"Outdoor Wargames." Topic

"Just for you good folk who have contacted me concerning military history and war gaming – well, as you can see herewith – I have indeed played many war games, but not necessarily ones along conventional lines.

Arguably the largest outdoor war game ever played, my 1971 American Civil War battle was a fictional affair, but roughly based on events occurring during the Seven Days Battle of 1862.

Using almost 14,000 Airfix H0/00 figures, and a battlefield measuring 10 meters by 15 meters, the whole battle took two days to complete, this being allowed for by the fact that, being plastic, the figures could remain outdoors during the night, and a untypical British summer dry-spell, when it did not rain for four consecutive days!…"

Wow!!!

See here
link

Anyone have tried like him?

Amicalement
Armand

I've seen blogs where people have played airplane games outside (minis on thick wire just stuck into the ground).

And there was a HUGE army layout done by someone (can't remember the name now). Not a war game, just a guy playing with toy soldiers; not nearly at the level of sophistication as the folks that haunt these boards. hrumph, please excuse me while I adjust my monocle.

I would be worried about stepping on the minis, and ants.

And there was a HUGE army layout done by someone (can't remember the name now).

Peter Shulman's War?

peterswar.com

Hi

I have played Fletcher pratt Navel War game with 1/700 scale ships on a football field.

Not outdoors, but I have seen some pretty large miniature wargames at science fiction conventions. Starfleet vs. a Borg cube with Ertl 1/1400 models. Easily 10 x 20 yards, if not more. Large city landscapes for Battletech to rival anything the WW2 armor guys can do at conventions.

Sorry not the largest we used 25,000 25mm figures for Waterloo :) huge game 50 foot table.
But I do love the look of the outdoors gaming.

A few HO-1/87 scale WW2 games.

Tim Gow and Bertrand Plastic have a set of rules for doing this called "Little Cold Wars". It has illustrations of their troops deployed in the yard.

Padre Paul Wright's "Funny Little Wars" ( link ) is firmly predicated on 54mm armies duking it out on lawns, rockeries, beaches, and other suitable surfaces.

A major revision of Well's seminal "Little Wars," FLW provides for small arms, automatic weapons, varying sizes of artillery, and other aspects not in the original. However, "analog" means of determining the effects of artillery remain in the use of spring-loaded guns, but this time with variable burst radii, rather than counting on HG's version of "One shot, one kill."

Supply wagons, field hospitals, and written field orders between player commands, delivered by runners/gallopers, among other colorful (and too frequently ignored in rules for table-top actions) also feature in the system.

While ostensibly representing the "golden age" of armies, uniforms, customs, and sensibilities of the 25 years or so prior to 1914, and making full use of the charms of "Imaginations," variants are being played and developed by the Author for Seven Years, American Revolutionary, Napoleonic, Franco-Prussian, American Civil, and other 19th Century wars. Ancient and Medieval versions even allow for use of actual "stone" throwing catapults, ballistae, etc.

While quite playable on preferably large table-tops, it's soul is the Gentleman's activity on well kept green lawns under blue skies--so liberating for those of us round-shouldered, hunched over, genuinely "armchair generals" used to playing our games in closed rooms, basements, and the odd attic.

Not experiencing our hobby out-of-doors simply means one has never fully embraced its possibilities and rewards.

HARRRUMMMPH!

TVAG

Thanks for the links!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

The outdoors consists or bugs, heat, wind, rain, cold, and sunburn. No thank you.

@ Chris Wimbrow
That's the one! People like you are the reason I don't remember stuff any more. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! :)

Dynaman,

The wheels in my head were turning until you said that. I don't know if wargamers would want to play in 90 plus degree weather under the Louisiana sun!

Dynaman, just like real war, it's it's quite unpleasant really, horrid stuff all that. – Honduras, Bosnia, Afghanistan to name the three I found myself plopped down into. Simply dreadful

And here I was imagining toddler sized miniatures.

Still cool though.