What we read as children ....

I've written several times before about those things from our childhood that might have inspired us in our hobby. The influences are many and varied. Without any doubt at all we can say that the things our parents do matter, even if they don't set out to have those influences on us. My Dad's model making mattered to me.

Similarly what we read as children matters. My parents weren't highly educated, but they understood that reading mattered, so there were always plenty of books around. As we cleared out our parents' house, and then reduced our own accumulation of 'stuff', we'd thinned out the book collections. I did keep several of my own childhood books, and this was one of them.

Looking for something to read the other evening, I grabbed this book from the shelves and read it. It was published in 1962, and this is a 1962 edition. The memories flooded back. The 'Fighting Four' were four tommies who had gone through Dunkirk, trained as commandoes, and been involved in several tight situations in that role. They are members of the LRDG operating in North Africa, and are asked to support the first SAS raid on a German airfield well behind Rommel's lines. Things don't quite go to plan, and the four are left to find their way back to British lines, taking their seriously wounded commanding officer with them. They capture an Italian fort (yes, just the four of them) kidnap an Italian doctor, get captured .. and so it goes on.

I did once also have a copy of the prequel by AR Channel, "The Fighting Four", but it must have been culled as I reduced book volumes. It was a story of a commando raid on a German heavy water plant in Norway. A little part of me wishes I'd kept it.

With books like this, and with my father's inspiring model making, it's little wonder that I became a wargamer with a deep interest in military history. I think this was an unintended consequence of their action. They were not fans of military history per se.

The book itself is a fun read, one of those inspiring reads for children. Despite its age and my years I enjoyed it. 

The power of a book

My reading material has always been reasonably eclectic. Over this last week I completed reading Les Carlyon's work 'Gallipoli', an extensive and almost lyrical piece of historical writing which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I picked up a 2010 collection of poems by NZ'er Brian Turner (some beautiful work), and began reading that, and also looked around for another 'what next'. My eyes settled on this:

It's one of the few books from my childhood that I had chosen to keep. It was a Christmas gift from my parents (oops .. I mean, from Santa, of course), and I may have been around 10 years old ('ish) when I received it. I recall reading it numerous times as a youngster, and being inspired by it every time. Opening the pages and beginning this re-reading was much like meeting up once more with a long time friend with whom you hadn't met face to face for many years.

W.E. Johns has a lot to answer for, in my case. His inspiration went on to inspire a life long interest in World War 1, especially at a time when amongst our wargames colleagues it was definitely 'persona non grata', and also a lifelong fascination with WW1 aviation. I would read endlessly about WW1 aircraft, model them in plastic, and be attracted in some way shape or form with how to how to 'game aerial combat.

My parents were reasonably pacifist in their leanings, and I have often wondered if they realised how they were indirectly responsible for my interest in military history, an unintended consequence of their thoughtful gift-giving. My father was an avid model maker, although in wood and metal, not plastic, and his work also inspired the model maker in me.

More generally I find it fascinating to ponder where our inspiration comes from for our human interests in general, and our specific military/'gaming interests specifically. Something just fires in our imagination, doesn't it. To my parents, I have much to be grateful for.

World War 2 in 20mm: A nostalgic view (4)

This is the fourth and last part of my WW2 wargames nostalgia series in which I feature the accumulated German forces. The core of this army was a collection I bought from friend Scott who had built the base of a later war German army. 

I had mentioned that little if any of this kit has been used on the table. I realised that wasn't quite true, as I have been playing a few Crossfire games using the infantry of the various nationalities. I rate Crossfire as one of the best systems I have ever played - innovative, fast paced, giving a semblance of similarity to real world action that I've not seen in any other wargames rules. That said, I'm not very good at the game .... oh well.. and of course anyone is entitled to enjoy any rules set they like. 

 

In Spearhead terms, that's a regiment of infantry, and also an armoured (Gepanzert) infantry regiment.

 The collection contains equipment for early, mid, and late, war options.

