Do You Have Enough Opponents?

Today, we consider another new question added into Wargame, Soldiers, and Strategy's The Great Wargaming Survey (GWS), 2025 edition.

That question addresses opponent availability and asks,

Do you feel you have enough opponents within reasonable travel distance?

If the answer is "No" then survey respondents can choose from a Pick List of possible reasons why this is the situation.  Besides the provided Pick List, respondents could also add in their own reason as to why opponents are lacking.

Figure 1 illustrates the distribution of responses from the 2025 survey.  Nearly two-thirds of respondents state that they have enough opponents available within a reasonable travel distance.  The remaining 34% marked that they did not have enough opponents at hand.  

Figure 1

For those in the latter camp who lack enough opponents, the reasons why and those counts are detailed in Figure 2.

Figure 2

Based upon survey responses, the key take-aways for having not enough gaming opponents are:

• Lack of Awareness of Nearby Opponents.  The leading reason, by a large margin (43.28%), is that wargamers simply don't know other potential players in their vicinity.
• Mismatched Interests.  Even when opponents are nearby, opponents' interests might not agree with your own specific wargames or game type (15.86%). Differences in ruleset preferences (9.79%) also present a barrier to finding opponents.
• Geographic Distance.  When distance is a factor, (11.56%) opponents are too far away for regular play.
• Time Constraints.  Wargamers, themselves (10.32%), and opponents (3.30%) are often too busy to play more frequently.
• Dislike of Nearby Opponents.  A small percentage of players (1.30%) simply dislike potential nearby opponents.
• Finally, the "Other" category (4.60%) lumps all of the free text responses that could not easily be classified into one of the Pick List choices.

The survey results highlight a core issue.  That is, many wargamers are isolated either by not being aware of local players or finding that potential local players don't share their specific interests or schedules. While there are many wargamers who prefer solo play, an opponent shortage seems more driven by network and information disconnects than by a dislike of gaming with others.  This pattern suggests a fragmented local gaming community.  Enough players may exist nearby, but these gamers are either not visible to each other, or they play different periods, rules, or styles.  While distance and scheduling challenges matter too, these two traits seem to present smaller issues than discovery and compatibility.  Opponents are probably out there.  The challenge for many is that gamers either cannot find opponents or lack enough agreement in choices to actually to set up a game.  What can we do to improve this situation?

If we want to increase our available gaming pool, the biggest bang for the buck is improving visibility.  Make it easier for players to find other players.  Find out what others play and know when they meet.  A close second is improving compatibility by categorizing possible gamers by rules, period, and preferred game size.

My solution to this challenge was to embrace remote gaming by promoting and supporting the use of Zoom (or similar platforms), Vassal Engine, Tabletop Simulator, wargame-specific online platforms, and other virtual or remote tabletop environments.

The 2021 Great Wargaming Survey (see Remote Gaming in a Changed World) found that remote gaming significantly increased gaming frequency for many gamers and broadened their circle of gaming friends.  It did for me!  Survey responses suggested that gamers who gamed more frequently were more likely to try remote gaming.

By addressing the barriers identified above, the wargaming community can effectively increase opportunities for players to find and engage with opponents even from all over the world.

I am not finished with this survey question just yet.  There are a number of possibilities to explore to see where differences and commonalities exist between the two groups of respondents.  That study is for another time.

Do you have enough opponents within a reasonable travel distance?  If not, which of the reasons listed drive your response? 

Lannes Is Still Dead

Last Monday, I wrangled Reject Lee and Reject Ray into taking their shot at the Montebello battle.  While Richard and I played the scenario twice in prior weeks, I was anxious to see how two new players would handle the situation.  If you recall, in my games with Richard, he wound up winning both battles despite us switching sides for game two.  Ray chose to command the attacking French leaving Lee to command the Austrian Army.  How would Ray and Lee fare?  Let's see!

As a reminder, the initial battlefield situation shows O'Reilly at Rivalta and Vogelsang at Montebello.  Schellenberg is on the march to Montebello from the west.  Elements of Lannes' command enter from the east along the highway.

