Living In The Moment By Living In The Past, Notes on Naval Gazing, And Getting A Giant Head...

 Of late, I have been going through something of a reappraisal of what I want from gaming. 

Increasingly, I think I simply want to escape from reality in that same way I did as a teenager. You may be shaking your head ruuefully at such a folly, but I think you are wrong to doubt this can be achieved.

You see, the escape is in your head, it's in the 'vibes' you create when you look at or touch something that really resonates with you.

I've been much taken with a thought that the less contact you have with an army, in terms of it's creation/completion, the less attachment and thereby pleasure it will provide.

I can buy, use and discard models in a fashion that would give the impression that Cresus lives, but that's far from the truth of it. I just don't form attachments to many physical things, historically, and so I cycle through a lot of stuff, with some of it forming links that are too strong even for my psychopathic tendencies to resist.

A prime example are my fantasy figures, which, have been a labour of love for me. Many have sat there since the earliest days of my hobby exposure, and have done nothing until, some 40 years later, during The Lockdown (always, always apply the definitive article) with no shows or places to spend my hard saved gilt, I decided on employing a painter - after all, I wasn't furloughed as I work from home already, so no 'holiday' for Marko - and thus began a journey of getting it all painted and/or added to, sometimes at an eye-watering cost. But of course you can't take it with you, so why hoard money for no other reason than to feel smug?

The gaming room being built, gave me another shot of motivation, and so now, I have a pile of boxes filled with old school fantasy models (and the odd modern figure) and I think at this stage, I have 300 models which have not yet been sent to the painter, 4000 or so completed and around 2000 with said painter.

And it's great just to go outside, open a box at random and imagine the contents of that box, fighting bravely across the tabletop, on a bright June day in 1984, my Mum calling a halt to hostilities for a lunch of polony salad sandwiches (salad cream, not mayo) , a Penguin biscuit and suitable soft beverage, perhaps even a freshly baked slice of spongecake or if the gods were smiling on me, seedcake, which along with her liver casserole, are two things I miss now my Mum's dead.

I have come to the conclusion that 1984 for some reason, marks a 'high water mark' for me in my gaming. I was 15, making my first proper money, painting and thereby self-financing my hobby. I was travelling all over the UK with my Dad during the summer holidays, or with older gamers who must have had the patience of saints (apart from the time they carried me forcibly from Fiasco... One holding my wallet and telling the nice lady at Gallia that I didn't need a castle and two more holding me, as I protested that that 25mm solid resin castle was 'exactly' what I needed.

Thank you, Mick Rothenburg, Lloyd Powell and Dave Gregg for that... But I really did need that castle and have remained unfulfilled ever after.

You will recall a couple of post ago, I recounted the Christmas Eve ritual of the renaissance naval game and Peter Gabriel album. Well, that got me thinking and I also recalled that another great memory for me was playing 1/1200th ACW naval games during the time when I was afirst estranged from my teenage friends and my family, living in a rented house with my then girlfriend and a selection of for the most part, pretty fucked up kids who all shared the common denominator that they were Goths of one stripe or another; Yes, there were sub-sets of black-clad misery, although to be fair, we were rarely miserable.

It was during this time I met Andy Needham, who came from the same secure, comfortable family background as I did (funny to admit that now) and Ian Hill, with whom I went to school and who was my best man a few years later - and a better man than I, to this day - but they turned out to be wargaming deviants of the worst kind because they were both and still are, Napoleonic enthusiasts of the genus Homo Fanboisis Chandleris, and as such have to be kept under strict supervision and fed a diet of books on other subjects.

But as always, I digress...

I decided that I was going to place an order with Navwar for several sets of rules, a couple of ACW starter packs and several Renaissance fleet packs. After all, they are straightforward to paint and the rules as I remember them were a joy to play.

The best thing for me, is that Navwar are firmly in the 20th century and you have no online ordering option. Instead you send in a traditional order form - by post and only by post - and you wait for your order to arrive, just as we had to 'back in t'day'.

This for me, adds a frisson of better times and connects me directly to 1984 - there we go again with that year - and I am impatiently and excitedly awaiting the arrival of those models. 

I think the whole order with a LOT of ships - 100 I think - and 8 sets of rules for  £126. That's a bargain.

But more importantly, it got me thinking on how I approach my hobby. My games tend to be 4-6 playres, usually in 28mm, playing a one day game. 

These can be confused affairs as armies break down, particularly after a good lunch. So, armies of about 400-600 models per side seem about right, allowing room to maneuver and to get a game to completion. This can easily accommodate most periods and give a feel of individual commands. 

It doesn't sound like much, but trust me, the average picture I post of a historical game on my table - and it's a packed 15x5 usually, is around this size of game. So, do I really need collections much in excess of this? Probably not, save for bragging rights - and what's the point of that? 

Look, I know I am a veteran gamer with the service stripes maxed out, so I have nothing to prove. Having the largest (even if unused) armies, does not make you (or I) a 'better' gamer, it just means you have stuff that will invariably be a waste of space and resources.

Bigger is better, but biggest is not best. Have that thought on me.

So, perhaps I will craft my collections a little more thoughtfully and try to get my idle arse in gear at weekends and paint some stuff for myself, even if it is only naval projects.

Speaking of Navwar, I called this afternoon and Tony's widow, who has taken over the running of Navwar since his passing, was telling me she'd never been that interested in the business, but his family had encoureaged her to keep it going, so would I please not shout at her if she got anything wrong.

Of course I won't, because when it comes to things like that,your correspondent is Le Preux Chevalier, and I would ask those of you who may order from Navwar to be likewise. Upsetting this dear lady could see the end of what is one of the oldest wargaming companies, and I for one would not like the epithet of The Straw That Broke The Camel's Back. But, you can be sure that some ingrate with a an order for a fiver will let rip over some small point and screw it up for the rest of the hobby fraternity.

Tomorrow, my Plains War collection returns to my ownership, being mostly Britannia Miniatures and of a size so as to be useful and look good on the tabletop:

 

I am also seeking the last two parts for my Citadel Giant, in the form of two heads. If you have these I will pay £50 each plus postage for them:

And so, I am going to go back into my Winter quarters until Vapnartak, and the annual 'Stinkathon' which heralds the coming out from hibernation of those egg yolk spattered, greasy haired types with their arse cracks on show for all to behold, who seem to descend on York in force every year.

Please be aware that if you stand close to me and smell or look offensive, I shall call you out clearly and loudly... So, please, I beseech you - TAKE A FUCKING SHOWER.

 

TTFN