Bob Marshall is a 34 year old resident of Royal Oak, Michigan. A police officer for thirteen years, Bob finds his greatest relaxation in wargaming and reading history.
Wargaming for Bob began in an organized fashion with the release of the Airfix plastic medieval figures in 1971. Shortly afterwards, Time Magazine carried an article about a wargaming group in England that was refighting the War of the Roses using the same Airfix figures! Bob discovered that there were others in the world with similar interests. Showing that article to several friends, an interest grew among them and a decision was made to study, model and game the Napoleonic Wars. Using Airfix figures and Der Kriegspielers, figures and an extremely simple set of homemade rules, the group fought large scale battles with badly painted figures on the floor of the local drug store's upstairs storage room. The group faded away, but Bob's interest in gaming continued.
While a student at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, Bob attended his first convention, Michicon. At that time, one of the few Midwest gaming conventions, Michicon introduced Bob to many new periods, rules and figures.
Over the years, Bob has become involved in and collected armies for several different periods of history. These armies include; Sassanid Persians, Byzantines, Normans, Burmese, Japanese Samurai, Alexandrian Macedonian, Medievals, English Civil War, Jacobite Rebellion (1745), Seven Years War, American War of Independence, War of 1812, Napoleonic Wars, "Limeys and Slimeys", Plains Indian Wars, Boer War, Zulu War, Afghanistan (1880's), Egypt Sudan (1880's), Boxer Rebellion, Indian Mutiny and The Mexican/American War. Of all these various interests, by far the one that Bob finds the most enjoyable and challenging is the Mexican/American War.
"I'm not quite sure why I developed an interest in the Mexican/American War, but it is the one period that I can say in all honesty, haunted me. No one made figures for the war, no one had rules for the war, research material was scarce, and yet it seemed to me to be one of the periods offering the greatest potential for enjoyment. Initially this lack of material put me off somewhat, but then I began to see it as a challenge to locate the things that I needed to game this particular war."
Bob's collection for the era has grown. His books for the period range from recent releases to true collector's pieces written by officers of the war and copyrighted in 1849. One volume of memoirs is signed by the author and dated 1873. Bob's figure collection has also grown to approximately 1500 25mm figures for the Mexican/American War.
"I do all of my gaming in 25mm scale. I don't want to sound elitist, but I prefer 25mm to 15mm because of the heft and the amount of detail that can be painted on the figures. I enjoy painting and I enjoy painting 25mm figures most of all."
Bob belongs to both HMGS-East and Midwest as well as being a member of MGM, (Miniature Garners of Michigan), an organization dedicated to the unifying of the fragmented miniature scene in Michigan. Additionally, in conjunction with MGM Bob is the coordinator for "You've Gotta Do What'chaCon" which is a growing miniature convention, now entering its third year.
As Theme Year Editor, Bob's goal for the coming year is to present a period to the gaming world that has vast potential for creativity, ingenuity and versatility. Knowing that not everyone is interested in historical detective work, Bob hopes to present readers with simple and concise information that will allow the gamer to develop an interest in the Mexican/American War without the necessity of excessive research and study.
"It's a period that I truly enjoy and I am thrilled at the prospect of being allowed to share my enthusiasm for this very important part of American military history."
Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. IX No. 1
Back to Courier List of Issues
Back to Master Magazine List
© Copyright 1989 by The Courier Publishing Company.
This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com