Big Wars

When I first came back to the Wargaming fraternity late last year a lot of my old reference books were in storage in the loft. I 'knew' that somewhere among them was a copy of Stuart Asquith and Jack Alexander's rule book for 54mm battles; BIG WARS. An initial search was ineffective but it transpired I was looking for a bookcover of the wrong colour, I was searching for what I remembered as a red book, while in effect once I found it (looking for something else) I discovered it was blue.

This A4 stapled booklet was privately published in 1993 and contains 15 pages of rules with as many of adverts for figure manufacturers (GBE, Ensign, Dorset, etc.) and  photocopied colonial period pictures. I think the appeal to me was that Line Infantry battalions are of 10 men plus an officer, Light Infantry battalions are 5 men (with or without officer) and Cavalry regiments are 4 men. Armies are therefore a lot smaller than current thinking. This must be where my 10 man regiment comes from, though I make my cavalry units 8 troopers as the smaller unit doesn't look large enough.

My project units are slowly evolving, there should be group photos soon, and then I can try some small scenarios with these rules, just to get the feel back.

In the meantime, Mr William Freese-Greene, of the 'Daily Messenger', has come up with a scoop, a photo taken at great risk, of the spies Altamont and Ashenden.

These are actually castings from my stockpile, of Holmes and Watson, made by 'Music in Miniature'.The car is from an old Highway Pioneers plastic kit and I've forgotten its make.