Old Glory UK News Desk.

 My splendid Tekkie Mattie  has just added a new feature to the Old Glory UK website. It may to the Bloggersphere look just like another Blog. Well thats what it is  but its use will be  purwely as a newsdesk for Old Glory UK rather than as this one a collection of Andys ramblings
 Log on to the OGUK website  in the normal manner and go to the foot of the page then click on Old Glory UK Newsdesk.
 Only a single post there currently as the feature is less than an hour old but like Topsy it will grow.
 News of New releases , Shows, shipments from the USA- much of the Old Glry related stuff that formerly appeared here will go to the News desk .
 Right back to the parcle packing ....

Arrivals ....

So I get up this morning and check my emails . Have one from UPS telling me a shipment is due for delivery today. Yipppeee thinks I   at last .
 Then I look a  little closer- 17 boxes/crates . Man!; that is a LOT of stuff.! I knew this order would be a biggie as its the first  re-supply I've had since late January.- the US show Cold Wars got in the way .
 Now aside from some ships and Building that are special orders for customers scattered about the globe there will also be a big bundle of stock . This means that once I've broken down and sorted these 17 boxes (no weekend off this  time then)  the back -orders will start to go out.. This should cover most of the chaps who are waiting for stuff ordered during the period of Jan and Feb and early March  this year. and for some who ordered later- depending upon what thay ordered. There will be some blokes who ordered AFTER  this order was sent in and some stuff that went out of stock in the intervening time - Catch them with my next re-supply which should land before Salute 2015 . I hope ....
Of course I'm also starting to build up stock levels for that show- see the previous post for details of the ranges we will be taking to Salute2015

11.17 am. Shipment arrives- 17 boxes- Here we go . Let the mayhem begin .....

14.08 About  half way through- Soldiers everywhere not to mention the odd fleet or two  and a few odd villages. It doesn't half give the knees some gyp.

Saturday Morning 11.18.  Been at it since 8.30  no weekends off here ! . Unpacked the last boxes then started on the back orders. Carole also down here  packing up the back orders and writing the addresses.- No you cant use printed labels as by the time you've farted about in the computer you can write 3 so I don't bother- and proofs of posting have to be written anyway

Sunday Morning 11.09  I must have been a evil B' stard in a former life ! -There is no rest for the wicked. Yesterday Carole and I packed up 63 parcels- outstanding orders, back orders and new orders.  I'd estimate we are roughly half way through the backlog  or perhaps a little more
 My Salute order goes off to the USA tomorrow. Hopwe they get it to me in time.

Monday 12.36 Just back fropm the Post Office. First load of parcels now on their way - Next lot go out tomorrow plus a few heavy ones by Interlingk Express. 

Its about time you painted some soldiers!

 With the current burst of agonising over "The Hobby"  you wonder what has happend to actually doing some of it
 Work has slowed down my painting of late  but here are some 40mm Sash and Sabre Highlanders that I actually managed to finish. They will - despite thier Jacobite cockades end up in my 40mm Montrose Scots rebels force that I'm slowly building however they will also go into a nascent Jacobite force that is entirely possible in 40mm with a bit of fiddling about and ingenuity

 Highlander of "Clan Palatic" uttering their fearsome warcry "Gie us a dram Ya Basta!"

 I do like this pack
 Their are 8 body variants- with separate heads and a selection of weapons- Lochaber axe broadsword, pistol and Targe. Sash and Saber are promising Archers, Musketeers and a command pack . The idea being that with careful selection you can do highland units from the 1640s through to 1745. Chris has even muttered about some mounted Highland Gentlemen  but I've no timetable for these..

28mm Irish Gallowglass from the Old Glory wars of the Roses range. 

 Continuing the Celtic theme I found these two in a spares box and decided to slap a bit of colour on 'em . I've always fancied a Medieval Irish army simply becasue its so different from the norm and of course gets out of that samey gamey rut that the games designer dudes want you to stay in.
 Since I'm a modeller nad historian fiorst and foremost and actual "gaming" comes a long way down the list then I don't suppose by today's strange standards I'm a wargamer at all.

 IS WARGAMING STILL A VALID TERM FOR OUR "HOBBY" ? .

The miniatures gaming hobby is now so diverse and so fragmented there is no real catch all term that fits any more. This is part of the problem- assuming there is one- everyone has an axe to grind and often can't see past it..The result of the current emphasis upon games to the exclusion of all else by much of the public face has left those who also enjoy the modelling , research, and indeed all the "other stuff" feeling somewhat out in the cold perhaps. Killing demo games at show will of course only make thissituation worse. Show might then get filled with teenagers wanting to play "Kill the space marine" or "Torture the Zombie" or nay other bit of 30minute silliness but they won't spend any cash - so why should I spend a grand to go to the show
 Riddle me that dudes !

