Just Do It Right - Go LARGE!

 I really don't think that beyond the 45+ age bracket now, we will see traditional wargames template continue.

Now, I do like the odd skirmish game, but for me, as someone who grew up on war films on Saturday & Sunday nights, reading, no osmotically absorbing, accounts of heroic battles, sweeping offensives and grim last stands by a few brave men in the face of thousands of opposition.

And to be honest, that's the way I've always rolled, both as a club and stay at home gamer.

I also think that there's a sweet spot for terrain, a point at where it's believable but not overdone. Hell, if I want super detail, I'll build another model railway or maybe start collectin vintage William Britains model gardens (look them up, they were great fun, even if you had to keep schtumm about them because back in the day, a boy building a model garden was obviously a closet homosexual in the eyes of his peers).

Speaking of Britains, my generation made use of their wonderful 1:32 scale trees which, looked superb on a 25mm wargames table. You started with a base and trunk, and added plastic foliage to create wonderful silhouettes.

I don't think that the majority of the influencer generation have the funds, attention span / or patience. 

Please don't give me the 'kids/workload/mortgage line. That has always been a factor, and I remember dreaming of growing up to wear sweaters, have a mortgage and work in a game store whilst holding down a 365 days a year hobby.

All items on the listare checked as of checked, at the time of this epistle.

Gaming for my generation was, I believe, much more than a hobby. No, really, I think it was.

It was somewhere that we went to escape from the real world not drag it in there after us.

Your politics? - Your business mate.

Your latest army? - Lets talk! 

Your sexual proclivities ? - Not interested.

Your 3rd level Fighter did how many points of damage?

Your identity? - You're a fucking gamer, you nob!

Marillion & Rush? - You have to ask?

Nuclear war? - Probably gonna happen, but hey ho...

What about skirmish? - Fuck off!

Big games with multiple players are for me at least the pinnacle of wargaming. Standing around a table with friends, shit talking and at the same time commanding a brigade or more each, is hard to beat. Hell, a division apiece gets the blood pumping even harder.

Now, I think I have said before, that as teenagers, we did all contribute to each period or genre, for big games, but many, in fact, most of us would collect large armies. The starting point back then were whatever list for the period were available from WRG or TTG.

We would simply work through the entire list of troops and every option listed for a given army. We had a genuine love for true 15mm (not to be confused with the crappy strips of 13mm stuff Warlord puts out these days as '15mm', and the Mike's Models army packs and Gallia Miniatures ranges were favourites with their over-sized chunky figures which, were full of character and could be painted very attractively, no matter whether you painted on a black or white base.

The lack of the internet, meant that we had to spend time in the library, or reading the excellent academic grade articles in the wargames magazines which, were not 'house organs' as they are today. Go to eBay now and buy a few early copies of Wargames Illustrated or Miniature Wargames, both of which were curated by that wargames hero who so many don't even know of, Duncan MacFarlane, who truly lived his life for gaming (and tropical fishkeeping, which I spent a fair amount of time discussing with him). They are a joy to read, and a perfect window on what we were doing back then with simple materials and no instant gratification culture.

The hobby had some true gentleman scholars who loved to share their knowledge, and what knowledge they had. When you had got through the Osprey book (relatively recent back then) and got a feel for a new period, you didn't reach for the latest 'sell, sell, sell, sourcebook' from a  'big box' company who had shareholders to satisfy.

There was way more passion, truly there was. I wish with all my heart that those of you who were not there, would go and look at what we had. True there were some awful models - there still are, and I guess that if you buy from Wargames Foundry, you are in some cases buying models which themselves are 40+ years old and still holding there own, albeit at more than the the 35p per figure we paid (it was extortionate, let me tell you)

Let me take an aside  moment here to state for the record, that some of the most memorable games I ever played were skirmish games, using Foundry figures and the Citadel cardboard building sets on my parents living room or hallway carpet, using the Once Upon A Time In The West Country rules by that industry legend and former GW Sheffield manager, Pete Berry, who I think is one of the last of that generation of gentleman wargamers, along with John Armatys , Bob Cooper or Andy Copestake, who were young and vibrant specimens of wargaming manhood, when I was but a lay member of the cult of Humakt  or a file leader in the Cromwell's New Model Army.

Yes, I know that times change, and I'm feeling it this week with the passing of a pop culture legend.

 Anthony Head, whose brother Murray had me singing along to a song about a chess match in Bangkok, was only 14 years older than me, and the fact I have 4000+ unpainted models paid for and with my painter which, I really want to get on the table, induced my first all-out panic attack for a year or so since 'that incident'.

But, I'm still dedicated to the big game approach.

I have narrowed things down now to 15mm sci-fi, 25mm old school fantasy, 28mm Roman Britain and the Anglo Zulu War., again in 28mm.  I may yet perhaps indulge myself with some ECW skirmish - it's fun and is well suited as a period, whereas some are not.

And that leads me onto another bugbear issue for me, which is where you have a table with way more pounds worth of terrain compared to models. Look, if terrain is your bag, that's great, but perhaps making model villages is more your thing than wargaming - Go for it.

Full disclosure, I have way too much terrain, after not owning more than the odd tree or house for the first thirty years - figures were my focus - but that's because I have to have every terrain type represented , along with suitable buildings. 

The 'Oldhammer' fraternity seem to suffer from this because so many of them are late comers - nothing wrong with that if they do it properly and stop thinking that the 2000s era is Oldhammer - and don't have the collections we all built up back in the day rather than having lives.

The 'Ah but you paid 30p per model for those 800 Orcs.' doesn't wash, because my friend, when you got £3 spending money plus whatever you could save from school dinner money and painting for older club members, 30p was a lot of money.

The trouble is, that now every model that someone can't identify is touted as rare or unreleased, and milked for value.

Shall I let you into a secret?

My 4000 pre-slotta models are going to be sent to landfill when I die. It's in my will.

They are toys, not a commodity for some two-bit 'Del Boy' dealer to pay the 'industry standard' £1 per figure for, telling my surviving relatives that 'it's the best I can do' before selling them at a tenner each.

Think I am exagerating? Well, I have had this conversation with a several dealers, who were proud of the fact that regardless of the age or quality, they never pay more than £1.  And this seemed to be across the board, almost as if they had a gentlemen's agreement on stiffing the wargames widows. 

This was imparted in confidence of course, and I am only telling you, in equal confidence, so don't let the cat out of the bag eh? 

Anyway, I implore you to give up using the internet for research. You always have time to read a good thick history book and learn something more than that 60 page 'army book' - often written by someone who admits that until they wrote it, they knew little about the period they are selling you on - will give you.

Read up on what the smallest strategic formation was and start with that. Napoleonics and ACW - start with a division, EIR, then maybe a legion... If skirmish really is your thing then go for a period with lots of recorded skirmish actions.

And a word to the wise, if you really MUST buy soome French Old Guard, BUY A FUCKING GUARD DIVISION, and don't add a unit of Grenadiers to a random selection of line units. The clue is in the name 'Imperial Guard'. They are the top of the tree, my friend...

Of course you can ignore me altogether and just continue building what are tantamount to fantasy armies.

Now, in closing, a few years ago, I sold three John Blanche paintings to a chap in Nottingham for about £400 each, framed.

One of them 'Girl On A Planet' I would like to get back and so, I will pay £1800 for it and a £200 'finder's fee' to the person who locates it on the provisio that I manage to reacquire it.  

 

TTFN