Angus Konstam's Edinburgh Wargames

Horse & Musket Periods

In his book Charge written in 1967, Brigadier Peter Young wrote that: "You may be tempted to build up wargame armies of several periods. This is enticing, but it's madness." Well, I sometimes wish I'd heeded the Brigadier's advice. Ah, to hell with it. Surely just a little "sample unit" or two can't hurt, can it? !

This is really my favourite era - the core of my wargaming collection. All of my "Horse & Musket" periods have their own charms - the regimented pace of a Seven Years War game is pleasingly different from an American War of Independence one. I've always been a sucker for a tricorne hat on a wargames figure, for Georgian or American Colonial architecture, and for the whole ethos of the "Age of Reason". Wargaming friend Phil Olley calls it "proper wargaming", and he has a point!

At the moment I've reduced my "Horse & Musket" collection down to just three periods. the War of the Grand Alliance doesn't count, as it just squeaks in before the start of the 18th century. Until recently I had two others - the  French & Indian War  and the American Civil War . To be honest, they never really took off for me but you can still visit the pages by clicking on the links. Of the three, my main period is really the Seven Years War, partly because I co-authored the Seven Years War rules Die Kriegskunst. Besides, for me it represents the ultimate in wargaming periods. The American War of Independence (it was never a "revolution", my colonial friends) is another back-burner period, but I've been gaming a lot more frequently lately. Napoleonics (which should really be called "Bonapartics" as us British never called him by his Imperial name) is a relatively new departure, and while I play the occasional game, it still plays second fiddle to the mid-18th century. An off-shoot of the main Napoleonic period is the French Revolutionary War. I'm slowly building up a small Austrian army, and I really love all the flavour of this rarely-gamed war.

 Whichever of these period grabs your attention, I hope that after surfing these pages you'll agree with me that of all wargaming eras the "Horse & Musket" is the most spectacular. Sure, you can use uninspiring and questionable rules systems like Napoleonic DBA or Warhammer ACW, or ones where a stand of four figures represents a Division, but then you'll miss out on some of the charm. Horse and Musket games should look good, feel good and be fun to play. If anyone tells you differently then they should probably stick with 15mm DBM! This - as Phil says - is proper wargaming!

                                                     The Seven Years War   

                                The American War of Independence     

                                                  The Age of Bonaparte      

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