What is the point of little soldiers !

 Bearing in mind all the recent hot- air that is being expended upon "The Future of the Hobby" (and indeed is still being expended)  it comes as a bit of a surprise to realise that little of  said hot air has mentioned  what used to be - back in ye olden tymes  considered by many the most important  part. The actual toy soldiers . Few if any questions have been asked about this since the late 80s/ Early 90s - there was a pretty fierce debate in the pages of the old WI as I recall involving no less a figure than Paddy Griffith amongst others suggesting that toy soldiers were largely irrelevant.
  Now as it happens my version of this hobby has always been toy soldier  driven- or miniatures  in  the correct NEWSPEAK terminology.. So my question is how important are the toy soldiers to you.
 I know MY answer- without them this  hobby would be  even more pointless than it sometimes seems .
 The  little lead dudes give you something to look at during the tedium of the dice rolling- during those few seconds when you don't have your face in your pint!
 Jesting apart- the modelling and collecting part of this hobby has ALWAYS been as important if not more so then the mere gaming. At their best toy/model soldiers  are a minor art form and even at a lower level give a visual impression of a battle that only recently- and then not always- has been surpassed by computer games. This is especially true now when  as  general rule the "gaming" for many  means another pointless and rather futile skirmish game of one sort or another where period knowledge is not only non-existant but actually denigrated in favour of "2970 WAYS to Roll a 3 sided dice " or similar twaddle.
 The most recent issue of WSS had a couple of articles germain to my subject- though it may not have seemed so.
 Sam Mustaphas piece on Rules writing - this told me more about the dismal knowledge of a certain breed of games players than I wished to know.  Frankly I was appalled- not by Sam's article-  but by the frankly dumb- assed, dick-witted ,shyte- brained questions he claimed to have been asked by "wargamers" - "Can Cavalry form square !!!" "Can you fire through a line of troops to hit a line behind them!! " . What sort of  thick  pillocks ask such dull witted questions?
 Answer
GAMES players- i.e. those who want no knowledge of  history or period but only seek to manipulate the game to their advantage . Since Sam's article pertained to his ACW "game" Longstreet  you'd have thought that some knowledge of the ACW was a perquisite.  but no,  games players have to be reined in  or they will do all sorts of silly things to win their silly games. THAT is why many rules are written in such a turgid technical fashion . You know what , I see his point. You'd think the toy soldiers would help . The LOOK of and ACW unit should give you some infromation  but the gap between "Game designer dudes" and the actual toy soldiers is now so immense that I wonder if it can ever be closed.
 The second article looked at the death of shows- one of the authors remedies was to ban display and demo games and make all games PP- talk about short sighted- alienate hafl of your volunteers why don't you ? Since he also wanted to invite dolls houses and assorted craft stall in as well  it makes you wonder.
 Losing demos at shows would  inevitably drop the quality of  games. I've already seen this with the awful rash of boxed games at Battleground and to a lesser extent at Derby . I'm far from anti- the craft stuff coming in - always need at least some craft items- and some traders already provide such but doing away with volunteer demos will kill the historical part of the hobby.- Bear in mind that half of last years games at Salute were Fantasy types and almost ALL of those were put on by GW wanabees each carefully narrowing the once wide spectrum of our once open -ended hobby . And all of these GAMES driven rather than toy- soldier driven.
 There is an argument that says that the toy soldiers are mere counter decoration- and lots of rules follow this precept. Its not with out some merit - sometimes for certain types of game it works well but - and its a big but - the toy soldiers at least hint at the human side of what we do. Which IMHO we for get at our peril

For an old Friend.

