I can think of very few people of my acquaintance for whom I have deeper affection and admiration than American Hal Thinglum and his long-running and stimulating journal, MWAN. So, when he asked me - out of the blue - if I would write a Guest Editorial for future publication, I leapt at the opportunity! Here it is, for better or for worse - a hotch-potch of dozens of my previously started backgrounds to the compelling hobby which has brought us all together. The American said: "If there has got to be another sex, I'd as soon it were women as anything else!" Had been seeking other blessings to bring great pleasure to Mankind, he could have mentioned Wargaming, that bloodless but inspiring military preoccupation that has caused the years to pass so rapidly that often I ask myself - what would I have done with my life if I had not discovered the art of tabletop battles with model soldiers? That is said with much feeling, in the knowledge that my life would have been bereft of innumerable good friends, countless inspiring moments at home and abroad, and an existence far less full and coloured than has been the base. For it must be a very single-minded and blinkered wargamer who does not quickly realise that what the Hobby has to offer only begins on the wargames table, that there are, ready for the taking, fringe-benefits opening up vistas of interest and pleasure far beyond his wildest dreams. Asked, as Guest-of-Honor, at the GENCON/ORIGINS Wargaming Convention in Milwaukee USA to say a few words at the opening ceremony, it came straight from the hear: "Who'd have thought, thirty years ago, that buying some model soldiers and arguing with my wife about using the spare bedroom for wargaming, would lead to me being flown out at considerable cost, to meet and mingle with fourteen thousand assorted American wargamers?" If only because playing a youthful game has kept me young, I can accept with some pride the title occasionally bestowed upon me - "The Grand-daddy of Wargaming", despite its slightly chilling aging aspects. Nevertheless, it is something of a misnomer because whatever I have done by writing or word-of-mouth to add impetus and publicise our mutual hobby is but building on foundations laid by a select band of enthusiasts in years stretching back more than a century and a half.  Indeed, as some of them, like Robert Louis Stevenson and H.G. Wells, were immortals in their own field while others, in a different sense, made their mark in the grim fields of real warfare - Brigadier Peter Young, Captain J.C. Sachs, J. H. Granville Bantook and Charles Grant among them - it must be accounted an honour to be numbered in their ranks. However, they were not the first wargaming-practitioners, there were others before them whose names are beacons bravely shining through the mists of military antiquity. Perhaps the first known was Junellus Turianus who created instructional wargames for the Emperor Charles V in the 16th century; then Albert Struzzi did the same for the future Philip IV of Spain; Louis XIV had his armies of silver and in the late 18th century, Helwig, Master of the Pages to the Duke of Brunswick, introduced pieces representing units; and Georg Venturini's NEUES KRIEGSPIEL took it a step further in 1795. But, the pattern did not really take shape that today's wargamer would recognise until von Reisswitz, father and son, developed what became the standard form of 19th century KRIEGSPIEL in the years between 1809 and 1828 when, for the first time, the fluctuations of Fortune were represented by dice-throws. The younger von Reisswitz became the first wargaming-martyr, committing suicide reputedly as a result of players carping about his rules! The belligerent Prussians, encouraged by von Muffing and the future Kaiser Wilhelm I., employed KRIEGSPIEL as an aid to military training. There was also a Kriegspiel-type game resembling a primitive modern boardgame devised in American by Charles Totten in 1880. However there were those who saw these activities as a means of entertainment, perhaps the first (certainly the first wargaming club in Britain) was Spencer Wilkinson's Oxford Kriegspiel Group, founded in 1873, anticipating by a mere seven years the first-known record of purely "fun" wargaming. These were the games played by eminent writer Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94) and his young stepson Lloyd Osbourne during Stevenson's convalescence at Davos in 1880-83, initially described by Osbourne in an article "Stevenson at Play" in SCRIBNER'S MAGAZINE for December 1898 and reprinted in Vol. 20 of the Pentland edition of Stevenson's works, also as "Further Memories" in the Tusital Edition published by Heinemann in 1924. Played with four-man regiments in a cold attic over a terrain chalked on the floor, casualties were caused by physically throwing at them small pieces of lead type, logistic problems being created by "ammunition" being broughtup in supply-wagons containing 20 pieces of lead. This all led to perhaps the first of the wargaming magazines when battle reports were written up in the column of YALLOWBELLY RECORD, EVENING HERALD and the GLENDRULE TIMES. That Stevenson possessed the instincts of a true wargamer is indicated by his giving the "enemy" all the lightest and wobbliest figures while he used the more solid soldiers! Undoubtedly one of the most momentous happenings of my life occurred when I discovered on the shelves of the local library a book published in 1913, written by H.G. Wells, complete with rules for fighting it. It was an action fought with 54mm lead soldiers made by Britains Ltd., and as at that time I had hordes of these figures - certai9nly as many as Wells had - I could set-up the battle on the floor using exactly the same soldiers portrayed in the book. Known widely as an author of what today would be called "science-fiction" and possessing prophetic ideas on aviation, social conditions, warfare and many other vital subjects, H.G. Wells wrote two articles for WINDSOR MAGAZINE in December 1912 and January 1913 - entitled "Little Wars". Following this, Frank Palmer, a publisher suggested to Wells he might write a book on boy's games and invited him to his office to discuss this. Bearing