"Wargames Health Risks" Topic

About 12 years ago I managed to crick my neck while rolling dice, this required 4 trips to cyropractor to rectify. Then 3 years ago I had to do a formal risk assesment for my Wargames Club, for insurance purposes.

I'd like to ask, what injuries have other gamers suffered while playing table to wargames. Or have seen happen to their friends. How dangerous is this hobby?

Hedgehogged face by bending low over a table to check Line of sight. One face full of foundry Macedonian Pikes. Those Stainless steel Foundry pikes are SHARP.

Pat

Not at the wargames table , but next time an X-acto knife rolls of the workbench I will remember not to catch it by snapping my legs together.

I reckon damage to upper back / neck and shoulders from all that bending over painting tables.

I've dropped the knife off the table – the point didn't break off when it hit the table as my foot stopped it :(

Velbor,

Same thing happened to me :-) Was just a reflex, talk about pain and bleeding…..

That's about the only "wargames related" injury I can remember…..

Stabbings with hobby knives.
Other injuries with rotary tools; abrasions, punctures and foreign objects in eyes.
Gluing one's fingers together.
Exposure to toxic gases from terrain making materials, plus inhalation of aerosol paints.
Upper spine/kneck injury from bending over painting tables or even the gaming table.
Spinal injury from lifting too much loot at a convention.
Diabetes and heart disease from spending our time sitting and playing with toy soldiers while eating junk food instead of getting some exercise.
Sudden death when we overspend at a convention and the better half sees the bill….

As this hobby tends to be rather sedentary, we sometimes decide a draw game by poundage. Which ever side has the biggest men, not necessarily in height, wins the game.
I've been kidded many times that I'm not holding up the tradition, too thin.

Took the very tip of my thumb off with a craft knife while cutting maps.

Lower back injury while examining wares on a traders table at a game show many years ago.

All who have stabbed themselves in a stupid way with an X-acto knife, please form a line behind Velbor…
No pushing now, we will get to all of you in due time!

How about ripping a fingernail by trying to quickly remove some flash you missed when painting?

Respiratory distress from inhaling fumes is a big problem of mine. I rarely consider good ventilation when primaring my figs. Ill look up after 10 minutes or so and realize Im standing in an aerosol haze.

Hurt my back from too much bending at cons, but most of my injuries are self-inflcited at home, like gluing myself to myself, losing wars with my razor saw, and sticking myself in the thimb with an X-acto knife.

Assuming the OFM assumed his place in line, I guess I'm about sixth…

Example:

TMP link

One man's "respiratory distress" is another man's "high" dude.

I meand Duuude. DUUUUDE!

I can stay away from the fumes, I have figured out ways around all of that stuff. Grumpy, try gesso. No aerosol, and it goes on smoother than spray.

Knives are my most common injury. I can't through a blister pack without at least a little nick or close call. I have even stuck a blade a good 1/8 inch through my thumb nail and into my thumb. The geometry might confuse you, but trust me it works and hurts like a bastard.

I'll second the neck pain issues. As long as I stretch every half hour or so, it is no big deal.

I can't belive that no one has mentioned lead poisoning. I was sure that there would be one. I worry about that the most…

At the actual table, I think that the only thing that I have seen for an injury is someone falling over backward in a chair when they had pushed it back onto the back legs. Otherwise, all of the damage we are doing is long term and weight related. It is an issue of balast… …errr balance.

I have even stuck a blade a good 1/8 inch through my thumb nail and into my thumb.

That's it?

I stuck a blade a "good" 1/2 – 3/4" directly into the side of my thumb! A decade+ later, I still have the white scar to show for it!

At the actual table, I think that the only thing that I have seen for an injury is someone falling over backward in a chair when they had pushed it back onto the back legs.

I lost a good dozen plastic patio chairs to wargamers in my chilly basement, before I reverted to good old steel folding chairs!

Head-under-the-table-itis is always good for a laugh, unless its your figures getting shot across the room or onto the floor.

Oddly, no mention of getting stabbed by pole-armed figures yet.

I was hobbling round one of the shows at Newark on crutches (having had my right knee operated on a few weeks earlier) and had picked up some ECW from Redoubt. Nice chunky HEAVY figures. In a rucksack. Which seemed like a good idea, but wasn't helping my balance much.

So fell over and tore the cartilidge off my left knee as well…

That slowed me down.

The usual thumb prick and othe minor pokages together with excessive dying of skin on my hands after using Acetone and a toothbrush to strip minis. I was wearing rubber gloves at the time but the constant pricks from bristles bypassed any protection. I must have impregnated my hands with to much Acetone as I suffered for weeks with cracked and sore skin.

The only other ingeries are those that have no origin that one can remember.

