Where do wargamers go when they shuffle off this mortal coil?
That's a question that I won't attempt to answer. Even though I am a wargaming vicar, I will leave theology for my other blog. However, I think most of you, gentle readers, know by now that when our wargaming friends pass away, they tend to leave a lot of stuff behind.
Last Saturday I took advantage of a lovely and sunny early spring day to drive the two hours from Collingwood down to Stratford to visit Hot Lead, ably run by my friend James and his redshirted cohorts. I only had a short window of time, so it was all about saying hello to old friends, scanning the games in progress, and of course shopping.
The bring and buy was picked over and offered nothing of interest. I did buy some lovely painted scatter terrain from a local fellow named Dale Jardine (sorry, I don't have his business' name or website), including these overgrown ruins ready for fantasy games or for pulp heroes like these ones to explore:
Fallen trees and stumps! Perfect for fantasy or for my ACW gaming, where stumps around a homestead or in a second growth forest battle like The Wilderness would be common. What a clever idea!
Other than these purchases and a handful of specialty dice (including average dice, necessary for Keith Flint's Honours of War rules), there was nothing I really wanted, but then I met some fellows I know who were selling off the wargaming collections of two chaps as a kindness to their loved ones.
I wasn't interested in the figures on offer, but I was keen to stock up my rules library. Can one ever have enough Napoleonics rules?
I never did learn the Fire and Fury systems in their heyday, so I feel I should have a look at them. I've also heard good things about Shako.
Finally, I succumbed to this old school Phil Barker classic, because I love the enthusiasm of people like Barker who enjoyed a hobby before it became an industry. Coincidentally on social media today, somebody saw this photo and said he'd just received an Easter card from the Barkers, so good to know that Phil is still around.
Why does the elephant on the cover look sad? Because nobody ever borrowed this poor book! Either Templeton SS didn't even have _one_ nerd, or the nerd stole the book from the school library.
So while old wargamers may die, they sure leave a lot of stuff behind them. I admired my friends for managing these little hobby estate sales; it is an act of charity to get rid of a friend's kit and hopefully pass some money back to their widow or survivors. Buying these books seemed the right thing to do, even though it was an intimation of my own mortality.
Perhaps, as one of my friends said to me, our stuff will keep circulating in ever decreasing circles as our generation drops off, and eventually there will be only a few us left standing, at which point the last of us should agree that we will be cremated atop a giant pyre of wargames toys.
I have a friend who I've asked to be my hobby executor if I predecease him, and maybe I'll do the same for him, you never know. What plans have you made for your hobby gear when you fall of your twig?
MP+
This is quite an impressive haul of assorted rulebooks. I am surprised you have yet to meet Fire & Fury. Clearly an oversight.
ReplyDeletePost-death hobby planning...Hmm. I plan on postponing these thoughts for as long as possible although I have friends queuing up to help in the "disposal."
I'm not sure why I missed F&F. The gamers I hung around with all did Johnny Reb. But mostly at that time I had my head down with grad school, which is why my knowledge of 90s music is so spotty and why I know almost nothing about grunge.
DeleteI'm sure you have a long queue of "helpers". I had a parishioner who was a model railroad guy. When he died, his friends contacted me and discretely asked if Howard's widow needed "help". She understood "help" to mean getting rid of Howard's layout and they all trooper over. Everyone was a winner. Except maybe Howard. :)
When you look at Wargames Shows attendees, photos of game including players and other such indicators of wargamers' ages I can't but agree with a friend who said that any young wargamer who's got a reasonable circle of contacts only needs to buy a minimum of "stuff" - figues, scenery, rules, tape measures etc. He (minimal chance it's a "she") will soon have more inherited toys than he can cope with. When he dies ...........
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with this. The community is aging. The young people are just not interested. Simon.
DeleteThat would indeed be a smart strategy for "young wargamer". Hopefully he also has some friends to help him with his inherited toys.
DeleteFor a year or too I've tried to downsize my collection, but to no avail. 10mm stuff has a limited market where I live and for lots of rulebooks etc, you can't give them away at times.
ReplyDeleteSome people seem to make good money selling figures, but the ones I see listed are all well painted, based, and thought out, and not bring and buy crap.
DeleteShako II is my favourite Napoleonic rule set. However, I avoid Newberry Fast Play rules like the plague. Maybe you'll have better luck than I did.
ReplyDeleteWhen I got home I actually discovered that I have a copy of Shako 2 - doh! As for Newberry, well, I just like collecting archaic rules books because, set beside the glossy Warlord books that are 50% photos, they're just cool and charming.
DeleteOh my goodness Padre, what a post and one that has crossed my mind of late. I was just chatting with the Saintly Mrs. Awdry about the realisation that I now had more miniatures and games that I was ever going to finish and play. Now I am still hoping for another good thirty years, but given the way my butterfly brain jumps from one idea to the next the thought that these artefacts might be lost to a skip is troubling! More thought as to a hobby executer is required.
ReplyDeleteI, of course, meant executor not executer!
DeleteMichael, you're a nice fellow and I would hate to see you executed. I've come to the conclusion that there are some periods and scales that I will avoid, simply because I'm 61 and sensing that there is less runway ahead of me than there is behind me. "Get thee to the wargamer's chamber, and tell them, they may paint and paint, and yet it shall come to this".
DeleteI have been downsizing my collection for the past 4-5 years, just because of this realisation that we are all mortal. It is an aging gaming community, just looking around at UK shows reveals this. So I have sold lots of stuff including armies, whilst there is still a market for it. I do still have quite a collection left, but I am more happy about its size. It's also quite cathartic sorting out and culling items, including books. Simon J
ReplyDeleteI did a purge of my 20mm WW2 collection and gave it to a younger fellow who likes that sort of thing. It felt very good. I was at a show recently where there was a sprinkling of younger fellows, so I'm sure the hobby will continue in some form. I tell people that about church, too, and hope I'm right.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteFortunately my cause of death was revealed in a dream to be a Greg’s Steak bake and since I now live hundreds of miles away from the nearest Gregs I am presumably immortal? Anywhoo should I ever encounter one and take leave of this mortal coil I’ve no doubt my kids will just chuck my entire collection in the nearest skip and I s’pose I won’t be all that bothered since it ain’t worth much anyway….and I’ll be dead. Now if I had a massive collection of 28’s and such like, that’d be a different matter I suppose.
ReplyDeleteIt has been many years since I have held a copy of Barker's "Ancient Wargaming". I recall it being a great work for its time and one that provided much inspiration at the time.
ReplyDeleteAs to my collection I imagine my son will be tasked with some decisions around it as he is also a wargamer. He may well retain some of it, perhaps the 15mm components, though how he will store it I have no idea as his own collection is somewhat out of control!