Ages for Wargaming Participation
Ian Scott (Indignant 18 year old)
Never can I recall any topic arousing such heated responses as the article 'Too Young,or Too Old' in the April Newsletter. Particular1j, P.Dunn seems to have stirred everyone up: These are a selection of extracts from letters received on the subject.
"Damn it (or should it be 0! Crikey Mr. Dunn - I'd like your opinion) just lost another row of tin soldiers to a matchstick volley (dangerous to use live matches). I'll tear that kid's hair out (he's got plenty of it) and upset the table. But wait a moment I've got to vote. Here we are at the kindergarten - sorry polling station.
Ya boo! Don't like you Harold, nor you Ted. Not that keen on you Jerry either. Here goes ... eeny, meeny ... ,econd, er, thoughts? Don't think I'll bovver.
You might, just, have guessed from above juvenile - (anyone under 30?) meanderings that I'm not overjoyed by P.Dunn's opinions. The Government saw fit to give us 'youths' (ugh! Horrible word) the vote so they can't think we're too irresponsible (or may be they do - that's politics). Interesting fact Dunn -- France considered her monarchs of age when they were 13 years old, yes horror of horrors, 13 years old.
I wonder what all those 21 and 22 year olds have to say about Dunn and his cranky ideas. I seem to remember a letter from a fellow grammar school lad about a wargames group at his school. What's happened to them, have they fallen out yet (or may be I dreamt it)? However, I agree with Dunn (Horror!) - in some cases that is. School can be very harmful in this respect - turns many young men into immature 'Youths' (I Say that sounds jolly pompous)."
Charles Vasey
"As I am only seventeen plus years I felt a bit 'narked' (to say the least) and Mr. Dunn's idea that age and realism go hand-in-hand is Rubbish! Certain people never develop a wild urge for realism. H.G.Wells loved his "Fun" and his "blast games". Were you a better man than he was (Gunga) Dunn?! I do sympathise with his problem, but if he had the insolence to tell me that, because I was only 17 I was less interested in realism he would certainly not get a polite reply.
My advice to all newcomers - join a starters group (NOT a Junior group), this will have simple rules and plenty of FUN. If one wishes to progress let him either apply or have a trial run. I personally would be driven nutty by my own moronic generation if I had to stay with them till I was 22. Many "kids" (of all ages) would never wish to join Mr. Dunn's clique of old bores (from their point of view). I personally would sooner move into a group of players interested in realism and pleasure. My age has nothing to do with it.
My old opponent, who is 2 years older, is the very type who annoys Mr.Dunn. He never paints or converts his own figures. He then has the cheek to want to borrow my conversions when he goes to college (or should I say kindergarten). When fighting he always loses (he even tried to ram his own ships in a naval battle) and he thus loses interest and stomps around looking at things and knocking his men down (which I spent hours on) and other moronic pursuits. I now paint and convert figures and fight solo! At University he tells me his friends refuse to fight WWII battles unless they are swamped with armour! Mr. Dunn is right, separate mature and immature. But please don't leave me in the idiots group because I'm young!"
Chris Beaumont "Judging by Dunn's letter in the latest issue of your magazine there are some who would wish that 17-year olds like myself did not subscribe to wargames journals and would like us kept well away from dice and model soldiers, the preserve of the serious minded pleasure seeking adult! Mr. Dunn's harrowing description of the hooliganism of younger wargamers suggests that he has recruited the local skinheads or Hell's Angels as club members! A little selective recruiting of a few promising potential wargamers is a good deal better than eagerly encouraging every possible person, which is what I suspect he might have done (no pun intended!) If Mr. Dunn studies his prospective members' behaviour before he encourages them to launch into the hobby he might find that "time spent in reconnaissance is never wasted".
He seems to think that everyone aged 17-22 is a hooligan incapable of playing at generals - let him not forget that James Wolfe commanded a regiment of foot at the age of 22; was he a juvenile delinquent?
D. B. Clark (London)
"I am 21, with eight years of wargaming experience behind me - one of "the boys" that Mr. P. Dunn referred to so unfairly.
Never have I read such uncharitable and totalitarian thinking as regards wargaming. Does Mr. Dunn not know that wargaming has been popularised by the large percentage of wargamer8 under 20 and that most of them have aspired to wargames through contact with the ever-increasing literature on the hobby.
That the older brains are leading the hobby and at some times seem damn close to ruining it, I would never dispute but the younger wargamer lays out considerable sums on figures, terrain, etc. I am sure that were it not for them, prices of metal figures would have risen sharply in the last years and that the expansion of the plastic kit/figure consortiums would not have nearly been so rapid.
The younger, devoted wargamer has a lot to learn and I throw myself into this category, but he must not have his faults flung in his face by such as Mr. P. Dunn. They must be pointed out quietly but firmly by those older men who are willing to impart their knowledge in a friendly fashion.
That the younger wargamer, say 16 upwards, takes a slightly light-hearted attitude to wargaming is true. My Confederate attacks have often been accompanied by rebel yells which have not been taken exception to by my fellow participants and a little table-top banter between commanders is not amiss. In 'Charge' by Brigadier Peter Young, he recounts an incident when an opposing battery was destroyed by the first salvo of shells - "Now is the time for a few remarks upon the evident justice of ones cause." Such a remark on any table that I fight upon would be taken in good humour, on Mr. Dunn's, Mr. Young would evidently be asked to refrain from making such childish comments.
