Tuesday 26 March 2019

What exactly is Old School? Discuss.

 Well I've finally based the last two Stuart Asquith regiments. I've called them that although I have added a few figures to each regiment and also repainted his figures to a certain extent, but technically they were still Stuart's troops. These are painted and flagged as a couple of the Earl of Newcastle's regiments.
  I have a particular interest in this army simply because the Earl recruited heavily in the counties of Northumberland and Durham.I would like to think they made up for a lack of equipment with true Northern grit.Sadly most of his soldiers were killed in the Marston Moor campaign and the Earl sailed for Holland as he had had enough.
 To be honest who could blame him. He had expended a lot of his personal fortune and lost a lot of tenants that he would have known in his fight for the King. I don't think he felt he was appreciated enough by Charles and his advisers who were safely ensconced in Oxford. Anyway they are completed and I am now starting on my lead mountain of ECW figures gathered from various sources both old and new.



These two troops are from Cromwell's regiment.They were originally from the box of figures I obtained at York which I have had to repaint and generally doctor. Gilder only sculpted a small range of figures so I have attempted to keep the back and breastplated cavalry for the roundheads and the more jaunty hatted chaps for the Royalists. I did say I was going Old School with these armies and one cant beat a bit of stereotyping to reinforce the point.Naturally most of the Parliamentarian horse will be classed as 'trotters' and cannot counter charge. Only Cromwell's command will be able to act more aggressively. As for Royalists well they will be classed as 'dashing' but naturally will be difficult to control once they are off their leash.Yes I know its not really that historical but my game, my rules.Anyway who can resist an uncontrollable cavalry charge.

 At the present time I am trawling through my collection of Battle magazines in order to find a decent scenario to use for my inaugural ECW game. In 1978! Stuart Asquith wrote a great series of scenarios based on actions from the civil war and I am hoping to find one that will be interesting enough to fight this week.
Im going to ramble now, so I will apologise before I start.....But it concerned my viewpoint regarding the return to what is Old School and no doubt a large dollop of nostalgia.

Anyway the series got me comparing the Battle magazine against the modern day magazines and how things have changed or progressed, dependent on one's viewpoint.I totally 'get' that the 1960's and 1970's were not a good time for wargamers. The manufacturers were few and the ranges were in the main pretty small and of poor quality.The few modelling shops where one could actually look at and buy wargames figures were very rare and invariably didnt contain what you were looking for.....
              'We dont have the French Voltigeurs but these British chaps look very similar?'
 But it was a time of growth in the hobby. New ideas were being tried, a lot of research was being done. Letters were being written thirsting for military knowledge. My library [remember them] was tested each week as I tipped up with my latest request for some old and obscure book. It was all very exciting. Well it was for me......... And now?

  Well if one has enough cash you can have everything that you desire and more and yet like so much of modern life it just seems a bit too easy and attainable and somehow very very empty. Its difficult to quantify but for me unless one has struggled to achieve something don't you appreciate it less?
  So you can now buy an off the shelf set of rules and invariably you will have to buy the necessary range of figures that are described in the said book. But dont worry it will only be about 50 figures a side and therefore it wont cost that much. [Well okay it will be expensive, BUT you will need them]

  Of course there will be add ons and then suddenly after about six months the 'NEW' improved set of rules etc will be on the horizon, and off you go again. 
I think Osprey are up to 25+ releases. [Now before anyone says anything I've nothing against Osprey], but that's just one company and each day I see another company touting for trade and contributions to release another set plus figure range.
 I always think of Supermarkets. [ I'm showing my age here] Basically I like apples. In supermarkets they appear perfect. Bright red, very large and very shiny and yet they taste of absolutely nothing, tasteless but perfect to look at.....A bit like the hobby nowadays.
 All fur coats and no knickers.
 [ Luckily Morrison's have introduced?? wonky vegetables and fruit. Things that aren't perfect but taste like they're supposed to. A sort of Old School outlook for food. ]

I think basically what I am saying in a very poor fashion is that for me Old School is an appreciation of neglected figure ranges, with wonky legs and dubious uniforms that encapsulate what the hobby was and is for me. Research, reading, painting and playing with toy soldiers whilst having a laugh at the ridiculousness of overgrown children agonising over some poor dice throw. So expect a further pile of dodgy lead over the coming weeks as I edge towards my goal of two Old School English Civil War armies led by a definitely old school pedant.


