A wargamer in Stockholm

Some months ago I was looking for a destination for a late spring travel when I saw on a Facebook group a post about a wargaming exhibition in a museum in Stockholm, so I got in touch with Dalauppror, asking for more informations. You can read the results of that conversation in this post.

To Stockholm!

Sweden was a crucial country for the history of European warfare at least from 17th to 19th century. Its capital, Stockholm, hosts various testimonials of the country's past deeds.
Its capital Stockholm has plenty of monuments and museums emphasizing the glorious military past of the country, and it's pretty easy find something a wargamer or warfare lover could enjoy.

I will only focus on wargaming related places I visited, of course there is a lot more to see in this amazing city!

I suggest starting your tour at the Armémuseum. The exhibition will lead you throughout six centuries of warfare in Sweden, providing an excellent introduction for the various wars the country fought during its history. Dioramas, 1:1 soldiers mannequins, paintings and weapons allow the visitors to imagine the world who those soldiers lived in. Rather interestingly, the museum doesn't simply focus on the warfare, but explain also in details the everyday struggle for survival soldiers and civilians had to fight during wars (and peace, often). Of course weapons lovers won't be disappointed, modern to contemporary section is particularly well represented by a wide display, ranging from sub-machine guns, to pistols and a complete UAV!

Soldiers must eat, too

Yes, there is also a Goliath!

If you can manage to visit Stockholm before 7th January 2018 you can also visit the temporary exhibition War Games. An amazing journey from the birth of gaming (chess, chaturanga, go) to contemporary wargame rulesets, passing through Prussian kriegsspiel and '70 boardgames. A must for any wargamer and boardgamer. It's quite a unique chance to see Black Powder or Bolt Action behind the cabinet of a museum! (and in the museum shop!)

 

Kriegsspiel (my forbidden dream is a double blind game)

The second place I suggest you to visit is Livrustkammeren (Royal Armoury). Its entrance is exactly on the side of Royal Palace, in the very centre of Stockholm. The museum itself is located in the cellars of the Palace! There is a well assorted collection of armours and weapons of course, but the most important pieces in its collection areprobably the flag and the robes Gustavus Adolphus was wearing at Lützen before his death.

A temporary exhibition about Katanas was also held in the museum during our visit. Small, but interesting, though.

In both the two temporary exhibitions, several references to present days are made, through games, or movies. We realised that in Sweden museums aren't something just preserving the past, but actively trying to set a link to everyday world.

Both Armémuseum and Livrustkammeren admission are free of charge, so no excuse!

If happen to pass near the city centre at about 12 AM, don't lose the changing of the guard. It's held in front of the Royal Palace and it lasts about one hour. You can observe both ceremonial uniforms and real serving regiments uniforms, and a musical band performs amazing marches and songs.

Were we talking about Gustavus Adolphus' death? Well, if you want to see his grave, take a short walk (just 5 minutes from the Palace) and visit Riddarholmskyrkan, where many Swedish kings are buried. Of course the Lion of the North lays between them.

Medeltidsmuset is a small museum, hidden under a bridge (literally), which allows the visitors to dive into middle ages' everyday life in Stockholm, while not strictly about warfare, I nonetheless found it fascinating (did someone say "free admission"?).

Vasamuset. A well preserved (and restored) huge galley, exhibited in a 6 floor museum, it's something out of ordinary. It's also the story of one of the biggest fail in naval engineering, due to a mix of political meddling/ingerence and poor calcualtions, this ship, intended to become the admiral of the fleet, sunk during its maiden voyage, probably one of the shortest in history for a galley, lasting nly 120 meters. You can see the ship externally from different levels, under the keel and up to the mast. The lateral exhibition give an insight on the history of the ship and about the life of the sailors, what they ate, how they fought and so on.. A small section analyses the bodies found inside during salvations and speculate about their stories. The entrance is not cheap, but it's decisely worth the money!

If you are willing to do some shopping in Stockholm I can suggest to start here:

• The science fiction bookshop, offers a wide choice of books (of course) and GW miniatures, some boardgames and interesting gadgets. 
• Alphaspel (I didn't visited it, but its website looks interesting)
• Probably there is also a GW shop, but since I'm not really into GW, so I didn't check.

Of course I did not forgot to contact Dalauppror, And...we managed to get a game of The Pikeman Lament! I could bother you with the AAR of the game, but he's already written about it in its blog, so just read here.

So, it's everything from Stockholm. As travel suggestions: low cost flights are aivalable and (from Europe) reasonably priced, I have no special advice, since people are kind and they all speak an awesome English, so I never had any difficulty in my trip. Just remember that the weather can get quit cold, so be prepared both for sun and for snow!


~ My thanks to Fabio for reviewing this post ~