"Sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin...": the delights of narrative wargaming

An origins story – May 1998

Cast your minds back to May 1998. It was a time of baggy T-shirts, Goblin Green bases, bright red axes, and we were still 2 months away from David Beckham getting sent off against Argentina in the Men’s Football World Cup, with all the heart-ache that followed (especially for an Englishman then living in France).

David Beckham illustrating why you shouldn't quibble over the rules

The White Dwarf that month was issue 221 (with a Chaos champion on the front cover). In this remarkable issue:

·         Nigel Stillman continued to build 2,000 points of Bretonnians

·         the original Tale of Four Gamers had reached part 4 and about 1,500 pts

·         16 famous named characters fought in a cup called the ‘Arena of Death’

·         7 gamers got together in the Perry brothers’ war room to play a huge 24,000 points battle

The most interesting thing about it, though, is that these now near-legendary articles are all united by one common theme: narrative wargaming.

A true treasure trove issue!

In fact, in its pages, both Tuomas Pirinen’s ‘Soapbox’ and an 8-page article by Dave Cain with numerous contributors go into great detail about the ‘Spirit of the Game’. Perhaps the most memorable part of this was the now immortal Stillmania rules, in which Nigel Stillman sets out his wonderfully silly, fair-play, and eccentric guide to wargaming.

What is ‘narrative wargaming’ and why bother?

Some wargamers enjoy the painting part, others the playing part, and many are simply fetishist collectors with piles of unopened boxes – but there are those who want total immersion in the Warhammer universe. I like to call this ‘narrative wargaming’.

The best way I can describe it is a child’s imagination. As a child, when you’re given little soldiers, you lose yourself in imagination, creating a story behind these figurines. They’re not simply knights moving across a table, but valiant heroes and terrible villains. You forget the real world for hours on end and just pretend you’re in another world.

Once upon a time

In narrative wargaming, I find the best place to begin is with a story. Don’t worry too much about competitive lists or colour-themes or unit choices. They will all flow from the story.

e.g.: My army is based around Friedrich, the son of a minor nobleman from Talabecland who fought in a dual over a woman and killed his rival. The girl’s father – a wealthy and greedy merchant who wanted her to marry to a well-placed courtier – accused him of murder and heresy. Friedrich was forced to flee into the depths of the forest and now goes by the name of the Fox Lord.

With that in mind, his followers are likely to be woodsmen armed with bows and axes, the occasional outcast knight, a shamed general who acts as his second-in-command, and pistoliers who are aspiring adventurers who seek to make a name (and booty) for themselves rather than go through the tedium of serving a more civilised lord who rarely fights. Of course, this wouldn’t be complete without a hermit-wizard with the Lore of the Beasts (one of the least useful lores out there).

When the narrative side becomes an obsession

Rather than make the list competitive or more conventional, I stuck to the theme; just the one cannon, no Hellblasters or flagellants, nor any handguns.

I chose minis to fit the bill, added plenty of fox fur, filed off the Sigmarite insignia (they follow Taal, the river god) and added plenty of bushes and fallen leaves.

Next I gave every character and unit a name (the sillier the better; the griffon is called ‘Gary’).

Finally, I made a display base (which I’m hoping to finish soon), which gives the army’s history, shows a forest scene and contains the odd comic detail (hounds chasing a gnoblar, etc.).

 

The beauty (and pitfalls) of narrative wargaming

·         It gives free flow to your imagination

Once you have a background for your force, preferably based around a charismatic leader with a suitably convoluted back-story, you’ll find that loads of ideas come to mind for colour-schemes, conversions, kit-bashes, scenery, and scenarios. If they’re based on the shores of Bordeleaux, a beach landing scenario is an obvious option. If they are dwarf traders, a series of skirmishes with greenskin tribes trying to steal their merchandise would give plenty of ambush and last stand games.

Themed scenery is a great way of getting that narrative feel

·         It’s just as fun with small games as with big armies – and makes it easier for people to join the hobby

Fighting with big armies is fun. Who doesn’t like fielding everything they have or working towards the common ‘standard’ 2,000 points? But I like to vary the size of the force.

Firstly, it takes time to buy, build and paint 2,000 points. If you’re just starting out or want to muster a new army, try painting a few small units. Nothing is a greater motivation to paint (for me at least) than the prospect of being able to play Vs the shame of fielding bare grey plastic/metal. And starting small also helps build an army that suits your style. You can test its strengths and weaknesses and tweak your list before committing too much time and money. And, of course, it means you can take that bit more time in converting models to fit your theme.

Secondly – and even more importantly - some of the most fun games I’ve played only involved a handful of minis. The key to fun, for me, seems to be having clear objectives and a strong narrative. It’s the classic actor’s line: ‘so what’s my motivation here?’ Warriors and generals surpass themselves when there is something real and tangible at stake. As Jim Butler says in his contribution to the Spirit of the Game article, “a Warhammer battle isn’t a game of chess, it’s a story”.

Thirdly, you can fit in more games if some of them are short and sweet. Games with 10 men per side often have just as many memorable moments as pitched battles.

e.g.: I recently played one ridiculously fun game in which my opponent and I were both trying to catch pigs that were running across the battlefield – and why not?!

