"Spice Wars Campaign" Topic

Drawing together all the threads I've started around this topic, my thinking on the subject is starting to crystallise.

I've settled on a six-sided campaign set circa 1540, with the following factions: Spanish, Portuguese, Malays, Aboriginal Head-Hunters, Chinese Pirates, and Muslim Traders. The basic idea is to make use as much as possible of figures I already have and minimise the need for additional purchases, so the concept should appeal to others with similar collections.

I've listed some of what I have in a previous post, but additionally, I've gone with a unitary Muslim Traders faction over separate Indian and Arab forces because it's more historically likely, and means I'll have enough figures just by combining my own assorted Indians and Arabs. In Foundry Miniatures I have all the Darkest Africa 'Baluchi' swordsmen and matchlockmen and some Indian Mutiny badmashes, and Old Glory Indian Mutiny Afghan mercenary swordsmen, matchlockmen, and badmashes. The Afghans are in north Indian costume (as per the plate in the Osprey book), so really could be any nationality from the region. They might be genuine Afghans… or they might not. The bare-chested look also seems somehow right for the tropical East Indies climate. I'm operating on the presumption that the traders, as men of substance, could easily afford to hire large numbers of matchlockmen and would have no need to resort to hiring Arab or Persian archers – which I don't have (this saves me having to buy any). These will be mixed Indians and Arabs, as will the swordsmen who make up the other main troop type. The sword-armed badmash figures will be getting shields and going to make up the swordsmen numbers. The rest of the badmashes with clubs and knives (and a few with bows) will only grace the tabletop if another faction is making an all-out assault on a trading post; they will represent the merchants themselves and their employees making a desperate stand. I have three Foundry Indian Mutiny command figures perfect for this subject: a leader in mail and Turkish-style helmet to represent the hired mercenary commander, a standard bearer, and a drummer.

I have all the Foundry Chinese pirates, but that's not many figures, so this is one faction that will require reinforcements. I'll probably get the OG Boxers with swords and pole-arms. I know that pigtails and Manchu hats are anachronistic, but I'm prepared to live with the minor ignominy – and it means the figures will span a few hundred more years.

Why 1540? Well, it means I neatly avoid the problem of Foundry never having made conquistador crossbowmen, and also makes the lack of Muslim archers more acceptable.

I also never acquired the Foundry conquistador cannon, so that's another item for the checklist (not necessarily the ridiculously expensive Foundry one, though).

For Portuguese slave soldiers I have oodles of Foundry DA native spearmen, and a supply of circular shields from the same range. I also have plenty of leftover Gripping Beast metal and Fireforge plastic swords with which to arm them (yes, I know they're Dark Ages and medieval, but you wouldn't expect the parsimonious Portuguese to be issuing expensive, shiny new models to mere native auxiliaries, would you?).

The rest of the Spanish/Portuguese numbers can be made up with allies.

The campaign will be, in typical Peers style, mapless, and like the El Dorado concept on which it's based, set on one fictional island; this one somewhere north of the Moluccas (the real Spice Islands), and the most abundant source of every variety of spice in the region; hence its irresistible attraction to all factions. The Malays inhabit the coast and the Head-hunters occupy the hinterland. The foreign Muslims have an as yet indeterminate number of trading posts on the coast, and the European interlopers start the campaign without a terrestrial presence.

The only major change I foresee needing to make to the combat rules is a downgrading of non-Iberian musketry. The rules assume that native American arquebusiers were as effective as the Spanish, whereas Mr Peers makes it clear that south Asian firepower was greatly inferior.

Any faction will be able to fight any other. Historically, the Spanish and Portuguese fought each other over the Spice Islands for a decade or so.

Very interesting. Link to your site?

Awesome…Link please, can you share your campaign rules?

My site? Sorry – this is it :-). I'm just throwing these ideas out there to spark the interest of anyone who, as I said, has a similarly eclectic collection, or just conquistadors, they might have been looking for alternative uses for. I was looking for a way to use my conquistadors that didn't entail having to buy hordes of – or in fact any – 28mm Aztecs or Incas.

The campaign rules formed the first of three articles Chris Peers wrote for Wargames Illustrated many years ago: 'The Land of El Dorado'. It was inspired by the release of the Foundry conquistadors, and was designed to give you a campaign system, army lists, and combat rules that, by geographically compressing, simplifying, and fictionalising to some extent the Iberian conquest of the Americas, allowed you to use any of the Indian tribes and empires of South and Central America together in the same campaign. The first two articles were in issues 164 and 165.

