"Ian Trout's Funeral Notice" Topic

As you may all know by now, on Wednesday 3rd August, at 5.30am, Ian Trout lost his fight with cancer.

He was a well-known character in Australian wargaming, helping to shape its nature from the 1970's with his ownership of Napoleon's Bookshop in Sydney and his partnership in the Strategic Studies Group, the reknowned computer wargaming company, as well as being a formidable and energetic participant in many competitions and games around the country.

I had the pleasure of providing many of the figures for his games, as well as a bespoke Bloodbowl table which gave him and his competitors many hours of entertainment.

I was lucky enough to say my goodbyes to him a short week before he died. He was a good man, a good friend and I will miss him.

Ian's funeral will be held on Tuesday 9th August, at 11.15am precisely, in the North Chapel of the Northern Suburbs Crematorium, 199 Delhi Road, North Ryde, Sydney.

Anyone who knew Ian and his family, and would like to attend is cordially invited. The notice will be in the Sydney Morning Herald tomorrow, Saturday 6th August.

Vale, Ian, we could never have "elegant sufficiency".

Peter Callan

Very sorry and Obit board?

I shall make every effort to be there..

Very sorry to read the news Peter on this fine friend of yours an others. He will be sorely missed by all who knew him

Helen

A good bloke.

That is what all Aussie men strive to be and he achieved it.

Good Evening All,

I grew up at the Trout House and it is as a direct result of Ian that I fell in love with miniatures, wargaming and military history.

If I was to describe Ian to someone who had never met him I think I'd say he was a larger than life character who enjoyed life and always accepted the judges decision.

Considering how pragmatically he took to his impending doom, in fact if anything he seemed somewhat bored by it all, it is interesting to note that all it took was the tiniest slice of cheese on one of his hamburgers to get him ranting and raving for hours about how he 'hated ****ING CHEESE!' much to the amusement of those around him.

All those who gamed with him will know with a smile that the other great irony about Ian was how much he loved wargaming, but hated losing. We made numerous trips down to CanCon and more than once returned early due to some early losses.

He was never short of an opinion and often had long drawn out reasoning behind many of his thoughts. Most of which made perfect sense. He was a difficult man to argue with because you rarely got a word in. I remember numerous dinners at the Trout House where someone made the mistake (often me) of complimenting or even mentioning the government or (God forbid) the Church and off Ian would go for seemingly hours on end. He was very convincing and would continue the discussion even after everyone had left the table and the room. He didn't always concern himself with an audience, I used to think he was practicing for something, but no, it was just Ian.

It brings a smile to my face just thinking about the many good times. Despite the sadness I feel knowing that they are at an end I feel thankful for being a part of his life and I know that I am a better person for knowing him. An Army of Russian tanks couldn't keep me away from the final farewell on Tuesday.

Cheers,

Ant

Indeed..I was running a comp where he packed up and left after a very colourful description of what he would do to his opponent if he ever played him again…tense game that one..still never resolved..colourful is too insipid a description of the man..he once lectured me at length, and at no mean volume, on the evils of tobacco..in front of a large number of people at CanCon.

With apologies to one and all for the bump of such a sad posting….

I stumbled across this post whilst on a completely unrelated Google search into old gaming trivia in Sydney. I was floored to read of Ian's passing (been out of this loop for quite some years!).

I had the privilege of working next to Ian as assistant manager at Napoleon's for almost six years, and remember the adventure that it was very fondly. I also worked briefly for the embryonic SSG, when they had works at Seven Hills, before I moved on to work for RAN/ADI.

He loved that Greek restaurant downstairs from Napoleon's…

Truly a larger than life character.

Duck