A Nostalgic Whim Rules Printed!!!

Well its good to be back,and with some news which I hope will lead to other things.
 I have managed to get our Seven Years War rules printed in a booklet format,and very nice they look to.
 My hope is that if I manage to sell sufficent of these sets,that I will be able to get them printed in colour. It seems that every current rule set,baring DBA is filled with eye candy, and it would be nice to showcase some 30mm SYW figures in full colour,anyway thats the hope at the moment only.
 The rules themselves are pretty good [ no bias there then]. I think John [Reidy] did one heck of a job putting together  my wishes,which were to capture the period and more importantly to capture the ethos of Charles Grant and Brigadier Peter Young. The rules do seem to play pretty well,and give an exciting game. Anyway I will be selling the rules around the various shows that I attend this next year, so hopefully people will find them enjoyable.

Battleground 1978

Yesterday I was very kindly given a dvd of several of the Battleground games that featured on Tyne Tees televison in 1978!!
 The battles I have managed to obtain are, Chalons, Edgehill, Waterloo and Gettysburg. The other battles were I think Trafalger and El Alamein, though I may be wrong on this. The whole viewing experience was a massive dollop of nostalga, especially seeing the likes of John Braithwaite of Greenwood and Ball fame and a very young Ian Dickie of Minaiture Wargames fame.
    One thing that struck me straight away is how difficult it is to make an actual wargame interesting to a person watching it on television. Peter Gilder who features in two of the battles obviously went for ' a bit of banter ' routine in an attempt to bring levity to the programme.
 Duncan Macfarlane [god how young looking] adopted a more serious manner. Really neither suceeded in making the wargame a piece of television.
 However I remember when I saw them the first time around being enthralled,especially the beautiful terrain and wonderful figures. Even now they would stand the test of time. The rules were in main  Gilders creation, and were complicated as was the trend then, in an effort to show everyone that we weren't playing with toys but actually re enacting history.[ Ah the conceit of youth]
 The programmes did bring it home to me how difficult it is to make a wargame interesting to a newcomer or passerby. I think the key still is, eye catching terrain and figures, a 'facilitator' to present the game and explain everything, whilst making it interesting [difficult  for most gamers] and a lot of friendliness from the gamers actually fighting the battle,to make the whole thing welcoming.
 Ideally a re incarnation of Peter Gilder would do! They man was always an idol of mine and whatever faults he may have had, he certainly knew how to present a game.
 So getting away from the critical points, I still think the television series was a must view for all wargamers, well done the now defunct Tyne Tees television. 

Snovember and a bit more rant.

Sorry to steal a title used by the Sun newspaper, but due to the weather I cried off Smoggycon,which is unusual for me. The weather however was really bad,and now that I am living on a housing estate,trying to drive in snow is always very bad.
 Anyway I am determined to get to Recon at Leeds this Saturday. Weather permitting.
 I have been reading the reports by Barry Hilton of his trip to Histricon in America, which got me thinking about the state of things in England in comparison to the USA.
 I really think that there needs to be a massive change in the way conventions are done in England, and serious questions need to be asked of what we are trying to achieve at these shows. I can say that over the years,our small band have put on numerous games at all sorts of shows,both big and small. Some I thought were a sucess,others I thought were basically bollocks.
 I felt the best had a varied programme of things on offer, ie a painting competition, a best game award, different types of wargaming on offer, and one Napoleonic show which had a theme,with guest speakers and an Imperial guard marching band!
 Lets be right,most wargamers only attend shows to buy stuff.
 Some go to look at the eye candy,ie games, and some just go to sound off in front of other club members at the bar.
  Our image,especially in England has suffered to the extent that I once again get embarrased at the collective weirdness of some attendees.
Unfortunately wargamers who always had a number of eccentrics,seems now to have attracted a goodly share of the socially inadequate sprinkled with some very strange people who clearly have issues.
 Please dont get me started on the hygene problems that a large minority seem to have, my mam always said 'Soap was Cheap' but clearly not to the twenty stone balding havesack carrying male,barging his way through the bring and buy crowd. God knows what there homes must be like,I am afraid the image we portray doesnt help the lifeblood of the hobby. Dont think that I attend these shows resplendant in a tweed suit, but come on, take a bath,or in some cases a hose down. 
   There is also a greying problem that is growing in England on the wargames front, and in order to continue we as a collective need to find a solution to the recruitment problems that are clearly there. I dont think the way history is now presented in England helps, but that is a whole other topic, but I think to start with there needs to be a lot of thought into our presentation issues. I deliberately didnt include Scotland and Wales in this small rant,as I have never attended  a welsh show, and I have only ever attended Claymore in Scotland which I did enjoy,albeit was a bit of a journey to make.      