Initial dispositions

View from the west looking east.

O'Reilly at Rivalta

Vogelsang at Montebello

Schellenberg on the march

Lannes' command

On to battle!

Watrin's Division arrives and moves on Rivalta.

French attack all along the front.
Austrian hussars are driven away to the north while 
two battalions of 22nd Line destroy grenz on the heights.

Following up on their success against the grenz, the 22nd
attacks the supported guns on the highway.

Roughed up in a lengthy firefight,
 the French are victorious and the enemy scattered. 
Austrian infantry in the rye north of Rivalta give way as well
but Austrian jaegers still hold firmly onto Rivalta.

The jaegers try to extricate themselves from Rivalta
but are caught before making it back to friendly lines.
Vogelsang orders his division to form up on the
heights to the south of Casteggio and in the town, itself. 

O'Reilly's command is broken but his hussars retire 
to reform and fight again another day.

Rivalta has already been cleared and O'Reilly is wrecked
 before Lannes and his command arrive on the battlefield.

Schellenberg arrives!

Victor and Chamberlhac arrive!

Vogelsang orders his division on reserve (red discs)
and awaits the attack he knows is coming.

Watrin has suffered losses in wrecking O'Reilly.
Still his division seemingly has plenty of fight left in it.
Even though pressing on is urgent,
Lannes makes a fateful decision.
Watrin is ordered to fall back while reinforcements come up.

Chamberlhac wastes no time.
Leading two battalions of light infantry, he attacks Casteggio.

Although the immediate foe is dispatched,
Austrians on the heights come out of reserve and counterattack.
With casualties heavy to both, the timely counterattack works!
Chamberlhac and his legere are driven back.

Seeing the repulse of Chamberlhac, Lannes leads a charge
into the Austrian guns in the rye to the north of Casteggio.
While the guns are overrun, Lannes' charge is met with
several volleys as the hussars enter the rye field.
Two units of hussars are cut down.
Lannes falls from his horse, dead. 
One remaining body of French hussars is attacked
 in a wave of charges from O'Reilly's hussars.
Lannes' third unit of hussars disintegrates.

Overview looking from west.

With all three of the French hussars destroyed and Lannes, himself, dead on the field, Lannes' command breaks.  Even though the French army has not reached its breaking point, Ray throws in the towel and admits that Lee has been victorious on this day.

View from Vogelsang's heights.

Congratulations, Lee, on a very fine victory.  You utilized reserve status effectively in some brilliant counterstrokes.  Ray, you put in a commendable fight.  I wonder if you could have pressed on with Watrin just a little more?  We will never no.

Attack on Casteggio halted.

As always, a most enjoyable contest.  On the Butcher's Bill, losses were distributed much more evenly than in the previous two outings.

Butcher's Bill

Ray and Lee, thank you for a very entertaining session.  Game duration was about three hours.  Afterwards, Lee said the game made his head hurt.  I hope that was a good thing!  And, yes, Lannes goes down a third time and he is still dead.

Next up, I try a four-player game of this battle.  Stay tuned to see how that goes.

The British Are Coming

No, not those British! 

The British marching forth in today's parade are for the SYW/WAS/Jacobite Rebellion.  These fellas come on in hot pursuit of the Highlanders that have recently mustered out from the painting desk.

Figures are Blue Moon infantry led by a Eureka mounted colonel.  These lads muster out as the 6th Regiment of Foot and are the last of Blue Moon British lingering in The Lead Pile.  No worries.  There remain bags and bags of British infantry to paint and field but the next batch will be Old Glory figures.

Nice figures but harder to see the detail to paint than Old Glory.  Gosh, my eyes seem to be going even more downhill.

On the gaming front, Monday saw a third playing of the Montebello battle.  This time Ray and Lee faced off across the remote gaming table.  Ray commanded the French Army while Lee took charge of the Austrian Army.  The photo above shows Chamberlhac attacking the defenders of Casteggio, one of the objectives for the French.  Did they succeed in taking the town from the enemy to win the day?  And, did Lannes manage to survive this battle having fallen in the previous two?  This is a tale for another day.

