Wasatch Wargamers

The first group I gamed with in Utah was the Wasatch Wargamers. For those of you outside of Utah, Wasatch refers to the Wasatch Front of the Rocky Mountains which runs the length of the populated valleys north, east, and south of Salt Lake City. It does not refer to a big hairy beast (although we've all met gamers like that). The informal club met in the home of Dr. Whit Young in Bountiful (north of SLC). Along with his two enthusiastic sons there were about a dozen of us who rotated in and out of the group.

The WW gamed exclusively in the Napoleonic period, in "old scale" 25mm. Many of the figures were older Hinton Hunt, Minifigs, Phoenix, etc.  Today's plastic 1/72 figures can be used alongside them without too much noticeable difference.  Rules used were home-grown "Eagles and Empires."

What made this gaming different was the scale ratio - 1:12.5!  A typical French 720-man battalion would have about 58 figures in it! Figures were based on company stands except for skirmishers, which were mounted 2 per stand.  This made for quite the visual spectacle as big battalions maneuvered about the table - and cavalry regiments were impressive!  Because of the scale, the game table was enormous - we filled the basement family room! And in fact, sometimes we simply used the floor.

The photos I've included show a "small" game... small because we didn't pack the table with figures.

In this view I've sent out a battalion of French allies to put pressure on the British battalions near the bridge in the distance, who themselves are under pressure from French cavalry. Of course my movement triggered a rush by nearby British cavalry who thought they'd pick my battalion's bones for dinner.

In this last view, even more cavalry has joined the fray and it's getting very dangerous out there. So I sent in another battalion to support the first battalion.  Unfortunately, I don't remember the outcome of this one, as it was quite a while ago.  I'll bet I soon formed square, though.

Anyway, this gives you an idea of gaming with the Wasatch Wargamers.  Sorry about the disjointedness of the photo placements, as I'm just getting used to editing this stuff with photos using html.