26 comments:

  1. I think as we wargamers get older we get nostalgia for our lost youth and done our rose tinted spectacles. Having said that modern magazines are rubbish compared to modern ones (haven't bought one for years) . As I get older (mature !? :-)) I much prefer simple easy to remember rules and easy to paint figures .

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    1. Youre right we do see things through rose tinted glasses but Im enough of a realist to know that not everything in the modern wargaming firmament is good.Unfortunately like so many things nowadays new is definitely not better. As for wargaming magazines. Well I sadly still trot along and buy them knowing full well that I will not satisfied with their content etc. Its really sad but cant kick the habit!

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  2. Here I am painting a 54mm Airfix Lifeguard!...

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    1. Now that was a great model. My favourite is still the Imperial Garde Grenadier, lovely models.

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  3. I tend to think of Old School in wargaming terms as going back to a time when everything in our lives did not have to be picture perfect, we had what we had and made the best of what we had. There was a certain simplicity and naivity to our outlook and it was reflected in our gaming table and figure collections, resplendent with Airfix conversions and Featherstone type rules. But I think it was also this, combined with a moment of sheer excitment and being on the curve of an exploding hobby, a sort of age of hobby discovery, that would probably only last a few years before product was ‘expected’ to be both good and widely available and we stopped playing with soldiers and started the serious business of collecting miniatures and professionalising the hobby.

    So it was a more modest approach to gaming than we typically have now and as fantastic as stuff is now, I feel we have also probably lost something along the way, though now is probably overall better, except my body is now old school :-)

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    1. Agreed.. sums it up nicely.... "old school - more a way of life than a definition"... :o)

      weird thought - I wonder if the wargame magazines these days ARE really good - it's just that we have seen the content about a hundred times previously?

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    2. That's a very succinct explanation Norm and far better than my attempts to explain what I was thinking. Im not totally sure about whether the hobby is better nowadays. I admit I am in awe of the sculpting skills of the wargaming companies. I love the work of the top painters and terrain makers but [there's always a but] I sometimes wonder if we are being overtaken by the sheer number of products that have a very limited shelf life. Is greater choice always the best for the consumer? Or are we simply being offered more tat and is the quality simply being swamped by the volume? My brain hurts!

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  4. Robbie, your latest muster brings to the field some dandy additions to your growing (growing very fast!) ECW collection.

    On Old School Wargaming, an interesting topic, this. As Tony (TGSS) mentions, perhaps it is defined as a sense of nostalgia. That certainly makes sense. Perhaps Old School refers to the time in which we first discovered or entered into the hobby and our excitement was fresh? Perhaps it is that nostalgia felt as we look back on our early days in the hobby? Given that, Old School likely evokes a different meaning for each passing generation. Like the Rock and Roll music on which I grew up and performed, those tunes are now labeled as "Classic Rock" or "Oldies." Sigh. Those were the days and you needed to be there to understand...

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    1. Thanks Jonathan. Im starting to wonder what I was attempting to say. I suppose I was lucky enough to be near the start of modern wargaming taking off and probably still hanker for that initial rush of excitement that occurred when I got into the hobby. Perhaps thats the explanation Im looking for. I really need to get out more I think.

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  5. I didn't know Ally Morrison designed wonky vegetables as well as figures for GW?

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    1. Unlike the rest of the range the ‘Wonkies’ were all made free hand...that way natural variations and my inability to make perfect spheres mean that the whole range has a more organic feel...
      I am moving on to bananas next... I never really liked the straight CAD designs.... ;-)

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    2. The pair of you really need to get out more. But if you have any spare wonky figures Aly I will have them off you, but only at a knockdown price.

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  6. Robbie,
    Not taking issue with anything you say, I think for all their lack of production quality the old mags had far more content and interest than now. Although on reading through some how we played some of the old rules I don't know - at least there appeared to be a reason for studying logarithmic tables at school!
    As to Old School to me the words Classic gaming are far more appropriate a lot of 'new rules' owe their design concepts to ideas from the 60's and 70's nothing really new. I prefer to think of us regenerating our historical roots.

