The Master Wargamer

“So you think you’re a hardcore wargamer, eh? A true grognard? Bah! You’re nothing, pal! Nothing! What’s that? You have over one hundred miniatures? Big deal. Talk to me when you have over 50,000! You fight your battles on a den-sized gaming table? Boring. Try it across twenty acres of farmland! That’s how I wargame!”

This is how a conversation with Peter Shulman might sound if he was a brash man (he most definitely is not!). Mr. Shulman is the Leonardo da Vinci of miniatures wargaming, a man that has taken the hobby to incredible heights. His wargaming has spanned three countries and often involves thousands of individual units, many of them handcrafted. His story is truly fascinating and well-worth reading at his website, Peter Shulman’s War.

Gamesquad.com was very pleased to be able to interview Mr. Shulman recently:

Gamesquad: How did you discover wargaming?

Peter Shulman: As a child, I was not allowed to play with toys. My parents, both professionals, had only one ambition for a son of theirs and that was that I study, study, study! When I came home from school each day, I was sent to my room to study. Nothing was allowed to be in my room that would distract me. I rebelled. I daydreamed. I invented worlds in my head and would lose myself in them.

When I was seven years old, an aunt gave me some oil-based clay. This was allowed because it was an art material, not a toy. My parents had made a mistake. They had allowed into my room an outlet, a window through which I could escape.

I taught myself how to make from the clay all the toys that I was never given. I began to create little worlds into which I could escape. Because I had only a pound or so of clay these had to be small and limited, but because the clay did not harden, I could make progressively more detailed settings within which to lose myself. The nature of the worlds that I created was combative. I had within me, by this time, so much anger, that was the natural direction taken by my art. This was also during and just after WW II so sculpting military subjects came naturally.

I had no idea that I had discovered wargaming but, of course, I had. It was a very long time before I came to know that this was a legitimate well-known hobby. Since my parents would think this a waste of good study time, I kept my wars secret. I felt this was something to be ashamed of. I was constantly afraid of being caught and punished. The shame and secretive nature of the war lasted in some form for twenty-five years.

By the time I was ten I had already formatted basic rules of play and was gaming with two armies. Eventually I discovered plastic models that allowed me to mobilize my trooPeter Shulman and expand the game. It just kept growing from there.

Gamesquad: Your website mentions that it can take upwards of three weeks to setup all the units for a battle. Furthermore, your battles usually involve acres of property. How can you possibly manage such a large conflict?

Peter Shulman: The battle area of my game is about 1,000 feet on each side. The first 100 feet in all the way around is the Green forces area. The inner 800-foot square parcel is the Gray territory. This area is at the top of my farm at about 2,200-foot elevation. There are non-combat lanes thru the Green area leading outside the battleground. The terrain is generally flat but rolling and wooded mostly in old pine with a trout stream running down one side.

To set up the war I have to carry all the men and equipment up to this area. Though I can drive my SUV up there, I generally walk up carrying just one box at a time. This is why it takes so long to set up the war. Once I get it all up there I have to organize it but this is pure enjoyment.

I also have to repair the damage that winter has done to the airfields, roads and towns.
I manage it all during the war buy staying in one area until the action is concluded whether it is an air or ground battle or both and no matter how many days it lasts. If I were to start one battle and move on to another before the first was finished I would lose track of the action. As the battles go on, the areas of action compress and it becomes less complicated.

Gamesquad: How do you resolve your battles? Do you use published rules? Or do you have your own system?

Peter Shulman: I have my own system that has formed over more than 50 years. I began developing rules way before I knew that this was a formal hobby (I had no idea that there were published rules for wargaming). Since my own system works well for me, I have stuck to it. The basic rules I have developed are described in the organization page on my website. They take into consideration the capabilities of equipment, the terrain, the experience of the troops and distances from each other, amongst other factors. I also use a shot counter system that serves me very well. I realize that the way I wargame would be thought of as to simplistic by good gamers but I have fun and that is the point of the game for me.

This might be a good point to mention that to win the game one side has to completely destroy the other. In all the years that I have played my game, neither side has ever won. A reason may be that I play only for about 7 months and start fresh each year.

Gamesquad: Your battles involve a mix of equipment from different periods. Isn’t that difficult to resolve in a realistic fashion? How does it work out?

Peter Shulman: When I set the game up each year, I try to have units with equipment from the same era opposing each other (M60A1s against T62s for example). After the first few battles, which last a few weeks, this equality breaks down as attrited units are combined and attacking units move into different areas. Some amazing battles develop but it all seems to work out well. The battles are won or lost by the side that has overwhelming strength left at some point. The remnants of defeated forces are generally allowed to retreat to a neutral area reached by non-combat lanes leading outside the 1,000 foot square border of play. Units reaching those areas cannot be attacked until they re-enter the field of play.

The equipment allocation of each army is very simple. The Green Army and Air force only has equipment from the United States, the Gray Army and Air force equipment from any other country. In cases where the US and other nations use the same equipment, the Greens get the preference (the AV-8B Harrier and M113, for example).

Gamesquad: You like to name the officers in your miniatures army after friends (some 750+ to date). How did this come about? What was the reaction of your friends?

Peter Shulman: When I was a child and had to play secretly, I was not allowed to interact with the few friends I had made. One day, at about the age of eight, while playing with my soldiers I just imagined a friend as one of the officers in the cavalry unit I was moving around and named that figure after him. It may sound weird but I got a certain measure of satisfaction out of imagining I was playing with him. It just continued from that point. I have only named officers in the Green Army (the good guys). As the army grew in size, I ran out of names of close friends and began to induct people that had a positive effect on my life - even for a brief time. In the 1990s, I totally ran out of men to name and for the first time put women in my war. The women are all in the air force at this time. If you were to look at the Green Army organization page of my website it would be easy to find the men who have been in the army the longest by their rank. No one ever leaves the army even though some of my friends have passed away in real life (I see no reason to forgo their company in my game!). In my war nobody dies. People who are killed in action come right back in the next year’s game.