Late war armour... this stuff really has never been out on the table under my command

Scott did a lovely job of this camouflage pattern

Mid and late war kit, Pz III's and IV's, and a range of StuG's .. oops, a gun barrel is off...

Air support - an Airfix Stuka. The canopy needs some repair work there.

Early war armour, including some PzI's. In Spearhead we found close assaulting enemy infantry was a good use for them, provided there was of course no enemy armour around which took priority under the SH target priority rules

The early war equipment has seen some limited table use .. see the AAR here and here

An additional box of sundry 'bits' .. again, never seen action on the table.

I began wargaming in 1971 with good friend Pete. This whole 20mm WW2 thing began at that time, with the first Russians assembled and painted that year. It's hard to think that it's been over 50 years of hobby'ing, with all of the painting and modelling challenges, and all those games. Some have been wonderful, some less pleasant. I'd have to say that 'less pleasant' I've found to be best defined by the nature of the opponent, not the nature of the outcome of the game. I've played bad losers, and bad winners, both equally repugnant. I played an opponent in a national competition who, on losing the game to me, through an entire bag of dice across the hall and stormed out. I'll bet more than a few of us will have equivalent memories to that. The people I game with now don't fit into either of those categories. They are simply good friends whose company I enjoy as we push miniatures around ever better looking table tops, often with a beer and a sausage roll. Some games even include collaboration as we see a move the opponent could make to our detriment, and share that with them Alastair, an opponent in a game just last night, did exactly that, twice. 

I've a few years of 'gaming still in me (well that's the plan). Continuing participation in a hobby that goes back to my childhood keeps me young in mind and spirit. As a secondary school Principal I kept a selection of Matchbox die cast military vehicles on the shelves in my study. They were there to remind me daily of what it was like to be a boy, to remind me of the fun and laughter, the insecurity, and the uncertainty, of adolescence. They reminded me of the constant need for empathy when dealing with the many troubled 'teens that I worked with daily. Similarly my 20mm WW2 collections remind me of all of these things, of what it was to be a boy filled with the prospect of a life ahead. Nostalgia is great, in moderation.

Hopefully as I grow ever more curmudgeonly my friends will remain tolerant of me. We all have our failings and our foibles. It's healthier and more useful to focus on what we have in common than on what could divide us, and to practice kindness, all in the spirit of good fun .. isn't that a great formula for life?

World War 2 in 20mm: A nostalgic view (3)

 The third 20mm World War 2 army in the collection is the American. This army began life as some Airfix WW2 Infantry painted by my son Nick. He did a lovely job on them, painted for Rapid Fire I think. He moved on to ancients pretty soon after and the figures languished for a decade or more before I decided to renovate and rebase for Spearhead. There were a few vehicles in the collection, and I added to them to pad the army out to something vaguely playable using Keith's WW2 Scenario Generation System. The army is considerably smaller than the others, a function of late development and NO games to motivate completion. The army has never seen action on the table top.

The infantry, about a regiment's worth in SH terms

An American army without jeep mounted recon? Exactly ... never

An M8 armoured car hidden in the corner of the box

The armour.. bare bones for a SH army under the scenario system

Some of the support stands

The thing with American armies under SH is that their TOE's allow plenty of off table artillery in support .. why wouldn't you? If I had the motivation driven by 'gaming I'd expand/complete the army. As we say in our New Zealand slang .. 'yeah nah'.

World War 2 in 20mm: A nostalgic view (2)

This is the second of my WW2 nostalgia posts, a review of 50 years of accumulated 20mm World War 2 wargames equipment/armies. 

This time the British army, actually begun in the 1980s as a paratroop force for the WRG 2nd Edition rules, transitioned to the 'Rapid Fire' rules set, and subsequently renovated, and based, for the Spearhead rules too.

