HEROES and VILLAINS

 

Growing up largely in the 1970s, several great men of history (to coin an unfashionable phrase) were lionized in my world which made a lasting impression on me. They included William the Conquerer (or the first of England or 'of Normandy'), Oliver Cromwell, Richard I (the 'Lionheart'), Horatio Nelson, Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, Napoleon Bonaparte and even Bernard Montgomery. I'm not sure if many of those listed have any champions left but they sure do have their detractors. So, what has this got to do with wargaming?

I have to say that in the past I have always leaned toward collecting and playing with armies whose 'cause' or leaders were those I identified or even sympathised with. For example, I would always have played with a Parliamentarian army in ECW games because I don't relate to monarchy. If I stick with the English Civil War (let's call it that); however, a deeper study over the years has lead me to identify with their side much less. This has not seen a shift in the direction of the Royalists (not a bit of it) but I have an entrenching tendency to adopt a neutral position.

Whilst listening to Zack White's the Napoleoninicst podcast over the last year (highly recommended), when it comes to an historical figure like Napoleon, I observe there are a lot of staunch advocates and opponents, even amongst academic historians. No figure seems to polarize opinions amongst British historians more than Napoleon Bonaparte. You'd be forgiven for thinking those wars were fought just last decade the way passions still burn. Excellent stuff!

What's also curious and all too typical is an ever present insistence amongst people that we need to pick a side or be 'pro' or 'anti' someone or something. I can still get involved in trenchant discussions on historical matters to be sure and I find myself defending people, movements and ideals but not becasue I own them. I do so because those who attack them do so from a myopic perspective.

I find Napoleon is not the villain many must have him to be but nor is he the hero. He certainly is a great man, an historical colossus who had a profound impact on his times and ever since. He was a military exemplar with few equals but good and bad don't have a lot to do with any of it. For the thousands of us who love Napoleonic miniature wargames, we all owe a perverse debt to the man who above all others made the military history we love to play happen.

Of all of those aforementioned historic legends I mentioned, I feel they are all seriously flawed and I somehow doubt I'd warm to them had I a chance to know them in real life. Similarly I doubt they would give someone like me the time of day. I'm still attracted to them; however, but I think it's simply because their outrageous success is something one might admire but certainly something to be marveled at.

I'm in my mid-fifties now and history is about the only thing I read - actually it IS the only thing I read. There is no balance for me. Nevertheless, I find it impossible to become partizan any more about much of the past and I have always been able to put myself in the shoes of the other side (any side) and see things from their perspective. So, where does that impact on my wargaming?

Well, I no longer exclusively identify with any of my armies. My previous identification with the heroes of the past is shot to blazes now. That might sound dire but the loss of my past, naive romance is not all bad at all. The upshot is that it's opened up other appreciations and I now find I'm building both sides of almost every conflict I have an army for.

I have a new found fascination with the French of the Seven Years War and the Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods and I'm just as fascinated and passionate about building their armies as I am with all my little red coated protagonists. When I get to do my ECW army it will be 'armies' - both 'cavaliers' and 'roundheads' - hooray!

This historical neutrality will enable me to build a small late-war SS Kampfgruppe whereas previously I would have baulked at the idea on ideological grounds. I'm not suggesting I can identify with their ideology but I don't feel I have to in order to represent them. Like the oft alluded to game of chess, someone has to be white and someone has to be black - and I chose both. One day I will build a small Imperial Japanese army for Rapid Fire campaigns in South East Asia. Now, for me, I don't relate so much to any of my armies yet I can relate to something in all of them even if it's a limited acknowledgement of bravery, hardship and sacrifice which all soldiery can have in common.