TAKING THE PLUNGE - MY FIRST HISTORICALS

 

I was 16 years old the first time I rolled die and consulted tables as part of a Historical Wargame, prior to that a tennis ball had served as thrown "artillery" and fallen "green army men" were simply those who took a tumble while spread out across the lawn and gardens of my childhood home. Back then Games Workshop was a very different company than it is today and the path from Dungeons & Dragons to Wargaming while including the odd foray into White Dwarf was not as followed as perhaps it is now. Instead, a best friend, a supportive military and model railway loving father and the guidance of a High School History teacher or two, provided the gateway into a hobby that has remained a consistent, if not always visible, part of my life.

An ESCI plastic army of 1/72 Napoleonic French that saw me through High School, was replaced with a 15mm metal army sometime in my University years, and although I say "replaced" in truth this was the start of my own personal "lead pile". Later my armies for this period grew to be one of the biggest in my painted collection, growing to include sides for the Peninsular War and for Waterloo. However the original figures purchased with the plan of doing the army of Kleve-Berg foreshadowed my hobby future and largely to this day remain unpainted save for a single battalion that is part of my French Confederation of the Rhine Division.

This was followed by DBA Greeks and dabbling with the Prince August Moulds both which included trying to melt thick rods of plumbers solder and cast my own soldiers. On a whole these exercises were less than successful and later, in my late thirties/early forties, and as funds allowed I did finally collect 15mm Ancient Greek Hoplite armies, but 25/8mm Napoleonic has forever remained a dabble at best, and I don't foresee this ever changing.

Later ventures into WWII, the Seven Years War, Skirmish Dark Ages and the American Civil War in different scales were in equal parts inspired by the opponents I had on hand, personal whims, movies and/or book inspirations and the futile desire to "try to finish a period". Oh, and there was period when I explored "Old-hammer" but that was more a Dungeons & Dragons inspired choice than a serious attempt at raising an army.

But no matter where this hobby and my distractions took me, both my Wargaming and my Historical Wargaming adventure all started with Napoleon.