the sides.

The usual recommendations of start small and once familiar with the systems that you are using, then add further conditions.

Another helpful feature is that there are references to suggestions in the text, at the bottom of the same page, so you do not have to flick through the book to find that reference.

Publications by Donald Featherstone and Henry Hyde are in the vanguard or recommended further reading but there are a few less well known books as well.

Part of the text refers to 'near wargames', battles from history that for various reasons did not happen, or to use them to help make your decisions in your own games, based on actual incidents.

Overall I found this book very helpful and made me realise that I may have become a bit lazy when it comes to doing some of the background work in the games I have put on.

I will be looking to purchase some of the bibliography from this book, in the future.

La Haie Sainte, Part One

 Hello There! I have started the second Waterloo building, now that La Belle Alliance is finished.

This model will eventually be on a base board and will include the vegetable garden at one end and the small orchard at the other.

To calculate the size of the courtyard, stable block and the front wall I decided to build the farmhouse and barn first.

This also gave me the chance to get the sizes of these two buildings correct in relation to each other as the barn is discernibly bigger than the farm house but neither of the buildings can be so big as to make a massive footprint for the building overall

After a couple of attempts I managed to get a satisfactory size between the two main buildings. This is the barn. The photos show details of each side but also the first few steps of assembling and embossing.

I realised early that while the model of La Belle Alliance was fixed to a base early in its construction, these buildings would be made separately and then fixed to a large baseboard later.

To solve this problem I glued a strip of plasticard along the bottom edge of the barn.

After writing out a plan of each face of the building, I glued this to the Canson foam board and cut out the window and door apertures. I then glued the building together and allowed to dry.

The doors and windows were then lined with scored plasticard, to act as frames.

Then I started the embossing of the brickwork.

Moving around to the next side you can see the embossing progressing and a construction line to keep everything level.

Again more construction lines and some suggestive guides to put the plasterwork on the brick surface.

Here is a close up of the same wall. I have dug out some bricks to suggest they have 'blown'. I have done this by running a scalpel along each side to separate the single brick from its surroundings and then prise out using a suitable dental tool.

This is a close up of the first trial of the plaster work. I spread all purpose ready mixed filler thinly over the surface and when hardened, gently rubbed the whole area with a soft DIY sanding pad. This smoothed the surface of the plaster and flattened the exposed brickwork. As  you emboss the bricks they take on a curved surface to the and flattening the surface out makes them more realistic. 

This is the last side. The brickwork is completed and plaster is done. The 'fortunate' mistake with this side was I applied the plaster then started embossing the opposite end. While doing this embossing I unknowingly pressed this side onto the leather sofa surface. Next morning I had the great effect on the left hand side of the wall. It was also easy to remove what was stuck to the surface of the sofa!

I will attempt to recreate this effect on the other sides, but not using my fiancees sofa!

Casting!

Hello there! After a while, I managed to source a company who could make some moulds for me, so after a little trial and error, I can now honestly say ’I can do casting me!’

This is something I have wanted to do for years but never had the facilities, time to learn of the space to try this out.

This is just a start and I hope to have some of the trenches, that I made the original masters for, for my own use!

Battle of Spencers Ordinary 26th June 1781

Hello There! After a long absence I was able to take part in an AWI game at the New Buckenham Historical Wargamers Club.

This battle was named after the tavern which is upper left of centre in the photo above. The Continental forces entered the table at the lower edge which the Tory forces were defending the convoy which can just be seen at the 'T' junction. The continental cavalry were already on the table facing a light artillery piece.

The tory forces had their largest battalion behind the tavern.

Originally the Tory forces were surprised by the appearance of Continental forces, which they did not expect to be in the area. The Tories decided to fall back, barring the way to the convoy.

Here is a better view of the Tory battalion which originally deployed behind the tavern.

Two smaller unit were deployed on the Tory right, just in front of the road that the convoy was to travel down.

Here they are and include some Jaegers.

The Continentals started in the woods and in the battle moved through the woods and surprised the Tories as they appeared from the woods. In this game the movement through the woods would not allow the troops to reach the end of the woods in time for the game duration, so I moved them to the edge of the wood and after reaching the road which bordered the wood, advanced and turned left across the front of the tavern, to try to cut the convoy off before they disappeared off the table.

Doing this also meant that they took flank fire from the tavern as they passed.

The convoy speed was controlled by dice throws each move. These were rather lucky for the Tories so it made good progress.

The Continental light infantry were held up by defenders on the fence line and also attacked by the Highlanders who had now advanced from the Tavern. The Pennsylvanian battalion, which had followed the riflemen through the orchard, were surprised on the flank and the front by a double attack and promptly surrendered leaving the Continental riflemen to quit the battle with the tail of the convoy disappearing off the table.

Here, a view from the the far right of the Tory lines, the convoy disappears at he Continental rifles face off with the artillery.

This was a very enjoyable game, using the clubs AWI rules which where written when we gamed at the Coltishall Cowards club in the 1990's

It also showed that you do not have to field a massive array of figures to have a great game.

