I'm now aged 39. I started gaming in the late 1970's. I played 25mm, Lord of the Rings based fantsy games, using Minifigs old Middle Earth figures. I also played 20mm American Civil War, Napoleonic and WW2 using Airfix figures and models. I discovered the Rye Stamp & Hobby shop, run by Bill Brewer. Saw his awesomely painted Mmifig and Hinchliffe figures, and promptly joined South London Warlords, Bill's club. Worked on my figure painting, inspired by BB, and earned oocket money painting figures for Games Workshop's first store in Dalling Road, Hammersmith, London. The 25mm fantasy became historical Arab or Moorish (they had been Haradrim), I played WRG Ancients, 4th Edition, I think. I added a Saxon or Anglo-Danish army to my collection. The highlight of my gaming career was a demo game of Hattin, 1187, in Margate Winter Gardens with John Merritt and other Warlords. My family left London for West Wales in 1979. 1 traded in my 25mm figs for 15mm, easier to transport and store!
Almost immediately I became one of the founder members of the Wargames Association of South Pembrokeshire in early 1980. Played 15mm WRG for some years up to 7th Ed in the end I think! Mongol was my army of choice, aided and abetted by Seljuk Turk. Friends had Crusaders, Romans, Dacians and Samurai. I became a founder member of Haverfordwest Amateur Tacticians Society in 1998, 1 think. I've been a part-time member of Swansea Wargames Club, in its many incarnations, since about 1990. Its more than an 80 mile round-trip for me, but it's always worthwhile for great games and great gamers!
Current Collection and Projects 25mm Indian Mutiny skirmish gaming using Fire and Steel rules from Keep Wargaming. Figures mostly Foundry. Scenery, buildings, river boats, wadis etc scratch built by myself and my usual 'partner in crime, Gareth 'Bunny' Lewis.
20mm Vietnam, skirmishing. Mostly 'Platoon 20' figures. Hootches etc from anybody/everybody. Rules are homegrown 'best-bits' robbed from Featherstones 'Skirmish Wargaming', a game called 'Men Against Fire' - possibly by Paddy Griffith, and some of Frank Chadwick's 'Charlie Company'! Rules work well for WW2 as well. I'm currently 'resting' this game as I have 'overplayed' it! I've just bought some 12.7mm AA machine guns & crew from Qualiticast, can't wait to use them. Maybe it's time to resurrect the'Happy Valley' campaign,
15mm Ancients: DBM Lysimachid. Figures from just about every manufacturer for added 'irregularity'. Basically Macedonian with added Thracians! Apparently the ancient Greeks believed Macedonians to be 'barbarians', and that Thracians had therefore 'only just descended from the trees' (if you know what I mean)! My 'monkeys' have always served me well, with only one notable failure against Germans. I've loads of unpainted to complete almost any/every Successor army from this beginning. I've just inherited Armenian and Pictish armies as a swap for my Peter Pig 15mm, Spanish Civil War, POUM Marxist militia army. The Armenian cataphracts will become Seleucids in due course. I play DBA more often than DBM, I find it more 'playerfriendly'. I can i~et 2 or 3 games in an evening, and still get to the pub before last orders!! I'm considering trying Peter Pig's 'Conquerors & Kings' rules for a change. They seem to promise quicker play than DBM with a little loss of detail, I'll report on this if Hal wills it.
15mm 1690's Grand Alliance: Inspired by the stunning pictures of the League of Augsberg club's games and the uniform information in Wargames Illustrated, but on a more realistic budget! I use 'Warfare in the Age of Reason' rules, with the Marlburian modifications. Very pretty but easy to paint uniforms. My figures are from Minifig, Roundway (Navwar), Dixon and Donnington Miniatures. 15mm War of 1812: still in planning stage. I've bought figures (from Chariot and Falcon) but not put brush to lead yet. The guy's in HATS play 'Shako', but I find it a bit bland and flavourless. I have fond memories of playing huge, Corps level, Napoleonic games in 25mm with my pals Chris and Sidney Jones in the 1980's. We used WRG 1685-1845 rules, so I'd like to use them again for nostalgia's sake! I'm trying to work out a basing system compatible with both rules sets, but it has baffled me so far! Choice of War of 1812 is simply due to the small size of battles and lack of (expensive to buy) cavalry!
15mm DBA or HOTT: I'm planning a set of 6 armies for a 'Sub-Roman or Arthurian' campaign. I'll complete DBA historical armies, but add characters etc. from HOTT for a bit of variety andlight relief! I'm also planning 15mm Bronze Age North-European DBA/HOTT armies after seeing the fascinating semi-fantasy campaign on 'The Stronghold' website.
