Three Things that have significantly impacted your wargaming

[Sunray]

I am going to show my age here: 

Three things/people that impacted my wargaming :


1. Airfix H0&00 plastic figures at 2/- a box. (1960s prices at Woolworths). Without them, I would never have started.

2. My cousin James, who arrived one Saturday in 1966(?) with a ruler, dice, and a hand written set of Charles Grant rules. On that Saturday, I stopped playing
    with toy soldiers, and began wargaming.

3. The late Dr Paddy Griffith.  He established wargames as a serious adult pastime.  I still treasure my copies of the Nugget. 

[T13A]

Hi

1. Same as Sunray above.

2. In 1967 seeing a copy of Young and Lawford's 'Charge! Or How to Play Wargames' in a display case in Hamleys in London and having to wait for about six months until father Christmas brought me a copy (actually I was twelve then)!

3. 1967-68 ish coming across a copy of (I think) Meccano Magazine in my school library which had an article on wargame rules for WWII.

If I was allowed a fourth it would be coming across Bruce Catton's 'Golden Book of the Civil War' an accompanying volume to his 3 volume centennial history of the civil war aimed at younger people, while I was still at primary school. I came across it in my local library in Fulham and it had (and has, my own copy is sitting on the shelves downstairs) the most marvelous pictures/maps of most of the civil war battles, something I have been trying to recreate in my wargames ever since.

Cheers Paul

[Techno]

Changing from enamels to acrylics.

Working for the Evil Empire.

The huge help I get from forum members, AND the internet.

(Right...If Paul can sneak a fourth in.... ....I'll have.......Green stuff & Dental tools.)

Cheers - Phil

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

The huge help I get from forum members,

Thought it was the sworn mission to hinder you !

[Womble67]

Airfix models got me into the Hobby

But wasn't until my early 30s that i discovered Grimsby Wargames Society and I've never looked back since

Changing from enamels to acrylics, I still prefer enamels

And the internet is a double edged sword, brilliant for research, but so easy to get distracted and flit from one thing to the other and before you've noticed you've wasted a few hours

Take care

Andy

[Sunray]

Its no surprise that Airfix H0&00 impacted an entire generation of wargamers.  I often wonder who made the decision at Airfix to make soldiers- the first sets were Civilians (1960) aimed at the model railway buffs.  And possibly the Guards Band & Colour Party as a scenic backdrop.  The real soldiers came with 8th Army (1962) - was it to allow modellers to build little dioramas around the tanks ?  If so the early scale was a bit off as the tanks were 1/76 and the accurate HO&00 was 1/87. 

The dichotomy in scale did not stop Airfix releasing box sets like Stalingrad.  Later Airfix like 8th Army (second type, 1974) were sculpted nearer to 1/76. 

But we did not worry about details like scale or uniforms too much in the 1960s. 

[Steve J]

1/72 & 1/76 figures and tanks etc were freely mixed together as we gamed across bedroom floors, the garden and the drive way, depending upon the weather. Happy days!

[Sunray]

1/72 & 1/76 figures and tanks etc were freely mixed together as we gamed across bedroom floors, the garden and the drive way, depending upon the weather. Happy days!

Indeed, I have even heard that French Foreign Legion were pushed into proxy service as ACW Zouaves  !  Disgraceful ! 

Now I get asked if 37 or 44 web on a 10mm figure will pass as 58 pattern to the naked eye.

[FierceKitty]

1) Leaving my collection behind in the care of a "friend" when I had to move in a hurry, and never hearing from the sub-human again.
2) Endless experience, and a readiness on my part and of my advisers and gaming buddies to make changes as a result thereof.
3) And 10mm, after trying most other scales.

[d_Guy]

1) Rules. Prior to rules things were a bit chaotic. Implausable events often occurred but the dialog accompanying those events was very exciting, particularly when playing solo. Generally a game consisted of a single move that encompassed everything at once.

2) Miniature Figures. Because of their colorful nature and the ease of collecting many of the same type and logo, building armies using bottle caps was simple and only the purist felt any need to paint them. I had a slightly rusted, Canada Dry bottle cap which played the part of Napoleon in several games. He is still in a drawer somewhere.

3) Dice. The first rules used various types of auguries for resolution of events, flights of birds, the cries of a wild loon, that sort of thing.
I preferred the casting of dried chicken bones which, to the skilled, offered finely nuanced outcomes. The interpretation could sometimes take hours (even days) which would often slow things down or end the game altogether. The advent of dice has reduced the number of blood feuds but I am nostalgic for a well cast thigh bone occluding a femor.

[Ithoriel]

I am now imagining a rule set where combat resolution is done by the casting of bones in the manner of a game of "Pass the Pigs."

"Alas! Hammurabi has cast "Makin' Bacon" causing his death and the rout of his army."

[FierceKitty]

I am now imagining a rule set where combat resolution is done by the casting of bones in the manner of a game of "Pass the Pigs."

"Alas! Hammurabi has cast "Makin' Bacon" causing his death and the rout of his army."

I remember but have never played that one. Was it any good, or just a "beer and pretzels" novelty?

[Ithoriel]

"Pass the Pigs" is a hoot.

Ideal as a game to play with kids, as an end of evening game for a gaming session or as a casual game for friends who "aren't really into gaming."

It's basically a game of knowing when to stop and when to push your luck.

The final positions of the pigs determines your score, if any. Keep rolling if you dare. The wrong roll ends your turn and loses you the points scored that round. If the pigs touch they are "makin' bacon" and your score is zeroed.

Plus it's a game where you roll small plastic pigs instead of dice ... what's not to like

[Orcs]

"Pass the Pigs" is a hoot.

Ideal as a game to play with kids, as an end of evening game for a gaming session or as a casual game for friends who "aren't really into gaming."

It's basically a game of knowing when to stop and when to push your luck.

The final positions of the pigs determines your score, if any. Keep rolling if you dare. The wrong roll ends your turn and loses you the points scored that round. If the pigs touch they are "makin' bacon" and your score is zeroed.

Plus it's a game where you roll small plastic pigs instead of dice ... what's not to like

There is now a "Pass the big Pigs" version, with - you've guessed it BIG PIGS!

My kids all love it, even though they are not kids any more