Solo Wargaming - A Few Tips & Ideas

Note: As with my other guides posted here (at LaToya's suggestion) this was first published on eBay and can also be found on my hobby site www.drumandflag.com.

This guide offers a few potentially left field tips on solo wargaming gained from many years of fighting battles for both sides. Wargaming as a hobby is a fairly idiosyncratic one with folk pretty free to do what they like compared with some other pastimes. Solo wargaming offers even more personal choice as you only have yourself to please. I write this guide with that in mind as I fully recognise what one person likes another may not but hopefully some of this will be of interest. Last updated: Feb 2008.

 Free to choose when solo gaming. LOTR figures on square instead of round bases (GW Figures)

* Rules - Adapt One Set

Maybe it's because I am a bit of a thickie but I have always found it hard to assimilate rules in the first place and then to remember them going forward. To mitigate this I decided early on to stick to one set of rules across the three eras I game - Napoleonic, American Civil War and Lord of the Rings. I started with ACW and the excellent Fire & Fury rules. I then adapted the mechanics as best I could to suit the other two periods and it works well for me. Subsequently Age of Eagles (Official Fire & Fury Napoleonic Rules) has been released adding some more ideas to my own private adaptation. For me a workable set of interesting rules giving a good game, nicely painted figures and pleasing battlefield scenery have always been the priority - exact historical accuracy, particularly given that I am using small figures on a table in the first place, never has been. Herecy maybe for some but then as I said at the start wargaming is an idiosyncratic hobby and when soloing you are master of your own universe. Using the same core rules means you get very familiar with the basic principles and mechanics and don't need to learn and remember several different rule sets, you also may only need one set of dice / measuring sticks / result tables / templates etc... This is important for me at least as finding time to game has always been tricky and anything that saves some is worthwhile. Additionally when running both sides during combat as well as preparing your troops for the field you may well find it uses a lot of brain processing power and again anything that simplifies and assists is welcome. If you like for example 54mm skirmish wargaming and 28mm WW2 and Warhammer 40k then it will be more difficult to use this tip as it is more suited to big battalion type games where similarities are many and the attributes of an individual figure are not so paramount.

 A 12 stand ACW Union Zoauve unit I use with Fire & Fury rules. (Emhar figures)

* Eras to Fight - Choose Only a Few

When my interest in gaming and military history reignitied (without much warning I may add!) in my late twenties it was quite an experience. I had the money, if not the time, compared to when I was say 13 to buy what I wanted within reason and also the internet to use as a tool of exploration. These factors were a mixed blessing as I basically went mad and veered off in all sorts of directions taken in and almost overwhelmed by the choice on offer. Most periods of history interested me and so did the related books, figures etc...It was not until later that I was able to discipline myself to focus on just a few areas - the above mentioned ACW, Napoleonic and Lord of the Rings. Unless you are lucky it is key to focus, especially if solo gaming, as otherwise you will find you simply do not have the time, space or money to do real justice to your hobby. There are only a certain number of figures and books you have space to store, can afford to purchase, can find time to read and paint, let alone fit any gaming in. For me this has meant some hard decisions and I have sold off WW2, Medieval, Ancient and AWI collections and still have to cull cherished items from time to time!

 A Gallic warband. Unfortunately in a period I have decided I have to pass up. (Italeri figures)

* Army Size - Be Realistic

Bearing in mind that the eventual aim is to actually have a tabletop battle (as opposed to endlessly preparing to have one with lots of unpainted figures and scenery etc..) less can be more when it comes to choosing what size armies to fight with. This is primarily because you have both sides to prepare and control when playing solo. I'd suggest that about 6-9 infantry units per side is manageable with some artillery, cavalry and command stands added in as well. Another idea is to use one figure stands. This for me offers the advantage of fully appreciating each figure I've painted as an "individual" whilst being able to field more speedily produced units that still look good. Movement trays remove any hassles of shifting individual figures. I tend to use 12 and 24 figure units. These look good, offer enough stands to take a fair bit of casualty removal and also handily fit the compartments of their DIY tool box storage units!

 A one figure Napoleonic British infantry stand. (Revell Figure)

 If you have too big an army, and it is very tempting to do so, you may well find you never get to the battelfield in the first place or if you do it is not very often. Then just simply coping with looking after so many units becomes a strain or you run out of time or both. As well as keeping your army sizes manageable you may also want to consider using the same army for each battle you fight and not creating a bespoke order of battle for each scenario. This offers several benefits as well disbenefits so you takes your choice. The plus points are that you become very familiar with your army over time, it is cheaper, it takes up less storage space and you do not have to spend time recreating a new order of battle each time you fight a battle. The negative points are that it is obviously historically inaccurate, it eliminates a variable element when you want to maximise the variables to keeping solo play interesting, it is also an enjoyable part of gaming to shape a model army to mirror a real one and it is pleasurable to build a variety of units and select from them differently each time you play.

