A place where Ancient Ancient armies can peacefully retire to...
Possibly.
Oh, and some pulp. A few things on 6mm SciFi tanks and stuff. And the toy soldiers. Especially the War of 1897... And now I seem to be starting on 20mm Napoleonics as well!
email GarrisonMiniatures@gmail.com
Assyrian army
Monday, 14 May 2018
Airfix Ancient Wargaming Guide
You know how it goes, you lend someone a book, never get it back. Lent out my Airfix Ancient Wargaming Guide back in the late 70s, thought, well, one on ebay might as well get it.
I think that's called nostalgia or something. Still nice though.
Already had the rules anyway - started with the 'new' 3rd Edition - would have been 2nd but I was told to wait a bit as 3rd were due. 1975 would be 4th or (possibly?) 5th Edition.
Glad to see you reunited with such an old friend as thi one. Still on the shelves,still have a read of it from time to time. Always enjoy the chapter about the origin of the W R G rules.
There were a lot of stories about the origin of the rules. It's a bit scary - they were basically designed for the National Championships which started in 66. 8 years later I was on the organising body of the North East Region (umpired one of Peter Gilder's games)- couple of years after that Regional Organiser in the North West - so apart from everything else I did get to hear a lot of the stories...
The whole series is still relevant and a great read. Yes the images are dated but that is part of their charm.My ears picked up when you mentioned that you umpired the great PG.That would be a really interesting piece to put on my Gilder archive. I imagine he was a bit of a bugger to keep in check.
Yeah... Right. Main memory of that battle was his opponent ordering camels to go over a steep hill. Gilder pointed out that camels couldn't go over steep hills so his opponent was forced to dismount and walk... Can't even remember what army he was using that year - usually used Sasanids but it mmight have been the time he used Welsh.
Regarding Peter Gilder himself, lots of stories about how he would help anyone with anything but... he liked praise. One day I said 'you know, Peter, I think if you made the arms of some of your figures shorter you would be the best designer in the country.' He took that as an insult and never spoke to me again. In fact, one time I was talking to a couple of people, he barged me out of the way and butted in... so, think a bit of a Donald Trump personality.
I think the to remember is that it was a new hobby back then - most active people knew everyone in the local area. So I knew everyone in the North quite well. I didn't know any of the Southern wargamers really - except from the Nationals or Northern Militaire. I'd had a number of conversations over a few years with Donald Featherstone before I found out who he was! He was just a nice gent in a suit who basically spoke to just about everyone. Likewise, George Gush - number of conversations, hadn't a clue who he was until I saw his picture in Slingshot! Haven't the faintest idea who else I 'knew' in those days without realising it!
I still pull my copy out now and then. Some of the advice is still sound but mostly its nostalgia.
It was bit surrealistic for a young lad from the Colonies when I wandered into the wargames tent at Aldershot during some event back in ...74? and suddenly realized that I was watching these (to me) famous authors whose books I had read and looking at the actual figures that had I had seen in illustrations! Phil Barker, Peter Gilder etc. Not sure it had really occurred to me then that they were real people.
My problem(?) is that I knew them all before I realised I was supposed to be in awe of them. Actually my last competitive game was against Phil. I won. Nice thing about it - my son was watching... we were at that tournament for him, not me - it was Sue Barker who insisted I took part as well.
I got to play vs them both a few years later when they were visiting NA, managed to beat them both using the just released 5th ed. I still keep my autographed copy of the new rules as a souvenir of my wrg days.
Never played against Sue, head to head against Phil I think he's 2-1 up against me if you include me actually getting killed by a bear he controlled. May have played against him more than this - simply can't remember!
Thank you for this post, it made me dig out the book and and read, and thoroughly enjoy, it again. What shone through is Phil Barker's dedication to research and to using original sources, and emphasis on historical accuracy. Of course only one rule set was countenanced, and "you may well find features in them that you do not agree with, but this in turn may be because we have access to information that you have not got". That's us told, then! ( of course, he was probably right ). Happy days; now I'm going to read Bruce Quarrie's little red Napoloenics book too.