boxes of soldiers, bricks, trees and other artifacts, Wells arrived at the office, where Palmer was talking to another author R. Thurston Hopkins. Conscripting both of them, Wells set up a game on the floor and for three hours they crawled about on hands and knees, until Wells packed it all up and left with a promise of publication - it was said that he left behind an exhausted Palmer, Hopkins and office-staff! On its title-page, the book bore an apt summing-up of the whole background to wargaming: "LITTLE WARS a game that may be played by two, four or six amateurish persons in an afternoon and evening with toy soldiers ... a Game for Boys from Twelve Years of Age to One Hundred and Fifty and for that more Intelligent sort of Girl who likes Boy's games and books...." That book revolutionised my life, being repeatedly consulted throughout my "teenage" wargaming days, still with Britains soldiers, until becoming involved in "real" war as 7893763 Trooper Featherstone, D., of the Royal Tank Regiment at Bovington Camp in Dorset. Subsequently, in a fit of nostalgia, when on leave in 1940 I borrowed the book from the local library and took it back to camp with me, keeping it hidden in the bottom of my locker and reading it only under conditions of the greatest secrecy. I kept it with me when going overseas to North Africa and Italy - I think I can safely claim to be the only soldier in World War Two who took Wells' book on wargaming onto Active Service! The book LITTLE WARS forms the basis for most sets of conditions and rules under which wargaming has always been fought - although it is hard to believe this when noting some of the esoteric derivations apparently enjoyed by some wargamers! Returning from War, one became sidetracked by a Wife, a Career and then Children, until on a memorable Saturday evening in 1957, the local newspaper contained an article telling the plaintive story of Tony Bath fighting battles with model soldiers against his Wife because he could not find an opponent. We met, he loaned me copies of an American Journal WARGAMES DIGEST; edited by Jack Scruby in California - and I was hooked! Other practitioners were found, scattered throughout the British Isles and America, giving rise to that most nostalgic practice of "wargaming weekends" when we traveled hundreds of miles to battle and exchange ideas. These trips kindled an enthusiasm still able to be recalled with a sad nostalgia for days and friends long gone, involving much correspondence, exchanged maps and details of the coming battle, fought under the homeplayer's house-rules. As any wargamer knows, there are no rules as good as his own, so this created occasional passions and one can recall long drives home on Sunday evening, the mind seething with frustration until overcome by mutuallydiscussed ideas for improving armies, terrains, rules and the hobby in general; sleep came slowly that night as overworked brains milled over tactical errors, controversial rule interpretations and plans for the next battle. Only the lucky few had local opponents so that the very scarcity of opponents made friends of us all, despite being of diverse callings, types, temperaments and ages. As this is written, their faces flow before me as though being projected on a screen, each remembered for some incident or occurrence, beginning with my first opponent Tony Bath, whose Ancient Armies always seemed to be armed with laminated bows that fired three inches further than did mine, who had shields and plate-armour when my lads wore vulnerable mail. Ed Saunders of Trenton, one of the most talented of the early wargamers, whose small house lacked space for a wargames room, so he dug one out of the earth below his house where one battled on a sandtable in an earth-walled tomb; his cousin Lionel Tarr of Bristol, solo wargaming the entire Russo-German Campaigns of World War Two, casting all his own figures and with dozens of tanks cast in plaster-of-Paris in Plasticene moulds, who devised the first rules for air-wargaming and made a mighty city of Stalingrad out of cardboard on a tabletop. Brigadier Peter Young, whose crafty tabletop tactics revealed how he became Britain's most decorated soldier in World War Two, who made me utilize half my army to bring my commander's mistress back from behind enemy lines! Peter Gilder, whose inspired modeling of figures and terrain must make him a candidate for the most talented wargamer we have seen - we fought an annual battle when I visited him when returning home from a lecturing stint at Loughborough. Bill Gunson, based in North Wales when on leave from Kuwait, an arch-enthusiast whose sandtable ideas had to be abandoned when the ceiling below gave way; it was he who upturned a table bearing about 5,000 Napoleonics when Peter Gilder and I refused him a melee! The late Charles Grant and his son young Charles (now a senior officer in the British Army) fighting an 18th century campaign to CHARGE rules in the attic of his elegant Dover home, a stimulating if somewhat autocratic wargamer imperishably portrayed on the tapestry of the hobby. Between us we got the hobby off the ground, all pulling our weight to the best of our ability so that it is pleasing to be remembered for one's books and magazine WARGAMERS NEWSLETTER - 217 monthly issues 1962-1980) that gave the much-needed publicity. The first one WARGAMES published in 1962 and re-printed ten times, fortunately coincided with the arrival on the market of an ever-increasing range of inexpensive 72nd scale plastic wargames figures made by Airfix - the combination of the written rules and the soldiers to fight with provided an irresistible impetus from which wargaming has never looked back. In the beginning it was very difficult to obtain wargaming figures and we fought with whatever we could buy, swop or make, slaving over hot cookers casting metal figures from plastic moulds we had made - a most hazardous and dangerous occupation from which I still bear scars. But there was an immense satisfaction to be gained when prising from the mould a pristine silver casting tempered somewhat by realisation that all the surrounding "flash" would have to be laboriously filed away. Perhaps today's wargamers