The combat rules are based on his 'In the Heart of Africa' rule set for Darkest Africa. ItHoA provides a fun, simple, mechanically painless, distinctly toy soldiery flavoured (it employs individually based 28mm figures) mass battles game with enough tactical challenge to keep things interesting.

Also well worth reading for a basic grounding in the period (if you can get hold of it after 25 years!)is a two-part Peers piece (try saying that three times very quickly)in WI 38 and 39:'Christians and Spices'.

Something which I have gamed for a few years where your Portuguese and Spanish can be used is Colonial Brazil, Eureka and Copplestone have ranges of tribesmen and you cannot miss out on the fantastic Eureka Portuguese they are real beauties

I know someone who has the Copplestone Tupi etc. and they are indeed excellent figures. I have only the Old Glory pirate range cannibals, and although not of the same standard of sculpting, and really celluloid caricatures, they do have an undeniable charm. Also, their geographical non-specificity means I can slot them into an East Indies setting without causing too many eyebrows to be raised (in fact grass skirts were more a feature of this region than the Americas).

As I've said, the point of the exercise is to exploit what I've already got to produce multi-faction gaming possibilities. For the New World only the cannibals would work, so I'd have to buy two or three complete armies. That won't be happening. With this concept my biggest expense will be supplementing the Chinese.

I'm well aware of the Eureka Portuguese, and did have another look at the images on the website, but doing so just reinforced my assessment from when they first appeared. Although the sculptor has very successfully captured the raffishness of the civilisado rabble and made them distinctly Portuguese, the proportions are off enough to jar the eye: many of them are too broad in the torso, with no hips and skinny, misshapen legs. Also, the crossbowmen and arquebusiers aren't in realistic action poses, firing and loading. I'd possibly have bought some at a significantly lower price, but not for $3 USD each.

That's AUS$3.

My thinking on this continues to solidify, and on the off chance someone else might be interested…

The supporting text for the no. 17 Indonesian or Malay entry in my old DBR Army List 3 book has proved very useful in deciding how to rate the various warrior types. In the interests of simplicity and clear distinction of the factions, and because it just happens to work very neatly in historic terms, I've opted to assign a single, blanket martial quality for each faction. There may yet be the odd exceptional unit, though.

The rules give you a few combat characteristics to modify the general 2 point warrior class. I've gone with 'ferocious' for the Malays (+2 points) with some armoured (an additional +2), 'disciplined' for the Arabs/Indians (mercenaries), 'swift' for the head-hunters (based on a quote in the DBR book about the inhabitants of the Moluccas that actually uses that very word), and no additional quality for the Chinese pirates. All the sword/polearm figures get another +1 for their edged weapons as per the rules, and I'm as yet undecided about how to rate Asian arquebusiers, both in terms of points and firing effect.

Everything I've read about these guns suggests that they should be inferior to human-powered missile weapons in every respect except their morale effect on the locals, and I'm thinking that that should therefore be increased from a morale test only when a unit is first fired on to a test every time it's fired on. It seems more logical given the historical reality, and otherwise there'd be virtually no incentive to use them! They certainly won't be getting the +3 of the rules as written. The question is whether they deserve any extra points at all. At this point I'm thinking probably not; the morale effect is countered by their pathetic physical effect. I'll probably have to exaggerate their firepower at least a little to make them worth fielding.

More as it comes to mind…

I forgot to mention the foreign Muslim merchants and workers: just the basic 2 point warrior with no additional qualities or weapons.

As well as being historically justifiable, having all the other Arab and Indian troops rated as disciplined means that that standard bearer actually has a purpose (under the rules only disciplined warriors benefit from a standard).

I might yet end up having to invest in some Arab archers just to give the Muslims some worthwhile ranged fire ability. Now… Old Glory, or Gripping Beast plastics?

Fascinating…what rules will you use for this?

The only period game I've played is FOG Renaissance. So I'm wondering how that compares to other systems out there, especially for colonial conflicts…is there a minis system that specializes in colonial conflict?

As I mentioned in my second post above, the rules are contained in the WI 'The Land of El Dorado' series of articles, and are based on Mr Peers' 'In the Heart of Africa' fast-play Darkest Africa rules.