Late (so very late) to the Party; a “Brief” Autobiography, and a few additional Comments

Hal Thinglum, the Editor of MWAN (Midwest Wargamer’s Association Newsletter), was kind enough to accept and publish a short autobiographical submission written by this amateur practitioner of the hobby in the March/April 2001 issue of his publication. Initially, I thought I would revisit and revise this memoir, believing that it would serve as an excellent introduction as well as a kind of bridge between that particular point in my history and now. (This paragraph is being typed on November 27, 2020. I have no idea when or even if it will be posted, as I continue to debate the merits and drawbacks of establishing a blog dedicated to my solo wargaming activities and pursuits.) Without further ado then, I would like to present a transcription of “Looking Back and Looking Forward - A Wargamer’s Story.” This is a typed copy of the article as it appeared in print. I have resisted the urge to correct the actual (so very many, to my chagrin) as well as perceived grammatical and mechanical errors. I have also resisted the temptation to polish the piece. It is my hope that, even with its numerous errors and “warts,” it will serve its intended purpose. 

Looking Back and Looking Forward - 

A Wargamer’s Story

I was eight or nine years old when I asked Santa Claus for the Marx Alamo Fort for Christmas. Marx also produced a Civil War play set, a Revolutionary War set and a Fort Apache, if memory serves. By the age of 10, I had each one and would often set up “monster” battles with a grade school friend. Back then, I had no concept and certainly no idea of organized wargaming. Apparently, I had no concept of history either, for Redcoats would be allied with Confederates and Indians, and then pitted against Union and Mexican Infantry, with a few Continentals thrown in simply because they all were a similar shade of blue. The play-battle, the play . . . these were the most important. 

In my teen years, I was introduced to “organized” wargaming. I place quotation marks around the work organized, as this introduction was by means of a mini-course offered during four weeks of the summer between seventh and eight grade. There were about ten in the group, and we fought WWII battles under the tutelage of a high school student who had a large collection of 1/76th scale tanks, armored cars and other equipment. (Anybody remember the old Anzio Beach boxed play set with bunkers, tank barricades and molded bomb craters? How about those boxes of Airfix WWII soldiers that retailed for $1.25 a box?) Here too, play-battle and play were paramount. However, we were old enough to have some understanding and appreciation of history and military history. Jim was the name of the guy who owned all the models and figures. He was our umpire/wargaming “mentor”. Thinking back on this introduction to wargaming, I can recall fighting battles in Africa, on the steppes of Russia, and even on the beaches of Normandy. At the end of the course, Jim gave everyone a small certificate of attendance. On the paper, we received a military rank based on our performance in the wargames that were waged. Even with the substantial losses I suffered leading paratroopers at Normandy, I was “commissioned” a Colonel for my tactical aptitude. The group had a good laugh when our one friend was given the “rank” of Cook. I have long since lost track of these individuals. As I type this, I wonder if the interest in ‘res militaria’ stayed with them throughout the years. The interest has, obviously enough, stayed with me. 

That interest is the focus of this particular piece. In contrast to other efforts of mine that have appeared in the pages of MWAN, I thought I would take a little break from the usual wargame report or odd piece wherein I consider recreating the effects of small arms and artillery fire. As with my most recent efforts, the inspiration (or if that’s too strong a word, then let’s substitute “direction”) for this article stems from a conversation with Hal. 

He called to thank me for my latest submission and complimented me on the content and style of the work. This was more than flattering, but when an invitation was extended to wargame with the Editor and Publisher of MWAN, I was quite taken aback. Lest the general reader be tempted to label me a sycophant for the above remarks, it’s not every day that I get a call from a “personality” of the hobby. Anyhow, for a couple of days afterward, I thought about the conversation and the topics we discussed. The idea was then “born” that it might prove interesting and enjoyable to draft a personal history of my exposure to, involvement in, and future with the hobby of wargaming. 

To continue.

