In 1987, Miniature Wargames magazine published an article on a subject rarely covered at the time: "Fictitious Wars", by N H Hyde, the man now known to thousands of wargamers simply as "Henry". He later went on to produce and publish Battlegamesmagazine, before becoming the editor of Miniature Wargames with Battlegames, a post he held until 2016. In 2013, his wargames bible The Wargaming Compendium was published by Pen & Sword, which went on to become a best-seller in hardback, paperback and on Kindle.
Nowadays, wargamers refer to games and campaigns conducted with completely imaginary forces as 'imagi-nations' gaming, but back in 1987, when this article was first published, few wargamers knew anything about the idea unless they were devotees of the late Charles Grant and his 1971 book The War Game or perhaps had a copy of Brigadier Peter Young and Colonel Lawford's Charge! on their shelves. But in the early 2000s, Henry joined an online group of so-called 'old school wargamers' who remembered this article and the wargaming ethos it represented.
Here, then, is the author himself reading the article, which includes both an introduction to this style of gaming, and an entertaining report of an example game. You can also download a free copy of the original article, which contains illustrations, maps and an Order of Battle of the forces mentioned in the audio file.
Henry now runs the Battlegames Patreon site, crowdfunded by his fans, HERE* where he provides podcasts, blog posts, videos and much more.
This is the first Gladius Publications audio product and we have plans for many more.
*Patrons are eligible for higher discount rates depending on their pledge level. Become a patron to benefit from this and other benefits, as well as to enjoy exclusive content before it is made public.
LATE EDIT:
Visitors to The Wargames Website can obtain a 10% discount until 29th February by using the code TWW10-2020 at the checkout.
- My fault, Mike.
3 thoughts on “Gladius Returns – With Audio!”
22/02/2020 at 13:36
Now with added update/edit.
26/02/2020 at 13:39
Whilst not wishing to denigrate the work of Mr Hyde I think this introduction downplays the significant contributions of others to the area now called imagi-nations.
I would particularly like to draw attention to Tony Bath and his Hyboria campaign, articles about which were published in Battle magazine in the 1970s; and also to the “Known World” campaign run for many years by Bruce Douglas.
Even in the 70s and early 80s there were many wargamers familiar with these ideas, participating in campaigns set in imagi worlds, and playing and enjoying the battles they generated.
26/02/2020 at 14:02
“Nowadays, wargamers refer to games and campaigns conducted with completely imaginary forces as ‘imagi-nations’ gaming,”
I am not sure this is the case, my fantasy games are called fantasy, and my sci-fi games are called sci-fi.
I always thought of Imagi-nations as a sort of alternate history, a what could have been.
My own world of Burning Sands, I call a fantasy setting, not an imagi-nations setting.
Star Wars I would class as sci-fi, not imagi-nations.
Is this imagi-nations term to try and avoid it being called fantasy?