Gaming the Pygmy Wars
Pages of the site relating to wargaming.
Tactics
This is a list of articles and references for those who want details about how the units fought at the tactical level.
Sources for information on tactics
Reading those sources, and all the personal accounts of participants, shows that the base unit of manouevre was the infantry company, cavalry squadron and artillery battery. For that reason I suggest that rules should also work at that level.
Rules
Red Actions! Rules
I have found that Red Actions! rules meet all my requirements for a good game – they play quickly and easily but give a historical result. I have amended them lightly for personal preference, but have left the mechanics unchanged (most of the differences are because I play on larger games than they were written for).
The original version and campaign system
I have written army lists for the pygmy wars. They can be used with other rulesets than Red Actions, provided your base units are the company, squadron and battery.
I made some amendments to the Red Actions! set of unit and officer values – adding a few troop types and amending a few values. They are pretty much required if you intend to use my army lists for RA! games.
Other Rules
For those that, inexplicably, prefer other rule sets.
Scenarios
Over the years I have written and played various scenarios, largely for kriegsspiels but also the occasional table top game. There are also some scenarios supplied by others, and links to where more may be found.
A bit about how I play Kriegsspiel-style games by e-mail.
My Figures and Terrain
The figures I used for my armies, mostly Peter Pig.
A look at my terrain: in which I use 10mm/N scale terrain with 15mm figures.
Other Gaming
Some links for trying to make your tabletop resemble the Russia of the period.
I spent some time trying to figure out what the typical actual sizes of units in the Pygmy Wars were, as opposed to the formal structures – which were never seen in practice.
A (dated) list of boardgames for the Pygmy Wars.