From the plastic models of WWII, my interest “graduated” to the plastic figures of Airfix Napoleonics. At a local hobby story, I happened upon Dick Zimmerman’s Wargamer’s Handbook. In the magazine rack of the same story, I discovered issues of Wargamer’s Digest (anyone remember that great periodical by Gene McCoy?) As well as some issues of Battle (now out of print), a wargames magazine published in England. At a different hobby shop, I found the premiere issue of The Courier. The date of this issue is June-July 1979. And the rest, if you’ll pardon the pun, is history. 

By simple math, this means that I have been wargaming for 21 years. One might think then, that I would have a significant collection of wargaming miniatures and related material. Well, I do not. In fact, the sum of 21 years involvement with the hobby is a bit misleading. This is because I am an inconsistent wargamer. 

By “inconsistent”, I don’t only mean to relate that I lose as often as I win in wargames, (I’ve actually lost rather more than I’ve been victorious in games) but that I haven’t been able to consistently dedicate myself to the hobby. Albeit, in “researching” this piece, I had the enjoyable experience of going back over the literature and books and such that I’ve amassed over these 20-odd years. I’ve also enjoyed the trip down memory (even now, I am recalling the battles set up on my bedroom floor . . . carpet rolled up out of the way; chair set on the desk so that there was even more space; cream-colored plastic figures glued to cardboard trays following converted standard bearers; primitive terrain by any standard; wooden rulers and six-sided dice; and working my way around a set of wargame rules with an older brother, or on that rare occasion, my father.) I certainly do not have every copy of The Courier since that premier issue. Nor do I have every issue of Miniature Wargames, Wargames Illustrated, or of MWAN. My “collection” starts with Issue 3, Issue 1 and Number 49, respectively. To be certain, the numbers do not run in consecutive order. And to be certain, I am rather upset with myself for having sold or otherwise “lost” my meager collection of Wargamer’s Digest and Battle magazines. I could not begin to remember what happened to the Marx play sets, nor to my rather large collection of Airfix Napoleonic figures. Seeing advertisements for re-created or reproduced sets today, produces mixed feelings of nostalgia and incredulity: the prices are shocking!

My high school and college years were relatively uneventful with respect to wargaming pursuits. However, I did keep “in touch” with the progress of the hobby via the aforementioned magazines. Early on in my secondary education, I do recall getting together with a group of friends and attempting a re-fight of Austerlitz at a local community house.By the standards of today, especially as set in the British periodicals, this reconstruction was very primitive indeed. However, I’ll return to a central point at the risk of redundancy: the purpose was the game, the play, the “fun” produced from leading, for example, Bagration’s rear guard against Lannes’ Corps; all the while hoping that the outcome of the battle in the center did not result in a flank being exposed. 

Shortly after this effort, interest in academics, sports, and the opposite sex became more important. I also recall playing in a game of Dungeons & Dragons or two during Hugh school.I never did stray far from my main area of interest though, as there were a number of separate games generated where Orcs and other “nasties” faced Dwarves and men-at-arms across a roughly terrained field. 

In college, the concentration was most assuredly on academics, pretty much to the exclusion of all else. During semester breaks and Summers I did try to keep abreast of waht was going on in the hobby. I think I may have even attended a Little Wars Convention, but I cannot recall fro certain. (I did admit to being inconsistent.) However, where and when I could during college, I geared my studies toward history and in particular, military history. In my junior year, I typed a lengthy paper on The Battle of Metaurus, 207 B.C. Granted permission to work on a separate special project in my senior year, I spent a few months in a downtown Chicago library, researching the evolution of the U.S. Army Medical Corps between the World Wars. 

During the Fall after my graduation, I was fortunate enough to travel to Europe. My school had an exchange program with it’s sister college in York, England, and I was able to reunite with a couple of friends made in upper-level history classes. The majority of the trip was spent taking in the history of England and the Continent. For a recent graduate with a major in history, I was amazed at how much I did not know. 

