Wednesday 22 February 2017

I dream of Banana Oil.

My last post regarding the poorness of the latest Wargames Illustrated seems to have created a bit of debate, although the alternative views are not on my comment pages but on other blogs [which is a shame, because we need debate]

   I think I should clarify one thing that I clearly failed to get across on my 'observations' re WI.

 I DONT look back on the early 1970's and 1980's as a great time for wargamers, well it wasn't for me. [ but a great time for music]
  Clearly I was younger then and had other priorities, like money, work, family etc, but wargaming itself was a constant struggle, due to a lack of information, dreadful one man wargames businesses that struggled to fulfill any orders you sent for [ postal orders, remember them] crap paint, poor glue,and as for wargames magazines well until Miniature Wargames came on the scene you had to subscribe to Military Modelling to read the odd page about the hobby.
 The Newsletter had gone as had Miniature Warfare so there was a real shortage of wargaming reading. As for the shows, well they were 'interesting' in the widest sense and in some very strange locations, so nothing new there then.
Anyway like all hobbies nowadays it is a buyers market with everything one could desire at the press of a button, so that has to be better doesn't it? However what I was actually attempting to say in my post was that I am very happy to re read my old magazines even after 30+ years, simply because they still contain information that I find of great interest whether it is a scenario or a refight of an obscure battle. A good example is an article Paul Stevenson wrote in Practical Wargamer about Union Zoaves with Bob Marrion coloured drawings, Oh! that WI should produce a piece of similar quality.
 The last few years worth of WI would never justify me returning to them to re read an article. That was my point. In fact I actually give them away after reading, to would be young wargamers.
 Another criticism leveled at my post was that if I dont like the WI, then dont buy the damn thing, which is a logical point except if I didnt buy it as many wargamers now state they do, then another wargames magazine would go under which is the opposite of what I want. So I foolishly still buy it.

   Also another point was that I should contribute an article to the magazine if I'm not happy with the content. Well over the years I actually used to do that, but then I realised that younger wargamers should take up that mantle, but guess what, innovators like the excellent Andy Callan [ remember his hair roller armies] seem to be as rare as hobby horse sh##.
  Instead we are fed numerous reviews/ advertisements regarding the latest rulebook, figure range, and just how innovative they all are, usually by someone with a vested interest in the said book, figures etc.
 So perhaps I should simply just stop buying all the magazines and sit like a miserable old git thumbing through my well read Newsletters and dream of banana oil, except I never used the stuff.
  [ I always hated the smell of it, that and patchouli oil ]

 Oh and by the way, here's my latest Zoave regiment, painted and based.  [Half plastic/half metal. and not a figure under ten years old ]

11 comments:

  1. I would be very interested in reading opposing viewpoints against your WI observation. A link or two would be useful.

    In an effort to gain back some bookshelf space, I once went through an exercise of clipping out the articles of interest in many back issues of WI and sorting each into a number of folders by period. After I finished, I was astonished at how much material remained for the recycling bin.

    Excellent Zouaves, by the way!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jonathan,
      I have wanted to take that route many times, but just couldnt bring myself to do it after Charlie Wesencraft told me how he'd burnt his entire collection of Wargamers Newsletters, ' because they were cluttering up the place!' I still get a cold sweat thinking about what might have been.

      Delete
  2. I havn't bought a wargaming magazine for over a year now and sadly I find I don't miss them . Thank the Lord for 'Paypal' and the internet - I shudder when I remember 'Postal Orders', Tony

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tony,
      I dont know how we managed to be frank. I would go to my local Wargamers shop? intending to buy say 12 Napoleonic French figures, and because they only stocked 9 I would be sold 3 Russian types simply because they were similar.

      Delete
  3. Love the title! Actually I wrote such an article as you mention for a Foundry Compendium, and one on the Irish Brigade, just before they had their upheaval. I think that speaking to Dan from WI when he is here or on an occasional visit to WI HQ in Nottingham I get the impression that the digital activities of WI are at least as important to the business as the print version.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. David,
      Everything has to be digital based nowadays, being of an age I still love paper. I dont hold to the idea print is dead, look at how books have become popular? again. One cant possess digital words, but a magazine or book is a very tangible thing.

      Delete
  4. Patchouli oil? Not there's a topic for debate. I agree with your assessment though. Blagh!

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I was the proud owner of an Afghan coat that hadnt been treated. God it stank whenever it rained.

      Delete
  5. I dream of cannabis oil...........

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  6. Ploughing your own furrow can be a lonely affair, but the likes of Andy Callan are still around, if a little greyer and rounder :)

    Regards, Chris.

    ReplyDelete

My 6mm Napoleonic set up.

My 6mm Napoleonic set up.
Austria 1809.

Austrian Hussars

Austrian Hussars
Hinchliffe figures

Austrian Grenzer

Austrian Grenzer
Austrian Grenzer

Smoggycon 2013

Smoggycon 2013
Smoggycon 2013

Smoggycon 2012

Smoggycon 2012
Smoggycon 2012

Smoogycon 2009

Smoogycon 2009
My French getting another beating