Yet Another Highland Regiment

This week has been a busy one but not on the wargaming front.  With temperatures warming up, I made it out on the bike four days.  Bike and body are still functioning up to expectations after the long winter.  Even with little snow this past winter, recent rains and snowmelt have filled the Spokane River Gorge that splits the city.  Lots of water cascading over the falls.  One reader asked about the falls in a recent post.  I snapped the following photo on one of the rides this week.  As seen, the river is running high and parts of the river both above and below the falls are overflowing their banks.

If you look closely, pedestrians can be seen on the footbridges spanning the Upper Falls.  Spring cleaning and yardwork are also in full swing this week.  Much more work to accomplish before I can relax at the painting desk.

In the meantime, I did manage to push one more Highland regiment out from the painting desk.  Figures are again from Old Glory and the flag is from David of Not By appointment.

On the Great Wargaming Survey front, data exploratory is underway for the next piece of analysis.  Coming up is a look at opponent availability and a few of the attributes that may influence whether a gamer has enough or not enough adversaries to face across the gaming table.  Some of the attributes under consideration are population density, travel distance, and group size.  Hopefully, something of interest falls out from this effort.

Big Round Numbers and Reflection

Easter Sunday witnessed the PWJ tick past two mileposts.  One is meaningful, the other not so much.  The first, and less important milepost was that the blog saw over 100,000 page views in one day.  In the early days of blogging, this achievement might be hailed with much fanfare.  Today, with AI dominating search and consumption, 100,000 page views in one day does not carry the same weight.  The other, and more important milestone is that the blog surpassed 60,000 comments.  Yes, I realize that half of the commentary is mine, but reader commentary is an important if not vital aspect of sharing the hobby.

Blogger stats: 06 APR 2026

When I publish a new post, whether a battle report, an analysis, or photos from my latest unit marching out from the painting desk, I never quite know how it will land.  While I write primarily to record my thoughts and achievements, I also write to share the wargaming hobby that has fascinated me for most of my life.  Once I click "publish," there’s a pause and, often, a little apprehension.  Will anyone care enough to read let alone respond with a comment?  When a comment appears, I breathe a sigh of relief.

For a wargamer, blogging is often a solitary pursuit that mirrors the hobby itself. We spend long nights painting miniatures, building terrain, or researching obscure campaigns to create scenarios or rules.  From a personal perspective, these are satisfying efforts.  This type of self-exploration, while satisfying, is shaped by appreciation and dialog.  The byline on my blog bio states that,

It is not enough to accomplish. You must share those accomplishments.

Reader comments help turn this solitary focus outward.  When a reader writes "the figures look great" or "Great battle report," these comments remind me that the hours of effort are not only just mine.  The blog allows these efforts to become something shared.

Besides turning a mostly solitary activity outward, comments deepen a sense of community.  Wargaming may center on fighting battles in miniature, but through blogging, conversations turn toward tactics, history, craftsmanship, and battles won and lost.  The comment section becomes a virtual battlefield of ideas through a mutual respect for the hobby.

To me, every comment is like adding another painted figure into a collection.  The comment may be small and unique, but a single comment is important to the overall goal.  Each comment builds momentum as others weigh-in turning a collection of posts into an ongoing campaign of thought and dialog.  Without these responses and feedback, blogging can start to feel like a battle dispatch sent off into a destination not known.

I suggest that we keep in mind that when a reader takes the time to type a few words in response to a post, that even a simple response can carry more meaning than the reader might realize.  These responses remind me why I write.  I write not only to post battle reports or document progress at the painting desk.  I write to connect with others who find the same joy in miniature armies and tabletop exploits on the field of battle.  In a sense, each comment carries the same power as a post-game handshake across the table after a hard-fought game.  In a comment, you share acknowledgment, camaraderie, and respect.

I mark this occasion as a way to thank everyone who has mustered the courage to leave a comment or two over these first 60,000 comments.

Thank you.

Men-at-Arms Round-Up

A fourth body of mounted Men-at-Arms emerges from the painting desk.  Like the others before, these eight nobles are 28mm Perry Miniatures' plastic figures.