 A unit of Napoleonic French Young Guard (Figures HaT)

* Generating Scenarios - Use Your Imagination

With a bit of imagination you can use the same army to fight what were historically regimental through brigade to division to corps size battles - all on the same size table - the dimensions of which are likely to be dictated by the size of what you can put on top of your dining room table or double bed unless you are fortunate enough to have more space and/or a bespoke gaming table or room. For example a French army of 9 infantry units could refight the action around Hougoumont at Waterloo one day and the next be used for Leipzig. Obviously if it was the latter (which was the largest battle before the outbreak of WW1) you would simply be picking out ideas and themes to adapt for your own use rather than running any real approximation to a refight. To make my point clear all you might take from Leipzig is a scenic layout of a potentially fortified town with key roads leading off in several directions, one of which being a causeway. Throw in the major water, woodland and hilly ground features and bingo you have your scenery sorted. You could also place your units roughly where the real corps started the actual battle. Other variables such as weather, commander performances etc can also be adapted.

 A well used scratch built Hougoumont for the Waterloo battlefield

You can also take battles from one period and refight them in another. For example there is no reason why you could not replace 1815 Belgian scenery with that of 1863 America to fight an ACW Waterloo or a Napoleonic Gettysburg. However there are so many Napoleonic and ACW battles that it may take some time before you need to be so creative. Particularly as when playing solo you have many ways of playing the same battle. You can more actively play Army A on a particular side of the table in game one, then swap table sides for game two, then swap to Army B for game three and so on. Throw in trying to play as historically as possible and then again with what if's and you have many permutations to maximise your use of any given set up. Osprey's Campaign series are generally very useful books when planning a battle.

  Will Saruman be on good or bad form in his next Lord of the Rings battle? (Figures Games Workshop)

* Technology - Use Available Resources

Obviously the internet offers a brilliant research tool when preparing your forces and battlefields. There are countless history and wargaming sites to visit, inspire and enjoy. Beyond that computer games can be a real source of assistance. For example as well as really enjoying the Talonsoft Battleground and HPS John Tiller Games in their own right they provide fantastic maps in 2 and 3 dimensions as well as great detail on forces, myriad what if scenarios and ideas for game mechanics. The player guides for the Lord of the Rings PC games are also a great source of inspiration for gaming in this genre.

Another idea you may find useful if you have the relevant access and experience is using spreadsheet programmes such as Excel. You can create a sheet listing your armies order of battle so at minimum you have a conveniently stored record. Going further you can use Excel as a live reference for how your army is doing on the battlefield. Simply enter casualties for each unit as they occur and the sheet will update showing how your regiments / brigades / divisions / corps / armie are doing. If you know how you can use the Conditional Formatting tool to make your screen go from green to amber to red as your units go from Fresh to Worn to Spent. Excel also helps you keep tabs on any objectives you may have set such as points for taking key terrain features, commander captures, batteries destroyed and casualties inflicted etc...The rules I use based around Fire & Fury lend themselves to use in this way well. I recognise that other sets may not but as always there may the germ of an idea there you can adapt in your own fashion. The ideal is to have your wargame and your computer in the same room of course.

 Markers indicate on the field what's going on in conjunction with what is showing on your battle sheet. (Figures from Revell, Esci & Imex)

* Variables - Maximise the Unknown

As you don't have an opponent to throw curved balls at you it is important to create both variety and the unexpected for yourself and there are several ways to do this. I already mentioned earlier on that "running" only one army yourself is one way of doing this - the other you more rigidly set big picture orders for like "defend at all times" or "all out attack" and anything in between. Next you can set up on different sides of the same table, then you can add in whether to play historical or what if  type games. Hence you can see that if your table was set up for Gettysburg there are number of ways to use the same layout either over time or consecutively if you have the chance.

 Lee's HQ at Gettysburg. Building scenery and painting figures can be as much fun as the game itself.

On a more micro level there are myriad factors you can make result tables for and roll dice to see what happens. For example will reinforcements arrive? If so at what time? In which location? With what strength? Commanders had good and bad days - will your Napoleon be the one present at Austerlitz or Waterloo? Weather was similarly varied - taking the Waterloo example again what if the ground had dried out earlier in the day allowing the French time to potentially defeat Wellington before Blucher arrived? If gaming fantasy battles you can use design magic charts to depict the influence of powerful wizards who can influence morale, create fire, shape the weather, reincarnate dead troops, summon monsters etc...

 A handy chap to summon on a "monster table". (Games Workshop Cave Troll)

Well that's all I can think of for now. I am sure there is more to add that I have forgotten so over time I will update this guide. I am always interested to hear ideas from other hobbyists so please message me via eBay if you feel so inclined. My user ID is flagbearer101. Thanks for reading my guide.

Notes:

1.) As well as being a hobbyist I also run  Drum & Flag - the largest toy soldier store on eBay.co.uk (by number of items listed)

2.) All pictures used are of figures and scenery I painted myself.

3.) I have written several other similar guides and posted them on eBay so if you liked this one there's more info out there.