Wargame Rules, Ratios, etc


RAISING MINIATURE ARMIES FOR THE LATE 18TH CENTURY

I am very keen to keep my wargame rules as simple as possible, yet capture the character of the 1790s. Morale dominates the games as the opposing sides are very different. Most of the French troops are 'levee' battalions, which I have chosen to base in column as their ability to change formation on a battlefield must have been limited, nor do I believe their volley fire had any great value. Of better quality, able to change formation, will be white-coated regular and blue-coated volunteer battalions, aided by a fair number of skirmishers. The British, Austrian, Dutch and German armies are often outnumbered, but they maintain the discipline and order of typical 18th century armed forces. Interestingly, French revolutionary cavalry have little in common with their later Napoleonic counterparts, the former are few in number, often poorly mounted, and no match for those in the service of the Allies. All figures are 28mm in scale, using a 1=25 ratio.

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Monday, 26 July 2021

PASSING OF A FRIEND, JOHN TUCKEY

Just heard from a friend of mine that John Tuckey recently passed away, aged 88. I think its appropriate for me to remember him here. I started wargaming with John in the late 1980s, and continued to do so during the following twenty years. Among a certain generation, particularly those organising shows, he was a well known character. As a wing-commander, retired, he was every bit a no-nonsense, forthright sort of bloke, and he wasn't acting the part. I liked him, and others have said that when he mentioned my name, it was positive. I will take that as a strong compliment. I suspect many visitors to shows all over England from 1980 to 2010 will have seen his historical refights, always involving thousands of 28mm figures, and in all periods of history. Recently spotted a photo in a Featherstone book with a Tuckey game featured.  He later staged his own wargames show at Marston-Magna, Somerset, and I was pleased to put on a game at most if not all his shows. In his last few years he sold his collections and re-embraced model railways, but on occasions we did still speak. He was a powerful character, a British patriot, and I'm sad to know he is no longer with us. RIP John.

Michael G. Butterfield



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9 comments:

  1. Adrian29 July 2021 at 08:03

    Hello Michael, hope you are well.
    A sad loss, If I remember rightly he once staged a huge Brandywine game which was then featured in wargames illustrated. Late 1980s.
    Highly impressive.
    RIP
    Kind regards from CB.

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    1. MGB30 July 2021 at 07:22

      Cheers Adrian, good to hear from you. Yes, he organised the AWI special event at Newark for Duncan Macfarlane. There was six display games. His was a massive Branywine refight. I staged Freeman's Farm. Fun times, and life only has value because it eventually concludes.
      Michael

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  2. George13 August 2021 at 03:43

    A loss to the community, the country and those who knew him. I am sure his legacy will live on.

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    1. MGB14 August 2021 at 23:57

      Hi George, he was certainly a larger than life character! Less certain of his legacy, our hobbies are strongly linked to particular generations.
      Michael

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  3. Chris Gregg24 August 2021 at 15:50

    Never knew him but I remember him at some shows. The ones I saw were very, very impressive but as I recall were more like a one man band moving diorama than an actual game. Thank you for this information about John, and your own past successes. Hope everything is going well for you. Cheers Chris G
    http://notjustoldschool.blogspot.com/

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    1. MGB26 August 2021 at 07:05

      Hi Chris, thats very true, his show games were actually battle displays. He would move the troops as history recorded. But he did fight wargames with a few people, including myself, these games typically involved about 500 18th century AWI/SYW 28mm, where as his show displays would involve about 2000 figures in all periods.
      For my part, reducing salt, cutting out tea, chocolate, coffee, cheese, etc, etc, I'm not doing too bad! My hobby efforts are mainly directed towards 54mm toy soldiers, just fought a two-day game between 1890s Empire and United States armies for control of Toronto. Pleased to report the Empire troops (British & Canadians) held on to the city. All the best,
      Michael

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    2. Chris Gregg27 September 2021 at 07:08

      Hi Michael sorry it has taken me a while to find your reply. I am glad you are doing well but what a shame to give up all those things! I find a balanced diet and lots of exercise is OK for health without cutting out too much of life's pleasurable foodstuffs. As you may see from my own blog I have had a productive Summer with mid 18th century games. Cheers Chris
      http://notjustoldschool.blogspot.com/

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  4. Rob Young16 April 2022 at 11:26

    Just spotted this following a thread on TMP...

    Sorry to hear of his death.I have quite fond memories of his games, even copied some of his ideas.Quite a few of his Ancients were bought by Harry Pearson - I once said to Harry that I would have bought a load of his figures when he sold up but couldn't afford it at the time Harry said he couldn't afford it AFTER he bought a load of figures! Happily for me, Harry later sold up and I was happy to acquire quite a few ex-JT Ancients.

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    1. MGB21 April 2022 at 12:25

      Cheers Rob. Yes, he certainly had a fair sized collection. His main periods were Ancients, 18th Century (which he war-gamed with myself), Napoleonic (possibly his first interest), and ACW (again, an early interest). Only a small proportion of his collection was painted by himself, most were acquired already painted, he would only tidy them up a little. Having mentioned that, he had some ability at painting, better than most gamers, but placed no great value on this ability. Most of his collection was sold to Ian at Hinds Figures.
      Michael

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