T his weekend, the question of what, precisely, constitutes an "imagination" came up in an online forum of which I am a part. To be fair, the issue originates from further afield in a Facebook group that I am not a member of, but I weighed in with my own view. The following was in response to the question posed yesterday (Sunday) morning by an exasperated member of my own rather more gentlemanly town square, who had been met with a strident response to information he shared about his (admirable) hobby activities on said FB group. Here is, more or less, what I wrote: To my mind, the concept of imagi-nation(s) is a broad one. It can range from historical refights or what-if scenarios/battles/campaigns between armies of a particular era, to completely made up combatants operating in a quasi-historical setting, to the rather generic red and blue forces of the Prussian Kriegspiel that examine a particular tactical problem, task, or exercise. ...
Both the Stollenians, under the despondent Colonel von Grundig, and the Zichenauers, commanded by the dynamic Major von Hirschbiegel, suffered heavy casualties from musketry, artillery fire, and melee this turn. Zichenau's 11th Hussars suffered two casualties at the hands of Stollen's 4th Dragoons (Squadron B). However, Squadron A, 4th Dragoons was wiped out by grenzer fire from the church and double-townhouse. Ouch! Stollenian artillery fire inflicted 3 casualties though on the enemy grenzers stationed in the village church, reducing its garrison to a mounted colonel and company officer on foot. Meanwhile, Stollen's Von Laurenz Musketeers scored four hits on the detachment of The Newts in the village post office, however they suffered 6 casualties at the hand of those same men.
And to the southeast of Pickelhaubewicz, Major von Hirschbiegel's detatchment of Irish grenzers in the copse have just about reduced the fighting effectivenes of von Grundig's remaining Jaeger zu Fuss to zero. The troubled colonel studies the field and concludes the it was a good idea to dispatch his aide to Krankenstadt, carrying news of a defeat. A Stollenian victory seems increasingly less likely at this point. What to do, what to do?
Comments
To this point, the light infantry and cavalry have borne the brunt of the fight. To the north, the 1st company of the Grenzers have made it clear just how effective well-trained light infantry can be with their fire. Meanwhile, to the south, the 2nd company of grenzers and the two companies of Stollenian Jagers have been whittling each other down turn after turn with roughly equal withering fire. It's only in the last two turns that the line infantry and artillery have begun to really contribute.
--Dave
Steve.
Alan