Looks like this will be my last post on the subject of ‘Figure Size’ – well at least for a while, as I’ve gone through my stack of old magazines and publications and have run out of steam and material. Oh, I’m sure this won’t be my last post on the subject, but it may be a while before the next one…
This time we jump to 1973 and see what pushed Jack Scruby into N-Gauge war gaming…
Wargaming in N-Gauge
By: Jack Scruby
The Soldier Factory News Volume 1, Spring 1973
I have a particular attachment for N-gauge tin soldiers for they brought me back into wargaming after a three year layoff.
After my heart attack in late ’69, I made a great change in my way of life, and I found I really did not have the time anymore to play war games. Generally I played games prior to that on Saturday nights. But, under my new regime..which required much physical exercise (which takes time!) … I played golf on Saturdays, and after hiking 5 miles following the little white ball, I just couldn’t get up energy enough to set up a war game and have at it.
After a period of time, I just lost interest in war gaming itself, although I did try about three games with David Rusk. Somehow, they were not satisfactory, so I gradually “gave up” the thought of playing.
During the year and a half I worked for Ambrite Industries, my contact with wargamers was almost lost, as I spent most my time designing things other than wargame soldiers. When Ambrite and I broke up our business arrangement, I suddenly was once again thrust into becoming active in the war game world and in trying to keep my business going.
All along, in the back of my mind during this non-playing period, a thought had been nagging me that somehow all the various scales and model soldiers I made just were not the answer I wanted if I ever took up wargaming again. I was not sure of what I really was looking for until one day I began thinking about N-gauge soldiers.
What really sparked the thing was some castings Joe Morschauser sent me that “represented” whole battalions of men scaled at about 5mm (Editors Note: I have some of Morschauser’s 5mm figures and will be digging them out and posting some pictures). Frankly, I could not stand them, and I remembered a visit Jim Oden had made years before to my plant, where he had brought some N-gauge Civil War soldiers he had made for himself.
Jim had wanted me to design some for him, but at that time I just couldn’t see that scale, so I turned him down. However, it must have registered on my mind, because I can still picture those particular soldiers of Odens to this day, and I thought that I’d design a couple and see what they looked like.
Well, the rest is history now. And there is little doubt in my mind that N gauge war games are here to stay and I intend to eventually come out with all historical periods in N—gauge that I now have in other war game scales.
In order to visualize what an army of Napoleonic N-gauge soldiers would look like, I began painting up several hundred. Once these were completed, I bought a few N-gauge houses, forests, etc., and set up a table to look at. It was not long before a tremendous urge took over and DEMANDED that I fight someone a war game in this scale.
It was during this time that I moved from my old plant at Ambrite to my new plant in Goshen. And here..at last… I had enough extra room to put up a real war game setup. I pulled all my wargame equipment from my home, and set it up at the Goshen plant, and with Mike Frank’s help and with much of his equipment; we wound up with the greatest wargame setup in California… if not the USA!
I set up my first wargame in N gauge on a 6ft by 8ft table top. I immediately saw this was not what I wanted. So l I turned to, painted hundreds more soldiers, bought many more houses, made many more farm houses and villages in N gauge, and before long, was able to set up a table top 20feet long by 8 feet wide.
AT LAST! Here was a dream come true! Here was a real campaign available! I talked Mike Frank into trying out a test battle (don’t kid me; he was as excited as I was to try his hand at this fabulous looking game!). We fought each noon and during any coffee breaks we had available. The battle hung on for over a week…. we looked forward each day to fighting… it wound up to be the most exciting and rewarding war game I had ever fought in! And it ended up in a draw! This is perfect, when two opponents are almost equal in wargame ability, especially when they are testing out rules!
We neither of us could wait for the next battle! This second action was even better than the first, for by now we knew the rules. Once again, it was a draw.
The third battle was organized for our War Game club members to fight in. Mike commanded one side, I the other. There were five other “generals” per side under our command. I had never liked fighting this type of game before, but this game proved to me that I had been wrong, and I found fighting in N-gauge scale in this type of game was perfection itself.
