Bellum - a charming photo

I found "The Few Good Men" wargaming forum by chance and I was taken by the picture used as a header.

http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/thefgmforum/forum.php

I thought at first glance that this was a late 1900's Kriegspiel using the War Department rules but on contacting the forum owner I discover that this is a print entitled

"Group of English gentlemen and soldiers of the 25th London Cyclist Regiment playing the newest form of wargame strategy simulation called "Bellum" at the regimental HQ."

Further searching came up with the archive of the 25th London Cyclists with an extract describing the game

http://www.25thlondon.com/photos-misc2.htm

The original photo is in the LIFE photo archive

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/f?q=25th+london+regiment+source:life&prev=/images%3Fq%3D25th%2Blondon%2Bregiment%2Bsource:life%26hl%3Den&imgurl=f06be8793841a6a4

I like the use of the screens.

Not found a digital copy of Bellum however.


Enjoy

Thanks for this Tim. Lot's of atmosphere in the photo of the cyclist battalion officers playing the game. It all looks pretty cramped.

Yes it would be interesting if someone could locate more details of Bellum.

I have a (rather elderly) friend, whose father servived in a cyclist battalion in WW1. As it happens, he has been trying to find out more about the cyclist units, so I have been able to forward the link to him.

Martin

It is metioned on page 15 at the bottom of a google book on wargames (i cant post the link as im still a new member and have to wait a week) may help to finding more out about it

Callum wrote:It is metioned on page 15 at the bottom of a google book on wargames (i cant post the link as im still a new member and have to wait a week) may help to finding more out about it

Thanks Callum. I'd be grateful if you would post it when vyou are able.

Martin

Yes it seems to be a streamlined version of k/spiel. It would be interesting to see the rules.

Martin

Not sure whether this would be the same thing as BELLUM, though seems to be roughly contemporaneous, but currently being sold on Lulu.com for £12.95 is a paperback version of "Verdy's Free Kriegspiel" + the British Army's 1896 War simulation, seemingly self-published by John Curry, whose person and subject were previously totally unknown to me.

The blurb says "Verdy's Free Kriegspiel including the Victorian Army’s 1896 War Game. Verdy's 1876 Free Kriegspiel launched a new generation of wargames. Using minimal rules and tables, the game aimed to produce realistic games based on military reality as decided by the umpire. This edition includes the Victorian Army's 1896 War Game Kriegspiel rules"

On a different subject, have now downloaded Hamachi and Teamspeak, and taken a third swipe at GSOW; now missing only a microphone headset and a GSOW activation code, but otherwise raring to go!

Good spot. For more on John Curry and his 'History of Wargaming' project see http://www.wargaming.co/

Glad you are making progress of the Gettysburg front. Let me know when you would like to try a samll multiplayer game.

Martin