10mm WW2: I bought the Rapid Fire 'Arnhem Supplement'and I still haven't recovered. I rate it one of the top two wargaming products I've ever purchased! Most of my models and infantry are from Pendraken Miniatures. I had to buy some Skytrex 1/200th vehicles to fill gaps, but many of these are now filled by Pendraken. I luckily found some painted Wargames South infantry from a 'bring & buy' stall at Cardiff'show'. I don't like Rapid Fire rules (too simplistic). By a fortunate coincidence 'Spearhead', 'Crossfire' and Peter Pig's 'Abteilung' rules all use similar base sizes for elements. So I'm able to pick and choose rules to suit time available, opponents preference or the size of game desired!
10mm Modern: I love Peter Pig's 'AK47 Revolution' rules. I chose 10mm as a scale because of cheapness, and ease of storage, not because I don't like Peter Pig figures! I've just completed painting my first army - a 'Super-Power Backed Client State'- using entirely Pendraken Miniatures. Pendraken's new Vietnam Australians are really excellent, shame the Vietnam emphasis means no Karl Gustav rocket launchers or Milan missile teams! I live in hope!
6mm or 1/300th: Some Irregular miniatures and Games Workshop Sci-fi for Dirtside II rules. Loads of modern stuff painted in desert camouflage, for either Syrian, Jordanian, Kuwaiti, National Training Centre scenarios or 2nd line Dirtside II forces. Large WW2 Soviet Russian and German armies re-basing for Spearhead (from VirRG via Command Decision, if you know what I mean). I seem to do more re-basing than painting these days!
1/600th American Civil War Naval: I've got Confederate, my pal's Dave and Keith have Union. I get regularly 'thrashed' but have recently had some lucky wins using - ironically -'David's' or torpedo boats! Models and rules are from Peter Pig. A very good, fun game, not too complex. Uses loads of dice, especially if you're Union!
1/1200th (or whatever) Modern Naval: A collection of assorted origin donated by my nephew Roly. I'm fascinated by this period/idea. Rules have so far been problematical. I found Harpoon way too complex, I've tried several other sets. Best so far has been an old ViTRG game called 'Seastrike'. Published in the 1970's, scarily it rather accurately predicts Falklands style naval warfare! WRG game uses special printed cards for combat resolution, a dice and tabulated version appears in a Society of 20th Century Wargamers Journal, but I prefer the 'turn of cards' version. I've recently bought 'Shipwreck' from Vandering Publications. The rules look very promising but some key data is not included, necessitating a trip to the website. This problem is rectified to some extent by a very nice new supplement Treeplay 88'. 1 may offer Hal a fuller review if 'Bunny' and I can get some playtesting in.
Great Unrinished Projects
We all have them! Here are mine:
25mm Samurai: I've got loads of 25mm Dixon Miniatures Samurai and I dearly love them. Motivation is lacking on this because none of my pals like the idea. Rules are also a problem. I bought'Road to Osaka'- I rate it the worst gaming product I've paid money for! Just not my,cup of tea' at all!
25mm Arthurian / Sub-Roman Dark Ages: I have this idea for a game based upon Arthur's hunt for the giant Boar "Twrch-Trwth*" from the Mabinogion. Howard Whitehouse's 'BattleTroll' and 'The Lion Eats Tonight' have been great motivators for this project, thanks Howard! The campaign for'Battle-Troll' on the Metro East Gaming Association website is awesome! I may amend 'Battle-Troll' for my Samurai project, somehow the 'feel' is very similar. I suppose Heroic warfare is fundamentally similar, despite culture.
Overview
Due to geography, portability is a key concern for me. I do love 25mm but the relative cost is a serious demotivator. Also it's not just a matter of figures but also of scenery or terrain. After seeing many opponents come and go I tend to make sure I can collect both sides for games, obviously this has cost and storage implications again! I find myself more fascinated by the 'human' experience of combat, so I tend towards skirmish level games involving individuals. Many players and clubs tend towards what I feel is 'gaming megalomania'. I prefer to play a small game to a finish, rather than have to pack away before a decision is reached. I've often wondered if this ,no result' style of gaming is ego protection for the megalo-maniacal? Personally I have no problem with losing what is, after all, a game. Overall I spend far more time planning (drooling over magazines and catalogues) or painting, than I do gaming, so I sometimes wonder if the name of my hobby is really 'Wargaming'!
*Note on Welsh pronunciation. In Welsh w is pronounced "oo". Twrch Trwth, (Toork Trooth) translates as "wicked hog". So out here in the UK's 'Wild West' MWAN is colloquially "Moo-Ann", SOTCW (Society of 20th Century Wargamers) is "Sot-Coo"! Interesting eh! Now try to say "Eglwswrw". (The name of a local village, honest!).
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© Copyright 2001 Hal Thinglum
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