 About an hour ago I had a phonecall from a lady  whose step- Father- in Law has become too ill  with Parkinsons disease to carry on his hobby.
 Some of you out there will know him well .
 I'm speaking of Ex Manchester Area and Durham wargamer
 Dave Hulland. now in his eighties and in a Care Home.
. Those of us who know Dave  are saddened by this
 His  daughter in law has been taked with  sorting out and  disposing of Dave's collection and the poor girl has a job on her hands not knowing a single thing about our esoteric Hobby. She doen't want to just bin the lot !  but of course doesn't know a Byzantine from a hole in the road.
 Dave was  a great one for Ancient Warfare- I well remember his 6mm Macedonians. and Celts and Late Romans
Some  splendid f 15mm Late Romans and Goths and some Early Italians also spring to mind.
 Dave also had an avid interest in the American Civil War.
 More recently Dave had 10mm Byzantines off me and some 15mm Confederates.
 His library- especially for the Ancient World was  also pretty dammned good !
 There is a fair chunk of unpainted stuff too - mostly 10mm and 15mm
 I'm pretty sure several of my regualr readers  know Dave and one or two at least are closer geographically than I am 
 Now this rather nice collection  has to be broken up and sold.
 I've been given permission to pot his Duaghter- In Laws email here  so  intrested parties can perhaps help her with this

 you should contact sandra.green@talktalk.net



I'm sure we all wish Dave and his family well.

Ch- Ch- Ch- changes .....

 Of late there has been a lot of agonising about the "State of the Hobby" and it has to be said I've done my share However reading Robbie Roddis recent piece- "A Nostradamus Moment " and his critique of Mike Hobbs piece in MW382 I thought I'd better look at Mr Hobbs piece.
 So I read it and thought well  he has a point. List building isn't new - back in the 1970s when I played competition games it went on all the time . The method was different - we used actual sources but the IDEA - that of the "perfect killer army" was the same.
 The bit I find rather odd is the we- who wargme one way should "step aside" - but that phase does not seem to be Mr Hobbs'. Surely there are - as I have said time and time again- more than one way to wargame.
 Not one of the rule sets mention in Mr Hobbs piece do I own or play- no frankly would want to- though I may get "relatived" into 40K at some point Gawd 'elp me ! 
 The fact that I find the  games and methods used by these apparently younger wargamer narrow sterile and really rather  peurile  is not to the point. I find a good bit of the "older " wargames scene just as pointless and sterile  so its not an ageist thing.  If I have difficulty with Competitions based upon historical armies how much more  difficulty am I going to have with comptitons based in somebody else's Fantasy world that never existed? But perhaps you don't if you are 12
 The point that the Game is now in the ascendant is one I have made several times and it doesn't really change the way I'll organise my armies or run my games. Why should it?
 If I'm the only one who still does it the "old fashioned way"  then fine why should I give a monkeys what the other dweebs are doing. Wargaming should not be like a fly in Amber  it should change to suit its players. It has been doing so for most of its history- do we still all play Wellsian games No or all use Airfix again no . We each use what seems appropriate to us to achieve the ends we desire. If I or Robbie or anyone else  view those ends as narrow, limited and childish  so what .
 However where I do take some issue is with the idea that  because of the dominance of commercial rules and games that that is all that should be "allowed" . If you are too thick or lazy to read a whole book without pictures in order to develop your armies - well its not my problem !


Later Sunday Afternoon.
 While I sit here waiting for my Moroccan lamb  to cook I thought I'd add a few more points
 Again this tends to be about "Public Face"
 There  seems to be a ferocious narrowing of the hobby in the last decade or so - despite the fact that I sell loads of stuff to chaps returning after a break of anything up to 20 years -this as well as chaps who have been collecting  throughout that period AND to relative newbies there has been a "commercial concentration" in the public face of the hobby . This has not been primarily miniatures driven. The hobby is no longer miniatures driven but rather Rules( correct NEWSPEAK  term Games) and personality driven. I've never understood,  the urge to copy others in their endeavours - so for instance painting up a regiment in the same imaginary uniform as  one of Peter Youngs Charge units is to me really rather silly . Why not make up you own uniform if that is your thing? The drive to sell "Games" I completely understand- its just the same as me selling soldiers but I do have- always did have- a problem with the slavish following of those games .
 One of the reasons I wargame as distinct from playing Chess or poker is that the hobby is SUPPOSED to be open ended and freeform . Yet according to Mr Hobbbs this is no longer the case- at least in Cardiff it has for his clubs younger member become all about scoring points off you mates.
 If that is all there is then sod it "Ranting" .Robbie is right  there is no point.
 However fortunately it isn't there are still plenty of "rugged individualists" out here who will continue to do their own thing come what may.Long may it continue thus .
 so remember dudes
 The Resistance Lives On.  

Why do we do this- Part2

Why do I do this ?

I've been thinking about why I do this off and on for some years. Leaving aside the business side for a while why when I do this for a living  do I also enjoy the hobby.

To be able to make and display stuff like this is one of the main reasons I do this.

