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Welcome to Colonial Wargaming! Colonial Wargaming is the hobby of gaming the various conflicts brought about by Imperialist expansion. It can be an exciting game, with colorful, eccentric heroes dying for their love of King or Queen and country, or defending their lands and traditions. There are both sound historical records to draw from, as well as majestic Hollywood spectacles to game. It can be as historically accurate or as outlandishly ridiculous as you wish, making it appeal to a wide audience. How to Start Step 0: Visit Major General Tremorden Rederring's Colonial-era Wargames Page for inspiration. Step 1: Choose a conflict to game. The Colonial era is difficult to define in terms of a precise start and stop date, but lasts approximately through the 1800's until WWI (or approximately Queen Victoria's reign from 1837 until 1901), and covers a vast number of conflicts of a variety of sizes, origins and participants. Your first job is to select a conflict that appeals to you. I would strongly suggest, for your first selection, that you choose something from what I've labeled as the Most-gamed Conflicts. The Sudan, the Zulu War, the Boer War, the Indian Mutiny and the Northwest Frontier are the most popular conflicts to game (in that order, in my opinion), and thus have the widest selection of figures and rules, making it easier for new players to find and purchase what they need. Read through the descriptions I've provided. In most cases, I've added links to more detailed information about the conflict, and what materials such as figures and rules are available. Step 2: Choose your rules. Colonial Wargaming is not the product of a single manufacturer, so there are many different ways to play. There are lots of different rules out there, ranging from easily available popular rulesets to esoteric articles in hard-to-find, out-of-print magazines. It's easy to not know where to begin. As a newcomer to the hobby, however, you can not go wrong with the Sword and the Flame (TSATF). TSATF is designed to cover the Sudan, the Zulu War, the Boer War, the Northwest Frontier, and Darkest Africa. It comes with supplements for the Boxer Rebellion and the French Foreign Legion in North Africa. It can be easily converted to play any conflict (see Dahomey), and is probably the most well-known set of Colonial rules available. It also has the advantage of not being a "beginner's set--" people of all experience levels can and do play it. See the Rules section for information on ordering TSATF. Step 3: Prepare your figures. There are a number of different scale sizes for Colonial figures, ranging from 6mm (1/285) to 54mm (1/35) from a variety of manuafacters. With some rules, you use the figures individually, and in others, you mount several together on a single base to form a larger unit such as a platoon or company. A single figure thus may represent a single man or several men. TSATF uses individually-based figures, and a single figure represents a single man. In this scale, you probably don't want anything smaller than 15mm, and 15mm and 25mm are the most popular scales. 15mm figures are cheaper, running US $.21 to US $.55 or so a piece, but they are smaller and have less detail. This may make them easier or more difficult to paint, depending on the amount of effort you intend to invest. 25mm figures will be more expensive, typically about US $1.00 to US $2.00 or more. Many are really beautiful, but since they are larger, it can take a lot longer to paint the same number as smaller figures. Ultimately, it's your preference-- TSATF plays the same, regardless of which scale you use. My impression is that most gamers play 25mm, although I personally play mostly 15mm. (I started out at 15mm, since it was cheaper and allowed me to buy lots of figures quickly. I recently bought a few nice 25mm figures for games requiring fewer figures). |