We all love the sight of a huge army laid out before us. It is a real power trip to imagine what it must have been like to hold the lives of thousands in your hands. What must it have felt like to hear your battle cry roared by a hundred thousand voices, have men willing to die at your command and see empires tremble at the mere whisper of your name?
I think it is trying to recreate such feelings that sees us lay out hundreds of troops on the battlefield in the recreation of some epic battle.
Indulging in such moments of megalomania is fine, but the only problem with large scale battles is that they consume a proportionate amount of time to play out. All well and good if you can dedicate a whole weekend to wargaming - not so good if you only have a few hours.
Skirmish wargaming is thus understandably popular when your time is limited. They allow you to get your wargaming fix, without having to explain to your significant other where you have been all weekend.
While they do not offer the same scope and scale of larger wargames, they often have considerable detail in their combat system. In addition, because each unit represents a single person, you can often become rather attached to your force.
Also, this level of individual detail greatly lends itself to campaign play, where you can see your warriors grow and develop with each battle, going from lowly grunt to celebrated hero.
There are a lot of different systems out there that cater for this type of play. They vary from the futuristic (such as Games Workshop's Necromunda) to fantasy (like Rackham's Confrontation).
If you haven't already tried it, give skirmish wargaming a shot - before you know it you'll be naming your figures and recounting their deeds to anyone that will listen.
Or maybe that's just me...
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