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    1. Sounds about right Graham, although I was hopeless at maths which could explain the long history of defeats.

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  7. Currently working on Minifigs ecw, ME and just bought some S range too. There is a charm to these figures which has not been surpassed. Combined with simple enjoyable rules old school can’t be beaten.

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    1. I appear to have quite a few Mini Figs and to be honest I cant decide whether to use them for the ECW or not. I think its the horses that put me off and of course the need to chop the pikes out and replace them.

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  8. Lovely looking toys Robbie...
    I think Old School is a difficult thing to define... probably because it’s different for each individual... Miniatures that I made in the 80s are now considered Old School... or Oldhammer to be more precise... I am not sure how l fell about that... :-/...
    I like Graham’s term... Classic... maybe Classic Style would be better...
    I don’t really consider what I do as Old School... I have always liked the look of Minifigs and William Britain’s and I like shiny toy soldiers but I do love a lot of the new designs that are around today...
    As for rules... I find the modern picture heavy books very nice to look at...
    Although sometimes you have to work hard to find out how to play them... having said that some Old School rules felt more like maths homework...

    All the best. Aly.

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    1. Cant argue with that Ally, I like the term classic although I always have the image of cars as opposed to toy soldiers. As for the new rule books. Thier presentation is far superior to the tomes from the 1960's and 1970's but then its cheaper to have colour used in books. I do however find the actual content better in the earlier books even though some of the rule books were numbers heavy..

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  9. Slippery little beggar to define is Old School Wargaming. As Aly says it has different meaning to different folk. I too think Graham's choice of Classic Gaming more apt. But on the wider front I simply don't get hobby nostalgia, the good old days were not that good really.
    Saying that, I do like your new old additions and our hobby is surely broad enough to allow both old and contemporary approaches to fielding armies in games.

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    1. I dont think the good old days ever existed David. What did exist was the feeling of youthful enthusiasm and excitement. Usually it was misplaced and a disappointment. But sometimes it was better than expected. A bit like nowadays really.Still its nice to think and talk about ones hobby with others.

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  10. you said
    .I totally 'get' that the 1960's and 1970's were not a good time for wargamers

    Oh dear they certainly were for me. Everything was so new. Every news letter, every gaming session, every new figure release was momentous and worth discussing. I no longer take any of the magazines because that excitement has gone. After all there are only so many shapes you can make a wheel. yeah for me the 60's and 70's were gripping in my hobby. I have always played toy soldiers be they big shiny ones or hair curlers and matchsticks (or lately mdf figure) That doesn't mean I don't love the latest products. Figures have reached a standard of excellence that I could never have imagined (doesn't mean I won't convert them though heheh)
    I think old school is a feeling rather than a definition. it is the spirit of playing rather than recreating. Playing toy soldiers is the core of things. Having fun is the first principle. No matter how you display your figures or how accurately you deploy them or how complicated the rules are , if you enjoyed it and had fun that's old school for me.

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    1. As an addendum the blogging world has become my goto place for "new ideas" So many talented folks out there with ideas to share..

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    2. Robert, I understand what you are saying but because wargaming was in its infancy in the 1960's and 1970's things werent simple. Money was as always an issue and of course the dearth of information made things very difficult.I think its one of the reasons I get depressed when I see a book I saved up to buy in the 1970's sell in a bring and buy for next to nothing.Books are clearly not a priority for a lot of newer wargamers unless of course its a set of rules or some lists.

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  11. Lovely looking Old school ECW troops,A class royalist cavalry that will no doubt go off the board and never come back, nice big slice of nostalgia,nothing wrong with that,it sounds more like sensory overload,too many figure makers,too many rules,too much reference and most magazines going down the pan,I guess the internet is killing them off, surely it's a golden age?
    Oh I have ended up with some hinchcliffe ECW artillery crews, already painted (by someone else) if you would like them Ill pop them in the post to you. Email me your address to caveadsum1471@yahoo.com.
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks for your kind offer Ian, I will be in touch dont you worry. As for sensory overload, you could be right. I dont know if the internet is killing things off but certainly its dumbing down young people. But thats a whole different argument.Thanks again for the offer.

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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