Memory Lane Part 26: The Transmetropolitan Teenage Gamer In The Cold War Era. Parte The Firste

 The odd thing about my early years, was that despite the fact that my parents were overly strict and overbearing control freaks in the rest of my life, when it came to gaming, bevcause I was mixing with improving and wholseome characters, I got a lot of freedom.

Ask to go into town when here was some kind of minor Left Wing/CND protest and I would be confined to barracks, but ask to travel 30-100 miles on a quest for games, and that was OK, as long as I let my parents know by publuc phone, when I had arrived and when I was returning home, laden down with booty which even the original Games Workshop could not provide.

For a short day out, we would go to  Doncaster which had The Stamp Corner, ostensibly a philatelic supplies specialist, but which also stocked Minifigs and Hinchcliffe figures and the entire range of Osprey books, which was amazingly useful when it came to Christmas and birthday, as my father worked in Doncaster and, worked with a philatelist, thus, being interested in the what his colleague knew about the hobby, and what drove him, woukld indeed, drive him into Doncaster town centre on their lunch hour, to get away from the office. Thusm, your correspondent could get his pater to pick up an Osprey or two and sometimes, not be expected to pay him back if he was well disposed to his eldest offspring.

We could stop off (at the cost af another 2p for a second bus fare) in Rotherham, where we would grab a record or two sometimes and go to Gallery Models where they had Essex Miniatures and some interesting mecha kits, which I never let Darren Ashmore know about, for as you may recall, we were in an arms race when it came to early mecha model kits.

We also walked through a rough part of Doncaster to Imperial Crescent and the wonderful Athena Books, owned by wargaming legend (the kids won't know who he was, but fuck 'em) Terrence Wise who also ran the Wargamers Attic on Saturday mornings. I've waxed lyrical about Terry previously, but he was one of the founders of the hobby who, wasn't as up his own arse as Featherstone.

Harsh you say?

 Well, I collect correspondence etc from the early days of gaming and have one or two from D.F which in my opinion show him in less than favourable light, as opposed to say Charlie Wesencraft or Terry Wise who crafted long and interesting replies, understanding the need to engage with the hobby. 

 

 

Charlie wrote charmingly and Terry was in his element when discussing anything related to wargaming or history. 

I swear, that Terry would make a loss on a trade in agreed with one of us 'pesky kids' if he believed that by doing so, he would keep us interested in the hobby. When he retired, a highlight of my quarterly mailings would be Terry's 'Wargamers Newsletter' wherein you could find some seriouysly good and seriously iconic wargames units at very reasonable price. 

As an aside, when Terry sold the business, the guy who took over was a complete wanker... He used to have a display of expensive Australian made paints behind the counter which, when we tried to buy some along with a 4 foot high stack of books, were told 'They are only for sale to serious model makers'.

I hope he had a great afternoon, reorganising that pile of books back on the shelves... 

Leeds was another one of contact for us. Although it did not get a Games Workshop until the late 80s, it did have a good selection of model and wargames stores across it's sprawling metropolitan area, although not as developed as Sheffield back then.

My parents were a bit 'shaky' about Leeds as it was rough. Watch one of Alan Plater's TV series set in Leeds in the 80s, and filmed there, and you'll see that it was indeed a rough arsed place as regeneration was underway.

That said, I spent a lot of the 80s up there, shopping and later, clubbing - sleeping in parks in November or sometimes on the floor of Leeds based Goths. On one memorable floor-stop, I awoke to find myself surrounded by an army of knitted toys etc, and thought I'd been spiked and was still under the influence. It turned out the charming young lady who had let three strangers from the Steel City doss down on her floor actually designed patterns for Wendy, a famous wool and knitting pattern company.

Leeds also had a branch of Games Of Liverpool, but honestly, it was not somewhere we bothered with, because dear reader, we were devotees of the genuine article... 

Manchester had a nice GW branch managed iirc by Lindsey Le Doux Paton, in the Arndale centre. I always loved Manchester back in the day, apart from the time I was chased just after leaving the store, by some local Skinheads - the bane of the young Hippy - but back then I was fucking light on my feet and could go 0 - lightspeed in a second or two, unless carrying a toolbox full of figures (as would happen after a Triples show and leave a Skinhead with bruising).

Thos boneheaded buggers were everywhere and appeared like glue-drooling moronoids from the the planet OI! more often than was comfortable. I swear they were the same ones, no matter where you were. I guess that they were on 24 hour alert at OI!-Command and beamed in wherever they were 'needed' like the Tomorrow People. Oddly, I never saw many in Leeds, so perhaps my Parents had their priorities wrong.