Am I A Proper Wargamer? Trebian´s Alternative List

Here are my answers to the alternative questions put up by Trebian of Wargaming4Adults. They are a responseto the original list of Phil Broeders. I like many of these questions, as they are signs of a more independent strand of wargaming. Yes, even in this niche of a niche, there's strands.

There's a mainstream of commercially published wargaming rules, but Trebian is an exponent of the self-publishing, houseruling and modelling type of wargamers. The questions will therefor not apply to all wargamers.

Is there anything that Featherstone did that ranks up with these?

• You've read at least one book by Donald Featherstone

Nope, and I don't think I miss much except nostalgia, maybe. But I got some of the other classics, like Asquith, Grant, Griffith and Quarry.

• You've tried to game a period for which there are no figures.

Nope. Although I've wondered about Thai vs Khmer wars in the 18th century and just assumed there wouldn't be minis.

•  You've played in a game using two way radios or field telephones.

Several, of which Star Trek: The Final Frontier is well remembered for excellent radio procedures by the Klingons! But my first real, operational megagame, Kirovograd (third edition, I believe) with phones was just beyond anything I'd ever experienced before. Brilliant!

•  You've taken part in a games day or tournament

Done a few club tournaments in the old days, and occasional big battles, like Waterloo, the Crusades, Borodino, Siege of Peking.

• You've called down fire on your own forces.

Probably.

•  You've done at least one plastic kit conversion

No, I'm not the modelling type.

Samurai battles ruleset I wrote together with Dick Bax. Took a bit of digging to find my own copy back

• You've written a set of rules that have been played by people without you there

Yes, two I think, but only a few times without me there

• You've started to amend a set of rules two turns into a game (or less).

I don't think agreeing on a shared interpretation of the rules is the same as amending it

• You've completely misunderstood at least part of a set of rules.

Yes, dozens of times. And it doesn't speak well for rules writing.

• You've built your own wargames table.

No, I'm not the modelling type. Even though I used to lay railroad track all across the living room  and had a grass matt on a table where I played with toy soldiers when I was young.

•  You've submitted at least one wargames magazine article that wasn't a battle report

Oh yes.

•  You've at least tried to play one of those enormous SPI games (Campaign for North Africa, for example)

No SPI biggies, but I think Empires in Arms counts for this.

• You've run a participation game at a wargames show.

A few times

•  You've won a wargames campaign by doing something completely different

No, rather by doing exactly the same. We did a France vs Prussia Napoleonic campaign and as the French we just headed straight in without waiting for the reinforcements, catching the Prussians off guard before the Russians could come up like in 1806.

• You've helped to run a wargames club.

Founding member and many years of duty at Murphy's Heroes!

• You've dogmatically insisted you're done with a period....then gone back to it.

I never go deep enough into a period to be done with it. I've refused WWI, naval and air combat rules for a long time without having ever played them but come around. No spine, Sir. No spine at all.

My three shelves of WWI books and half shelf of air warfare books.
Almost all collected within the last 5 years

•  You've played in a command post exercise game without enough space to unfold the map

Sadly, no.

• You've been stiffled at least once on TMP

I don't do The Miniatures Page. This probably discounts me as a miniature wargamer. Whatevah!

• You've taken part in mega-game

Dozens. Like this recent one about Vietnam, and a slightly less recent one about Operation Goodwood.

Umpiring in Long Live Death, megagame of the Spanish Civil War.
Dramatic win for the Republicans

• You've umpired in a mega-game

Dozens. Designed and organised a few, too. And here's my shrine to Jim Wallman, Lord of Megagames.

• You have your own blog

QED. But that doesn´t mean you´re a real wargamer. It just means you like the sound of your own keyboard.

See also my answers to Phil Broeders' original questions and to Lee Hadley's extension.