Are you a romantic about your gaming period?

[Ivan Sorensen]

I read an essay several years ago which has stuck in my mind, where a historian said that it was difficult to resist romanticising the period or place of history that you spend a significant portion of your life studying.
This was not in the sense of apologia for massacres, slavery and all that, but I suppose a more benign romanticism or a fascination that goes beyond just normal interest. A blog post from a while back put it as whether you would buy a trinket from your historical period, for no reason other than to have it.

So… is this a thing for you?

[Rod Robertson]

Why yes, I call my Skythians frequently and we play the “no, you hang up first” game all the time. I gave my unfinished Neo-Babylonian army a nice box of chocolates for Valentines Day. I am painting a company of Mk II/III Valentines which I will send to Russia with love as Lend Lease armour. I bought my WWII Soviets flowers last week, just because I could and I regularly whisper sweet nothings to my Cold War forces to warm their cold, little, lead hearts. My modern minis are not yet fully painted but I always wear an alluring veil and head covering when I paint my Taliban, Islamic Fundamentalist, Somali and Peshmurga forces.  I am however thinking about infidelity by getting into ACW, WWII aerial combat and North African WWII gaming. So I am both worldly and romantic in tandem.

Cheers and good gaming.

Rod Robertson.

[Rod Robertson]

In all seriousness, miniature wargaming involves simulating coordinated armed conflict or war and thus simulating the organised and wilfull killing of human beings en masse. There is nothing romantic about that. The Neo-Assyrians were monsters who stacked the skulls of their victims in piles before the city gates of the cities they captured, the Romans were butchers at home and abroad, the Mongols were a plague of mounted killers which spread across Eurasia and as vectors spawned and spread the Black Death, WWI was a senseless slaughter which likewise spread disease, pandemic and human suffering globally, WWII’s Eastern Front and Pacific Theatre were man-made hells on Earth and the other European and African fronts were bloody awful too. There is nothing romantic about armed conflict and war. But it is part of the human condition and thus interests me. So I wiffully set aside its monstrosity and inhumanity and just play toy solders while thanking my lucky stars that I live in a place and time of peace and civility.

Be well and be at peace.

Rod Robertson.

[Guy Farrish]

I suspect Ivan was aiming more for the Wrong but Wromantic and Right but Repulsive view of historical engagement rather than the hearts and flowers or warts and all approach.

As for there being a ‘romantic’ side to war for wargamers; there obviously is and we aren’t all wannabe psychopaths. Of course there is a romanticism inherent in the hobby. It may be a misplaced delight in the millinery and couture of the soldier rather than a well thought through philosophical position regarding mass killing, but it is there. More interesting for me are the relationships and insights revealed and nurtured through the situations in which conflict places us.

Having said that, seeking and promulgating better ways of destroying fellow humans seems more Enlightenment than Sturm und Drang’s florid offspring. A circle I suspect I was once keen on squaring but am now happy to live with.

I am not now nor have I ever been romantically (in any sense) engaged with armies from any of my wargame periods. Although I confess a sneaking regard for Christian the Younger of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, der tolle Halberstädter, for some reason completely inexplicable to me. He didn’t even make it to the rock ‘n’ roll 27.

However, I do possess several items from WWI, WWII and the Cold War (all family mementoes I didn’t have to fork out for). I had several other, more lethal, family ‘keepsakes’ from various eras, but handed them in to police during an amnesty. (I didn’t know we had ’em guv, honest!).

[Angel Barracks]

Are you including fantasy in this?

[OotKust]

Guy Farrish wrote:

I suspect Ivan was aiming more for the Wrong but Wromantic and … view of historical engagement rather than the hearts and flowers or warts and all approach.

…and we aren’t all wannabe psychopaths.

1. I’m sure he meant passionate.
2. It’s ‘an historian’ not a…
3. Guy +1

Swinging from left to right no matter where the hobby goes!

[Arthur Harman]

I think Rod Robertson summed much hobby wargaming up admirably when he wrote, ” So I wilfully set aside its monstrosity and inhumanity and just play toy soldiers while thanking my lucky stars that I live in a place and time of peace and civility.”

