With the sincerest of apologies to George Barr McCutcheon, I’ve chosen to trial a mini-campaign using Mr Mersey’s ‘The Men Who Would Be Kings‘ wargame rules from Osprey. Principally laid down for Colonial wargaming in a format that follows on from the earlier successes of ‘Lion Rampant‘ and ‘Dragon Rampant‘, I decided to veer off a little into VSF. This suits my eventual ambition – to use TMWWBK for Space: 1889 tabletop challenges.
So I decided to take it to Eastern Europe/Balkans first – mainly because I have enough 28mm items to kit out a workable contest between a force from Graustark and their traditional Axphainian enemies. These same figures have served notably well in other VSF-themed campaigns from previous years, along with a few random ‘Back-of-Beyond‘ actions too.
Russian infantry in greatcoats and fur hats provide me with Axphain militia, and some CHEKA will double up instead as the ‘elite’ Axphain Guards, with a crewed Maxim HMG as a gun unit. Opposing them, camped around the Baron’s hunting lodge, will be Czech officers as the Baron’s Garde-du-Korps, some German WWI Jagers as Graustark Border Police, and a few more German WWI early war infantry, playing the part of a Company of Graustark Infantry. There’s also a visiting hunting party of Ruritanian gentlemen not too far from the Lodge, in the nearby village. I’m sure they wouldn’t stand by to see a nobleman’s entourage ‘roughed-up’ by some vulgar Axphainian thugs. There may also be additional guest appearances by other forces too. (No, not the Black Dragon Tong and their Yeti).
The plan is to run some test gaming, using the rules with some possible tweaks here and there to get a more Gothic/Steampunk feel. The leader characterization especially has great potential here. But I also have an idea of a game-within-the-game as well, specifically suited for the younger dice-hands, the children of my old crew of players.
TMWWBK rules are well worth a look if you want tabletop actions that pitch your Field Force or Flying Column/Brigade/Legion/etc., against tribal or irregular opponents in any setting around the nineteenth century world.
Osprey Publishing webpage for TMWWBK
And the coat-of-arms – that’s an invention on my part for the Principality of Graustark, created using some online fantasy RPG tools.
Of Quills & Dice 