Searching out at least comfortable if not familiar ground, I sought out sights and places of a martial history. In England, I walked along the ruins of Hadrian’s Wall on a cool, overcast day. On the more remote sections, I stopped and looked out over the pastures and lapsed into imagining what it must have been like to be a Roman foot soldier in 136 A.D. or so. Passing through London proper, I was exhausted by the number of museums dedicated to the nation’s military past. Then, prior to crossing The Channel, I spent some time in and around Hastings. 

On the Continent, my itinerary was not so guided by military interests as it was by recommendations from fellow travelers, a degree of spontaneity, and requests for souvenirs and snap shots from family and friends. However, I did visit two significant historical sights - these being separated by some 130 years of time. Caen and the Normandy Beaches were toured. By happenstance (poor planning on my part) I had the fortune (?) of walking long miles in a rain storm from Pointe du Hoc to a local village. Again, I let my imagination wander and thought of what it must have been like to negotiate this same road some 45 years before. 

I spent an entire day in and around Waterloo. The Lion’s Mound was unexpected and a bit of a disappointment in that it mars a relatively untouched battlefield. And yet, I spent a wonderful couple of hours alone at the top of the mound, looking out over the green farm land while a chilly drizzle fell. Even as I type this, I can recall the grey of the sky, the breeze and the quiet over a field that was once a veritable storm of noise, movement, color and smoke. I can also remember visiting the large, circular mural and other small museums on the site . . . the late, light lunch enjoyed in “downtown” La Belle Alliance. 

Some six weeks later - a little poorer, perhaps a little wiser and maybe even a little more knowledgeable in matters of history - I returned to my home state of Illinois. And then, having settled into the routine that some of us - more cynical than the rest - would call “the rat race”, I resumed my pursuit of the hobby. Here again, I was inconsistent, dabbling in this period and that, but never fully deciding on one main conflict. Furthermore, due largely to cost and a complete lack of talent with respect to painting and constructing terrain, I stayed away from lead. 

In mid-1991, I began to draft a set of home-grown rules for the Horse and Musket Period. More specifically, these were written with Napoleonics in mind. After a yea of intermittent work, I had some 60 pages of rules, charts, formations tables, and schematics. There was even a section detailing the effects of weather!

Only after a couple of hard revisions were the rules forwarded to Hal for consideration and possible publication. Unfortunately, due primarily to length (still holding at some 60 pages), the rules were turned down. It was a bit disappointing, sure, but it also was a learning experience. In 1993, I directed my efforts to “smaller” topics, more often finding material or ideas based on the articles of other MWAN readers. The result: my first article in MWAN 65, “A Question of Scale, Another of Representation”. In MWAN 76, I presented the first of several wargame narratives / reports. These pieces are as enjoyable to write as they are to game. They are also perhaps the easiest to complete, for the narrative almost types itself. 

A “falling out” over editorial content then occurred, and my wargaming interests turned to other pursuits and publications. I began to experiment with solo-wargaming, solo campaigns, command and control issues, and play-by-mail campaigns. In the one campaign, fellow MWAN reader Bill Widrick was kind enough to participate. This was a learning experience for all parties. (Bill and I have kept in touch since the conclusion of the postal campaign. Bill was victorious by the way, though he did get a “bloody nose” on a couple of occasions.) Following this small personal success, Lone Warrior (North American edition) was kind enough to publish my material on a fictional ECW campaign. And then The Courier agreed to publish my research and wargame report on the Battle of Cannae. 

But I digress. It’s not my intention to point to nor list the articles that have been published in this newsletter or elsewhere. That would be self-serving. The title of this present piece suggests however, that I’m reviewing the history of my involvement in this hobby. The articles and reports do constitute a significant part of this history. 

What is my intention then? What is the point or theme of this piece?

