Graham Cummings - a Giant among classic wargamers

 I'm genuinely overwhelmed by the news I read on Facebook tonight that Graham has died. I did not know him well but well enough to consider him a good friend. Others who knew him better will no doubt give their own eulogies but I can only tell like it felt for me.

Graham cracks a light hearted quip with Dillon as they battle outside the Jacobite camp on the Isle of Vestisle - Oakridge, Gloucestershire, Summer 2019

I joined John Ray's new Forum "A Military Gentleman" in 2014. I began to join in posting stuff - particularly from my blog where I was reporting games and making models and we were preparing for Waterloo at 1:3 scale here in the Cotswolds - 300 miles from Middlesbrough/Redcar where Graham lived. Whenever I posted, one wargamer was constantly supportive and offering praise and advice, and that was Graham. I found out he was the founder of Crann Tara Miniatures and specialising in the 1745 Rebellion and the War of the Austrian Succession period...the figures were lovely and I began to buy more for my own Imagi-nations collection.  Members of AMG got a discount and personal service and advice from Graham.  In those days I used to scratch build models to sell  and I specialised in Windmills, which was a gap in the market back then. Graham showed interest and I made some for him to chose  such as this one , and he had two!

Time went on and there were many more supportive comments from Graham. I began to realise he was well known over many years to this group of "classic" or "old school", mainly 18th Century wargamers, which I had stumbled into. Graham organised a gathering and two wargames of the AMG group at Partizan in 2015, but I wasn't able to attend (though "my" windmill did!).  Not long after that he asked me to do some artwork for him to use for his Crann Tara company.  This was to be an iconic line of Highlanders charging the viewer. We collaborated frequently over what was required and he got me into watching "Outlander" for inspiration of authentic Highland Jacobite costume. (Jane and I got hooked - now into Series 7!). I paid one of the young lads doing gardening work for us at the time to model for me as he had the rugged looks I needed for warrior clansmen.  I discussed the rough ideas for the drawing with Graham at our first meeting in June 2016 - at the AMG gathering at Kenilworth in the English Midlands.  Graham is in the first photo of this part of my report on Kenilworth 2016

I need to digress a bit here to point out what a stalwart of our hobby Graham was - he organised this first "convention" of 18th Century wargamers which was a great success and is still an annual event for many. Besides Graham I met a lot of well-known names on the "classic" scene and many of them you'll have seen on my blog over the years, some coming to Oakridge to suffer my wargaming hospitality!  This was a life changing event for me - so much of what is good about wargaming for me over the last 8 years was because of Graham's entrepreneurial skill and sharing spirit within our hobby, bringing us together.

He approved my ideas and I did the drawing he wanted which then became the banner for the website of Crann Tara Miniatures. I also designed the broadsword logo.  I thought it would make a good oil painting and he agreed. That set me on a road to do more research under Graham's advice and figuring out how to make those varied early tartans look like 3D in oil paint. Some of you might be familiar with this painting if you saw the banner behind Graham's stand at wargames shows or got it as header in update emails from CT Miniatures a few years ago.

I was very pleased with the result and it was the kind of collaboration with a knowledgeable client that I love to do.

Graham also organised Kenilworth 2017, and in that year "AMG" switched over to become the "Wild Geese Wargamers" for reasons I need not go into here. I got to meet Jim Purky for the first time then who of course, gave us Fife and Drum Miniatures and acquired the Minden range which, working with Graham's Crann Tara, ensured we 18th Century nuts were well served with top quality figures. Highlights were playing alongside Jim in Colin Ashton's Leuthen 1757, and participating in Graham's own version of Falkirk 1745, using his "Teddy Bear Fur" terrain and CT armies of Jacobites and British.

You can see Graham umpiring Falkirk in the first couple of photos here

The next landmark event was in 2018 when I was able to take a  holiday in North Yorkshire and Jane and I went to see Graham at his home in Redcar. We had a nice long chat about his wargaming experiences, running a model soldier company, participating in blogs and forums, etc and getting to see some of Graham's latest master figures in pre-production mode. He gave me a copy of Neil Cogswell's "Zweibrucken in Command" about the Austrians and the Reichsarmee's exploits in 1758; I learned that  Graham had been instrumental in helping this series of super books to be published in the 1990s (now in new editions by Helion).  We also found at that meeting a kindred interest in trying to produce cost effective armies of Seven Years War Austrians and Prussians in 1:76 scale - true 20mm. Though it was discussed for a couple of years by email, and Graham produced sample castings for me to comment on, this did not get off the ground before Graham sold Crann Tara to Caliver Books. By then he had got very interested in designing figures by computer modelling and producing masters as 3D prints - ground breaking even those few short years ago, but now a mainstream activity.

