Recently, I wrote a post discussing the American Revolution (or American War of Independence as it is called in historical wargaming). In that article I cited Henry Hyde and his multi-decade running campaign The Wars of the Faltenian Succession.
Henry has expanded his campaign with a series of articles on the Battlegames Magazine blog. Acting as umpire, he is mediating a group of gamers who will meet in person for the culmination of their campaign at a weekend get-together near Scarborough.
The likelihood of me participating in a campaign for AWI is slim. My previous article cited other possibilities, which would be covered under a “What if?” theme. Leaping from that spot I have to decided to explore fictionalized accounts of my growing American militia army.
This is intended to be a series of in game world articles written from, or about, the army and its “What if?” inhabitants. Much like Tolkien’s The Hobbit is supposed to be Bilbo’s account of his journey to Lonely Mountain, my writing will serve a “historical” record of my army’s exploits.
Some of my friends have, in the past, adopted this style for gaming projects of their own. John C. runs a bi-annual zombie fight night at Battleground Games & Hobbies. To hype the event he writes in character fluff, or fiction, which he posts onto the store’s internet message board. He does the same with the after action reports.
Another friend, Rick, did the same with his character from one of those zombie night fights. His character climbed to the top of the tallest tower in that part of Necromunda. The rest of the gang fought on with most ultimately perishing. Rick’s character survived, albeit stuck on top of the tower, felling zombies like a lumberjack in the forest. The last anyone heard of him was in a diary page that mysteriously surfaced after his disappearance.
This is a commonly successful device, which is much loved by historical war gamers. It has been said that great writers steal from one another. Whereas I’m merely a sufficient writer, at best, I am delighted to borrow this method.
At some point in your reading, you asked yourself what any of this has to do with contest prizes. After all, I wrote “Contest Prizes” in the article title. As I write this I am listening to several CDs from Bailey Records. Bryan K. Borgman is in charge of that unique music studio. This studio is special because they produce music to game by. They have made the official soundtracks for such games as Warbands and Cybernet. When Mongoose Publishing manufactured the Starship Troopers miniatures game Bryan worked for them.
Now, he’s working on his own game he is calling Kaiju Kaos. He was kind enough to send us a bunch of CDs and his blessing to do with them as we wish. We will review the albums, share his music on our podcast, and offer some of them as contest prizes. There are not a lot of albums because you can digitally purchase his music from CD Baby electronically.
My wife and I are listing to the Warbands album while I write this article on the iPad. She’s chair dancing as she composes a letter, on her Macbook, and I’m absorbing the ambient sounds wafting from the iMac.
These soundtracks are different than what, I’m guessing, is normally found on historical gaming blogs and podcasts. There are no fife and drum corps here. Instead, this rhythmic electronic ear candy is sure to set your foot tapping, your finger drumming, and your head bopping.
Please look for my AWI fiction and bear with me while I find my groove. If you’re reading this you hopefully enjoy my writing style and the subjects I discuss. So, you may enjoy my army’s fluff but writing fiction and non-fiction are very different animals.
You will soon be able to hear Bryan’s music on our podcast. We’ll do our best to include one song per show.
As always feedback is desired, cherished, loved, and read. Constructive criticism, tips, and suggestions for what you want are perfect ways to be heard.