So long as the one you bought didn't have your name in it. It is a good book though.
ReplyDeleteMust check that...
DeleteA classic ! , I was annoyed at the time I got it (40years ago?) that it didn't have thea rules in it .
ReplyDeleteAlready had the rules anyway - started with the 'new' 3rd Edition - would have been 2nd but I was told to wait a bit as 3rd were due. 1975 would be 4th or (possibly?) 5th Edition.
DeleteBeen there; done that! AW is a classic.
ReplyDeleteReally several classics considering how much of it is from other books?
DeleteGlad to see you reunited with such an old friend as thi one. Still on the shelves,still have a read of it from time to time. Always enjoy the chapter about the origin of the W R G rules.
ReplyDeleteThere were a lot of stories about the origin of the rules. It's a bit scary - they were basically designed for the National Championships which started in 66. 8 years later I was on the organising body of the North East Region (umpired one of Peter Gilder's games)- couple of years after that Regional Organiser in the North West - so apart from everything else I did get to hear a lot of the stories...
DeleteThe whole series is still relevant and a great read. Yes the images are dated but that is part of their charm.My ears picked up when you mentioned that you umpired the great PG.That would be a really interesting piece to put on my Gilder archive. I imagine he was a bit of a bugger to keep in check.
ReplyDeleteYeah... Right. Main memory of that battle was his opponent ordering camels to go over a steep hill. Gilder pointed out that camels couldn't go over steep hills so his opponent was forced to dismount and walk... Can't even remember what army he was using that year - usually used Sasanids but it mmight have been the time he used Welsh.
DeleteRegarding Peter Gilder himself, lots of stories about how he would help anyone with anything but... he liked praise. One day I said 'you know, Peter, I think if you made the arms of some of your figures shorter you would be the best designer in the country.' He took that as an insult and never spoke to me again. In fact, one time I was talking to a couple of people, he barged me out of the way and butted in... so, think a bit of a Donald Trump personality.
I think the to remember is that it was a new hobby back then - most active people knew everyone in the local area. So I knew everyone in the North quite well. I didn't know any of the Southern wargamers really - except from the Nationals or Northern Militaire. I'd had a number of conversations over a few years with Donald Featherstone before I found out who he was! He was just a nice gent in a suit who basically spoke to just about everyone. Likewise, George Gush - number of conversations, hadn't a clue who he was until I saw his picture in Slingshot! Haven't the faintest idea who else I 'knew' in those days without realising it!
DeleteI still pull my copy out now and then. Some of the advice is still sound but mostly its nostalgia.
ReplyDeleteIt was bit surrealistic for a young lad from the Colonies when I wandered into the wargames tent at Aldershot during some event back in ...74? and suddenly realized that I was watching these (to me) famous authors whose books I had read and looking at the actual figures that had I had seen in illustrations! Phil Barker, Peter Gilder etc. Not sure it had really occurred to me then that they were real people.
My problem(?) is that I knew them all before I realised I was supposed to be in awe of them. Actually my last competitive game was against Phil. I won. Nice thing about it - my son was watching... we were at that tournament for him, not me - it was Sue Barker who insisted I took part as well.
DeleteI got to play vs them both a few years later when they were visiting NA, managed to beat them both using the just released 5th ed. I still keep my autographed copy of the new rules as a souvenir of my wrg days.
DeleteNever played against Sue, head to head against Phil I think he's 2-1 up against me if you include me actually getting killed by a bear he controlled. May have played against him more than this - simply can't remember!
DeleteThank you for this post, it made me dig out the book and and read, and thoroughly enjoy, it again. What shone through is Phil Barker's dedication to research and to using original sources, and emphasis on historical accuracy. Of course only one rule set was countenanced, and "you may well find features in them that you do not agree with, but this in turn may be because we have access to information that you have not got". That's us told, then! ( of course, he was probably right ). Happy days; now I'm going to read Bruce Quarrie's little red Napoloenics book too.
ReplyDeleteIt was a given that you were never going to change Phil's mind once he'd decided on something.
Delete