Northern Monkey | 21 Feb 2017 11:10 a.m. PST |
Met two of mine. One Don Fearherstone, was a real gent. The other was downright weird. Have you met any of your wargame heroes? Did they live up to your expectations? |
The Virtual Armchair General | 21 Feb 2017 11:19 a.m. PST |
Larry Brom, and it was more than I could have hoped. If not as Old School as the much missed Featherstone, they shared the same generational qualities of behaving as Gentlemen, and having lives outside the hobby. It was indeed my honor! TVAG |
Dynaman8789 | 21 Feb 2017 11:25 a.m. PST |
Though I do not consider them heroes (I leave that for those who do heroic things like firemen, policemen, soldiers and others who go in harms way). I did meet Frank Chadwick and heard him speak at Historicon one year and that was very nice. All round great guy. Can't remember meeting anyone else in person though I'm fairly certain I've met some of the Fireball Forward team at HMGS cons and they were great too. Finally is Richard Clarke, great guy, even better after he has a few drinks! |
Weasel | 21 Feb 2017 12:08 p.m. PST |
As a teenager, I met Tuomas Pirinen who was way more patient than I could have ever demanded, and Gavin Thorpe who was just a super enthusiastic and fun guy to talk to. |
GarrisonMiniatures | 21 Feb 2017 12:10 p.m. PST |
Met most of the British contingent before they were thought of as being 'greats' – had at least 2 conversations with Don Featherstone before I knew his name! |
David Manley | 21 Feb 2017 1:26 p.m. PST |
Phil Dunn, author of "Sea Battle Games" – an absolute gent :) |
Oberlindes Sol LIC | 21 Feb 2017 1:29 p.m. PST |
Frank Chadwick is a great guy. I was happy to be able to thank him in person for being the reason that I got pretty good at MicroSoft Excel, which I learned to use by designing vehicles and weapons for Striker. |
Evzone | 21 Feb 2017 1:30 p.m. PST |
A gentlemen by the name of Dave Rotor. He worked at the wargames shop in Gillingham St, near Victoria Station. Sadly passed away now. Like many of us no doubt, I started with Airfix figures, playing imaginary battles of the floor with books for hills and marbles for shooting. Then I started to have regular outings to the shop which was a total cornucopia of wonderfulness for me, 25mm Minifigs in cabinets and paper catalogues on the counter. Dave introduced WRG 1685 rules, Sym-War (WW2 and Modern) and Airfix gamers guides to me. Still got a copy of Sym-War somewhere. |
20thmaine | 21 Feb 2017 1:53 p.m. PST |
He extended me credit so I could purchase Citadel by FGU :
And he sold me Sym-war to use my Skytrex WWII tanks with ! |
LaserGrenadier | 21 Feb 2017 2:00 p.m. PST |
I met the creators of BattleTech at Origins in Atlanta in 1990. I traded embroidered patches with one of the guys, but when I spoke to Jordan Weismann a couple of years ago he was not sure who I traded with. I also met Tom Meier, my all-time favorite sculptor. But the highlight for me was meeting David Drake, the author of the Hammers Slammers books. He came to my LaserGrenadiers booth two days in a row. I regret I was so excited I did not think of giving him a copy of the rules. |
leidang | 21 Feb 2017 2:19 p.m. PST |
I see him every morning in the mirror! |
Just Jack | 21 Feb 2017 4:14 p.m. PST |
Now that Leidang broke the ice: I haven't, but several guys I've met have ;) In seriousness, I've had the pleasure of meeting fellow TMPers (or former TMPers) Kyoteblue, the proprietor of Darkest Star Games, and the proprietor of Britton Publishers. Kyote is just a crazy old hippy, but the other two are great guys ;) V/R, Jack |
Coyotepunc and Hatshepsuut | 21 Feb 2017 5:31 p.m. PST |
Nigel Stillman was great at Games Day Baltimore 1999. He looked bored and exhausted, but when I asked him about Warhammer Ancients he totally perked up. |
45thdiv | 21 Feb 2017 5:33 p.m. PST |
I have met a lot of folks, a lot when I was younger and did not know who they were. Most everyone was very nice. I still want to meet a few of the sculptors out there. |
Old Peculiar | 21 Feb 2017 5:41 p.m. PST |
Don Featherstone and Brigadier Peter Young, both brilliant characters in very different ways, Les Higgins, David Chandler, Paddy Griffiths very lucky to have known them. |
robert piepenbrink | 21 Feb 2017 7:43 p.m. PST |
Phil Barker, Don Featherstone, Larry Brom, Wally Simon, Pat Condray, Ed Mohrman, Jack Scruby, Peter Gilder--all to speak to: none very well. A very able bunch, though I didn't always know who I was supposed to be impressed by. But I was initiated into "adult" wargaming by Fred Vietmeyer, who explained the basics and the reasoning and pointed me toward an army. I played at his table three or four times a month for five years, and off and on later for as long as he lived. That was an honor and a privilege. |