Unless younger players are allowed to mix with older players (and do not form the bulk of the club) the experience of the older players will never get the chance to rub off on the younger player so that he can mature accordingly. What would Mr. Dunn do with a forty year old man, new to wargaming? Elevate him into the Olympian heights with the older players, put him in the 'kindergarten' or establish a junior/senior section for such individuals?
Mr. Dunn's description of the naval battles is a bad example to take, especially when 15 people take part! Naval actions are most difficult things to reproduce. In my opinion Mr. Dunn's battle had one fundamental flaw - the organisation behind it!
The older more experienced wargamer should not slam the door in the young man's face. Better that he should take up the role of the teacher, blending battles and campaigns with general talks about figures and wargaming in general. If they do this the older men will find that the less interested youngsters will drift away and they will be left with a keen, witty, lively set of fresh breezes in the club who will provide the challenge that a club or unit needs to survive."
A.C.Cass
"I have played many games with all ages including dedicated juniors of between 8 and 16 years, and I've no real fault to find with the latter as long as one troubles to explain and help them at the start for maybe half a dozen games, for in spite of all things, a good game with reasonable happenings beats all these fanatical true to scale (etc) ones. After all we are not playing, wargames for work -- it should be a real, and relaxing, pleasure.
Another point missed by many, is, how are these youngsters (and a good many seniors) ever going to learn, if they are refused all rights to play sensible games? have been at wargames (etc) for some 45 years, now, for my family were (and have been) interested in games of all kinds all their lives.
So, I will say to you "youngsters", "be of good cheer", we are NOT all miserable "oldsters" - there is still a number of us around who believe in a helping hand, though I must admit we seem to be getting fewer, or else hard to find - but "search and ye shall find."
Christopher Lance Scott (Hampshire)
"As I have only just celebrated my 21st it seems that I am among Mr. Dunn's immature. I wish he would attend one of our meetings. I promise we are only allowed to pick up and hurl one regiment at a time per game-move, and one must always throw light infantry first, no saving throws, or ducking as we call it, is permitted. It all leads to a very tightly controlled game, Mr. Dunn.
I must say I am waiting impatiently for next year, my 22nd is coming up. At last that golden day when I shall be bathed in a fiery light and the voices of generals long dead will proclaim me mature enough to play with the grown-ups!
I do admit that overwhelming numbers of boys present a problem, but they should be encouraged to form their own section and games within an integrated club, not forcibly evicted, nor shown the door by subscription rates. The Wessex Military Society have quite a few young players at their meetings (and indeed, some good wargamers in that 17-22 age limit) who do a great deal of work in organizing club projects and pioneering new and interesting facets of the game. Those who have trouble with juniors "chasing, fighting and kicking paper" around are, in my opinion unable to command respect from others and incapable of establishing the club-game atmosphere.
D. Millward
"Here in Bifmingham we have a group of about 40, of whom only about 10%, are over Mr. Dunn's age limit of 22. We wouldn't think of excluding any members on account of their age because it seems to us a very short sighted policy. As George Gush said it is hard to imagine how the hobby is to grow if youngsters are excluded from the so called mature clubs. It seems to me that the best way for younger members to reach wargames 'maturity' is by contact with their more mature and experienced elders.
I myself am only 21 (I'm looking forward to becoming suddenly mature on my 22nd birthday) and I must admit that at times some of the younger members of our club have annoyed and frustrated me, particularly if I am trying to use a set of complicated rules. However, it is very gratifying to observe that some of these 'kids' are emerging from this annoying stage into very competent and mature wargamers at the age of 16 or so. It is an undoubted fact that they would have reached this level on their own in due time. But it must have taken longer, and how many potentially good wargamers would have dropped out on the way from sheer boredom?
As for Mr. Dunn's problem about the naval wargame it would seem to me that the best way to remedy the situation would be to take on the youngsters in a game using the correct tactics and thus show that they are superior .... if indeed they are. No one likes continually 1osing and surely if the 'juniors' lost to the same tactics again and again they would soon make it their business to learn the correct counter.
You simply cannot merely set an arbitrary age limit to membership and hope for success and fairness, because people mature in different things at different ages. For instance if we cut out all our under 22s we would cut out certain as yet 'immature' members but we would also cut out 4 of our 5 convention team for last year, including 1 semi-finalist, 1 runner-up and 1 champion. And anyway does Mr. Dunn seriously think that age is the sole indication of maturity? If maturity is the perogative only of the over 22s what of the constant bickering and backbiting that goes on in wargames between supposedly mature wargamers?
There is no chance of the young members being excluded from the Birmingham Club. If our older m embers feel a need for separation (and I am sure that none of them do) it will be they who will have to exclude themselves. After all the future of wargames is in the hands and ht-ads of those youngsters and the older members should help them mature not hinder them, for to do so would be very short sighted and .... "immature?"
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© Copyright 1970 by Donald Featherstone.
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