As stated previously, the intention or point is just this: that it might prove interesting and enjoyable to draft a personal history of my exposure to, involvement in, and future with the hobby of wargaming. Thus far, I have covered my exposure to and history in the hobby. The involvement, as evident by this piece, continues to this very day. The present concentration of effort is on solo-wargaming, primarily in the Horse and Musket periods. In fact, to my left and right on this desk/table sit the reference materials and notes that I shall be using to adapt the Fire and Fury rules to Revolutionary War wargames. With the Holidays coming on - too rapidly for my taste - this project probably won’t see a first draft until well into January. 

Excepting this notion, I cannot say what the future holds for me with respect to the hobby. Remembering the fun I had gaming with WWII tanks and infantry has me thinking about a reunion of sorts with this period. The adverts for 15mm and 20mm scale vehicles and figures are very attractive. Having utilized Arty Conliffe’s rules for Ancients, ECW and most recently, Napoleonics, I will be taking a close look at his rules for WWII if I do decide to go forward with starting a collection. And yet, reviewing the Fire and Fury rules has me thinking about organizing a solo re-fight of Gettysburg. 

From AWI to WWII, and then to ACW. It seems that indecisive would be a better “title” than inconsistent. If there is any decisiveness or consistency, it would seem to stem from an interest I have in researching and recreating historical battles. First, there was Cannae. Then came Quatre Bras. Now, there is an interest in setting up Gettysburg. Dare I mention that an issue of Wargames Illustrated has an article about adapting Fire and Fury to battles of The Crimean War? Dare I admit that a recreation of the Battle of Alma might find its way onto my wargames “table”?

This is a relatively new development however, the reconstruction of historical battles. If someone would have told me five years ago that this is what I would be doing in the hobby, I probably would have given him/her a doubting look. As for five years from now, I will not even hazard a guess. 

As Tim Hallam of Two Dragons Productions surmises in his convention report in Wargames Illustrated 156 on Roll Call at Kettering (June 10-11, 2000), “Gamers come in all sorts of types and sizes. The strength of our hobby is, in a world of ever narrowing and exclusive areas, we have a fairly broad church.” (56)

Speaking as an inconsistent wargamer with an athletic build, I agree completely and heartily. I’m very content being a member of this particular church. 

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A Few Additional Comments

At the risk of offending the reader (especially those hardy souls who have made it this far), I would contend that the religious analogy still applies. I believe that Tim’s remarks are still valid. The hobby is practiced around the world. At the risk of simplifying and again, offending, there are those who might be called zealots; there are those who prefer to “worship” with others who have similar interests and interpretations, and there are those wargamers who pursue a more personal route. They are content to read, study, perhaps write, paint, model terrain and “play at war” all by themselves, against themselves. 

My “catalog” of “work” has grown substantially since this memoir in dire need of proofreading and revision was published in the May/April 2001 issue of MWAN. As of February 21, 2021, I have had the good fortune of seeing 132 of my articles, reports, and other pieces like book reviews appear in various journals and magazines catering to as well as promoting this hobby. At some point, once I become more comfortable with blogging, I might post a form of the aforementioned “catalog.”  

   

The passage of time, as is often the case, has impacted what once was an athletic build. Looking back on two decades of activity and participation in this wonderful hobby, I am not so sure that the label “inconsistent” still applies, is still valid. Since 2015, I have been focused on Ancients to the exclusion of any other period of military conflict. For a number of years, I consistently produced material for the premiere publication covering that very long span of history. Even though I no longer write for that particular journal, I remain committed to and very much interested in the study of conflict between 3000 BC (or BCE) and 1500 AD (or CE). 

At the acknowledged risk of getting way ahead of myself, I think it would be very interesting to look back on my wargaming activities and projects after 20 more years have been entered into the historical record. Let’s see, two decades from this present time (early December of 2020, though this will not be posted until a later date or published at all) advance the calendar to the year 2040, give or take several months. It occurs to me that in 2040, I will be approximately the same age as Parmenio was when he met his untimely and terrible end after serving Philip and Alexander for so many years, after serving in so many battles and campaigns.