80s... We're Living In The 80s... And if not, WHY NOT?
I've been mulling for a couple of years now, why the 80s were so good and indeed still resonate with gamers.
You can always say that every decade is the best in the eyes of those who lived through it, but from a gaming point of view, I do genuinely believe that there was a 'sweet spot', a 'golden age, call it what you will which lasted until around 1989 or 90.
Now, it must be said that the Satanic Panic of the early to mid-80s was a small blip in that period, but to be honest, it was never going to win over the majority. In fact if anything it added to the piquancy of it all, adding a frisson of the forbidden to what was at the time a pretty underground pastime, despite the popularity.
After all, if you were not actually involved with gaming, you had no idea of what the oddly shaped plastic things, the hex paper or indeed the games themselves were about.
Conventions had a far more 'buzz'. They were packed to the rafters regardless of the size of the show, bring and buy stalls were busy and the stuff you found was not the tat found on today's poor cousins of the stalls of yore. Neither were there the parasitic traders and dealers, grabbing everything. The other week at Hammerhead, I almost kicked one of those bastards clean up the arse after he pushed his way to a box of assorted miniatures, expanding his form outward to effectively block anyone else.
(Next time mate I shall... You will know it's me, because I'll wait for your response, once your balls slide back down from the vicinity of your throat, you ignorant bastard!)
In those days, traders did business at shows in person. OK, it may not be a great money spinner these days, but trust me (I am looking at you Essex Miniatures) if you took your fantasy stuff to shows and did a bit of imaginative presentation, you'd clean up. Your stall always drew a swarm of my peers at Triples in the 80s, for both fantasy and historical. You were our unknowing suitor, along with Irregular Miniatures.... Oh the joys of just picking over the higgledy piggledy trays full of wonders watched over by Ron and Ian Kay, or drooling over on the Dixon Miniatures stand at the latest Samurai or Ninja.
Then there was Heroes Miniatures, with the chunky and very stylised (yet so moreish) sculpts of Tony Yates, the evergreen Dave Hoyles and the Q.T multi-part figures and even better the starships and 6mm sic-fi.
The whole convention 'thing' was a wonder for the senses and you felt that you were part of an event, a participant in an almost ritualistic and arcane gathering of sage-like beings. Who, having seen it, could forget a South London Warlords display game using massive starships made from kitchen utensils and plumbing parts, or Terry Wise's Subbuteo inspired game of tribal warfare. And then there was the sheer 'get the fuck outta here' displays by The Player's Guild... Vast sic-fi and fantasy games essentially sponsored by Citadel Miniatures. I saw a few of these in the days when Triples was still at the Royal Victoria Hotel, even before I met Roger with his similarly fanatical love of this fine hobby.
I still to this day remember the first 'win' in a painting competition, That was at Triples too, and it set me on course to win a score more over the next 15 or 20 years.
And the stores... OH THE STORES!
Games Workshop was a fantastic place to be when there were less than a dozen. Steve & Ian walked amongst we mortals. The staff and managers were real characters, with passion for the hobby, films, literature and sarcasm. My sainted aunt, many a youth learned verbal self-defence in the Sheffield store between 1982 and 1985 or perished.
The sheer volume of products has never been matched. It was not just about the glossy, high end games and supplements but also the low budget, made with passion products by amateurs in their living rooms and garages.
Games Of Liverpool was the most exciting of the lot. If you'd seen the full page adverts in White Dwarf, you were still not prepared for the shock of the actual store. It was indescribable... You had to be there to appreciate what a Temple Of Elemental Gaming it was. The mix of anticipation and fear I experienced aged 14, finding my way across Liverpool city centre through whet were genuinely dangerous backstreets, past the famous Soldier Of Fortune military surplus store, was only matched by outrunning a gang of Skinheads in the Manchester Arndale Centre after I visited GW there (I bought a Shield Maiden, Wyvern and suit of scale armour on a stand - Ral Partha, Ral Partha and Citadel respectively) or the weekly game of cat and mouse past Skinhead, Punk and Townie gangs on Sheffield's 'Gallery' to reach Hopkinson's Models, perhaps a trip to the fleshpots of Sharrowvale to Heeley and the original Sheffield Space Centre.