Back at Last

After my move, I have finally got  back on line. Im afraid Virgin Media didnt cover them selves in glory, but at least I am now back.
 I forgot how unsettling moving home was, and unfortunately this is just phase one of a very stressful year I think.
 Anyway to cheer myself up, I am off to Smoggycon tomorrow. This is year two of this show, and I hope they can build on last years good start. Hopefully now that I am getting back to some sort of normality I can get my painting routine going...............

Clutter and more Clutter

Packing up your home is always stressful,but packing up a wargames room beats that hands down.
 Although there was a delay [expected] in exchanging contracts,I am moving in late October.However dismantling my room is very daunting,where did all this stuff come from. I seem to have hoarded various pieces of polystyrene,cardboard,old paint,sand and scatter flock ad infinitum.
 I am not certain when I decided that BLUE flock was necessary,but I have found a bag of it,why I have it is anyones guess.I have moved 80+ terrain boards to my temporart home,but still have another 20 to shift.Remarkably they seem in very good condition,barring the odd chip.Having seen them it makes me doubly keen to build a new room and finally see all my wargaming ideas come to fruition.
 I have just purchased a decent number of Dixon SYW prussians from E bay at a very decent price. They are nice figures,and will do perfectly for a minor German contingent. My metal mountain has however grown to Ben Nevis proportions and as soon as I settle down again I must crack on with the backlog. I have also got hold of a couple of the new Jackdaw French dragoons, so another unit will have to be bought just in case there is a meteorite that hits Old Glory HQ and wipes out there production.

 The one thing that has kept me going is my drawing of my hopefully final wargames room,so when things get stressful as they will and do, I can whip out the sketch and get on with it. 

Moving Home.

As I have stated previously I have sold my home pending the completion of all legal matters,which has proved a problem in the past. I have had a couple of sleepless nights already realising the enormity of what my wife and I intend,ie. move home,find rented accomadation and then build a new home whilst pending retirement. No pressure there then.
 One of my worries is how do I pack and move ALL my terrain boards,all 70+. These boards have been built over the last 15 years and are all 2'x2' mdf. They are bulky and they are heavy. It also came as a shock just how much stuff you gather over the years when war gaming and collecting in general,and that's without what I have stored in a friends home,which is my war game magazine collection. I think like most war gamers I suffer from a hoarding illness,and hate throwing away anything, just in case........Heavens knows what the 'in case' actually is.
   In the past I have been quite ruthless about metal mountains,however I have been hoarding lots of RSM Hanoverian figures,just in case they stopped making them. I have also come across about 30 jars of paint,all in primary colours,just in case they stop making red,white and blue acrylic paint in the near future. Where does it end... Whilst contemplating the huge task of packing these things up, you start to think of the problems of next of kin,should I slip this mortal coil before I complete all my projects. Who would get rid of my stuff? Do they realise their true value? Who would actually care?
All answers on a postcard. Anyone got any cardboard boxes? 

My wife has always said war gamers were a strange breed,and I think she was maybe right.
[ She actually used much stronger words!]

Finished SYW Rules. A NOSTALGIC WHIM.

I have finally finished  typing the ammendments to the SYW rules that we [3] use. I must say John did a good job of  taking my basic vision[thats a very pretentious word!] and creating a set of rules that I feel reflect the period while capturing hopefully the essence of Old School Wargaming. A tall order I suppose but they do work well,provided they are played in the manner required,ie. as a wargame, not a competition one. The problem that I now have is getting them printed as I added coloured photographs to spice up the dialogue,I also expanded the play sheets.So if anyone has got any suggestions as to how to get them printed cheaply then I would appreciate it a great deal. I tried Kreigskunst,Blackpowder and Minden Rose prior to John drafting these rules together,and although I am biased,these did work the best,but its all a matter of opinion as I do like the way Blackpowder work in other periods.
I have copied the title page and introduction just to give people a flavour of what they are about.

                         THE INDEPENDENT WARGAMES GROUP
                                              'A NOSTALGIC WHIM'
Being a simple set of fun rules for players of Old School War gaming for the period of the Seven Years War.
[ Based on the ideas of Charles Grant, Donald Featherstone, Brig. Peter Young and Stuart Asquith et al. ]


       [1] Introduction;

These rules were born out of a nostalgic whim.......

The intention was to create a set of war games rules that would be fun to play, simple to understand and based on the principles of the founders of modern war gaming.

The rules are simple to learn, but should not be discounted as merely chaff. They require each player to use the tactics of the historical period, that is the Seven Years War, latterly described as the first world war.

This period was chosen as it was littered with historical personalities, colourful uniforms, blaggards and néer do wells.

My old war games opponent, John Reidy has crafted together ideas taken from all the giants of modern war gaming to create a set of rules that are intended for FUN, a word sometimes forgotten in war gaming nowadays.

I therefore ask all players to use these rules, suspend belief and enjoy the experience of large war gaming units and handfuls of dice.