McKinstry | 21 Feb 2017 8:01 p.m. PST |
Wally Simon introduced me to gaming and was simply a nice person with a terrific sense of humor. Pat Condray was snarky on a keyboard but unfailing kind and helpful in person. Jarvis Johnson and Andy Chambers were laid back and funny whenever we talked. Larry Bromi was a true gentleman in every good sense of the word. One spectacular surprise was playing in a Star Wars miniatures game one year at Origins next to a pleasant guy with a fun attitude and finding out halfway through that he was Timothy Zahn the author. FWIW – Will Wheaton was a nice guy at 6am Sunday morning at that same Origins waiting for our rides to the airport. |
Great War Ace | 21 Feb 2017 8:20 p.m. PST |
I had a very brief email exchange with Ian Heath. That's the closest to "meeting" any of these wargamers I ever came. |
Shagnasty | 21 Feb 2017 8:31 p.m. PST |
I had the very great pleasure of meeting Don Featherstone at Historican one year. Pat Condray was another luminary I meet at H'Con. |
Green Tiger | 22 Feb 2017 3:35 a.m. PST |
I've met Charles Wesencraft and spoken to Stuart Asquith and Ian Weekley on the phone – they were all most pleasant… |
Tom Molon | 22 Feb 2017 6:34 a.m. PST |
I didn't actually meet Don Featherstone in person, but we corresponded back and forth a few times by mail. In fact I offered him the position of honorary Colonel of one of my regiments (his choice), which he graciously accepted. Ever since, the Featherstone Light Infantry (FLI) have gone on to tabletop glory. He was, as many have already said, a fine gent. |
piper909 | 22 Feb 2017 1:23 p.m. PST |
I worked on staff at TSR Hobbies, Metagaming, and Coleco and so had occasion to not only meet some people now considered legends, but in some cases work with a few -- or work FOR a few, which was a decidedly mixed kettle of fish, as you might expect. Lots of very nice people in the industry but also certainly some not so nice types, depending on your specific situation and context. Almost all American and not by any means were all tabletop minis wargamers, some were primarily boardgamers or RPG gamers or somewhere in between. I would have liked to have met more British pioneers, they were known to me only from their books, rules, and articles but usually came across as very collegial fellows. |
Dynaman8789 | 22 Feb 2017 2:15 p.m. PST |
Metagaming! You need to start a thread and tell us some stories of working there. Maker of my favorite RPG, The Fantasy Trip. Seemed to be doing quite well and then POOF! |
piper909 | 22 Feb 2017 3:57 p.m. PST |
Crazy story, Metagaming. I got in the door there in its early days as a freelance game evaluator/playtester, reviewing and reporting on the "slush pile" of game prototypes submitted by outside would-be game designers and occasionally playtesting an accepted submission. This job came about as a result of an ad placed in the University newspaper that I saw, looking for people with simulation game knowledge. I took these assignments for about two years, then parleyed that experience into a design and development job with TSR Hobbies. When that broke down after two years, I returned to Austin to work at Metagaming as the product development coordinator. That stint, sadly, lasted only a bit longer than half a year. Metagaming abruptly closed shop when the owner/publisher, Howard Thompson, grew weary of running a game company, is how I see it. Unless the company was losing money -- I really don't know the background of this, even though I worked there for much of this terminal period. I wasn't ever involved in finances and did not hear anything about money being a problem, although Howard was very tight-fisted by inclination. None of us staffers saw it coming. One day, fairly early spring 1982, Howard simply handed out notices to the small staff that their jobs would be changing in a few weeks, we'd be doing work-for-hire at a set rate rather than working as hourly employees (with benefits). I saw immediately that this was no longer going to provide a living wage and began to look for another job (and wound up at Coleco within two months). Metagaming continued in this vein, relying on freelancers, high school students (!), and Howard himself to publish, assemble, distribute, and market a few more titles that had already been in the pipeline and mostly ready for printing, but by the time another year rolled by the entire operation ceased -- the game publishing, the Interplay magazine, all finished. A couple of games were resold to Avalon