I feel sure that is exactly how H.G. Wells and veterans Peter Young and Donald Featherstone approached their wargames, and so do I.

Tabletop battles with toy soldiers inevitably present a romanticised picture of the warfare of the ‘horse and musket’ era – colourful flags and uniforms; serried ranks of soldiers marching bravely like the figures in contemporary depictions of battle, such as those by William Heath in Jenkins’ Martial Achievements of Great Britain &c. which was published shortly after Waterloo; no writhing wounded, screams of agony or dismembered bodies.

Alas, I’m not so sure as Rod that we live in ‘”a time of peace and civility”…

Guy, I have tried to contact you via the email address I had for you but could not get through. My email remains the same as it as when we last met in Wimbledon. Do get in touch!

[Guy Farrish]

I share your thoughts about our times Arthur.

Thanks for letting me know about your email.

I have found it and now replied!

Apologies. Thanks for prodding me! Good to hear from you again.

[Geof Downton]

The difficult part of the question has been answered well by others, and I could add little, so I’ll answer the “trinket” bit.

Monarchy period Biblical – a 1000bce ish arrowhead (for hunting rather than war, it’s too small)

Palaeo-diet – assorted flint tools

Dinosaurs – a brachiosaur coprolite

The War of the Worlds – a selenite paperweight, as described by the narrator as being on his desk when he returned to his office.

One who puts on his armour should not boast like one who takes it off.
Ahab, King of Israel; 1 Kings 20:11

[Sane Max]

I am for sure. I wouldn’t buy a trinket but I give way to other aspects.

I also suffer from the related ‘That’s not how it was But I am a wargamer, so it is how it was’ Syndrome. ‘Wrong but Right’ syndrome perhaps? My Sassanids wear Globe Helmets. More than half of my Wars of the Roses armies are not archers.

and Ootkust – No it isn’t. Unless the H stopped being a consonant?

[Guy Farrish]

An hotel

an historian

etc from an era when ‘aitches’ were not voiced or only lightly voiced.

‘Haitches’ are now mostly voiced – but not in ‘aitches’ unless you are from Catholic communities in Northern Ireland, and in certain class based groups in England and increasingly as a standard format among younger people nationwide.

So Dave is correct for 1920s UK (and possibly contemporary NZ) but probably not for 2024 UK- my father still said an hotel at the end of the last century but people looked at him strangely. I haven’t heard it here for a couple of decades.

[Arthur Harman]

Perhaps it would be more appropriate for me to say that I am not romantic about my – ‘horse and musket’ – gaming period, but that my wargames portray the romanticised view of warfare shown in contemporary prints and paintings, and in the many memoirs by officers and men I have read whose anecdotes focus on their gallantry, comradeship and honourable behaviour towards enemies, rather than the fear, squalor, pain and suffering they must have endured, and the battle-narratives of historian William Napier (who commanded the 43rd Foot in the Peninsula and was gravely wounded at Casal Novo) which would have been widely read in Victoria’s reign. His brother George, who served in the 52nd and lost an arm at Cuidad Rodrigo afterwards wrote in his memoirs that he could never fight out of hatred but only ‘for fun and glory’.

The real Rifleman Benjamin Harris – completely unlike the character of the same name in the Sharpe stories – in later life remarked that he thought the time he spent in the Peninsula ‘the only part of my life worthy of remembrance’ … ‘comrades long mouldered to dust, I see again performing the acts of heroes.’ My wargame battles reflect their nostalgia for their youthful exploits – and mine for a time when Britons were not encouraged to feel embarrassment and apologise for defeating their enemies…

 

[Whirlwind]

I think a little, yes; but as others have alluded to, that romanticism is widespread throughout society, both past and present in its conceptions of war – and its omni-presence suggests to me that it is an inherent part of the whole thing. I might even consider that if you haven’t felt at least a tremor of the romance, then you might not have fully understood the period itself.

Arthur Harman wrote:

My wargame battles reflect their nostalgia for their youthful exploits – and mine for a time when Britons were not encouraged to feel embarrassment and apologise for defeating their enemies…

Although we live in a time that does question the political projects that (some of) these battles took place in, and more British people have antecedents on different sides of some of these conflicts, I haven’t personally felt much indication that the military victories themselves were something to be embarrassed about or apologize for.

