A quick series of videos by British Pathe about minis and model making. Old-timey newsreel feel.
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Man, I wish war gaming was around when I was growing up though I have a feeling that it would have taken away from my modeling time.
It was around, just not evenly distributed. HG Wells wrote a set of miniature wargaming rules.
I grew up in a household of hobbies—my dad was a modeler, thus where I got it. But I was also deep into gaming, and that’s where I started in publishing. But one of the things that attracted me to games was the crossover with modeling, and I’m very happy to see that figures are finally getting the recognition they deserve, especially on the wargaming side. I like to think FSM has had a hand to play in that, but who can say? All I know is we made a concerted effort to be more inclusive across the board, and whether we helped push or were just part of an overall attitude shift, it’s happened/happening. And that, IMO, is a good thing.
But it’s all modeling, whether it be figs that you’ll use in games or tanks you display on your shelves, or both!
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The closest I ever got to being interested in wargaming and miniatures was taking an interest in Dungeons & Dragons back in the 80’s. But that interest never went very far sadly. I also had an interest in Battletech and Mechwarrior after going to and seeing all the activities at the Gen Con Game Fair during the 80’s and 90’s. But that interest didn’t go very far either. If I wouldn’t have gotten hooked on buying and collecting collectible card games back then, I’m sure I would have gotten interested in miniatures.
I lead an afterschool RPG Club with 30+ kids so have an interest for sure. Posted this link the other day here i think which focuses on Archon Studios who make gaming miniatures and terrain out of styrene…just like our models. Very neat process…
And speaking of styrene and gaming …
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I was introduced to wargaming in middle school by my BFF. We used to play those Steve Jackson “pocket games” like GEV, Ogre, and Car Wars in the back of the shop class during recess. In high school we played Battledroids (SUCK IT GEORGE LUCAS!!!). My friends also played D&D and Star Fleet Battles, but I never got into them. I never could get into role-playing games.
My only connection to D&D was that I used to paint my friends’ gaming miniatures since most of them were not modelers. I still have some that they gave me as compensation. But they do not stand up to the incredible paintwork that the current generation of gaming mini painters do.
Fond memories. I especially remember the thundering din of “HEAD! HEAD!! HEAD!!!” whenever someone rolled the dice for hit location in Battledroids.
There was a member here, captsimos, who used old styrene sprues as raw material for sculpting figures. He melted the sprues in an old skillet on a hot plate, formed the material into blanks, then carved them. I sent him packets of my old sprues a couple of times. His threads are probably still to be found in the Figures & Misc. forum. He was/is a good sculptor.
And as far as wargaming’s origins go, Tim is right, it’s been around a lot longer than you might think.
It’s documented that rulers in the 17th century used models of soldiers to study military tactics, from moving a platoon-sized body of troops, to broader strategy. Louis XIV had toy soldiers made of silver that he used for that purpose, and his great-grandson was taught tactics with similar figures. Those were lost during the French Revolution, though, melted down for the silver.
By the 19th century, many countries’ general staffs used toy soldiers to teach tactics, like the Prussians did. Most of the figures by this time were the flats so popular in German states and elsewhere. They called it “Kriegspiel”, war game, and referred to “war in the sand box”, using a sand table.
By the turn of the 20th century, right, HG Wells wrote his “Little Wars” setting down the rules he and his friends used when they fought battles with the toy soldiers of the time, 54mm fully round figures. They even had artillery, firing matchsticks at their targets. There were games you could buy, with toy figures. Some included a pop gun firing a cork at toy soldiers mounted in a tray, that could be flipped back to a standing position.
By the 50s, there were commercially available figures for wargaming, as well as models, like ships, armor, and airplanes. And you get to our time, for those of us in our 60s, you had Airfix and other plastic makers with 1/72 and HO scale figures. And many of us had the green plastic “army men” that we played to death in our own sandboxes and backyards.
And there were makers of fantasy and sci-fi subjects we had, like Ral Partha.
Today there is the resurgence of fantasy and sci-fi wargaming. It’s a renaissance in the figure hobby, too-the subject might be new, but the skills are the same as those used to paint a Napoleonic hussar, for example.
Yep, a long history, and a bright future, too.
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