Bringing home the bacon

·         It’s fun even when you lose

When the game is a story, it’s just as much fun when you lose as when you win. You’ve written another chapter – you haven’t finished the book. This has the added benefit of reducing the temptation to quibble over the rules; nothing crushes the spirit of a game faster than arguing over the rules. I find the best solution is to always give my opponent the benefit of the doubt. If it turns out I was right after the battle, they can just buy me a pint of Bugman’s.

·         It’s also fun to play against an unbalanced force

While playing against an opponent of equal size is always a fun challenge, the great battles that echo through the ages tend to be when small underdogs have pulled off stunning victories (like Agincourt) or even when they’ve bravely died trying (like Thermopylae). So why not play some deliberately unfair David Vs Goliath fights?  

·         It gives you an excuse to paint loads of extra characters

If you’re fighting a series of linked battles and skirmishes, there’s every chance you will lose a character at some point. Rather than have him reappear immediately in the next battle, I find it fun to paint up additional characters who can take over – including simply to relieve an incompetent general of his command after a defeat. This is a great chance to paint some of the models you’ve always loved but never really needed for your list. It’s also particularly handy in skirmishes and warbands, where the situation might dictate different weapons (you wouldn’t arm yourself with a pike to go on a night-time forest patrol, now, would you?).

If you are having a weekend of wargaming set in a different location to where your army is usually based, it can be yet another reason to indulge in conversions. You don’t need to paint a whole new army in order to get the theme. Going to invade Lustria? All you need to do is convert a few empire soldiers into pirates and sprinkle them into your existing units – or even hire Long Drong’s Slayer Pirates. Going into Kislev? Maybe it’s the chance to treat yourself to a unit of horse archers using the dogs of war rules.

Adding in the occasional character or converted unit is a great way to adapt your army
to the theme without forking out too much money

·         You can mix gaming systems

You might have one campaign or series of fights, but nothing is stopping you from mixing things up between games. In the Warhammer world, we really are spoilt. There’s Warhammer Fantasy Battles for your set-piece battles, but also Warbands for smaller fights and Warhammer Skirmish for your super-quick games. If that’s not enough choice, you can even vary by using the Mordheim rules in some fights (a group of travellers fleeing from a big battle find themselves in the Damned City) or even Bloodbowl (‘let’s settle this fight in the old way, by fighting over a ball’)!

·         Try not to take it too seriously or be over-ambitious at first

Sometimes, with the best intentions, narrative wargaming can simply turn into a headache and a burden. The most common reason for this is being over-ambitious or excessively organised.

e.g.: Say you want to run a campaign. If you organise it so that 4 or 5 people take part and you want everyone to play the same number of games and move across a map, it means you have to find regular dates when all 4 or 5 people can get together. Yet we all know how many weeks or months can go by between games, as real life often gets in the way.

What do you remember about these campaigns? How they were organised...
or the awesome settings, conversions and thematic scenery?

Try not to get too hung up on organisation and special rules, nor on ensuring everyone has to be present each time. Instead, make it easy for people to dip in and out. Remember: friendly trash-talk and grudges will entice people back more than rigid rules.

Which brings me onto…

·         Remember your grudges

This is stereotypically true for Dwarf players, but is equally true of most factions. Nations’ histories are a cumulation of deeds. In the real world, we have the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and the Norse sagas. In the Warhammer world, we have the Book of Grudges, the Annals of the Empire and Felix Jaeger’s “Travels with Gotrek Gurnisson”. Not only does it add spice and permit a lot of healthy trash-talk between players, but it also generates new scenario ideas and objectives. Actually having a physical book in which your record your grudges can bring additional flavour. How many times have I heard the words “that’s it; it’s going in the book”?

e.g.: My second-in-command recently stole a dwarf relic during a battle in which the dwarfs outnumbered my men of the Empire 2 to 1. So my regular dwarf opponent will no doubt go out of his way to settle the score by killing him – even if that risks jeopardising his battle plan. Whereas on my side, the annals read “and in this year a large dwarf army was found in the lands of the Fox Lord, and a battle was met, and there was great slaughter until none but Captain Ludwig the Lost escaped with his life. And the Fox Lord did hear these grave tidings and did swear terrible vengeance upon the dwarfs for their impunity.”

·         Oh, it’s such a perfect day…

Of course, if you do want to get carried away, that’s great too. In January, I attended an incredible 2-day event based on the Dark Shadows campaign in Albion, with a detailed map, 3 teams, and a packet of special rules. But the reason why it was a success is that the organisers did lots of play-testing, made the mechanics relatively simple, required payment in advance (a great way of ensuring people actually turn up on the day) and had back-up armies in case people didn’t show up. It can be done; it just takes A LOT of time and effort. If like me you are a mere mortal, I’d recommend starting with simpler narrative wargaming and putting your efforts into the theme.

        

A rare and wonderful example of an organised campaign
running smoothly (and actually taking place)

 The golden rule

But ultimately there is only one rule: if you and your opponent think it sounds fun, do it – unless he is a servant of Slaanesh, in which case you might want to find an excuse to run away from whatever the indecent proposition is.

I hope you've enjoyed this article - now get back to painting!