All of this against a heady mix of so many musical genres, the rise of the Tories and some outstanding films made it a 'perfect storm' for the imagination.
£20 could get you well over 200 Mike's Model 15mm figures or 70-80 Citadel fantasy figures, hand picked by staff behind the 'figure bar' in GW or in baggies from Hopkinsons. You could buy 2 boxes of Grenadier 'Gold Line' and a set of Standard Games cardboard figures from Beatties and still get a a chocolate eclair or cup of soup from a nearby Hagenbach's bakery (way better than Greggs!).
Blake's 7, Dr Who, Sapphire & Steel and Nightmare on the T.V. Toyah, Siouxsie, Madness, The Clash, The Pistols, Joe Jackson, Adam & The Ants and so much more, every week on Top Of The Pops. Later it was Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Marillion, but the sense of the otherworldly remained strong in the lyrics and visuals.
The first affordable computers, which had no graphics, but which were so new and different that the imagination filled in the gaps.
Maybe a trip over to Doncaster for the princely sum of 2p either way on the 277 or 278 bus to Athena Books and the kindly, nurturing, font of knowledge that wasTerry Wise in his 'lair'.
The friendships, many of which were formed entirely on a shared passion for toy soldiers and the imaginary and which in many cases which have endured for almost 40 years. We had our differences, our peer snobbery, but beyond all that bullshit, we lived a life that the teenagers of today will never experience, sadly.
Saturday lunchtime, the morning having been spent with a motley assortment of kids from all over the city and every type of background in GW, could be spent haunting other stores already mentioned, or perhaps the outstanding Redgates toy store with 4 floors of every toy you can imagine. It was here that I and Darren Ashmore bought our first Macross mecha model kits.
More often than not though, we'd be filling a dining room or bedroom somewhere, being boisterous but well mannered as mothers bustled to make snacks and fathers grumbled about having their home filled with a bunch of denim clad youths, casting spells, invading Stalingrad or defeating the Mi-Go in the Appalachian mountains, yet still bringing trays filled with mugs of steaming tea and biscuits. grumbling all the while.
These were great times, and the memory of them for me and I suspect many others is reassuring, and probably more so in these strange times we find ourselves facing.
But remember, in the 80s we had very real threats of imminent megadeath from nuclear war, or finding our delicate young frames blown to pieces by the I.R.A during their bombing campaigns. Some saw their fathers broken by the strikes and industrial action of what was at times a very volatile time to be alive.
But, most of us are still here, and still playing games with toy soldiers, pencil, paper and dice.
Perhaps it's time to think about introducing a new generation to what it was that hooked us? A five year old who is bright can easily play a a game using the Fighting Fantasy rules. Why not dig out those old, forgotten Games Workshop jigsaws and perhaps that copy of Sorcerers Cave or Mystic Wood?
Indulge yourself in the way you used to as a kid. Sure, be safe, do as the Government suggest to stay safe, but don't allow yourself to be cowed by the seeming tsunami of stress that is engulfing the world.
The imagination is a great weapon against stress, so exercise it to the maximum and turn darkness into light! Be that wizard, that general, that kid with dreams, and this time take a few more people with you, using the wonders of modern technology.
Stay safe.
TTFN
PS: To those of you who are essential to this country and indeed the world, weathering this time of tribulation, be you doctor, retail staff or delivery driver - THANK YOU!
To those of you who rely on these brilliant folk, show them appreciation and respect please.
You can always say that every decade is the best in the eyes of those who lived through it, but from a gaming point of view, I do genuinely believe that there was a 'sweet spot', a 'golden age, call it what you will which lasted until around 1989 or 90.