Graham added to his fame in my eyes around this time by participating in some historic refights with Charles S Grant, and for whom he was making figures which featured in, among others, "Refighting History - Volume 7 The Seven Years, War Western Theatre". 

The real highlight of our relationship came in the Summer of 2019 when I managed to entice Graham down to the South of England for a weekend participating in our alternative history mini-campaign "Raid on Vestisle". He took the Jacobites (of course) and saw off some very tough Hanoverian opposition. He brought a touch of class to our proceedings (I'm sure Ken and Guy will agree) and we all enjoyed a good natured evening over a meal at the local pub and bottles of red while we pursued the campaign admin between two big day-long games. Here are the reports with Graham much in action on the French/Jacobite side, and playing a blinder on Day Two as well!

Battle of Bellune Hill

Battle of Abrantes

Graham operates the French left flank in the fictitious Battle of Abrantes, 1756

There was so much more to the man than I can ever know, all I can do is record my interactions here and pay tribute to someone who brought me so much pleasure and support, and I'm so sorry I knew him for so short a time.

First of my reports on AMG 16

No doubt I will be only one among many of the bloggers who will report on their attendance at the A Military Gentleman (of the 18th Century) Forum get-together in a lovely hotel near Warwick last weekend.

Preparations of 4 games each on a 12 feet plus x 6 feet table  designed for
about 4 or 5 participants. In the foreground is Will H who generously gave us each a
memento in the form of a 28mm casualty figure marker which we can put to good use

Reviewing my photos I've got so many I'll have to split my reporting. However, there must have been something about the lighting that conflicted with my normal wargame photo taking method as I've had to ditch very many and only used a few of the poor ones. Happily many turned out good.

This first report concentrates on the main event for me which was the refight of The Battle of Soor, 1745, during the War of the Austrian Succession. This was certainly the biggest and best 18th century wargame I've ever taken part in, at around 1500 28mm figures. It was put on by Robbie Rodiss and Colin Ashton from the North-east of England whom many readers will know  from their wonderful blogs (see my side bar).  They provided both armies and the terrain. Figures, I believe, were mostly RSM and Minden and looked an absolute treat to my envious eyes. Rules were "Honours of War" and for that reason the game was a bonus for me as I'm keen to start using them regularly myself. (See my previous blog post) . Two games were played during the weekend, I'm just describing the one on the Saturday

The participants and umpires

Steve P very competently handled the Austrian right flank

Colin explains their army to Prussian commanders Stuart I and Gary P

Robbie briefs Mark A on the merits or otherwise of his mass of Austrian cavalry
 on the Austrian left flank, before getting to me commanding the Austrian centre
and centre left as Austrian C-in-C

The Set-up
 Basic objective was for the Prussians under Frederick to push the Austrian army off the main road through Soor and the big hill which was on their line of communication.  For convenience all references to flanks will be from the Austrian perspective.

Austrian centre showing mainly the Saxon contingent 

Austrian centre left under Von Daun with quite an impressive hill to hold

The Austrian order of battle (above) and notes of special conditions for this game (below) .
Note the Dithering C-in-C and cavalry commanders

Close up of some of Von Daun's infantry of which the combined Grenadier battalion
was the best. He was classed as Dashing which was not as helpful as it sounds
when defending a good position

Prussian cavalry face our right flank....

.......along with Prussian infantry

Battle is joined

Prussians attack the hill in full force including cavalry. My front musketeer battalion
gives fire while it can.

Poor photo but the Saxon contingent is too pretty to ignore as it changed to
columns to envelope and occupy Soor. Guards on the right of course!

The Austrians, despite their handicaps, gain the upper hand in the right flank
cavalry battle. Steve is cautious over the strength of the enemy infantry position
but his ability not to throw units away needlessly probably helped our victory

Meanwhile Mark is engaged in a ferocious cavalry confrontation on the left
which would last all game due to his canny skills and of his opponent Gary.
Robbie and Colin were constantly helpful and understanding over any issues
in the rules

A closer view - those Austrian musketeers would not last long.  They managed to see
 off the cavalry, but remembering lessons from my first game I withdrew the unit on 3 hits
before the next onslaught

Still loads of Prussians to come (above and below). 

Prussian grenadiers look daunting especially with Frederick himself leading the attack,
however, soon after, I got the firing initiative and great dice rolls with cannon and infantry
 so two Prussian battalions crumbled and broke. Fred was at risk but Gary managed to avoid
 a wound for him (11 or 12 on 2 x D6 would have been fatal)

A command roll of "1" for my "Dependable" Saxon general meant his infantry
columns were held up for a move by the delights of Soor town, allowing them
to be targeted by heavy guns just outside this photo on the left.