[Guy Farrish]

Whirlwind wrote:

I haven’t personally felt much indication that the military victories themselves were something to be embarrassed about or apologize for.

I agree but, without getting into politics here, the mood is out there – and among ‘gamers’ – see:

The Games Behind Your Government’s Next War

‘all the wars in British history that are now considered morally cataclysmic’. c39′

Despite some sub sixth form hand wringing and bizarrely myopic understanding of the history, social position and connections of wargaming with gaming and the military, this PMG video is worth a watch (with a critical eye/ear).

[OotKust]

Sane Max wrote:

I am for sure. … and Ootkust – No it isn’t. Unless the H stopped being a consonant?

Ees dat rite mun…??

Swinging from left to right no matter where the hobby goes!

[Mike]

Sane Max wrote:

Unless the H stopped being a consonant?

Not that this is the grammar page, but:
I will see you in an hour or a hour in that case?

 

[Mike]

OotKust wrote:

Ees dat rite mun…??

What is meant by that?

[Mike Headden]

Mike wrote:

Sane Max wrote:

Unless the H stopped being a consonant?

Not that this is the grammar page, but: I will see you in an hour or a hour in that case?

I will see you in AN hour because the h is not vocalised. If, gods forbid, we start pronouncing the word as how-er then it would become A hour.

Grammar Wars: The New Battlefield – the new game for pedants of all ages. Buy it now! 😀

There are 100 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who can work from incomplete data

[Mike]

Mike Headden wrote:

I will see you in AN hour because the h is not vocalised. If, gods forbid, we start pronouncing the word as how-er then it would become A hour

D’oh. OFC.

[Sane Max]

‘A Norse, a Norse, My Kingdom for An Horse’

A’s for orses
B’s for unny
C’s for ships
D’S for dose
E’s for ‘er

[Whirlwind]

Thanks Guy, had a watch, interesting.

[vtsaogames]

Trinkets? I have a number of Minie and smoothbore rounds from the ACW, and some grape and canister shot. Also a 1870 era Tabatiere breechloader, cut down by my father-in-law years ago to make a so-called “Zulu” shotgun. My FPW Gardes Mobiles were armed with the like. If I could find a 18th century musket at a steep discount I’d buy that. Fortunately for my wife, those that I have found command prices beyond my frugal range.

I also litter my table with dead figures. Each time a base (usually 3 infantry or 2 cavalry) is removed, down goes a casualty figure. Makes it clear where the hard fighting has been. Gruesome? I do not have little tin amputees. One figure appears to be a SYW Hungarian coming home after a pub crawl to self-medicate his PTSD, but blame Old Glory’s sculptor for that. I think he’s supposed to be taking a hit, but instead looks like he might be an early morning neighborhood nuisance.

It's never too late to have a happy childhood

[Patrice]

There always is romanticism in my games. And I don’t feel guilty about it, whatever the context. Historical adventure novels, movies, TV series etc. invite to romanticism so I don’t see why wargames should be different.

Guy Farrish wrote:

An hotel an historian etc from an era when ‘aitches’ were not voiced or only lightly voiced (…) So Dave is correct for 1920s UK (and possibly contemporary NZ) but probably not for 2024 UK

Interesting. When I write in English I tend to write “an historian“ (etc.) without thinking (then I always correct it afterwards) because in many French words you don’t hear this H but you know it’s there, “un historien“ is pronounced exactly as if there was no H. There are exceptions, “un hibou“ (owl) is pronounced differently.

Angel Barracks wrote:

Are you including fantasy in this?

Ye-es I would but it’s a bit different, there are so many different fantasy settings. For example I love the LOTR but I’m not tempted to game it, it’s so fascinating that I feel I couldn’t get immersed, my fantasy universes are somewhat D&D-inspired. A friend in my gaming group has an opposite view and does not want to play fantasy outside the LOTR universe so we’ve never played fantasy together! 😉

http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/

[Author]

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