Now, it must be said that the Satanic Panic of the early to mid-80s was a small blip in that period, but to be honest, it was never going to win over the majority. In fact if anything it added to the piquancy of it all, adding a frisson of the forbidden to what was at the time a pretty underground pastime, despite the popularity.
After all, if you were not actually involved with gaming, you had no idea of what the oddly shaped plastic things, the hex paper or indeed the games themselves were about.
Conventions had a far more 'buzz'. They were packed to the rafters regardless of the size of the show, bring and buy stalls were busy and the stuff you found was not the tat found on today's poor cousins of the stalls of yore. Neither were there the parasitic traders and dealers, grabbing everything. The other week at Hammerhead, I almost kicked one of those bastards clean up the arse after he pushed his way to a box of assorted miniatures, expanding his form outward to effectively block anyone else.
(Next time mate I shall... You will know it's me, because I'll wait for your response, once your balls slide back down from the vicinity of your throat, you ignorant bastard!)
In those days, traders did business at shows in person. OK, it may not be a great money spinner these days, but trust me (I am looking at you Essex Miniatures) if you took your fantasy stuff to shows and did a bit of imaginative presentation, you'd clean up. Your stall always drew a swarm of my peers at Triples in the 80s, for both fantasy and historical. You were our unknowing suitor, along with Irregular Miniatures.... Oh the joys of just picking over the higgledy piggledy trays full of wonders watched over by Ron and Ian Kay, or drooling over on the Dixon Miniatures stand at the latest Samurai or Ninja.
Then there was Heroes Miniatures, with the chunky and very stylised (yet so moreish) sculpts of Tony Yates, the evergreen Dave Hoyles and the Q.T multi-part figures and even better the starships and 6mm sic-fi.
The whole convention 'thing' was a wonder for the senses and you felt that you were part of an event, a participant in an almost ritualistic and arcane gathering of sage-like beings. Who, having seen it, could forget a South London Warlords display game using massive starships made from kitchen utensils and plumbing parts, or Terry Wise's Subbuteo inspired game of tribal warfare. And then there was the sheer 'get the fuck outta here' displays by The Player's Guild... Vast sic-fi and fantasy games essentially sponsored by Citadel Miniatures. I saw a few of these in the days when Triples was still at the Royal Victoria Hotel, even before I met Roger with his similarly fanatical love of this fine hobby.
I still to this day remember the first 'win' in a painting competition, That was at Triples too, and it set me on course to win a score more over the next 15 or 20 years.
And the stores... OH THE STORES!
Games Workshop was a fantastic place to be when there were less than a dozen. Steve & Ian walked amongst we mortals. The staff and managers were real characters, with passion for the hobby, films, literature and sarcasm. My sainted aunt, many a youth learned verbal self-defence in the Sheffield store between 1982 and 1985 or perished.
The sheer volume of products has never been matched. It was not just about the glossy, high end games and supplements but also the low budget, made with passion products by amateurs in their living rooms and garages.
Games Of Liverpool was the most exciting of the lot. If you'd seen the full page adverts in White Dwarf, you were still not prepared for the shock of the actual store. It was indescribable... You had to be there to appreciate what a Temple Of Elemental Gaming it was. The mix of anticipation and fear I experienced aged 14, finding my way across Liverpool city centre through whet were genuinely dangerous backstreets, past the famous Soldier Of Fortune military surplus store, was only matched by outrunning a gang of Skinheads in the Manchester Arndale Centre after I visited GW there (I bought a Shield Maiden, Wyvern and suit of scale armour on a stand - Ral Partha, Ral Partha and Citadel respectively) or the weekly game of cat and mouse past Skinhead, Punk and Townie gangs on Sheffield's 'Gallery' to reach Hopkinson's Models, perhaps a trip to the fleshpots of Sharrowvale to Heeley and the original Sheffield Space Centre.
All of this against a heady mix of so many musical genres, the rise of the Tories and some outstanding films made it a 'perfect storm' for the imagination.