With these troopers, there are now 32 mounted men to push into battle.  Being able to muster four units of horsemen ought to be enough horsepower for many of the scenarios I may wish to refight.  Still, several boxes of these cavalrymen remain in The Lead Pile (Hmm, with the introduction of plastic figures into a collection, I wonder if my nomenclature ought to be more inclusive?).  Before I return to sticking together more cavalry, there are stacks of boxes of infantry to assemble and paint.

With the cavalry arrayed in depth, this is a formidable looking force, no?

On Thursday, I joined Peter (Grid based wargaming) for an introduction to WWII air combat using Blood Red Skies.  Peter details our exploits in that initial game at the link above.  

We began with single aircraft dogfights but after several turns, we added in an additional aircraft each.  While the one-on-one combat was more cat and mouse with me never really making much progress, once we added in a second aircraft piloted by veterans, the conclusion came rapidly.  I am still trying to work my head around a novel "Advantage System" where "Advantage" has dual meanings whether in altitude or state.  Good fun but I will need some more air hours before I am confident enough to put up a decent fight.  I need to earn my wings...

Still No Duke of Montebello!

As mentioned in the previous post, I met Richard on the Montebello field of battle for a rematch on Monday.  In this rematch, we swapped sides with Richard commanding the Austrians and I the French.  To rekindle the lay of the ground, the battlefield with Austrian deployment zones is illustrated in the photo below.

Battlefield with Austrian deployment zones

Vogelsang's command stacked up around Montebello

To read Richard's account of this battle, please visit Return to Montebello.  Great account.  Well worth the time to investigate Richard's reactions.

After Richard submitted his deployments for both O'Reilly and Vogelsang's command, I set to work to devise a plan of attack.  Plan A was to take a chance in attacking straight away into the Austrian gun and Grenz set up astride on the highway to the south of Rivalta.  It might be a bold choice but if successful, the result would cut the highway and possibly force O'Reilly's position to shift to the south to contain a possible breakthrough.  Then, Lannes cavalry might be able to sweep around the northern flank.  The odds favored the French in a quick supported attack down the highway as the remainder of Watrin's French Division entered the table.

O'Reilly's deployment and French Plan A.

Before the game began and as I was reviewing positioning with Richard, Richard noted the gun and grenzer were actually supposed to be situated one hex to the west astride the road.  Well!  With these Austrians placed back one hex, the lead elements of the French column could not reach their intended target on Turn 1! Besides that, the Austrian jaegers in Rivalta would stop any further movement, regardless, due to EZOC.  The game has not even started, and Plan A is already scuttled!  On to Plan B! 

With initiative in hand, French commander, Watrin,
 sees his division begin to arrive along the highway toward Rivalta.   

As volleys are exchanged at Rivalta,
 O'Reilly pulls some units back before French attacks can go in against them.
  One benefit of having the foresight to place much of his division on Reserve!

Weakened by the exchange of musketry,
the jaegers in Rivalta are put under pressure
 by Watrin's supported attack upon the village. 

In the heavy fighting in Rivalta, the jaegers are dispersed.
Before Watrin can take Rivalta, grenzers slip into
 the village to deny the French this important roadblock.
Another case of Richard using Reserve to interrupt the enemy!

With Rivalta still in Austrian hands,
Watrin redoubles his effort to take the village.
  Leading the attack, two battalions of French storm the BUA.
To the north and cavalry to their front, French advance
 but are forced into square before delivering their volleys.

This time, grenzers are ejected and the victors take the village. 
 A lot of precious time is lost dealing with this obstacle.
In the meantime, Watrin moves to lead an attack along the highway.

Before Watrin's attack goes in, grenzers fall back away
from danger leaving the guns unsupported. 
  Unsurprisingly, the guns are overrun.
Following up on their success, the grenzers are caught are beaten.
In the rye fields, a supported French attack is too much for the light infantry.
  They, too, are scattered.
In only minutes, O'Reilly's command is broken.

