On Being Young, Porno Mags And Lessons Learned

 Well, the Jubilee holiday will see Roger and I face off with our ECW armies in the Rumpus Room. 

I'm really looking forward to it, because there will be savage banter, truly gentlemanly dispute resolution, and the genuine pleasure of playing a game in the company of someone whom I respect on so many levels.

Of course Roger will be joined by his youngest son, who has been bitten by the bug in what seems like the same way his father and I were in the 80s.

He's a well mannered young man, as I would expect, but moreover he is being schooled on how to deal with older gamers - much older gamers - just as we had to learn back in the day. I can tell you from personal experience that this young man can get under your skin to the degree that you could snap a steel ruler over your knee.

I approve of this, having been subjected to it at Christmas for 7 or 8 hours. As kids we were surrounded by highly motivated competition players, who didn't cut us any slack. We earned our chops, and accordingly we were accepted into a much older and wider circle, as well as a pretty varied junior circle at Sheffield Wargames Society.

Another outcome of this exposure was that we could hold our own and also got taken all over the country to shows and competitions. We could stand on our own two feet and certainly weren't 'snowflakes'.

By the time I was 15 I'd been from one end of the country to the other in the company of responsible adults who were also splendidly irresponsible. We knew our limits and if we crossed them, we would be corrected with a sharp comment or an expression. We took the hints.

We once thought it would be funny to drop a few porn mags (Razzle and Escort, because they were just a bit sluttier than Playboy) into the briefcase of that High Priest of Gentleman Wargamers, John Armatys.

We broke two rules there:

1. Never open another gamer's bag without their permission

2. Never think you can shock an adult, even the mildest mannered gentleman.

Some time that evening, John opened his case, quickly twigged what was going on, as we sniggered and thanked us for the magazines, and locked his case. Lesson learned.

I have respected John ever since, even when we have disagreed.

Anyway, I am not taking my briefcase into the Rumpus Room in June, but I am taking a ten gun battery and several units of lancers, because Roger sent me some photos of the cavalry he has at hand, and being a Royalist army, there's a lot of it.

Now, if you will excuse me I have an 11 hour day to tackle before I can kick back and enjoy the long Bank Holiday weekend.


TTFN

Comments

Post a Comment

Leave your praise and vitriolic commentary here...

Popular posts from this blog

How, Over 40 Years Ago, A Guy Called Andy Changed My Life With 5 Words, And Other Reminiscences...

Image
 Of late I have been having long and vivid dreams wherein, I am often walking or travelling with people I have known, some living, some passed, talking over things we had done or said. I confess that it's been eerie but also very liberating. These coversations have been so real that I have awoken in the morning (more usually, half way through the night) and been confused at my surroundings.  Last night I was speaking with Dave Hoyles  - very much alive and kicking - of Q.T Models/Museum Miniatures. The only thing I have noticed is that is often been snowing heavily in these dreams. One of my latest dreams was of the late Ian Smith, another the comic book artist Paul Green - who, thankfully is still with us. This pattern began a few years ago when I had a similar experience with the recently deceased Pete 'Greblord' Armstrong. It was a very cathartic experience for me, as I had much which needed to be said. I may have written of this before, but this particular dream was d...
Read more

A Serious Post And Another Obituary But With Some More Positive Stuff At The End

Image
 I am at an age where I would expect the odd death of someone I know, but I am starting to realise that it's the younger end of the line which is getting culled.  This week I found out through a good friend that another friend in the hobby from the old days had taken his own life, bringing the total friends lost to 5 and drom that number the number lost to suicide in the last few years to 2. Now, I've been close to that I think, three times, but I've been lucky enough to be able to turn my illogical brain around and decide that the world and my enemies will not be happy if I thrive and stay alive. So, that has been my stated mission, to live long and be hated that much longer. The first time I was taken with thoughts of suicide, was when I was banned from Games Workshop Sheffield in the 80s (see my book or earlier posts) and my so-called friends allowed themselves to be bought off, trading silence as to what a set-up it was in return for part time jobs at the store. That wa...
Read more

The Passing Of A British Wargaming Legend

Image
It is with genuine sadness and heavy heart that I must record the passing of Sheffield Wargames Society founder member and long time Chairman, Steve Roberts.    I was 13 when I first met Steve (some 43 years ago, now). It was a chance meeting. I'd been playing Dungeons & Dragons for about a year and had taken some Citadel FTZ Zombies back to my Junior school to show my headteacher there, who'd always encouraged the creative arts in pupils.    He was impressed (as you'd expect) and told me that a wargames club met at the school now, on Monday nights run by a chap called Steve Roberts.    Well, of course I was interested, and together with my friend Alan Staniforth, I attended the club, to find there was no D&D...   What there was however were historical games, played by local kids with 'Big Steve' the only adult. But he ran that club like a champion, providing all the models and simple rules, which was just what you needed to hook kids in. ...
Read more