Thats a question that could (and probably will) open up a whole can of worms for a lot of people out there!
On the surface to an outsider we are a group of people who spend far too much of our lives immersed in alternate realities and/or events of the past and not enough time living in the real world…
She who must be obeyed hates that this is my hobby, ney; my raison d’etre! She resents the space that all of my gear takes up (and she hasn’t even experienced the mountain of stuff I have in storage yet). She hates the time that it takes out of my day and resents that even when I’m not ‘doing it’ I’m spending my time thinking about it, slowly forcing her into a waking coma by caving in her eardrums banging on about ‘it’.
In truth I think that most of my girlfriends from my past have had similar feelings.
…and I couldn’t care less!
Contentious huh? Let me explain:
Roxi is probably one of the best things that has ever happened to me, providing more stability in a very stormy life than I have ever known. Every day that I get up I expect to find her kneeling down, sporting a wimpole, hands clasped together in prayer, desperate for relief! She actually does have the patience of a saint (I should probably qualify this point by highlighting the fact that based on the never ending conflicts that the Vatican state has found itself in with all manner of European powers through the ages, it seems to be very clear that Saintly patience is at best a cosmetic slap on to the deeper truths of power and greed!). I am lucky to have a partner who, even when hating what I do, more often than not leaves me in peace to attack my relentless list of self imposed deadlines without being stupid enough to get in the way of this flagellation.
There seems to be an issue of allegiance here; the Confederacy or Cymru? You decide!
When all is said and done however, history and wargaming are such an integral part of my character that if these two elements were stripped away I’m really not sure there would be much left behind that would be worth talking about (and its an obvious point that most human beings don’t think that history and wargaming are worth talking about). I think I would probably end up being defined by my job, and whilst I love what I do for work (engineering on the railways) I am a staunch egotist when I state that there is more to this book than its cover! I would always rather talk about a tank than a train!
Just having an interest in models and/or history is not enough however. Just a passing interest does not, a wargames fanatic make! I would like to submit to you, the audience, that this particular cross that needs to be carried requires an addictive personality (Roxi keeps resolutely informing me that I have ‘a problem’ and that I need to go and seek specialist help!?!?!?) and a character predisposed to forming habits…
A Great looking Great War game going Great guns!
Whatever the reasons I am now deeply obsessed with completing painting and modelling projects, spend my waking hours reading, watching, digesting anything related to pushing pointy objects into soft things that breath or else blowing things up!
One of the things that really reinforces this love of history, well for me anyway, is keeping tabs on what others in the gaming community are doing. I love seeing what other people are painting, and talking to them about it. I love getting asked questions about what I am doing and sharing how I do things. Its a remarkably satisfying thing to have this self affirming and mutually reinforcing community packed with individuals, male and female, young and old who you may never even meet, but through social networking have a modus vivendi whereby you always have a wide and deep resource of knowledge that you can tap at any hour of the day.
Nice!
But still it is not enough. If the limits of our experiences were based on what I have said then wargames would be crammed with accountants and clerks, pushing numbers around a piece of paper and congratulating themselves on a good algorithm well done! Fuck that!!!!
There are a lot of facets to a love of wargaming. The aesthetics, the statistical probabilities, the technical innovations of the eras and/or genres and of course the raw competition of pitting yourself against others, but these on their own I do not believe are enough to keep us all coming back and flaying ourselves on the altar of wannabe warfare.
No caption needed! Dougie Howser MD says it all!
So just what is is that keeps us all coming back to this?
Story…
Narrative…
The Tales of what happened…
They say that the history of warfare is the history of man. Story is, I believe, the greatest gift that the human race ever gave to itself. We know people, or as well as we can do, because of stories that are passed on down.
For me personally, story is probably the single iron rod at the core of my personality. I am obsessed with it. How to structure one, how to tell one and how to receive one. What works and what doesn’t. A 10 year career in the film industry before leaving in disgust at many of the people I had met had at its most fundamental base a love, ney an all consuming obsession, with the method by which good stories are told.
How to tell a good story digitally…
Storytelling is some of my earliest memories with my mother reading me books such as Gullivers Travels and the Three Musketeers. The Hobbit was the first book I ever read on my own when I was four and starting to write and illustrate my own stories from a year earlier.
I even piss Roxi off by refusing to turn off bad films as I feel a story that has been laboured over, no matter how bad, deserves the opportunity to finish once started.
I love EVERYTHING story related…
… and it is at this point I would like to introduce you all to House of Hengist Comics, and their secondary site Achtung Panzer!
Their titular head Mark Landymore put this group together a couple of years ago with the express purpose of telling the story of the Second World War through war gaming but by focussing on the narrative dimension of gaming as opposed to concentrating on ‘equal points’ etc etc. Largely inspired by the 40-something generation cornerstone; Commando Comics this pulp history has provided a VERY fertile garden of possible stories all surrounding the events of the Second World War.
Now THATS what Im talking about!!!!
I came across these guys when I was drowning in Polish as they had just started their magnum opus with each battle they fought highlighting a different part of the Polish campaign.
Their methodology has evolved since then with news reports being given, introductory videos to the next battle and what actually happened in history.
A photo from one of Hengist’s games with a motley rabble bulldozing their way through a checkpoint!
Its a committed process demanding of its players BUT I believe that THIS is the way forwards for wargaming if we want to keep attracting new blood to wargames market.
Every one of their videos I watch drooling about what they are doing wishing that I could be a part of it.
The videos may not be professional level quality with a lot of rough edges, but these ‘flaws’ only add to their charm.
You should all head over to their channel and start following the story of the Second World War. It will inspire you to achieve and create.
House of Hengist Battle Reports
You are, remember, only human!
P.S Pack a bayonet for personal use!
