When I started wargaming in the late 70’s with Avalon Hill board games, there was absolutely no need for me to have any knowledge of uniform details in order to play Tobruk or War and Peace, or any other board game. The history behind each game was certainly of interest, but for the WW2 games, we had Saturday morning war movies and documentaries, Kelly’s Heroes (cue laughter), and my Dad’s Life picture history of World War II to inspire us. And the model displays at the local hobby shop gave us a clear image of what our cardboard counters represented.
As for Napoleonic history, the potted historical summaries at the beginning of each scenario in War & Peace (above), or on the back of the box, were all we had. And as I recall, the only game with an ancient theme I played before miniatures was Caesar at Alesia. But I would not have been able to distinguish between an Austrian jaeger and a grenzer, a Hittite and a Babylonian, or a cuirassier and a chasseur.
But in the fall of 1989, I picked up Napoleon’s Battles off the shelf at a game store in Orlando FL, and my fate was sealed. This was my gateway to miniature wargaming! The only color photo on the entire box was a small, maybe 3”x4” scene, depicting Prussian landwehr defending a walled farmhouse against a French assault. Now, I could command an army of life-like soldiers instead of chips of cardboard with a silhouette and a numeral on them.
Collecting my first figures and military history books
So I bought the game, and ordered some figures from Modeler’s Mart in Clearwater FL. Later on, I would drive out there to visit their warehouse to buy even more figures. Alongside my first order, I bought the two volume Funcken guides to Napoleonic uniforms. The guides is are incomplete, and likely inaccurate in places, but I love the illustrations.
Even more books
It wasn’t long however, before I was introduced to the Osprey guides, and began to collect them. And then Napoleonic history volumes. And then ancient history. And Civil War history. My library expanded faster than I could read them all. The uniform guides were necessary, because I wanted my troops to be painted as accurately as possible. How disappointed I was to find that many of the guides I had were incomplete, or even inaccurate.
Purging the library
By the time my wife and I left San Diego for the Carolinas, it had been 24 years since I began Miniatures. In that time, we have seen a wealth of information being made available on the internet for free. So my library of Osprey guides was no longer necessary, and I was able to free up 3’ of shelf space by giving them away. I also let go of many other books before I left, books I had already read, and no longer wanted in my life. I did keep a few references, like the Funcken guides, and the Mollo guide to uniforms of the American Revolution, plus 2-3 more. I also still have my Campaigns of Napoleon, by Chandler. But otherwise, my collection had included far too many redundant volumes.
I still have quite a few books, and may likely let even more go, but I probably gave away a full third of my books before we left. It was a relief to feel a weight taken off my shoulders, and I don’t regret my choice to let go of them.
