Peter Gilder

Whilst I have been laid up in bed,I have been trawling through some of my old wargames magazines,and in particular the Courier,[now sadly defunct]

One of the articles was about the top contributers to wargaming over the years.

I do like the way American gamers like to list the fathers of gaming, putting right at the top Jack Scruby. Now no doubt in the USA he was influential in what came later,however over in the UK, I dont think he played any part in the 'progress' of wargaming. I know its all down to personal opinion,but Scruby Miniatures were very hard to get hold of when I was a young wargamer,heavens knows buying Minifigs was bad enough.Anyway what did strike me was the total lack of credit for a man who was a giant in the wargaming movement,that is Peter Gilder. I know he was more of a figure designer than rule writer,but what figures and what terrain. How could anyone not be inspired to copy his style of gaming. The early Miniature Wargames was full of Gilder's figures and there wasnt one that could be called duff. One of the big inovations that Gilder introduced was the idea of a Wargaming weekend holiday centre. I have been several times,sadly after Gilder passed away, but I still cannot get over how good his figures were painted. I understand that he had people paint some of the units but overall,the broad use of brash colour is still so very effective. Which gives me a good excuse to show off some of my newly painted Austrain Jager,curtesy of the late great Peter Gilder. I dont know about their historical accuracy but they are still a nice figure.