With O'Reilly now broken, defense falls upon Vogelsang
 who is beginning to arrive onto the scene.
Unlimbering guns astride the highway, Vogelsang prepares a defense.

Lannes arrives to take command of the action.
He orders most of the 12th Hussars to move off to the north
 in an attempt to turn the enemy Left.
Lannes, himself, leads the 28th Line forward along the highway.

Lannes takes command!

Seeing the destruction of O'Reilly to his front,
Vogelsang encourages his men to form up and take a stand.
O'Reilly uses his cavalry to protect the flanks.

Having cleared Rivalta, the French advance upon the next line of defense.
  That line of defense is Vogelsang.
With artillery in support, the French face another daunting challenge.

Lannes leads the 28th Line into the Austrian supported guns.

In heavy fighting, the enemy is destroyed and the guns overrun.
Success!
Advancing to take the ground,
Lannes crashes into a second supported battery. 
The enemy meets a similar fate.  Both Austrian units are destroyed!
Vogelsang's command wavers under the weight of its losses.
Can the French break Vogelsang and force the enemy to quit the field?

Before we can answer that question, O'Reilly leads his hussar
 in front of Cascina il Giardina down into the valley.
  Their target?
 An infantry battlaion that has already seen a pounding
 from artillery and barely clings to the field.
O'Reilly, at the head of the hussars, leads the attack
but miraculously the French hold on to repulse the enemy!
They must have formed a square before impact.  Huzzah!  

A minor miracle!
Wavering French need 9+ on each of the morale checks to survive.
Whew!

Having destroyed two batteries and two battalions,
Lannes finds himself over-extended and nowhere to hide. 
 Ott takes command of the Austrians and attacks!
  First pouring volleys into the dense target from the flank,
 Ott leads his men forward!
Lannes goes down and the 28th is destroyed! 
Oh, the humanity!

Both armies see reinforcements arrive onto the field.
For the Austrians, Schellenberg's Division arrives and reaches Casteggio.
For the French, Victor and Chamberlhac arrive with their division.
Lannes' hussars swing out to the right.

After some cat and mouse tactics, hussars collide in the valley.
While one of the Austrian hussar units is destroyed, the cost is high.
French hussars are destroyed as well.
To add insult to injury, this loss pushes Lannes' command
(well his ex-command!) over the breaking point.
Ouch!

Schellenberg reaches Casteggio.

Sensing that Vogelsang is under stress having lost four units, 
Watrin keeps the pressure on by attacking toward Casteggio.
The Austrians in the rye are scattered.
  The Austrians to its right are driven back. 

French High-Water mark?

Schellenberg erupts out of Casteggio to take the fight to Watrin.
Watrin's Division suffers huge losses.
Watrin, himself, goes down in the fighting.
These losses push Watrin's Division nearly to the breaking point.
Only one little nudge is needed to push him over this threshold.

The Austrians hope that nudge comes from a second attempt
 to break the French still in square to the south of the highway. 

In the hussars go!

With each unit only able to muster a single die in the attack, 
the hussars score a hit, but the infantry do not.
The French cannot pass their morale test either.
The square breaks and the infantry are crushed under 
the horses' hooves.

With the destruction of the square, Watrin's Division breaks.  Seeing two of the three formations broken, the French attack at Montebello is called off.

Victory to the Austrians!

The result was a close one, though.  Vogelsang was only a few hits from reaching his breaking point.  Had Vogelsang broken first then victory would have been the French's.  Close, yet again, but I manage to be outplayed by Richard, yet again!

Great job, Richard, and well played!

Watrin should have followed Vogelsang's lead and withdrawn when his division was in jeopardy.  Then, we could have seen Schellenberg and Chamberlhac fight it out to decide the battle.  That option would have required a second gaming session, for sure.  Instead, I thought that Vogelsang could be caught and destroyed.  Schellenberg, however, put a stop to that plan!  

As for the Butcher's Bill, the Austrian Army certainly suffered more but most of its losses came from O'Reilly's Advance Guard which was essentially annihilated.  Game duration was a little under four hours.

Butcher's Bill

With Lannes falling, yet again, there still is no Duke of Montebello!