People that influenced your wargaming 1.

 During the lock-down there have been various lists compiled on social media platforms listing such things as best albums, paintings etc. Best lists are very subjective and personal but sometimes its found that a lot of people are influenced by the same choices.
  So I got to thinking about the wargamers and wargaming personalities [hate that word] that made a huge impression on me and my early wargaming days and basically helped me to make progress in the hobby.
 These people could have written a book that changed ones life and put you on the road to wargaming madness.They could have sculpted a range of figures or wrote some articles for a magazine that fired up you enthusiasm or they could have simply done something that triggered you to join the hobby.
 For me I have considered the people or events that steered me in wargaming and my pursuit of wargaming nirvana.
 So in no particular order I would like to start with George Gush who in the 1970's and 1980's was very active, especially if one was interested in the Renaissance period. Gush was also an active Ancient wargames exponent and member of the Society of Ancients.
 During the 1980's and 1990's I was deeply interested in wargaming the renaissance period but like so many others I had little information to help with my interest.
 Luckily I discovered George Gush.
 For me his Renaissance Armies book was and still is the go to book for getting some basic information regarding armies and periods in Renaissance warfare. When the book was first published I was desperate to own it but couldnt afford the expense.
  In the end I was lucky enough to negotiate a hire purchase deal? to buy the book from my local wargames and model shop. Imagine that happening nowadays, a shop owner taking pity on some poor guy and allowing them to buy a book in installments.

 Gush regularly produced articles for the various modelling and wargames magazines but in 1979?? he authored the wargames rules for Wargames Reasearch Groups Renaissance period.
 John and I played these for many years and my copy is a well thumbed battered mess. I loved the rules even though they contained the dreaded tables for firing, melees and morale.Eventually we stopped using them simply because we tired of the endless tables. They are still a great set of rules and of their time.

Naturally there were army lists produced by WRG for the rule-book but Gush clearly attempted to produce no super competition winning armies but historical ones instead.I still have and re-read my copy looking for inspiration.

   George Gush wrote a lot of articles about renaissance wargaming in the Airfix Magazine and it was logical that he should contribute to their series of booklets for wargamers and modelers. This is still an informative read after all these years and another book I return to frequently.

During the 1970's and 1980's quite a few books were published regarding wargaming. It was a period of rapid expansion of the hobby and I assume George Gush was approached to produce one.
 A Guide to Wargaming was just such a book. For me its a  lovely generic wargaming book with a cracking image of a Hinchliffe heavy gun on the front. What was not to like. One should remember at the time we wargamers struggled for information and books like this and articles by Gush were simply gold dust. He never disappointed in his concise and informative accounts of the Renaissance period.

One  such article and one of my favourite wargaming features was written by Gush for the Battle magazine and concerned his re fight of the Battle of Pavia. John and I pawed over the account and naturally used it as the basis for our refight.
 I seem to remember that George Gush spoke of publishing a book regarding the Eastern nations during the renaissance period but sadly it never surfaced and sometime in the 1990's George Gush disappeared from the wargaming firmament and never contributed anymore great articles about the period that he had so actively promoted or about a hobby he clearly enjoyed.
 I would like to think he is still wargaming his beloved renaissance period and finally editing his next wargaming book.