Each “general” fought his own tactical battle, while I, as commander, only issued strategy movement to them. It was exciting to watch each set of opponents fight their own battle in their own tactical way ; each an individual fight, but connected in its entirety to the whole strategic concept Mike and I had planned out for our sides.
Since that time Mike and I have continually had a huge N-gauge war game going. These often last three weeks, with at least 3 moves being made each day. It is the first time in my life I’ve had room enough to leave up a war game table for such a long time, and for me, I find I can devote the time to wargaming on this basis, without interfering with the new way of life I progressed into since my heart attack.
Okay. So you readers will agree that I am personally sold on N-gauge. So where does that leave the average war gamer who does not have a 20 foot table; who cannot leave a war game table set up for weeks on end; who does not even, perhaps, have room for an 8 foot war game table!
The answer of course is that N-gauge can be played on the massive scale that I play it….. Or it can be played on a 3ft square card table. In fact, N gauge can be played on a war game board game square or board. It can be played on a standard 8ft war game table top. N-gauge is a very versatile scale. It depends on the area you have to play in as to how you use the N-gauge scale models. The thing is the soldiers are “visible”…i.e. you can distinguish a grenadier from a voltigeur, a Highlander from a British regular..without trouble. So the model at least represents the “type” of soldier. And you can set your own “terrain scale” depending on the table top area you have to fight in.
Of course, many people will not like N-gauge, and we cannot blame them. Let’s face it, Mike Frank’s 25mm Seven Years War army is much more beautiful in appearance than the N-gauge Napoleonic army we use. From a distance, you can distinguish Mike’s individual soldiers with ease. And when our 20foot war game table is set up with Mike’s soldiers, it is one of the more beautiful sights one can see in this hobby.
And the battles one fights with these 25mm soldiers is exciting, no doubt about that at all. And those people who are sold on 25mm scale- or 20mm scale.. or 30mm scale.. will probably not change. And I can hardly blame them.
But…for the newcomer to this hobby, or for the old-timer like myself who already has a dozen other armies in a half-dozen different scales, N gauge could be the answer to many problems.
I think this can be proved by the fact that not long ago a young fellow visited the plant. He had been interested in getting into war games for years, but simply did not have the room to set one up with miniatures. He is a bachelor, lives in a small apartment, and until the N-gauge came along all he could do was dream about wargaming. Now he is involved in building up an N-gauge army and is gung-ho in the hobby.
Then, there is the old-time war gamer, my friend John Schuster (and for that matter, Charlie Sweet!). John has not done much in wargaming in eight or ten years. He has a huge and beautiful 20mm Napoleonic army that requires at least a l6 foot table top to really fight with. In his present home he simply does not have room enough to set this battle group up. As a result, wargaming was almost lost to him. Now, he is working in N-gauge, and I suspect once the army is completed , there will be some action at the Schuster home — war game wise!
So there, you have two “living” examples of what N-gauge soldiers are doing. Or, taking my own case, what they have done for me. I am getting enthusiastic enough to even think seriously about dusting off my 25mm African Colonial army and having a round with it…. Then I begin to dream of African Colonial armies in N gauge..!
And, of course, this revival of interest in wargaming on my part… and especially of my interest in N-gauge scale, has made designing of figures very easy for me, since I am really interested in them. For example, as Mike Frank or Dave Rusk can tell you one of the periods I NEVER have been interested in is Ancient Times …. I balk every time I have to redesign 20mm figures of Ancient warriors. BUT, I have been terribly interested in designing ancient soldiers in N-gauge, and this interest has allowed me to create some really nice models of this period…something I am enjoying I think because I like the scale and size, and can picture how an army of ancients would look on the table top!
In the few months Scruby Miniatures has made N-gauge troops available it is obvious others feel much like I do. My daughter, Judy McCarty, is in charge of N-gauge orders and most of her time is spent on this duty. An indication I believe, that N—gauge is here to stay in Wargaming!