In the late 1960s, when I first started showing friends the game and describing their unwitting participation, I was very concerned about their reactions. Surprisingly, the reactions have been 100% positive. My friends are fascinated and many call me each year to see how they are doing. I keep histories of the participants in my game (to use as a promotion list) but I find myself emailing these histories to the many people who ask for a copy! The name of each friend is displayed on an aircraft or command vehicle and I let those who visit the farm take their figure and aircraft/vehicle (which I then replace).

Gamesquad: You currently have 1,100 jet aircraft, 3,000 vehicles, and over 58,000 clay figures in your collection. Do you ever think you will reach the point where you say “Enough!”?

Peter Shulman: Every year when I bring it all out to the forest, I swear I will stop making it larger. Then, in the winter, I get the urge to build models and I look on eBay, the Squadron sales sheets, or in local hobby shop and see items of equipment and say ‘why not?’. So I purchase more and build them and create new units and so on. Once I build the new equipment, I then sit down to sculpt the troops to staff the new unit. This repeats yearly so the war gets larger. I guess that, sooner or later, there will just be so much that it all can't be used - but I have not reached that point yet.

Gamesquad: Do you wargame solely with miniatures, or do you also enjoy board and PC-based wargames?

Peter Shulman: Though I think board gaming is a wonderful hobby, I just feel very restricted so I do not do it. If, for some reason, I lost the ability to play outside in a large area, I would probably pursue board gaming.

On occasion, I do play PC-based games but not often. They are of interest to me because of the code more than the action. I went back to college several years ago to get a Bachelor in Technology [Computer Science degree] and the amazing technical makeup of PC games are wonderful to see.

Gamesquad: What do you find most rewarding about wargaming with miniatures? Is it the gameplay? Or is it the artistic element? Something else?

Peter Shulman: The game play is, of course, mentally rewarding as only a fellow wargamer can know. It is hard for me to put into words the satisfying experience of wargaming. The answer involves a group of feelings both physical and mental. The quiet of being in the forest alone with just the occasional wild animal wandering through is wonderful. The thought process of moving all these units and playing both sides fairly and keeping some measure of control is mentally invigorating. Sometimes I will just sit planning unit moves and listening to a stream flowing or birds chirping. It may sound like an unusual word to use to describe the feeling generated by playing at war, but I think if one word can be used it is that I feel ‘peaceful.’

Gamesquad: I understand you are an artist by trade. Does your artwork reflect your passion for wargaming?

Peter Shulman: Only twice in my career as an artist have I let my wargaming influence the subject matter of my work. In the 60s, I became fascinated by all the different shapes that manufacturers were using to achieve goals in warplane design so I did a series of large paintings of contemporary military aircraft. The show, called “America in the Sky,” was held in a big gallery in New York City and was well publicized. All the paintings sold mostly to the companies that made the planes, but eight were bought by an agency and ended up in the Pentagon. Shortly after that several plastic model companies contacted me and for a short period of time I did box top art for them. I stopped this because the commercial aspect was hurting my reputation as a fine artist. Today I think that was a mistake. Two of those paintings are displayed online in my art gallery site. In the early 1990s, I did a series of paintings that showed just the air intakes from jet fighters made around the world (http://petershulman.com/peter_shulman_paintings19.htm). The many different shapes became very wild paintings. Outside of these two occasions, my art has remained separate from my hobby.

Gamesquad: What do you find most exciting about the current state of the hobby?

Peter Shulman: The openness and freedom expressed by the large fan base of wargamers. The intellect being poured into the hobby and the fact that it is so wide spread. When I talk to other people in our hobby, I feel young and alive. There is a building and expanding dynamic there that was not around years ago. My war web site has generated over 8,000 emails and the stories in them are amazing. It humbles me that so many of my fellow hobbyists write and interact with me.

Gamesquad: What do you find most distressing?

Peter Shulman: I suppose to me the most distressing thing about the hobby at this point is the ever growing cost - especially of the models. On a personal level, I am also saddened that I am growing older and have only a limited time left to enjoy the game.

Gamesquad: You currently offer free sculpture classes for children. How did this come about from your wargaming? Do you still offer these classes?

Peter Shulman: In the late 1970s, I saw an ad for children's summer sculpture classes. They where given for money. I decided that children should not have to pay to learn so I decided to give free sculpture classes. I got a local bank to agree to sponsor the classes and a church to let me use their basement. Within a few weeks, I had over 100 children attending the weekly classes. I simply told them that whatever they could see in their minds or with their eyes could come out through their fingers into the clay. I use oil-based clay so that they can keep what they make and rework it at home. I insist that the mothers stay and learn also. During the last 30 or so years, I have taught more than 5000 children how to make their own toys, basically what I taught myself so long ago. The classes have been given in many states. I go almost anywhere I'm invited to give them. The only thing I insist on is that they be free. It has been a very rewarding thing to do.

Gamesquad: Would you like to add anything?

Peter Shulman: I would like to mention how proud I am that you chose to interview me. I am honored by the number of people that visit my war website and write. My game is very large because it has been building for more than 60 years and I am lucky enough to live on property where I can play it outside. That in no way makes it better or more rewarding to play than games held on tables or PC games. I am just another wargamer, but one who started wargaming without knowing he was wargaming. That is the reason my game has developed the way it has. I guess you can say that I have done it my way.