"Top 10 of most important people in wargaming ?" Topic

Who would you nominate as most important ?

Past or Present or Both?

Here's who would be on my list, in no particular order:

H.G. Wells

Donald Featherstone

Jack Scruby

Charles Grant

Peter Young

Phil Barker

I'll think of others

First pass at a list, well lists actually...

Early infulences: Jack Scruby, Donald Featherstone, Terence Wise, Charles Grant, Peter Young, Bruce Quarrie, George Gush, Phil Barker, Charles Roberts...

Not directly wargaming, but still important: Fred & Lillian Funcken, Rene North, Holgar Erickson...

Other influences: Dick Bryant, Hal Thinglum...

There are many more, these are just the first to come to mind.

I'd certainly place Duke Seifried, Frank Chadwick, Russ Dunaway and Charlie Sweet on the list.

Don

Well id have to say Hitler

And Stalin I suppose

Peter Guilder

Franz Ochel .

Von Clauswitz.

Fred Jane.

Bill Armintrout .

Lou Zocchi .

B.M.E

OK I was kidding about the last one .

James Dunnigan, Redmond Simonsen

What??!!?? No mention of John the OFM....?

H.G. Wells

Donald Featherstone

Jack Scruby

Charles Grant

Peter Young

Phil Barker

.......I agree with. Plus, I'd add;

Terence Wise

George Gush

Bruce Quarrie

and last but not least Neville Dickinson (Minifigs founder)

How could I miss Wise, Gush and Quarrie?

I should go on the "Evil Games List".

:)

BME

I think any list of the most influential would have to include John Hill

How about the Brom's?? ...(shame on you all)

How about Phil Haythornewaite? How about the guy who does The Courier (is that Bryant?)?

Who ran Wargames Holiday Centre all those years?

And why not Duncan McFarlane ....?? (Shame on you all again)

Oh - Todd Fisher and the rest of the Chicago/Empereror's Headquarters folks ...

Soldat

Ptere Gilder changed my life.

Well, maybe number 11, but certainly not top 10.

Tom Meier - discoverer of 'green stuff' as a sculpting medium.

Regards, the Gorb

Paintgod, the Tax Collector.

Bill...........

There's got to be a poll in this. Once the thread dries out - put all the names into one poll and see what happens.

The Perry twins would have to be in there somewhere, too.

There's a lot of names in the previous messages that I've never heard of, so must be more localised idnetities.

But there are a few that I think nearly everyone will have heard of, and it is those ones who really would have to be in the top list.

[There's got to be a poll in this. Once the thread dries out - put all the names into one poll and see what happens.]

Remind me when it "dries out."

Do the Perry twins count as one option, or does each get listed individually?

HG Wells
Don Featherstone
Charles Grant
Jack Scruby
Duncan MacFarlane
Stuart Asquith
Peter Young
Bruce Quarrie
The Perry Twins

How about Gary Gygax?

Great topic. Now, what is the reasoning why these people should be on the list? Here's my reasons:

H.G. Wells - wrote, "Little Wars" around the turn of the century. A father of early miniature wargaming.

Featherstone, Grant, Young (maybe even Wise, Gush and Quarrie) - in the 60's and early 70's they wrote a number of "how to" books and are considered fathers of modern miniature wargaming

Phil Barker - come up with his own language His rules, among other things, have set a standard for basing ancients. Most other ancient rules use his basing. Also, other ancient rules, for better or worse, are compared to his.

Scuby - one of the first to produce affordable figures in a wide range of areas.

I had thought about Scotty Bowden but decided to leave him off. His "Empire" rules were influential in the 70s and 80s but he hasn't done much since.

Some of these names I recognize, some not. Here are some names I'd like to mention (in no particular order):

1. Rick Priestley - the designer of the GW games that I have truly enjoyed

2. Perry Twins - sculptors extraordanaire, their figures have inspired me to new heights in painting

3. Don Greenwood - Avalon Hill game designer/developer

I'm surprised noone is giving props to GW guys like Jervis Johnson and Rick Priestly. Oh, actually RP is mentioned above. How about Ian Heath, Duncan Head, Nigel Tallis & Nigel Stillman for collectively writing and/or illustrating the WRG bibles so many figure ranges are based on?

I think the difficulty is deciding which aspects of the hobby to recognize...rules, minis, army research, etc. I don't know how to compare a trailblazer like Wells to Barker & RBS who wrote rules so many people still use, to the GW guys who surely have roped in thousands of yuong players. The contributions are so different.

The Perry twins for their their way to make human figures
in opposite to the unsayable dwarfs and shortlegged mutants.

