"Ted Haskell's Wargamer';s Profile (from The Courier, 1971)" Topic

I've been thinking about the spectrum of our hobby, and this old, one page cartoon from the original NEWA Courier came to mind.

link

I wasn't able to scan in the original, hand written page, and have it be legible, but I've more or less transcribed it in the post above,minus Ted's quaint sketches. it is interesting how much of it, tongue in cheek as it is, is still applicable today, and also what is more a feature of the early years of our hobby than it is today.

Ted proposed a 1 to 5 rating scale in each of fiver areas:

HISTORIAN

CRAFTSMAN

COLLECTOR

RULESMITH

GAMESMAN

So, how would *YOU *rate, a la Haskell, both now and perhaps in earlier years?

If I was to rate myself in High School I'd have been

Historian 2
Craftsman 2
Collector 2
Rulesmith 5
Gamesman 4

In my 20's I'd have been
Historian 3
Crafstman 3
Collector 3
Rulesmith 3
Gamesman 3

And the last 10 years I'd be
Historian 4
Craftsman 3
Collector 5
Rulesmith 3
Gamesman 2.5

Peter

Not sure I fit his categories very well, but would probably rate myself a three right across the board.

'Fraid I'm not up to Ted's standards. Probably
sub-1 across the board…

Used to enjoy reading about 'Hackswell' in various
AAR's of the period (although not called that in those
days).

I don't think you're giving yourself enough credit, Ed! Besides, not many of us design and cast our own figures these days! Even by 1971 that was a rarity. Not as much in the 50's and early 60's, when that was often tome the only way you could get that particular figure you wanted.

Interesting. Did anyone conduct a survey and publish the results? I would be interested in the profile of the hobby members as a whole.

No, I don;t think so. Not so easy to do back in the snail mail days!I have some thoughts about an updated snapshot of our gaming lives that need to be worked out in due course….