About me
My Gaming
My Hobby
Born in 1957, I've been wargaming since I was a teenager and interested in military history for as long as I can remember. I worked for over 40 years as an Air Traffic Controller, but I am now retired and living in the Cotswolds. I am married with 3 grown up children.
Everyone has their own particular favourite part of the hobby. For me, the best part is the same aspect most wargamers would mention - playing games with friends.
After playing actual games, my favourite part of the hobby these days is researching the period I am playing in, and either seeking out the best set of commercial rules I can find, or writing my own. I was lucky enough to have a set of rules for the Seven Years War ('Honours of War') published by Osprey in 2015, and enjoyed the experience so much that I wanted to have another go, with an even more challenging period. Hence Shadow of the Eagles.
I have painted many figures over the years, but found it more and more of a chore as time went by. Now I have mostly abandoned figure and model painting. I do, however, firmly believe that producing games that look good, with terrain and figures of decent quality, is important. The look of a well presented table with a host of colourful toy soldiers arrayed on it gives me great pleasure.
My view of the miniature wargaming hobby was shaped by the early pioneers of the 1960s, whose books I consumed avidly in my early teenage years. The wargamer who influenced me most profoundly was Donald Featherstone, closely followed by Charles Grant.
My view of the hobby remains very traditional - or old fashioned, if you prefer. I wargame historical periods, avoiding anything to do with science fiction, fantasy or pulp fiction. I also avoid skirmish gaming and, at the other end of the spectrum, 'big battle' gaming where the hobby shades into board gaming.
I also restrict myself to a modest number of periods which I can do justice to without accumulating lead mountains of unfinished figures, or creating collections I never game with. At the moment I have just 3 collections - Ancients, Seven Years War, and Poland 1939. Yep - no Napoleonic collection at the moment! I playtested Shadow of the Eagles with my SYW figures and the Napoleonic armies of a few fellow wargamers.