Hill, I think (Howard's personal designs, the bookshelf game sci-fi titles whose names escape me now) and reprinted but the rest went OP and remain so to this day. I suppose the copyrights remain with Howard Thompson but I don't even know that for certain. He was last known to be working again for a state agency, living in the central Texas area, sometimes surfacing as a spokesman for a local atheist group (!) -- but even that's been some years ago. he'll be past normal retirement age by now -- presumably is still alive. he didn't maintain any contact with his former staffers. I don't know where The Fantasy Trip sits; Metagaming obviously owned the rights -- possibly someone at Steve Jackson games might know, since it was Steve's original design (which I believe was the subject of some lawsuits at the time, unless I'm thinking of OGRE….) |
Dynaman8789 | 22 Feb 2017 4:38 p.m. PST |
Thanks for that, nice to hear a little insight on Metagaming. Steve Jackson says that Metagaming – Howard Thompson – still has the rights to The Fantasy Trip and so Steve came up with GURPS. I don't remember what Steve said about Ogre but he does have the rights to that one. A real pity, Metagaming had some really neat titles. |
20thmaine | 22 Feb 2017 5:33 p.m. PST |
I was – and am – a big fan of Metagaming. Great games for the most part. |
Oberlindes Sol LIC | 23 Feb 2017 6:39 p.m. PST |
I knew the guys who owned Dark Horse Designs, which made some very good 25mm figures in the 1980s: link |
Ed the Two Hour Wargames guy | 23 Feb 2017 7:44 p.m. PST |
Met Steve Jackson and a long time ago (1974) – Jack Scruby and it started me down the road to THW. link |
Russ Lockwood | 27 Feb 2017 7:35 p.m. PST |
I've met a few of my favorite wargame folks over the years, primarily through MagWeb and various conventions. Mind you, I find most wargamers interesting. In no particular order… Don Featherstone -- Just as clever and pleasant a fellow you'd ever want to meet. Jean Lochet -- Another gentleman with wit and wisdom. Wally Simon -- Ever curious, ever picky on statistical and mathematical formula, and seems to have invented and trashed 10,000 of his own rule sets. I find him and his work absolutely fascinating. Heart of gold. Pat Condray -- Talked to him at shows. Yes, he enjoyed being a 'WKPP.' Still have his unofficial history of HMGS…and both he and Wally always, and I mean always, stopped and talked to my wife at the MagWeb booth. Heart of gold. George Nafziger -- I'm not sure if there is a more knowledgeable fellow over so many periods -- from his OOBs to his books, guy's not only a researcher gem, but great to have a beer with. Also took the time to speak with my wife at the booth. Charles Sharp -- Met a few times, notably for a Europa convention in Eau Claire. Clever fellow and a WWII encyclopedia. Frank Chadwick -- Fount of knowledge and easy to talk to. Greg Novak -- Met at conventions and always learned something new. Larry Brom -- Met him and his daughter only a few times, but always had a nice chat. Larry Bond -- Quite knowledgeable and fun to talk to. Hal Thinglum -- Visited him only once. An all-round interesting evening filled with laughter and a little awe. Dick Bryant -- Gamed with his group in MA once. Fun evening and a pleasure to talk to over the years. Rich Hasenauer -- All-round interesting talks at conventions about game design. Jim Birdseye -- Just met a couple times, but I read so many of his Courier articles… Jim Purky -- Wargamer and musician. Still have his music CD. Jim Dunnigan -- Met once. Frenetic paced chat. Greg Scott -- Met a few times at shows. Personable fellow who has a real passion about the hobby. Dave Arneson -- Chatted once about influence of computers on RPGs. Interesting scope in his post-D&D years. Sid Meier -- This from computerdom. Visited MicroProse in 1990 at their height of simulation popularity for an afternoon of interviewing him, Wild Bill Staley, and others. He could certainly design games, and a nice fellow to talk to about the art of computer game design. Phil Barker -- Met once, and amiable once you got past the exterior. Howard Whitehouse -- Very creative and bubbling with new ideas to solve old problems. The Unknown Designers -- Many is the game I've played with home grown rules that turn out to be fun and interesting. Yes, many don't, or rather, are not yet ready for prime time, but all usually contain a gem of an idea somewhere within them. It's fairly easy to meet folks in the hobby, and like I said, I find the vast majority of designers, authors, and gaming luminaries to be easy to talk to about their work and their passion -- it's the same as ours… |