Then there was the gift from good friend Gerard Davey of figures suitable for an early war British (BEF) army for France 1940. Those figures are pretty much as Gerard painted them, just rebased for SH

BEF 1940 infantry

British 2 AT gunpdr

A BEF command stand, with piper

The ubiquitous British Vickers MMG

The late war infantry .. a battalion each of paratroops, commandos, and line infantry

Paratroops with the handy brick walls.. always carry your hard cover with you LOL They were painted and based for Arnhem games originally

Airfix commandos

Recon jeep (one of several), and airborne 75mm guns

An airborne Tetrarch tank, one of two scratch built by an old school friend in the 70's

The late war armour, Cromwells, and M10 AT support, and some Churchills

Air support - a typhoon, and one for Korea.. a Vampire (again, yes not the correct ground support tool - it should be Corsairs, Thunderbolts etc, but also .. again.. too cool not to have on the table top)

Early war armour - A13s, and Vickers Mk VI's

Airborne jeeps

Parts of the army (the early war troops) have seen some table top action, a few years ago. The late war equipment saw games in the 90's ( a few WRG 2nd Edition, and some Rapid Fire, games) but nothing since.

World War 2 in 20mm: a nostalgic view (1)

 A couple of photos I posted onto a local club Fb page last week had me thinking about the armies I have built over the years. It seemed reasonable (yes, I'm easily fooled like that) to review some of the armies I still have.. a bit of a walk down memory lane, a dose of nostalgia, if you like, certainly a little self indulgence.

I thought I'd begin pretty much where it all began: my 20mm Russian WW2 army. After a faltering start with some British in 1971, I turned to Russians. It was one of those classic wargames 'weapons creep' things. The rules we used at the time were not exactly balanced, and the players using German armies always got the biggest and best kit, it seemed. The only nationality that seemed to be able to 'foot it' with them was the Russian army. On offer at the time were the Airfix Russians, and the good old T34/76 and T34/85 kit (the double turret thing and the ability to swap them out depending on the year in which the game was set was very useful).

This is truly the nostalgia army, and when I decided to renovate/revamp the 20mm armies to play WW2 Spearhead about 10 years ago, these were the first to receive some TLC.

The infantry box... 

Here are three battalions of infantry in SH terms (each base represents a platoon). Model manufacturers have been obliging over the past 50 years and so I was able to add some infantry support weapons (and a wider range of AFVs).

A command base ..

Black Sea Fleet marines.. Brittania miniatures, I think?

A 76mm infantry support gun stand (remembering that this represents 3-5 guns)

The first of the heavy armour (KV1s), and other support weapons, including Su76s, an SU85, an SU100 and a JSU152 (all Airfix conversions).

I decided I wanted to be able to use heavier amour and systems in a speculative 'cold war gone hot' situation, and also tackle some Korean War scenarios, so a little post war air support (yes I know, the Mig 17 wasn't a ground attack aircraft, but it looks cool). I have three T54/55's sitting in kit form yet to be assembled, for this project. Maybe I should get onto that, if for no other reason than completeness?

In SH games, I never leave home without AA

BA64 armoured car for recon..

The main box of armour

An American M5 Stewart .. lendlease. I can't recall the kit that gave me the running gear, but the hull and turret were scratch built.. one of those great Airfix Mag Chris Ellis projects. I couldn't get the colour saturation right in this photo .. it's actually an overall khaki colour)

A JS1 based on the old Airfix JS3 hull, with a scratchbuilt turret. Not sure how accurate it was/is

A couple of lendlease M3Grants

A scratch built BT7, built in the days before you could buy kits. The road wheels are from a T34 kit, and hull and turret completely scratch built (again, a Chris Ellis Airfix Mag project). I recall that hull front being challenging to make.

One point of these first few posts is that having renovated these 20mm armies, I basically never play Spearhead with 20mm  models. I rarely play Spearhead at all at the. moment, just the way it rolls. There will be plenty to come, of course. But these 20mm armies don't quite work for Spearhead. All troops should be based on 1.25" square baes. The base size is important as it reflects appropriate troop densities on the battlefield. AFV's in 20mm are of course too large, meaning that the models take up to much table space. basically the models don't therefore reflect the appropriate troop densities. Not an impossible obstacle of course, but one to bear in mind.

I'm not hopeful of this 'kit' ever getting onto the table again, but.. you never know.