have it so easy that it erodes their staying-power within the hobby, when seemingly only cash stands between them and owning armies of every conceivable type and period, even ready-painted and ready for action! And where has it got us all to Today? Notice how, throughout this article, People and Names predominate, how everything revolves around the meeting of two or more people for a common and pleasurable purpose - indicating that what we are engaged in is a Social Exercise. Wargaming beings with two armies of model soldiers facing each other across a tabletop terrain, and quickly nurtures life-long friendships and genuinely warm acquaintanceship. It is gradually realised that what we are doing clearly reflects the character and temperament of the Man who manipulates the armies, the regiments and the individual figures that make them up - each has a personality of his own, both as a member of unit and as a single person, endeavouring to play a noble part with his qualities and faults depending upon his manipulator and the fluctuations of Fortune as represented by the fall of the dice. There are no cowards in wargaming - if some have glory thrust upon them, then equally they are subject to a mechanical faintheartedness, but each and every warrior lives to fight another day with no mutinies, no disobedience of orders, no lagging under fire - he can be magnificent in victory or noble in defeat, leaving behind no metal (or plastic) widows or orphans. And that is only the beginning, the tabletop wargaming is not the sole part, . there are innumerable fringebenefits which, if not taken advantage of, rather resembles sitting down to a meal and leaving after the soup. For instance, it is not possible to authentically fight battles in any period without researching that era, discovering how the armies were uniformed and equipped, how they fought, their tactics and style of fighting, their leaders and the fields on which they fought. All that leads to reading and research, to discovering the right books - and finding many others at the same time - and perhaps attending talks and lectures besides discussions with friends and others with the knowledge you require. There are museums to be visited, where original uniforms, weapons and equipment can be inspected - and this opens up a lifelong vista of travelling in exotic and interesting places, because each and every country has its own museums and, for example, if your interest lays in the Peninsular War of 1808-1813, where better to discover its artefacts than museums in Madrid, Lisbon, Busaco, Paris besides the National Army Museum in London and the smaller personal museums of the countless regiments whose battle honours bear names of Peninsular fields. And those very same fields lay open for walking, and there is little so evocative as to explore - wellprimed beforehand - those historic fields where famous battles were fought, to stand on the exact spots where our ancestors made history. Man is a gregarious animal and likes the company of his fellows, where better than in a Club or at a Convention surrounded by amiable people bound together with the bond of a common interest? Oh yes, Wargaming is a Many Featured Thing - a lifelong hobby and pursuit offering friendships and pleasures beyond the dreams and expectations aroused by buying a few model soldiers! Possibly the most cherished and memorable feature brought into my life by wargaming is the manner in which it has brought me over to the United States of America no less than FIFTEEN times! The doors opened to me by this aspect of my life have glorified my waking moments, bringing to me friends, friendships and glowing host of memories that have coloured the later years of my life. I can say without a doubt or a blush that I can never recall ever meeting an American with whom I have not hit it off. Of course, being all of us wargamers and part of that glorious brotherhood, might have made it a bit easier and I thank you all for the hall-mark you have collectively and individually bestowed upon this Englishman! (Editor's Note: I was very pleased when Donald consented to write a "Guest Editorial" for MWAN; this was written following his recent heart attack and I am glad to report he is doing quite well in his recovery process! I have never made a secret that I based MWAN upon Donald's WARGAMERS NEWSLETTER, which I really loved.' Even more importantly, however, was my realization that Donald's publishing "sty/e" and 'approach" to the hobby was one which I greatly respected and one which I have always aimed for in publishing MWAN. I trust I have been successful, in some small way, in doing that, as it has always been very important to me. I am also very pleased that Donald's contribution(s) to our mutual hobby of wargaming have been highly recognized over the last fifteen years or so. Prior to that time, I always felt as that although the general wargaming public knew who he was, they did not understand what a sizeable contribution he had made to the activity that we all have grown to love. Anyone who has met Donald, and a lot of us Americans have, will notice that he is as he writes; he is a true gentleman who loves our hobby and loves being with others who enjoy its many virtues I especially enjoyed his mention of the "early days- of wargaming when he cast his own figures, terrain, and accessories, and had to really search for information and appropriate (or semi-appropriate) wargaming materials When one's wargames armies were dependent upon one's energy and ingenuity rather than upon ones pocketbook. There is no excitement as high and long lasting as accomplishing such tasks and it surely ranks as the most exciting period of my wargaming career now narrowing in on thirty years! The excitement of painting like a madman and watching your collection grow as you did so. Of preparing what would now be considered 'substandard" wargames terrain and hearing the kind remarks of your wargaming fiends concerning how good it looked.' Thank you again, Donald; you've brought me many years of pleasure!). Hal Thinglum/MWAN Back to MWAN # 121 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2003 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com