DOG WARS: THE BEGINNING

For a very long time I have wanted to play the Programmed Wargames Scenarios by Charles Stewart Grant. I have owned the book for decades along with the companion Scenarios for Wargames, which for decades I have used in many periods, but I had never played the solo version of these. Last year I decided that I would build a force specifically for this purpose and, after many rules and figure debates, decided on Honours of War (HoW) for the rules and Alternative Armies Pudigrochumsburg dogmen in tricorns for my troops. This was going to be an ImagiNation world.

I chose the HoW rules because they use a dice activation system for Command and Control that provides additional constraints on possible actions. This was important to me in solo gaming. I also simply like the rules and the results they give, especially the opportunity to reorganize spent units, as for me the more command options in a game, the better I like it.

I picked the AA figures because I really like what the company does, even if they are nonhistorical. Additionally, they provide a painting service that is very good and priced right. Given the size of the project of around 900-1000 figures, I did not want to wait years for other services, or decades for me to stay motivated long enough to paint all of these. I have worked with them for decades and I knew they would also get things right. I do have a personal set of figures I am doing for this project, but that will be for a later post.

With rules and figures decided on, I next needed a campaign idea to set the scenarios in. My idea is to use a simple ladder campaign of taking the results of the last game to decide on the scenario for the following game and who would be attacking and defending. I can then go through the scenario book and pick an A or B possibility for the next game based on the winner. The rest would all be story arc to keep me entertained by what was going to happen next.

To get the best use out of the figures, I decided on three factions. The first would be the largest having the biggest concentration of all arms. The second would be the primary opponent having nearly as much infantry, but only half the artillery and cavalry. The third would be the forces used to augment the needs of the other two forces in any scenario. It had half the infantry of the others and an equal amount of cavalry and artillery as the second force. Each force was named and a general uniform was chosen. The primary is the Wolfenstein Empire in white uniforms loosely based on Austria. The second was the Union of Packs of the Commonwealth in blue uniforms. The third is the Principality of Mutt in red uniforms based somewhat on Hannover.

The Wolfenstein Empire

The Union of Pacts of the Commonwealth

The Principality of Mutt