Nostalgia.
Over the last year or so there has been a trend towards nostalgia in wargamers,encouraged by the welcome return of Charles Grant jnr,Stuart Asquith and the production of Battlegames magazine etc.
Personally I love the idea, but that is probably an age thing.
However when I started gaming things were very difficult for a young would be wargamer,not least being the lack of figures and lack of information on both wargaming in general and uniform detail in particular.
I enjoy reading everything published over the last fifty years by wargamers,and still feel there is merit in a lot of what was said,however I would hate to see a return to the days when figure ranges were in very short supply and plasticine and banana oil were a must for all gamers.
I never did master the use of the stuff and invariably the adapted figure would fall apart on use.
The Independent Wargames Group. Being a Journal of views, prejudices, ideas and photographs of wargaming not just nationwide, but hopefully world wide. The name IWG was adopted in the early 1980's in response to the then dominant Wargames Research Group, but things have moved on, and wargaming appears to be in somewhat of a Golden Age, so sit back and hopefully enjoy my rantings.
The Independent Wargames Group. Being a Journal of views, prejudices, ideas and photographs of wargaming not just nationwide, but hopefully world wide. The name IWG was adopted in the early 1980's in response to the then dominant Wargames Research Group, but things have moved on, and wargaming appears to be in somewhat of a Golden Age, so sit back and hopefully enjoy my rantings.
Robbie,
ReplyDeleteThe range of available figures, rules, materials, etc. has indeed increased massively even since i started 30 years ago (and i remember Terry Wise back then telling us we were all spoiled), and we all benefit from that. I am not convinced that wargaming has moved on much 'intellectually' though - the well of ideas doesn't seem that much deeper - so the best writing of 30+ years ago (such as by Charles Grant) is as valid today, i think.
BTW, do i spot Hinchliffe AWI figures painted as an Irish Regiment? Cunning...
Cheers.
Amen to that! I remember converting Airfix WWI Frenchies into Louisiana Tiger Zouaves.....what fun (NOT)!
ReplyDeleteNostalgia's not what it used to be