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Monday, 3 January 2022

"War games on the kitchen table"

 I dug this newpaper cutting out of one of my boxes of old gaming memorabilia, spurred on by my dear wife's discovery of a pack of my photographs from the early 1970's.
That's 19 year old me on the right, not the mature 20  year old that the article implies.

The article is quite long and I'm unable to check whether or not it can be read in the clips below.
Many apologies if you can't read it !
Photoshopped version of a much younger me - not much different to my current profile pic?

The top picture is a photograph of the clipping and shows its real colour, whilst the remainder are photoshopped scans of the original, hence the unexplainable pink hue to them all. The author James Dolan borrowed my compy of HG Wells' "Little Wars", that was never returned - a small price to pay for imortality ? Also, we weren't slouched over a kitchen table !
 
As I'm currently not doing anything (other than this blog) that is hobby related, I'll be showing futher scans of the photogrpahs that my wife found in future posts (sorry). I'm also going to be doing a lot of catching up commenting on all the blogs I missed over the last few days. 

That's it then for this week, thanks, as ever, for taking the time to visit and of course your comments are both welcomed and appreciated.
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22 comments:

  1. Dave Stone3 January 2022 at 05:45

    Great bit of history there Joe, and look forward to seeing the other treasures your wife found.
    Shame you never got your copy of Little Wars back, still have that one in my collection.

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    1. Zabadak4 January 2022 at 01:29

      Thanks Dave, there are enough photos in the found pack for at least another couple of blogs.
      'Little Wars' was the first Wargaming bok I read, quickly followed by Don Featherstones Wargames book, the latter I still own.

      Delete
  2. Michal DwarfCrypt3 January 2022 at 07:35

    Oh, you're a true legend sir!

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    1. Zabadak4 January 2022 at 01:30

      Thanks you Michal, but "Lgend" is a bit much, I'm just old !

      Delete
  3. Frank O Donnell3 January 2022 at 08:53

    Wow what a wonderful piece of your wargaming history Joe, a gem if ever I seen one 👍😊

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    1. Zabadak4 January 2022 at 01:30

      Thanks Frank, it just goes to show that I've been around a long time !

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  4. Independentwargamesgroup3 January 2022 at 08:58

    Thanks for this Joe. I love reading old wargames ephemera.The reporter did a decent job re the article,not the usual Micky take. He put a lot of information in the piece.I didnt realise you had partaken in the WRG Championships. I avoided them like the plague but was always envious of the competitors for some reason.Strangely enough Im re reading the Slingshot magazines of the 1970's which were full of the Championships. Very interesting.

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    1. Zabadak4 January 2022 at 01:35

      Thanks Robbie, I was very pleased with the 'seriousness' of the article too as at the time wargaming was a very niche activity.
      Birmingham was my first and only tournament (never again). Our game, a WW2 bash, was deducted 50 points for being late (having travelled the 250 miles or so to get there)
      and we therefore lost, having been well ahead.

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  5. Michael Awdry3 January 2022 at 11:37

    Dear Joe this is wonderful! Great find and piece of history, looking forward to more.

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    1. Zabadak4 January 2022 at 01:37

      Thanks you Michael and great to hear from you once more, You can probably tell I'm getting short of material when I'm digging out the "family snaps" to post about.

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  6. Terry Silverthorn3 January 2022 at 21:31

    How cool is that. Joe you really need to get that clipping framed & hanging in your games space! Or perhaps the Dining room wherein lies said Kitchen Table?

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    1. Zabadak4 January 2022 at 01:40

      Thtop.anks Terry, iirc the "kitchen table" was the two of us leaning over a corner of a 4' x 6' table. I have much better clippings, certificates etc. hanging on my walls thn a yellowed, old newspaper article - and do you really think I'd get away with it? (you do know I'm married right ?).
      Said table (that never existed) is long, long, gone.

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  7. Matt4 January 2022 at 16:20

    Great bit of history, Joe, and nice to see the reporter doing a serious take on the hobby.

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    1. Zabadak5 January 2022 at 03:28

      Thanks Matt, I was surprised how good James' take on was,

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  8. Tiberian general7 January 2022 at 07:16

    A good bit of wargame history Joe, thanks for the nostalgia visit.


    Willz.

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    1. Zabadak8 January 2022 at 03:36

      Thanks Willz, I really didn't think many people would take an interest in this, but it's all I've got atm!

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  9. Ptr7 January 2022 at 12:37

    This was a very nice report of yours and good reading!!! Thankyou very much for sharing.

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    1. Zabadak8 January 2022 at 03:37

      Thanks Ptr, I was happy enough at the time and thought the article was fairly empathetic to our hobby.

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  10. Vagabond7 January 2022 at 13:23

    Hi Joe, Happy New Year to you as well. I have a similar picture of myself from a newspaper article but I look much grumpier than you do. I wonder why someone describing wargaming to an outsider always makes it sound vaguely ridiculous :)
    My wife has started to go bird watching, something I associate with train spotting or recording car number plates but she still thinks wargaming is slightly strange.

    Have a good New Year and take care.
    Cheers

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    1. Zabadak8 January 2022 at 03:40

      Haha, it was a bit of a ridicluous day, the two of us hunched, uncomfortably close together over a corner of our table, trying to show the figures.
      Nothing wrong with bird-watching (I do the non-feathered variety), but most hobbies can be regarded as vaguely weird by thos not participating.

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    2. Zabadak8 January 2022 at 03:41

      Oh and I'm sure many would be interested in seeing your article too!

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  11. Phil Curran14 May 2022 at 10:13

    A cracking read. From one ridiculous person to another, I prefer the term grognard. Sounds better!!!

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