The Passing Of A British Wargaming Legend

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.

 

Steve allowed us to play D&D as well as other tabletop games. We played some of our first 'big table' Warhammer 1st ed games there, as well as Laserburn, which Steve had played before himself and was quite fond of.

 

I converted the 'Green Horizon' Traveller scenario from White Dwarf magazine to Laserburn. It's a scenario which pitches the crew of of an alien ship which has suffered a jump drive failure against German forces in WW2 Norway as they attempt to infiltrate the heavy water plant to get a supply of said solution for the drives.

I spent an entire weekend, painting and drawing the entire water plant onto a 4x3 foot 'chip board' sheet and together with Alan, struggled to the club with it, proud of my efforts - and it really was one of the hardest things I've done for a game.

 

Anyway, the players were allocated characters and given access to the ship's locker, Steve selecting a full set of powered armour. And then he walked all over the Germans, by simply using the jet pack to splat them like bugs on a paving slab. It was a walk over... And this was so Steve. He simply sat back, looked at the situation and then, with a big grin that anyone who knew him will attest to, beat the crap out of the opposition.

Anyway, this led to me being taken at 14, to Sheffield Wargames Society and the rest as they say, is history.

For several years he would pick me up from my Mum & Dad's and take me to the club every Wednesday. If he wasn't working nights, he'd bring me home, too. Steve became a familiar face to my parents who were coming to terms that they had a gamer for a son.

In fact, on Christmas or New Year's Eve, they'd often look around the house and realise that I was a couple of streets away at Steve's where there was always a cracking party and where I was always made welcome. Those parties seemed to involve the entire street, and at the centre of it all, exerting a gravitational pull, was Steve, drink and cigar in hand, being every bit the generous host.

He was the epitome of what we older gamers should aspire to be to younger newcomers. He was firm, fair, knowledgable and tolerant. 

He was the longest serving chairman of Sheffield Wargames Society and, was one of the team who made Sheffield Triples into a top show in the 80s and was a well known and even more well respected 'face' on the wargames circuit. 

 

He often joked that under him, SWS was a benign dictatorship, and as I type, I am smiling as I recall Steve, sitting with that grin and a cigar in hand, holding court in the bar, or gleefully engaging in one of his favourite periods on the table.

 

In the latter years of Triples, Steve and I did clash, and it was, I think, not pleasant fro either of us. Things were said on both sides, and it took a while before we spoke again, but when we did, we stood for an hour or more outside the Chillcon show , in a freezing April rain, chatting and laughing and rebuilding those bonds we'd formed decades earlier - and it felt right. For my part I'm ashamed that we ever came to verbal blows. Steve was a proud man, but he was also pragmatic and instinctively knew when it was time to bury the hatchet and move on. He was 'Big Steve' in every way.

Steve Roberts was a genuine wargaming legend and a power for good in the hobby, nurturing young gamers through a school club in the early 80s, heading one of the greatest clubs and shows of the 80s and doing so with the kind of positivity rarely seen these days.

 

Rest in peace 'Big Steve', you will be sorely missed.

 

 

 

POSTSCRIPT:

 

Trudi, Steve's daughter has asked me to add the following message from her:

 

 "Hi this is Trudi Steve's daughter,

 

 I would like to thank everyone who have sent me messages an stories it is most appreciated, I had many good years at Triples, even though I got a telling off from Dad for being on the mic trying to put out an announcement whilst very drunk 1 year.

 

 He loved playing, painting and learning always ( OMG - you should see the books!) 

 

He always enjoyed his time seeing all of you all over the country over the many years - and yes, I heard the stories when I was old enough! :)

 

 From myself and the Roberts family, thank you all for being part of his life. Wargaming was a huge part of it and that gave him so much joy.

 

Trudi

 

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