Secret projects. We all love them. I mentioned that I had two in my 2022 plan, if approved by the Ministry of Finance. I am pleased to announce that Secret Project Number One is a go. The project I am referring to is getting back to my gaming roots. Though I have really enjoyed the projects and armies I have done over the last 6 years there has been a nagging feel by Derek and the Dominoes just started on my playlist. Nothing like great music to write, paint and game by!)
Once upon a time, there was a boy whose father gave him a copy of A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs and I was forever hooked. I traveled to Barsoom, and then Pellucidar and then the Hyberion Age with a certain famous barbarian who would be king.
It wasn't long after that I was in Lost Worlds, traveling with Lord Greystoke and fighting evil with The Shadow. About the same time I discovered 1/72 scale Airfix plastic figures and a company called Avalon Hill. My father bought me my first board game, Stellar Conquest and I bought my second - Panzer Blitz. Not bad for someone who was 11 . . . and the rest they say is history.
We were making up our own rules and I bought a book called Wargaming for Beginners. Then I discovered Bruce Quarrie's Airfix gaming guide, that eventually became Napoleon's Campaigns in Miniature that got be hooked on real wargaming with toy soldiers when I was a teenager.
Its funny I was talking about Bruce Quarrie last night with my long suffering wargames opponent.I l have always loved the actual book which was packed with information but the rules....... I know it was a time when we were attempting to prove to the general public that we werent playing with toy soldiers but were serious military historians but the rules were ridiculously complex and a bit silly. Still we needed to learn.
ReplyDeleteIt was a good start and I still like some of the concepts. I prefer the playability versus over realistic these days. Still loved the ruled though.
DeleteNeil
Since we seem to have had a very similar wargaming trajectory, we likely are very close in age.
ReplyDeleteJonathan I think you are right!
DeleteNeil
The Zimmerman books! Did you see the ads on Gene McCoy’s “Wargames Digest”? That’s where I ordered mine. The Revolutionary wars rules and ancient ones were pretty good.
ReplyDeleteLike you my start was Airfix sets and Giant toys bought at grocery stores and pharmacies.
What a small world! That is exactly where I ordered my copies of the Zimmerman books!
DeleteNeil
Me too! I got Gygax’s Tricolor from WD as well. Maybe Tractics too?
DeleteI guess Zimmermann must be an American author - I have not heard of him! I recognise the packet of Airfix figures and the Bruce Quarrie book though - I agree with the sentiment IWG above too - the concepts etc were unnecessarily complicated and nit picking in my opinion! Re your secret project - coincidentally (or perhaps not) at the bottom of my screen RIGHT NOW is an advert for a local online supplier showing boxes of Warlord Epic Battles Waterloo Campaign.....!!
ReplyDeleteThat he was. His rules were published in the mid seventies. How about that coincidence?
DeleteNeil