Steven Mitchell's Page

I got started in wargaming back in 1993, at age 9, when I discovered my uncle's copy of Jutland (TAHGC) in my grandparent's attic. (I had previously found copies of Feudal and Facts in Five up there.) I was instantly hooked. The simulation elements were truly revolutionary, and the hexagon instantly took on a new meaning.

I soon after discovered a copy of Midway, and my collection began to grow. Virtually every penny I saved up went towards a wargame. Unfortunately, soon thereafter TAHGC went under, and I was at a loss.

Thank goodness for MMP, through whom I was able to buy up a good supply of ASL products. It was by following ASL that I discovered the ConsimWorld community and I was back in Nirvana, with so many new-found companies to buy from.

Ever since, I've been gradually building my collection, concentrating on MMP/Gamers, GMT, and old Victory Games products, with a smattering of representation from other companies' 'essentials'. In my 15 years of wargaming, I've hit all the different shades of the hobby: tactical, grand strategic, monsters, one-mappers, CDGs. And I have favorites in every corner.

But over time, I've begun to gravitate towards the operational scale. The Gamers' OCS; OSG's Napoleonic games; AH's GCACW; SPW's Der Weltkrieg; VG's Fleet series; etc. I find that it's just the right scale for exploring all the sorts of challenges I like to see in wargames.

If done right, an operational game should incorporate the complete lifetime of a campaign: inception, planning, gathering resources, pre-combat maneuver, attack, reaction, exploitation, and preparation for rest and possible counter-attack.

Sure, you get that in other scales, but in tactical scales, there's more focus on the combat; in strategic scales, there's more focus on the non-combat. At the operational level, there's exactly the balance I'm looking for.

You also find in operational-level games a better look at the interplay of the various arms of the military. How to effectively coordinate infantry and cavalry; or armor and air. Again, these ideas aren't lost on other scales, but they're less doctrinal in nature, I find.

But given the right opponent, I can be game for any wargame!