WTF!
Good Evening,
It's been a very busy May, but sadly, very little to do with wargaming. In April, shortly after I discovered Charlie Wesencraft had entered Valhalla, I got a call from the John Coutts of Westerhope fame, who was canny close to Charlie.
John was concerned that wargamers would not be aware that Charlie had passed away and asked me if I would 'do' a brief obituary for the wargames media. ie one of the magazines so other wargamers would be aware.
Well, I finally found time this week and rang up Wargames Illustrated to ask them if it was okay. I spoke to a couple of lovely, polite fellas who agreed they could find a place for a brief obituary of Charlie although it didnt really fit in their usual magazine format.
That was great, except through no fault of their own, they weren't aware of who Charlie actually was!
It got me thinking after I had given them a brief resume of who Charlie was and what he had done for the hobby. I realised that the current crop of wargamers really have no interest in when, how and why wargaming came about because, like most things nowadays, it's not important to them. All they want is to play a game, paint a few figures and then go home, bosh.
Military history is only ancillary to their wargaming. Wargaming history and the wonderful characters who created the hobby really are of no importance to them.
Just get some figures on the table, bugger the history, oh look those guys are Panzer Grenadiers so must be super powerful.
I suddenly felt very, very old, which, of course, I am.
I've no doubt there will be the odd and I mean odd younger wargamer who actually wants to know about these people, but for the majority, it doesn't even enter their heads. I think I understand why, at least I feel I understand, but it doesn't make it any better, well, for me it doesn't.
So with that depressing realisation, I wish you well.
I was lucky enough to meet Charlie during a refight of the Battle of Blenhiem, a lovely man and sadly missed
ReplyDeleteCharlie is one of my favorite Wargaming authors. I have many of his books in my library. The younger generations of wargamers ought to know upon whose shoulders they stand.
ReplyDeleteIt is a real shame that there is little interest in the people who shaped the hobby so much, without them where would we be, as you say very depressing.
ReplyDeleteMaybe a link to his affordable reprints might make him more accessible to a younger magazine wargames audience? Or even an article on one of his game scenarios played out as a magazine articles? It may not attract “the wargames complete range and rules packaged systems gamers”.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking as a greying 1970s Airfix kid, Charlie Wesencraft was not on my gaming radar in the early 80s, as not in the branch library (probably always on loan) until quite recently when I heard of him with the John Curry History of Wargames project reprints. http://www.wargaming.co/recreation/charliewesencraft.htm
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ReplyDeleteCondolences on the loss of your friend - hopefully the following will not offend you.
ReplyDeleteI am 62 and have been wargaming since the mid seventies but I am in the same camp as Steve above I think - I am aware of Donald Featherston, Peter Young , both Charles Grants, and several others but I am not overly interested in how they "got wargaming going" in the 1960's with Xeroxed newsletters with a 6d per year subscription or whatever.
I am sure there are an equal number of "giants" I have never even heard of - most of the American ones for a start - but it doesn't affect my enjoyment of the hobby one iota - mind you, I have only ever bought one set of commercially produced rules (WRG 1850 - 1950 or whatever they were called, and I never got around to actually using them, anyway!) and its thirty years or more since I bought a wargaming magazine, so I may be a poor example!
I don't suppose many people know the origins of Association Football, but that doesn't stop hundreds of thousands of people enjoying playing it, and hundreds of millions watching it be played.
Don't let it get you down, everything changes, just revel in the fact that you lived in, what for you (and me), was the golden age of wargaming.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that way to us as we are products of our time. When children, the war was still recent and talked about by many, the TV and cinemas were full of war films, there were lots of books and even my comics had war stories. Today none of this is the case and so it's no surprise that people are drawn to the hobby for gaming rather than history.
I can't say I was more than peripherally aware of the man and his work, though I know more now through reading your earlier blog post. Obviously an important contributor, but not directly to my hobby. On the wider point about younger folk, well that's how it goes in most areas I'd say.
ReplyDeleteMy condolences Robbie on the loss of a friend who inspired you and others. I only heard about him through your blog but I appreciate what he and other luminaries have done for the hobby. You're not old Robbie you are only as old as the latest set of wargame rules you are using 😀.
ReplyDeleteSadly I won't be able to share a beer with you at Kenilworth this weekend as I can't make it.
Happy gaming,
Willz.
Hi Robbie, I think there is a generational connection with the giants that is more appropriate to ‘then’ than it is ‘now’. As I rode the wave of the wargame experience in my teens, I would hang on every word of Featherstone, Quarrie and Grant.
ReplyDeleteThat was due to the raw enthusiasm of youth and relying on their written word and there being no internet (highway of information) and the only support being Battle Magazine and before that the Featherstone Newsletter.
A modern generation is not reliant or bonded to such luminaries.
What does live on is their legacy, the strength of the hobby and the vibrancy of wargame shows etc. Should a new generation know how that legacy came about - no more I suspect than those who like to vote in elections, but don’t know how they gained the right to actually vote - so really none of it matters too much, everyone has a different view from their window.
I thought I had one of Charlie’s books on my shelf, but a quick search revealed it to be Terry Wise ….. which will give me an enjoyable read this afternoon anyway! :-)