This is the first in an occasional series of articles on wargaming topics that have occured or been debated within our club meetings.
First let us introduce ourselves, we are the Chase Wargames Society, a wargames club based in Hammerwich, Staffordshire, not far from Lichfield.
The club has been in existence for nearly 30 years and has been through more than a few changes both in personnel and premises,as do many clubs.
We currently have use of a large Scout hall on a Thursday night. This is the best club room we've had for many years, enabling us to put on multiple games.Considering that one of our old rooms measured roughly 8ft by 14ft and you could'nt swing a decent board game in it, this venue is certainly appreciated.
The club at present numbers around 30 members wargaming most periods and styles from Ancients up to Sci-Fi, although oddly enough we have no Napoleonic specialists. Also, for a relatively small club we have three dedicated Naval gamers.
As far as periods go we play Ancient/Medieval, English Civil War, American Civil War, British Colonial, World War Two, Modern, Sci-fi, plus Naval and Air games, Boardgames and RPG's .I would say that probably half of our games are WW2 as we have several members with large WW2 collections. Enabling us to play games in quite a few of the time periods within WW2.France 1940, Russia, early, middle and late war North Africa, North West Europe are all regularly played.
One of our "Points to Ponder", in this article came about during and after a recent game set during the France Campaign of 1940.The majority of our Blitzkrieg games involve scenarios whereby the Allied units comprising either French, British or Belgians,(or units of each),are mainly in defensive positions trying to hold off German attacks.
This particular game involved French units acting offensively with combined Armour and Infantry attacks in order to re-capture ground previously taken by the Germans. During the playing of the game it becomes all too clear that if used offensively, even with the limitations of the French tanks with their one man turret, the French armour is generally superior to the German forces. The French players are actually enjoying playing for once! This prompts club members who are not familiar with the France Campaign to ask just why the French actually lost so badly in 1940.
The answer in reality as many historians now agree lay in the tactical thinking of the French High Command.By attaching armour in penny-packets to slow moving Infantry units, concentration of armour on the battlefield cannot be used.
The Germans as is well known used their armour only en masse and even when French armour did intervene it was overwhelmed and destroyed.The immobility of the French High Command to think other than in the time scales associated with the First World War condemned their units to attempting holding actions and small local counter attacks,often following orders hopelessly out of date or ordering units to places where the Germans had already passed.The chronic shortage of air support for the allied armies meant however that any sort of large scale offensive on their part would have been faced with all manner of problems.The Air War in France 1940 was in reality a one sided shooting gallery with the LuftWaffe the only winner.
The second of our "Points to Ponder" in this article is specifically aimed at all you umpires and referees or the people who set up the game or the scenario.How many times have you been badgered by your players into giving them all the most up to date weaponry for that game,or the best forces a player can have at his disposal.Well why not start giving them second rate equipment or lesser forces,and then let the players show you just how good they are. Scenarios that readily spring to mind are the use of second class French tanks against Russian Partisans,Russian Armoured Cruisers against their Japanese counterparts during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5,or even the interception of Lord Salisbury's Yorkist force on the road to Ludlow by Lord Audleys superior Lancastrian's that led to the Battle of Blore Heath in 1459.(The Lancastrians lost at Blore Heath with the death of Lord Audley showing how small forces could win.)More well known victories by smaller forces such as Agincourt in 1415,and Rorkes Drift in 1879 I have'nt really tried to class in the type of scenario suggested as they are too well known and easily won by the superior force using todays knowledge of the actual battle.
This imbalance of forces will not make you popular with certain players when they find out just what units they will be using.But do explain to them that Tiger II's did'nt appear on every battlefield! This type of expectation that players get as to what forces or equipment they are going to get is one that we have been trying to modify in our club members. If you are playing North-West Europe 1944-45,then don't give the Americans Shermans and Pershings,but give them an armoured recce unit of Jeeps,M8 armoured cars ,Stuarts and Infantry in half tracks. Likewise the Germans don't get Tigers or Panthers but defensively armed Infantry units and Sdkfz 251 Hanomags with some of the different weaponry that they carried.Just try and catch some of your players off guard for once and try and make them think differently on occasions.
We do try to make our games as variable as possible and to that end having a number of club members with widely differing interests and specialities does help. We have one member who plays and researches the Spanish Civil War ,which has really obscure units to tax the players minds.One member has an interest in the Pre-Dreadnought Armoured Cruisers and battleships built before 1906.Others have Roman and Parthian armies,Jacobite and government forces for the 1745-46 uprising,Mahdists and British for the Sudan,Wars of the Roses armies,French Foreign Legion,Western Gunfighters,Battletech forces,American Civil War Naval and many,many others all keeping our interests alive so we do not have to rely on just one or two players to bring games each week.
There is a friendly rivalry between our members and we have not lost that sense of fun that can be had when playing . We do not sit in stoney silence (unless the umpire says so !), and can always find some words of encouragement for those opponents that have just been battered into surrendering. "Tut tut,shame about that -4 dice throw and that open flank" (snigger,snigger!).You all know the kind of thing I mean.
Thank you whoever you are for taking the time to read this piece and we hope it has made even one player think about different aspects to their gaming.