£20 could get you well over 200 Mike's Model 15mm figures or 70-80 Citadel fantasy figures, hand picked by staff behind the 'figure bar' in GW or in baggies from Hopkinsons. You could buy 2 boxes of Grenadier 'Gold Line' and a set of Standard Games cardboard figures from Beatties and still get a a chocolate eclair or cup of soup from a nearby Hagenbach's bakery (way better than Greggs!).
Blake's 7, Dr Who, Sapphire & Steel and Nightmare on the T.V. Toyah, Siouxsie, Madness, The Clash, The Pistols, Joe Jackson, Adam & The Ants and so much more, every week on Top Of The Pops. Later it was Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Marillion, but the sense of the otherworldly remained strong in the lyrics and visuals.
The first affordable computers, which had no graphics, but which were so new and different that the imagination filled in the gaps.
Maybe a trip over to Doncaster for the princely sum of 2p either way on the 277 or 278 bus to Athena Books and the kindly, nurturing, font of knowledge that wasTerry Wise in his 'lair'.
The friendships, many of which were formed entirely on a shared passion for toy soldiers and the imaginary and which in many cases which have endured for almost 40 years. We had our differences, our peer snobbery, but beyond all that bullshit, we lived a life that the teenagers of today will never experience, sadly.
Saturday lunchtime, the morning having been spent with a motley assortment of kids from all over the city and every type of background in GW, could be spent haunting other stores already mentioned, or perhaps the outstanding Redgates toy store with 4 floors of every toy you can imagine. It was here that I and Darren Ashmore bought our first Macross mecha model kits.
More often than not though, we'd be filling a dining room or bedroom somewhere, being boisterous but well mannered as mothers bustled to make snacks and fathers grumbled about having their home filled with a bunch of denim clad youths, casting spells, invading Stalingrad or defeating the Mi-Go in the Appalachian mountains, yet still bringing trays filled with mugs of steaming tea and biscuits. grumbling all the while.
These were great times, and the memory of them for me and I suspect many others is reassuring, and probably more so in these strange times we find ourselves facing.
But remember, in the 80s we had very real threats of imminent megadeath from nuclear war, or finding our delicate young frames blown to pieces by the I.R.A during their bombing campaigns. Some saw their fathers broken by the strikes and industrial action of what was at times a very volatile time to be alive.
But, most of us are still here, and still playing games with toy soldiers, pencil, paper and dice.
Perhaps it's time to think about introducing a new generation to what it was that hooked us? A five year old who is bright can easily play a a game using the Fighting Fantasy rules. Why not dig out those old, forgotten Games Workshop jigsaws and perhaps that copy of Sorcerers Cave or Mystic Wood?
Indulge yourself in the way you used to as a kid. Sure, be safe, do as the Government suggest to stay safe, but don't allow yourself to be cowed by the seeming tsunami of stress that is engulfing the world.
The imagination is a great weapon against stress, so exercise it to the maximum and turn darkness into light! Be that wizard, that general, that kid with dreams, and this time take a few more people with you, using the wonders of modern technology.
Stay safe.
TTFN
PS: To those of you who are essential to this country and indeed the world, weathering this time of tribulation, be you doctor, retail staff or delivery driver - THANK YOU!
To those of you who rely on these brilliant folk, show them appreciation and respect please.
I found this quite moving - thank-you, brought back many memories, though only caught the end of this era, I was one of the kids who would starve and school then wander into town and spend the dinner money on a single figure in a glass stand in a little independent games shop. I think I went to the Liverpool one once as well - much to my older sister's disgust!!!
ReplyDeleteGames of Liverpool was just incredible. So much stuff.
ReplyDeleteVery similar memories! I remember visiting Spirit Games with my ex wife who was expecting our first child... back in 1995 so a little later... she went into labor that night... surely brought on by an excess of miniatures being bought.
ReplyDelete