A larger commentary is present on the New Buckenham Historical Wargamers Facebook page, here.

La Belle Alliance Part 6, (and Final Part).

Hello There! I have finished the La Belle Alliance model. I can now go through the last steps of building. The last previous part of this tutorial is here.

As you can see I have added the moss to the main roof. When this had all dried I then did a very light airbrush of mid brown and the left to varnish next.

I added a watered done brown to the sign and allowed to dry.

The boards at the end of the building were cut from thin plastic card, painted in white enamel and painted the same way as the window frames, door frames and doors.

The sign on the end of the building was covered in a combination of AK Slimy Dark Green and AK Slimy Light Green enamel colour. I washed these with white spirit to get a thinner finish. 

Here is a clearer view of the moss on the main roof.

Here are the materials and tools I used to place the moss on the roof of the building. I also used some watered down PVA to ensure the finished 'moss' stayed in place.

Overall this work was a practice to find out what the problems were, with such a build. I picked up a few tips to avoid some problems when making further buildings in the future.

Battle of Arcola, 15th to 17th November, 1789

Hello there! Here is a game that was put on at the New Buckenham Historical Wargames Club.

This was part of a series of linked games from the Revolutionary Wars. Due to shortage of figures we used figures in later uniforms for this game.

The curve of the river and the marshy area can easily be seen and this allowed Napoleon to use internal lines of communication.

One bridge was taken by the French attacking forces.

Here is a nice little vineyard, which I will 'poach' for the Mediterranean scenery that I am making at the moment.

This wagon was particularly eye catching as I am also working on a convoy and supplies scenario for a horse & musket period game.

There are further pictures here. on the club facebook page. I took a small part in the game and it was particularly well run and very enjoyable. 

Tiger Day, Bovington Tank Museum 2026

Hello There! I visited Bovington Tank museum recently, on the 'Tiger Day'. The weather was great and there were plenty of restored and moving vehicles and tanks to see, as well as many stationary exhibits.

The only real problem with such an event is that when there is always something going on in the main arena, there is little chance to view what is in the museum itself, without risking missing something from the main show.

This Dodge Command Car was immaculate! Plenty of little details were present, including the aerial mount, the complete tool rack on the back, map cases in the back seat and webbing straps across the doorways.

At the entrance to the museum is a memorial to those personnel who lost their lives, while on active service, since World War Two. Sadly there are far too many names on that memorial. There are also many conflicts since 1945, some that you may not even remember.

In the centre of the memorial is the following statement from Pericles. Something which is just as relevant today.

There were two kettenkrad on display, one of which was working in the arena. It was nice to see it working. According to the commentator this could work just as well without the front wheel.

This one had the markings of the fallschirmjager unit Ramcke.

Next a more common sight at military shows. A Daimler Dingo. I do like the smaller vehicles and my wargame forces both in the desert and Normandy have some of these in them. 

This was a surprise to see. I do not know if it is the same vehicle but I saw the shell of a Grant tank about ten years ago, at a previous show. Never thought I would see a working one. While there is more space inside than a 'normal' tank, it is still cramped. It is very tall!

A M5A1 Stuart tank was also parked alongside the previous two vehicles. This was in American markings and was also a working vehicle.

Inside the restoration hangar was a prototype version of the Tiger II. The turret has already been removed as the museum intends to restore this to working order. I cannot remember if this has recently been procured by the museum or if it is the one they had on display. They have an appeal for £1,000,000 to complete the restoration.

In the background I saw a Sherman BARV. Further around the path I was able to get a better shot of it.

What appears to be a Crusader, ( I am not good at telling that from a Covananter), was tucked away in a hangar.

There were many kettenkrad on show, on the day.

My partner even found something to interest her, with a number of motorbike on display

 

Also a German Motorcycle combination.

As you can see there were a lot of little details on this combination.

A large variety of small arms and support weapons were also in evidence.

In the arena the displays included a vast variety of vehicles on show. Here is the kettenkrad I had photographed earlier, with the markings of the Fallschirmjager division Ramck.

Next, one of my personal favourites, a Daimler scout car.

This later version of the Stuart Tank did appear very small when driven alongside some of the larger exhibits. Especially the Grant tank!

This may well have been the Grant chassis and 'shell' I photographed a few years ago at the 'War & Peace Show' As you can see, it is now a runner!

This was also a runner, but before the demonstration, all these vehicles were parked alongside the arena.

After the World War Two vehicles, a number of more modern vehicles were displayed. including a Leopard 2 and recovery vehicle.

Then a re enactment of the combat which led to the capture of the Bovington Tiger tank was played out.

It was great to see a Matilda MkII in the ring as well. I have never seen one of those moving!

It was joined by a Panzer III.

A too and fro battle was shown, albeit in a relatively small area for practicality.

Obviously, the Tiger did appear noticeably larger to the other vehicles in the arena.

Overall it was a highly enjoyable day and the weather was moderate and managable. Usually it is difficult to see the exhibits in the museum as well as the demonstrations in the arena but with the outside building being open to view and wide walkways to the museum, it was easier to get to the museum and have a look around.