Welcome to the first post in ages on the Sheppard’s Crook blog. Why have I suddenly sprung into action after so many years of carefully calculated inactivity? The fundamental reason has been the uncomfortable feeling that my not-wargaming hobby is not quite as fulfilling as I had once thought and that now my attention has been turning to a whole new world of wargaming.
So what is not-wargaming, I hear you cry? (I like to imagine that someone will be reading this post, even if it is some sort of digital archaeologist working their way back from the far future to try to understand what the world of today was like). Well, put simply, it is doing everything to do with wargaming short of actually doing any gaming itself. I have the rules (I can speak pidgin Barker-ese with a smattering of Neil Thomas), I have the figures (massed ranks of 15mm pike & shot and early Dark Ages figures, leavened by unhealthy quantities of Warhammer and Oldhammer), I even have a grass green cloth that I occasionally get out and put away again.
But actually playing any games has been stymied by a lack of time driven by a fairly busy job and a family, not helped by a reluctance to commit too much effort to playing with toy soldiers when really I should be doing more grown-up things. Plus a nagging concern that my painting and creative skills are just not up to it, whatever “it” actually is. But my excuses are beginning to wear thin. Changes to working patterns post-COVID have meant I am less in the office (but still working hard, honest Boss!). I was also surprised that some of my kids left home a couple of years ago and that I hadn’t been providing taxi services for quite a while. Maybe I could actually find the time (and the commitment) to get some figures out of their various boxes, onto the table and actually see if I like wargaming (ulp!).
So the plan is simple:
- Get some figures painted to a reasonable standard as far as I am concerned (I am not competing for a “Golden Demon” or to out-drybush Artis Opus, much as I admire them both). I have plenty of figures in the lead pile (what’s all this about plastic figures?!) to be getting on with before I buy anything else (hah!).
- Dig out the rules I have in some abundance and try and use them rather just read them endlessly. DBA and DBR may have been overtaken by newer kids on the block, but I have them and plan to see how they actually work.
- Work out what sorts of games I would actually like to play. Charles Stewart Grant’s timeless classic Programmed Wargames Scenarios looks like it would be a good starting point, not least because it facilitates solo play, which is likely to be my modus operandi for the foreseeable future.
- Use this blog as a means of recording what I have done in exploring the path from ending my not-wargaming habits towards achieving wargaming transcendence (or maybe just playing some games from time to time and not worrying about it too much).
Above all the aim is to have a bit of fun, enjoy a bit of historical based gaming and try not to get too wrapped around the axle about having everything “perfect” before I actually do anything. If you are reading this, you are very welcome to join the ride and see where this goes.
See you next time!
