Imagi-Nation Gaming

[sixsideddice]

I am somewhat drawn by the idea of creating an Imagi-nation!


One of the biggest pitfalls with many of `us ` gamers seems to be too much time on our hands to think... we spend so long planning, preparing, getting ready for the new adventure into fresh idea land, realms still unconquered and with heads buried in inspirational books and magazines; that by the time we get round to choosing our armies of little men and actually placing the initial figure order(s), we have sometimes gone off the boil, having moved on to pastures new. The limitations of magnifying satellites within history is all so often the case that we literally `move on` before our projects reach fruition.


A long time ago, myself and a former female partner and gamer decided to take up Imagi-nation gaming: taking real history, and creating “what if” situations within a historical context, but changing things slightly to create our own personalised bloodless wars; small imaginary countries, kingdoms, Principalities... made up history, royal family trees, uniforms and flags, all firmly (and occasionally, slightly more whimsically, not so firmly) based within the loose confines of historical gaps â€" places where history is not so precise, allowing us to interject imaginary places and happenings not covered by any history book... which is where we came in, making up our own history for places and wars which didn`t really exist in any dimension we know to be factually correct.


The joy of this was that it allowed us to make up our own uniforms, our own troops compositions, and our own rules of engagement... all based within the real world as we know it â€" kinda.


The advantages of this meant we could let our imaginations fly free and wild, and at the same time allowed us room to manoeuvre around history whilst keeping one foot firmly placed within the real world. A prime example of this might be the 1965 movie, The Son of Monte Cristo, now on DVD.


Anyway, back on track: I am toying more than half heartedly with the notion of picking up from where we left off so long ago. The semi imaginary England, France, Spain, and various assortments of mythical protagonists and lands (the mist shrouded Pirate isle Portugreece, for example) are written up on many, many pages and computer files, including photos and scene setting maps, etc.


... mightn`t it be rather nice to make this live again; using the Pendraken 10mm ECW and Jacobean Scots miniatures to play out an imaginary part of the Civil War, along with plot lines, stories, and most importantly, regiments and uniforms which look like, but aren`t quite based in true history. In effect making it possible to field (for example) Lord Orson’s Volunteer Irish Regiment of Blue Coats, or Edward O Neils Munster Brigade of Light Foot “The Long Shots”, neither of which really existed, but which would, once they are written into the wargames journals and made part of an imaginary campaign?


Is there anyone else using their miniatures in this way, or am I the only one whose mind is careening with weird ideas and temptations to stray a little bit from the norm? I was just thinking, wouldn`t it be nice to be able to do something with the scope of Fantasy gaming (i.e. having a rich tapestry within which we might weave never ending tales and thus never tire of the genre) yet based within a semi historical setting?


Steve  

[lentulus]

I am in the process of creating the armies of Bravant (not-French), Drakenburg (not-Austrian, the name from the 1st D&D campaign I played in) and Stutz-Barkatze (not-Prussian).  They will be fighting wars that did not involve the major powers (or might, who knows) somewhere between the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years War.

There was a nice series in Battlegames about an imagi-nation campaign the editor did some years ago.  One of the articles is included in a free download issue (see Free Bonus on this page, artile Wars of the Falterian Succession):

http://www.battlegames.co.uk/admin/shop3.html

Just at the painting (and pondering uniforms) stage.  Barbie-scale (that is, 28mm  ) gamers frequently paint their figures to match regular major powers just because of the pure price and resale value, but with 10mm so cheap and fast to paint why worry about it?  If I want regular Prussians or whatever, I'll just buy some more figures.


There is a good chance my 16th century Landsknecht will find themselves employed by the same small states.

[sixsideddice]

woooohooooo lentulus ,

sounds like you`re having a ball with your gaming... Lace Wars, right?

I`d really LOVE to see some of your creations, do you have a blog?

Yeah, I`m thinking of mix and matching, pretty much anything that appeals to me, bit like a much more grounded "Baron Munchausen" and maybe a bit of Chitty Chitty bang Bang" added for good measure    Oh, and set a lot earlier :-))))"

[lentulus]

I`d really LOVE to see some of your creations, do you have a blog?

Not yet, just starting, but some pictures here:

http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=536.0

I am thinking, rather than a bog, a wiki or some other set of web pages with the "History of the Bravant-Drakenburg Wars" or some such.  But that is a ways out.  I still need to get a good 20 battalions painted.

[lentulus]

Not yet, just starting, but some pictures here:

http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=536.0

I am thinking, rather than a blog, a wiki or some other set of web pages with the "History of the Bravant-Drakenburg Wars" or some such.  But that is a ways out.  I still need to get a good 20 battalions painted.

[Captain Verbeek]

www.cavenderia.blogspot.com  my 18th century imagination blog.   You should check out http://emperor-elector.blogspot.com/ loaded with imaginations.

[sixsideddice]

Really great blogs, and thank you very much for sharing.... many happy hours of reading material there. I can`t wait to have a full look over the weekend.