 Thinking about it  I sell toy/model soldiers to chaps who are intrested in toy/model soldiers. Most- but by no means all of thse are Wargamers and of those Wargamers only a minority are  PRIMARLY
 "GAMES  FIRST" types. Now this  attude rises sharply if the customers is a fantasy or pulp player  or indeed a skirmish gamer in most genres. There is a lot of stuff out there in "Miniatures Gaming" that while its called Wargaming is avovedly unmilitary. Such "periods" as"Old West"(to distinguish from Plains Wars) Gangsters, Pulp Fiction, many areas of Fantasy and Sci FI (though there are "military" aspects to both)- the seemingly endless number of sci-fi ish skirmish games  with "factions"  which seem to be based upon crime and fat blkes with ridiculous weapons ... .. All of thse are decidedly unmilitary. Indeed the rise of "Non -war wargaming"  has  been signifcant over the lat 20 years or so and no eyebrows were raised about its acceptance into our pantheon. Now barring past flirtations with Western Gunfights(54mm) and my occaisional interest in sci-fi(which is still pretty military)  I don't care for these" non-war wargames"simply biaecause I don't see the point other than as occaisional light relief. They are hardly "periods"  in the normal sense of having more to them than a simple repetitive game. For instance a Western Gunfight is  gunfight is a gunfight." English Civil War"   if entered into fully gives you everything from a glorified pub brawl to a full scale engagment  with all sorts of stuff in between from skirmishes to sieges. The same can be said for any huistorical period and -if done properly Fantasy and Sci-fi too  but the new generation of "boutique games"- small limited in scope and fiendishly expensive often as not simply do not cut the mustard and are not  rwally wargame in any meaningful sense.
 So that is why I DON'T do something now as to why I do.
You have to start with Military History- there is no getting around that it has to be the starting point. Of itself it is endliessly facinating and I'd still read and study it  even if there were no soldiers to play with. War is a very human activity and brings out the best and the worst in us - often at the same time.
 Henry's editorial in the most recent MW highlighted this  and opined that our harmless. hobby  simulates warfare with out hate. This is a dammend good way to put it. I'd add that it should at least some of the time make us think about warfare and itts effects upon us. Not all of are games should be lightweight fluff despite the prevailing fashion.
 However back to the Plot.
Next are the models- Honestly not sure which came first here but it was probably toy soldiers when I was about 7 or so . As I got older I wanted to know why they looked the way they did and who they really were - so THATS how the history started.
- All this while I was still at primary school .
 The wargaming came a bit later at Grammar school .
 For me its mostly about the search for knowledge rather than mere dice rolling. Once you have that knowledge you can attempt to translate what happened onto the wargames table in  a format which is
 a/. pleasing to the eye- that is the point of using models.
b/. Bear some relation - if only in the look of the thing - to a battle from the period it purports to depict.  so anything with DB in the title is out ... biggest load of gamesey  twaddle ever written  A game for Dice nerds .. Fie upon it !  Period specific rules are in.  Or at least rules that work  for a specific periodand hopefully give you a twinge of that  will o' the wisp idea- period feel  .
 c/. Again depending upon period, games can be either complex or simple or anywhere in between. "Game" is never the be all and end all but that doesn't always mean game is automatically at the bottom of the pile. but it does tend to be the least of my worries.
 This is probably becasue I prefer Umpire controlled games. Let the Umpire deal with the mere mechanics mostly I don't care which dice I roll when since I've already made the tactical or strategic decision. Also it never about mere victory- did all that in the 70s and 80s . I want something more now than simply scoring points off my mates.. Victory is nice but if its the be all and end all of your wargaming then you need to get out more .
 In the same way some people get turned off by historical information Blokes droning on about games does my head in .
"well I had to thow a 1-3 on a 19 sided dice- so I got my lucky 19 sider- the purple  one with the skulls .. drone drone drone .... ZZZZZZZZZZZ"-Get the picture !
 Its one of the reasons I don't play Fantasy- even if I like the artistry of the miniatures- and there are some superb Fantasy minis out there . I suspect that its simply that Fantasy dudes don't  seem to do jokes- at least not in my experience !  Mind you if I ever got the urge to  do fictional worlds  I'd do Fantasy perhaps with as many really really bad jokes as I could cram in .... Orcs as Geordies perhaps .... Yorkshire Dwarfs ....  Elves as Public school boys  with no chins ...  so they can look down on you ...  Trouble is after I'd done that once or twice it would pall and become repetitive in a way that real history simply doesn't- there is always more of it to learn.and therefore experiment with.
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