We can't fail to include Larry Brom, who wrote The Sword and the Flame in 1980, and almost single-handedly revived Colonial wargaming, at the very least, and gave the entire wargaming community a shot in the arm. Larry was one of the twenty or so original wargamers back in the mid-50's who subscribed to Featherstone's publications, and knew Jack Scruby as well. Larry soldiered on for many years, developing his own wargaming rules and concepts which were enjoyed by many who met & played games with him through the years. A true gentleman who, after the great success of TSATF, went on the write several other great rule sets, all of which give the flavor of the period they portray, and are FUN to play.

The near-sighted Scottish surgeon

E. Gary Gygax

Although the original Chainmail rules had faults, it brought many fantastic ideas to the table, as well as, perhaps, spawning RPGs and Fantasy Miniature Gaming

Arty Conliffe for Crossfire?

I think some of the names mentioned (like Conliffe, Priestly and Brom) are figures who are important in certain periods or genre, whilst others like Don Featherstone have a more far-reaching influence.

Top ten important people in Wargaming?

For me it's the guys I play with, who luckily number more than ten.

Honorable mention to the ancients who came up with games as a pastime. Wargaming is an evolution brought about by many people trying to enjoy a friendly but competitive mutual pastime of gaming.

Although I greatly respect a number of "Names" in the industry , most alive but some now past, I imagine their contributions were mostly inspired by a desire to game with friends and to build upon that experience.

Myself and nine of my closest friends...a lil egocentric, but hey!

"Although I greatly respect a number of "Names" in the industry... I imagine their contributions were mostly inspired by a desire to game with friends and to build upon that experience."

No doubt they start that way, but the "Names" made the effort to publicise their work, some of which have influenced the hobby as we know it today.

Perhaps the question needs to be more specific, like: Who are the 10 people who have had the biggest influence on the wargaming hobby as we know it today?

Hey - remember that the question is _wargaming_, not miniatures. Therefore:

I'd second Gary Gygax, Jim Dunnigan and Redmond Simonsen.

I'll add Charles Roberts.

In the Minis area: H.G. Wells and Phil Barker for rules, Jack Scruby and whomever founded MiniFigs and Hinchcliffe.

There are seven, we're still trying to recruit #8 through #10...

Bryan Ansell?!

Edward Woodward (well, he was on TV)

Duncan McFarlane-Wargames Illustrated has a huge impact on the hobby.

and Bill of course,

all come to mind

Tony Bath. His book on running a wargames campaign had a big impact on our local group.

Fletcher Pratt, the father of naval wargamming!

Tom

Don't forget these fellows;

Helwig, Master of Pages to the Duke of Brunswick. According to Bruce Quarrie, Helwig, sometime in the late 18th century, "...devised a game played on a grided map with, for the first time, counters representing different troop types, each of which had a realistic movement rate."

Herr von Reisswitz: In 1811, he introduced his "Kriegspiel" to the Prussian court and it was rapidly adapted by the Prussian military heirarchy and was thought to be an ideal method for training junior officers. His game was played with counters, but on a sculpted plaster relief model instead of a gridded map. Later, Kriegspiel was adopted by many other nations.

(The late Bruce Quarrie's "PSL Guide to Wargaming" is the source for this information.)

Since the original question didn't limit itself to strictly minaiture wargaming, I thought I'd add these. I'd sure like to see a copy of what old Helwig created!

Patrick

Heck, I was going to go all narcissistic and all and say ME and my friends, but it's already been done. Ah, well....

Many great names have come throught this thread and I would like to add Steve Jackson (Car Wars was my first printed venture into any type of game design). Thank you, Steve!

Lou Zocchi, Gary Gygax , Tom Meier, Steve Jackson,...will think of more

You could further sub divide

1. The original ideas (Wells and his predecessors)

2. The early days - the 60's, 70's and 80,s where Wise, barker, Guilder et al appear

3. The logistics staff - the model makers, scenery buffs, figure designers and manufacturers (as enthusiasts) where Dickinson, Perrys et al appear.As well as writers and artists (Wise in Men at Arms, Angus MacBride...)

4. The "modernists" the new rules writers.

5. The colonials - the impact on the hobby from the USA (sorry could not resist that one).

Many names cross these boundries.

Waterloo . Although Fletcher Pratt was certainly a pioneer , Fred Jane was teaching the worlds navies how to simulate sea battles 40 years before him .

He still deserves credit for populising the game amongst civilians . I wouldn't be without my copy of his game .

My unsung hero must be Ochel . A German toy soldier maker who standardized the Industry around Nuremburg to a constant scale of 42mm for flat figures . Oh , and he wrote a book called "Kriegspiel" about 60-70 years before the more famous one .

A few of them-Scott Mingus, HG Wells, Pete Panzeri, Jodie Panzeri, Steve Jackson, Doug Kline