I am told that the old notices on my wargaming antics are still a popular stop for people. My Medieval armies of that time have been sold and as I watched them go I felt like I had just sold my children, however within a few years I had added another five armies to replace them, Macedonians, Romans (two), Romano-British and Saxons. Once these were finished I turned to WWII, the first wargame I had started wayback in the 60’s, and one which I thought I had no intention of returning to, I now own two British, four German, one French and two Russian forces and can cover actions from 1940 to 1945 on both the Western and Eastern Fronts.

Having mistakenly thought I was finished I then embarked on the French and British for the Seven Years War, the war which ended with Britain being the uncontested world super power in the 18th Century. My forces are modest for this period and I deliberately stayed away from the more popular Prussian, Russian and Austrian armies. I did this because I had always wanted to fight under the Union Flag and the Napoleonic Wars was just too big a project, such are the vagaries of wargaming.

I finished the last of my SYW troops just a week or so ago and as predicted I cannot stop, the hobby is more than just playing a game on a tabletop. There is the history, the research, the personalities, the collecting of figures and vehicles, the flags and uniform details, the painting and basing, all this before a die is thrown.

My vow of no more has not lasted very long, I was asked to render maps for a series of books by Helion and Co. on the Italian Wars of the late 15th, early 16th Century. To do this period properly you need big armies, huge pike blocks of Swiss and German mercenaries, rank upon rank of armoured knights along with the new fangled gunpowder weapons and battlefield cannon. The main protagonists were France, Spain and the Holy Roman Empire vying for control of the Duchy of Milan and the Kingdom of Naples, other important players were the Papal States, Venice and Florence amongst others, first fighting for one power then fighting against them. These wars which covered several from 1494 to 1538 are very complex.

This all leads to beautiful looking armies in the colourful dress of the time under a forest of banners and standards, it is going to be a long process building up enough forces for the first battle and I doubt it will happen this year, but with everything I already have I am in no hurry, although my store of patience wears thin when toy soldiers are involved.

Interested parties as always can find me in the Post Office or you can read the latest news here http://musingswargameslife.blogspot.com/