It's always interesting to know different points of view. Different points of view make people aware that things should not be taken for granted, and once this fact is realized, the routine and the established becomes more appreciated. Perhaps after reading this some of our members will stop mumbling about figure availability.
Although many people may be unaware of it there are many active wargamers who live outside the UK or the States. This could be interpreted as irrelevant except for some logistics problems. Logistics, in this case, is interpreted as the activities of transportation and distribution from production locations to the hands of the drooling consumer.
To begin with, there are wargamer's associations with various degrees of organization in Europe. For these groups the availability of distances between manufacturer and consumer are reasonable enough because of a well organized mail system. For the European wargamer the need of a regiment of lancers, for example, is just a tolerable wait of six weeks at the most. Even the traditional example of an isolated community, Australia, is well stocked with figure dealers and, I think, one manufacturer.
Next are those wargamers currently serving with the armed forces or in the civil service and stationed abroad. Por them, although the situation may look desperate, special armed forces mail (PAL, etc.) and even the diplomatic pouch in some cases, work satisfactorily.
Those situations described above, I bet, will give our American and British colleagues something to think about. Hopefully, they will realize the differences involved in the process of buying a single figure or a whole lot. Availability, for us, represents a radically different concept than getting into the car and heading to the nearest hobby shop.
Finally we come to the miniscule conglomerates of wargamers located in the odd corners of the world. The wargamers in this category present both an incredible range of logistic difficulties and an equally long list of unorthodox solutions. The complexity of the logistics is such that a description of the mechanisms would turn the script writers of Mission Impossible pale with envy. However, despite these difficulties, new regiments are continuously added to the miniature armies of Ecuadorian wargamers. How is this possible if we take into account the nearest hobby shop is 2000 miles away in Florida, USA?
I still remember the late sixties when I was into railroad modelling (Yes, I have designed a railroad station wargaming scenario) and from time to time our production line stopped because of lack of flat paints. Model paint was such a precious item that when color mixing was unavoidable, all mixing was conducted with toothpicks to save paint!!
Later, when we entered the world of wargaming, the problems with availability reached levels without dimension. In model railroading, at least train sets arrived at Christmas. However, due to the ''peculiar'' nature of wargaming, no "starting sets" arrived. Everything had to be started from scratch. The first wargaming figures that arrived were the result of long hours studying a modest list of figures from a single manufacturer in THE COURIER.
After a decision on the number of figures was made, I started looking for some one whose travelling destiny was the United States. This unfortunate happened to be a close relative of mine, who insisted on maintaining a layman's level on wargaming matters, despite many attempts on my side.
One can only imagine the briefing session as I tried to explain the differences between a Macedonian peltast and a Baleric slinger, not to mention a unit of Cataphractoi. When I assumed that the information was properly digested, the briefing was over. We were very dizzy, anyway. The results when he came back from his trip were 70 pecent satisfactory. I learned the hard way to make additional lists with alternatives.
Not all our attempts were so successful. Since a person normally does not travel abroad regularly, there was a continuous search for other ''couriers". When news of a friend or relative who was going to the USA arrived, he was contacted, briefed, his trip plotted and then checked with the nearest distributor/dealer in each American city included in his trip.
During the trip the couriers got confused, dazed, etc, and many came back with the wrong items. Since returning the wrong figures was unthinkable, all that was left was to adopt a fatalistic attitude. As a result today you can find some isolated Carthagenian elephants, superbly painted, sitting next to full Napoleonic divisions. In other cases, patience born of desperation enabled us to convert Egyptian archers into Austrian line officers.
Not all our members were satisfied with this system. One decided to try mail order despite repeated warnings on our side. The point was that toys and models are considered luxury items and one pays 200% custom taxes. At last the package arrived and was opened by the customs officer. A moment of silence was followed by question after question.
Finally the contents were declared miniature objects d' art, hand painted!! They were the most expensive figures ever! After this attempt our adventurous wargamer reverted to the old system.
To end the description of our logistic adventures my personal chance of becoming a "courier" 'finally came. After a two-year stay at the University of Texas, the last day before returning to the fatherland was spent preparing a package with more than thirty-five pounds of lead soldiers. The package was going to be carried by hand in order to ensure its safety. Boy! I must have over- estimated my strength! Waiting for planes' in four different airports with the regular overweight baggage in addition to two mutinous kids is a terrible experience.
To make things worse, the damn metal detector buzzed every time I went through (with all the fuss I forgot about my metal laden package). Nevertheless, the figures, my family and I managed to survive the trip. You may think that now I'm well stocked. Not so -- figure greed is a common trait among wargamers so we are back to using our old system.
Next time you are placing an order or complaining about prices, availability or delivery time remember your unfortunate gaming compatriots and count your blessings!!
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