A good hobby for an anxious time

It's been a long time since I abandoned the frivolity of reading the wargames press and limited myself to magazines of a more serious nature. I was therefore temporarily thrown when, on turning the pages of this week's issue of The Economist, I came across a photograph of the Perry Twins - the one below in fact. It was adorning a brief article about wargaming, which does indeed describe what we do as 'a good hobby for an anxious time'. Unsurprisingly, given his audience, the writer concentrates mainly on the business element of things. The effect of the pandemic has, according to Alan Perry, been "like two Christmas' worth of demand"; so someone's happy then. I also wasn't previously aware that Games Workshop now has a higher stock market valuation than Marks & Spencer. Who'd have thought there were more orc fanciers than there are lovers of the polyester trouser?

In the background of that photo is what appears to be an authentic piece of nineteenth century military headgear. It got me wondering where I had previously seen a well-known wargames figure sculptor with the same type of items displayed prominently; and then it occurred to me. I offer absolutely no apologies for revisiting this old favourite:

For those without any patience, Mrs Hinton's first appearance wearing military uniform can be found 1 minute 48 seconds in; don't ask me how I know.

Taking things as they come

"The lot assigned to every man is suited to him, and suits him to itself." - Marcus Aurelius

And so to the theatre. I have been to see 'Eden End', a relatively rarely performed play by one of this blog's heroes J.B. Priestley. I rather unexpectedly found myself sitting next to Tom Priestley, the great man's son. Whilst we didn't exchange more than pleasantries it certainly caused me to think that I'd got top value for my ticket money, and I commend the idea to theatres everywhere. I'm seeing some Ibsen soon and I trust that the West Yorkshire Playhouse are already scouring Norway for a descendant of the playwright so as to add that little bit extra to my visit. In the event family influence on my enjoyment of 'Eden End' didn't stop there, because after the show, over coffee and cake, Nicolas Hawkes, Priestley's stepson asked me what I had made of the play, politely listened to my interpretation and then equally courteously told me that I had got it completely wrong. That didn't bother me in itself - no one is more aware than me of the shallowness of the intellectual foundations on which this blog is built - but there is one element that does cause some lingering embarrassment. His take on it, the official view if you will, is that the moral of the play is that one must take things as they come. Given that your bloggist's major affectation is to hide behind the name of an eminent Stoic philosopher you might be forgiven for supposing that I ought to have worked that out for myself.

Going back to Ibsen, Stella Kirby was played here by the same actress who played Nora Helmer in the production of 'A Doll's House' that I saw a few months ago. This production takes Priestley's play and gives it an additional prologue and epilogue in the form of music hall routines featuring her, the purpose of which is to allude to her character's backstory, to reference other works by the author such as 'The Good Companions' and to presage the Great War which shortly followed the play's 1912 setting (*). In the finale she sings and dances while wearing male military uniform, a costume choice which I know some blog readers find titillating, but which others have recently indicated that they see as an abomination of such horror that violence is the only appropriate response. You pays your money and you takes your choice.


(*) In case you think I'm being foolhardy in venturing my own opinions despite having earlier been shot down by someone who knew what they were talking about, be reassured that I got all that from the director, to whom I also spoke at the post show reception.

Chotusitz Pt 2

It is with relief on all sides that we are able to leave behind discussion of gender specific clothing and return to topic, because last night I put on my wargaming frock and went round to James' house for some proper manly men rolling dice against men action. The first surprise of the evening was that, fed up with me wandering around the legendary wargames room in my socks, James had thoughtfully arranged for some fluffy white slippers to be provided for me; he's a sweetie.

Anyway, I find that neither he nor I had written about the first evening's play, so anything I say here will be lacking context. As usual, it was an enjoyable game and once again proved that winning isn't everything. It's hard to point specifically to where it all went wrong for Frederick the Great. One hypothesis was that it was when the second line of Austrian infantry blundered (i.e. rolled a double six) and ended up back on their own base line. What this meant that was when they came forward they could be targeted at the schwerpunkt rather than being strung out in front of the Prussian infantry as another juicy target when the first line was broken.

More likely is that collectively we still don't get the rules right and that many of the outcomes relate to that rather than anything else. The most overlooked rule has to be the penalty for trying to order units which are close enough to the enemy to qualify for an initiative move. In our defence the rules are appallingly written and disappointingly they vary in significant details from Pike & Shotte. On top of that the first house rule of wargaming club is that when someone (that's a euphemism for James) thinks of a new house rule it must be introduced immediately. The net outcome can be a bit difficult to deconstruct sometimes, but it looks good and passes the the time pleasantly - what more does one want?

We are back in the Renaissance next week, where we may remain until Derby Worlds,

Clothes Maketh The Man

"For the apparel oft proclaims the man" - Polonius

I have been genuinely surprised by how many writers and readers of wargaming blogs are so insecure in their masculinity that they feel threatened by the children's clothing policies of a department store chain. The following is dedicated to them (this particular version chosen because apparently I was there):

Perhaps it shouldn't have come as a complete shock to me, as the following home video of a wargamers' dinner party would suggest:

Of course, what they're all really worried about is this:

The road to Marston Moor

The whole country would have been as affected by the English Civil War as by the Great War; fighting was widespread and the death toll was proportionately higher than in either world war. Otley's part was somewhat minor. Parliamentarian troops marched through en route to Marston Moor and it is reliably documented that Cromwell held a conference with his commanders in an orchard in the nearby village of Menston. More apocryphally, these passing troops are supposed to have drunk the Black Bull - oldest of Otley's many pubs - dry. This may not be true, but it's firmly rooted in the local popular consciousness, mostly because there's a large plaque on the side of the pub facing the market square which makes the claim to everyone who walks by.

To mark the anniversary of the  battle - July 2nd - the English Civil War Society visited the town to commemorate all aspects of the events of 1644. I only witnessed their attempt at the drinking task through the window as I walked up to the Yew Tree to see the Max Band (excellent, with the highlight being a cracking run through 'Born To Be Wild'), but there they were, in period costume and giving it their best shot.

I did, however, go to see their drill demonstration and display of the sort of skirmish that may have taken place in the run up to the battle. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves, but for lovers of loud bangs and the smell of gunpowder it was a cracking afternoon out.

 We already know that this blog's readership contains those with a taste for women dressed in male military attire - shame on you - and there was much that would have held your interest; a significant proportion of the combat troops involved were women. Look closely at the photos and you'll see what I mean.

Respect is due

My recent post which included the link to the video about Marcus Hinton and his other half continues to get literally hundreds of views. I believe that I have James 'respect to his ouevre' Roach to thank/blame for this, but I don't know how or why.

Anyway, in one of those moments familiar to people of a certain age I have suddenly remembered where I first saw the video. It was, glaringly obviously in retrospect, on a blog dedicated to Hinton Hunt figures. Respect to their mighty ouevre as well.

I note that none of my new readers has stuck around for the love poetry or the opera reviews, but perhaps that's as it should be. Party on dudes.

Mrs Hinton

I can't remember on which blog I first saw this video, so apologies for not giving credit. I post it here following a recent conversation with a young lady of my acquaintance. She's never shown any interest in wargaming so instead we inevitably found ourselves talking about the pros and cons of women wearing men's clothing. I, who do have an interest in wargaming, was reminded of this, which, once seen, does tend to stick in the mind somewhat:

I don't know about you, but to me that short video raises a very large number of questions. The only one that I can help with is that one and ninepence is just under 9p. Two pounds ten is of course fifty bob.