A panel game for wargamers and military history buff everywhere
Please insert tongue firmly into cheek.
Enter Big Andy dressed in a Gold Lame jacket .
That enough to make you barf for a start.!
You know how it is when you get the urge to do a period , often you can't work out why. So I, after reading recent posts and replies, bethought myself
WHOOSE FAULT IS IT ANYWAY.....?
For myself I'd blame Peter Young and Derek Sharman between them for the ECW- well at least my interest in it oh and a history teacher called Bradshaw maybe.
Anyhow I'd just moved up to the North east from Manchester so it would be 74 or 75 or thereabouts and then I was mostly Napoleonicand a bit of WW2 - lots of plastics- couldn't afford a lot of metal- but did have some Garrison Les Higgins and Hincliffe.
Got to know Derek at the Wargamers Den and he had "Awargamers Gude to the ECW or something similar that he'd written- I bought it and some minifigs and the rest is history- mostly written by Peter Young and HCB Rogers...- still have the books replace the soldiers ..
The American Civil War is Dave Allsop and Bruce Cattons fault. Oh and Russ Dunaway...
Dave for letting me see the masters for the orgigonal Old Glory ACW range and allowing me to do a demo with them before they were available in the UK- Bruce Catton for his splendid books and Russ for supplying me with the soldiers- some of which are still in the OG "WBS" 28mm ACW range.
WW2 would be Cornelius Ryan and "The Longest Day " and a school friend called Splodge who was something of a plastic kit basher.
As for how it all started that would be the NHS- in hospital as a kid my Dad brought me some library books so I didn't die of boredom one was a featherstone- can't recall which "Tackle Model soldiers this way" rings a bell but I could be wrong. Certainly I was playing with some regularity by the time I was 13 - we even had a school club by the time I was 15 I was in the Manchester club - then moved to the North -east.
Lots of other periods have piqued my interest- Colonials are down to Featherstone and Churchill
and a certain R.M Barnes whose books by Seely Service were my first owned uniforms books- still have them.
Funny thouhg I can't put my finger on Tricorns unless it was Charles Grant Senior... oh and Hilary Doyle- an Almark book on the Jacobite Rising- which I still have.
So chaps
Whoose Fault is it anyway....
Ah the Wargamers Den...
ReplyDeleteAfternoon Andy,
ReplyDeleteAgain a great idea for a blog post. You should take up wargaming full time!
You know Derek Sharman is one of those unsung wargaming heroes, especially in the North East. He wasnt a good business man, but he certainly knew how to encourage young people to wargame. He very kindly let me buy George Gush's Renaissance Armies on HP, because I didnt have enough money.
I also remember using his ancient rules, and actually still have them.
I also remember his massive Persian army, which I was allowed to push around a table or two.
We should do a piece on Derek, he certainly helped John and I.
Thanks Robbie.
Robbie- Yes we should. I'd agree he is an unsung name of the hobby in the 70s and 80s - until the shop went but- but THAT was the Church of England Fault!
DeleteI remember his Persians- My Spartans got shot to bits by them. Also played a few games in the back of the shop and di several displays at the various "Warfare through the Ages " shows he organised at the University. Indeed other than Northern Mil - at Swinton- my first show as a visitor was at Durhan Town Hall - while the parents were house hunting..
I havn't seen Derek for about 15 years though I saw him on TV a few years back- some local politics thing in Berwick.
Also- since you mention it it was probably Johns fault my painting improved. I used to buy units of Johns- mostly ECW from Derek when john got fwed up with them..
I also seem to remebr buyiong a bundle of WW2