Saturday, March 7, 2015

Portrait of the author as a young Wargamer



Kid pictures are, of course, the last refuge of the scoundrel.  I count Medieval Lego men, Prince August homecasts and possibly some Britains knights in there somewhere.  The siege tower is long gone, handed on to younger cousins, but the fort remains on top of the shelf in the War Room. 

Seems silly really, how at the ripe old age of seven or eight, I cracked the complexities of siege games - something which has resolutely eluded me nearly thirty years on.  A testament to the virtues of simplicity I suppose. 

20 comments:

  1. It may be 'rose tinted spectacles' but some of my earliest wargaming experiences seemed the best , Tony

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    1. INTO my heart an air that kills
      From yon far country blows:
      What are those blue remembered hills,
      What spires, what farms are those?

      That is the land of lost content,
      I see it shining plain,
      The happy highways where I went
      And cannot come again.

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  2. A most excellent photograph of the Young Kinch! Thank you for sharing it.

    Best Regards,

    Stokes

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  3. Two blogs in a short time that leads me to nostagia for the past - as I've just said on Uwe's blog 'One of my regrets is that I was never a camera person so I have literally no photos of my 'active' wargaming days in the 70's. Some photos of early Northern Militaires, for example, would be really great to have...'

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    1. Me too. There is a huge swathe of my gaming career that is basically unrecorded.

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  4. Great picture, reminds me of my Airfix Waterloo battle set :-)

    Ian

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  5. You're absolutely right, siege games were bread-and-butter everyday affairs in those days, no bother at all.

    I think the hybrid medieval/wild west fortification design helped, along with a pragmatic disregard for anachronism in historical costume.

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  6. Never happier than when we were like that. As an ex-child m'self, a father, and a grandfather, I attest to the fact that only then do we lose ourselves in our little toy-soldier filled Edens.

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    1. I hope to do a little more of it come summer.

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  7. Oh, such a cute pic! Looks like you managed the siege art quite well at the age :)

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  8. Ah Lego men, if only we'd had those when I was a child I'd have cracked sieges too! I have to say that you do look like you have a cunning plan in that photo...

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    1. A plan so cunning you put a tail on it and call it a fox.

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  9. Perhaps if you broke out the original fort and figures?

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  10. What a wonderful picture and memory for you! Thanks for posting!

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  11. Lovely photo, you look very happy :-)

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