The overview at the lunchtime halt. Austrian cavalry have the upper hand on the left for the moment. Austrian infantry units are dwindling under pressure and one battalion falling back to recover. Still plenty of Prussians coming on but crucially they have to face my heavy gun battery. Saxons are now forming line in and around Soor while the Austrian cavalry move forward against dwindling opposition in the distance

The Saxons now in line felt the full force of the Prussian guns, and all 3 units
suffered casualties from "grazing fire" 

The Austrian infantry line is thinning and the Saxon cavalry brigade moves up
to support

Gary looks happy as he feels he's getting the better of my grenadiers with
 initiative to fire first this move

Meanwhile Mark's Austrians look in charge of the left flank cavalry duel

My infantry line is now so thin the only hope is a charge by the Saxon cavalry brigade

Now there is no opposition Austrian Hussars have entered the field and head
for the Prussian camp.......

.....where among the booty are Frederick's pet dogs

While Dragoons take on the guns

Prussian infantry lurk in a walled orchard on the Austrian right flank, Steve's
infantry come on steadily 

Two of my Saxon battalions have fled the field from the Prussian cannon fire.
Saxon Grenadiers, Fusiliers and Guard Infantry still occupy Soor 

Saxon cavalry have pushed back the Prussians at the hill crest but lost a regiment
 in the process 

About this point I asked how Colin and Robbie would decide the outcome - were Army Break Points relevant? A quick tot up found the alarming truth that we were both not far off with Prussians having lost 10 points and the larger Austrian force 12. Moving towards a nail biting climax then, but in a big battle like this there were many opportunities for the deciding factor, and many distractions for the wargamers as the umpires were pushing us on at a cracking pace!

The left flank cavalry engagement is resumed. No fault of Mark's that his
opponents keep pressing as you can see from the Austrian game conditions on
the Orbat above.

At this point the cannon fire was being directed on Soor town and I got "11" on my
 General's saving roll. So the demise of the Saxon commander, and his replacement
by a "Dithering" subordinate

My final photo of the action - Steve's cavalry have attacked the enemy guns from two
  directions and got them on the run, the camp is now completely open.

I guess something critical was happening elsewhere though, as amid the hubbub, I heard Gary shout

"That's it !"   and he was shaking my hand across the table. "Excuse my ignorance", says I ,"but who won?"   "You did " he replied with a friendly smile.

How's that for a close result, and great credit to Robbie and Colin for such a well balanced game that kept my attention somewhere on the tabletop for  the whole 5 hours of playing time and got me so distracted as commander I didn't even realise we were winning. Thanks to all concerned for a very enjoyable game played in the spirit of "Military Gentlemen of the 18th Century".

More thoughts on "Honours of War"
Colin and Robbie had tested the rules with big battles before but still accepted they were developing thoughts. Gary had played three times and displayed a very good grasp which helped keep up the pace . I knew a bit from my test games so was able to follow what was happening. Not sure about the level of knowledge of Steve, Mark and Stuart but they all seemed to manage very well under umpire's eyes. It was great fun having Robbie as an unashamed Austrophile umpire but since his advice proved about 50% sound and 50% c**p I don't think it affected the result. HoW handled all this mayhem extremely well and I'm looking forward to trying bigger games myself.

The national characteristics were applied so the Prussians got extra initiative for Moving and Firing and could manoeuvre and change formation with little or no deduction. On our part the Austrian guns were Superior when firing. Given the Prussian army was smaller and attacking uphill these helped to balance the game well.  I think heavy guns were able to move, change angle and fire a bit too easily for this period though. Our hosts had reduced all canister fire to 30cm as they believe it is too effective at longer range and spoils the game; I reserve judgement till I've tried the longer ranges. For my part I felt that grazing fire for round shot through every line within 30cm was too effective given that in reality every bounce was shorter than the preceding one. I'll have to read the rules and have a think.  The rules are totally dismissive of "Ditherers" as Commanding General to the extent it is detrimental to let one come within command range. This produces the unrealistic side effect that I was told to put mine as far away as possible. I would like to see them at least have the possibility of rallying off casualties within the safety of their own lines. My rationale is that a bunch of top brass would probably have some enthusiastic aides and subordinate officers who could gee up the morale of flagging troops even if M'lord Elektor, or whatever, is a dolt.

None of this detracted from my enjoyment -  thanks once again to all concerned. Another report on AMG 16 as soon as I can manage the time