I had a chisel bit for my X-acto handle. Nothing but a piece of hardened tool steel with a point on it.
It was rolling off the table (and how many of our stories start with THOSE 6 words?) when I grabbed it. It went in the fleshy part on the back of my left ring finger, and came cleanly out the front.
On anybody else, it would have looked cool. However, on me…

Several knife injuries to fingers & thumbs. I used to suffer back pain from poor posture whilst painting though it sems to have disappeared since I started learning karate.

Oddly, no mention of getting stabbed by pole-armed figures yet.

Except in the second post of this thread.

I ended up at the ER with a transient scotoma one day while painting up 2000 of Peter Berry's little figures. Thought it was retinal detachment but just a blood vessel spasm. I got some magnifying specs after that!

I lost a good old steel folding chair before I reverted to a good old plastic patio chair.

zap a gap hit with zip kicker after it, unbeknownst to me, had flowed into a crack on my finger. Man that was the best I've ever danced.

Except in the second post of this thread.

So muc fo my reeding comprenshun!

Ones that come immediately to mind are:

I've got a 1" long scar on the back of my hand where I stuck a scapel through it – that bled for hours & hours.

I've also managed to Dremmel right into the index finger knuckle of my left hand.

I've super-glued my foot to the floor.

I used a cheap craft knife and shaved a 1" piece of skin off the side of my little finger.

Numerous little nicks and brusies.

But nothing compared to the injuries I would have sustained if Vicky was not in such a good mood at the time – managed to get superglue "smoking" on a glass topped dining table – fine I though I can clear that up with acetone – and then go and remove the chroming with said acetone. That one cost me lots of flowers but I escaped serious spousal injury!

Injuries from gaming/painting – I've not had any other than the odd scratch here or there, a pin prick or two. However, I have had some friends who have had some down right silly accidents/injuries. Two of my favorite deal with superglue:

A friend and I were assembling figures one day and the super glue sealed itself shut – as superglues are won't to do – so he opened the bottle by unscrewing the cap. The glue then promptly spilled on his hand, gluing the figure to his hand, so he put the bottle down, pried the figure and some skin off his left hand, then wiped his face with his right hand and promptly glued his lips to his teeth. He grinned for about two hours til we figured out what we could use to debond superglue around the food slot! Brilliant maneuver!

The other accident with injury involved superglue yet again. I was with a friend who was assembling figures and he again took the screw top lid off the glue to clear a clog. He spilled the bottle of glue – and miraculously it all spilled into the top of his "boat" shoes – the kind where there is a round lip around the front part of the shoe. There was quite a bit of glue there – nearly a whole bottle of Zap CA+++. So, he decides that the shoes are essentially ruined anyways and sprays the shoe which is still on his foot with zip kicker. Talk about a hot foot!!! The shoe exploded from the heat and left him with a second degree burn on the top of his foot from the toes back to the middle of his foot. He walked with a pronounced limp for nearly two weeks.

I on the other hand have been lucky. NO major injuries – YET!

Have been testing this (literal) knee-jerk reaction regarding falling craft knives and scalpels…….
although I have been doing it with a pencil.
Must report a 50% failure rate, with the pencil hitting the floor before the old (and crocked) knees close.
Reckon the safety-conscious method of reducing such injuries to an acceptable level worldwide is to train oneself to just let it drop to the floor.
Of course, then there is the type who will bang his head under the table, whilst retrieving it from the floor……..

Two bad incidents come to mind and the name of the gamers shall remain nameless…

1. Gas attack due to the use of glue and foam board.
2. Scalpel cut that the gamer tried to close with glue; but impatience set in and accelorant was added. the exothermic reaction seared the wound closed

Of course, then there is the type who will bang his head under the table, whilst retrieving it from the floor……..

… or from his foot.

Re. instinctive catching of falling scalpels – I just wear a box (cup for US readers). Got some odd looks from the missus until I explained; then she looked relieved and now usually reminds me.

Of course, if you sit right in to the desk/table (like we were all taught to do at school) then a falling scalpel isn't going to pose a problem anyway.

I have the obligatory knife wound. Slashed a finger so deep through veins and nerves that it needed stitching and still has almost no feeling in the tip.

I once witnessed a D&D player get so over excited that he picked up another player by the throat causing moderately serious injuries. His hostility wasn't aimed at the victim but at a monster, he simply used the other player to demonstrate what he wanted his character to do to the monster. Now that's the kind of health risk you don't expect when you pop round to a friends for an evening's gaming.

I see nobody's yet mentioned the consequences of the "other half" finding out what one spent at the recent show – I guess some things leave a different type of scar……

On another forum recently, one of the blokes said he keeps ALL his wargames figures in IDENTICAL boxes, deep in the back of the storage, and only ever carries the boxes ONE AT A TIME past his wife.
Why would she suspect him of overspending?
Brilliant.

the worst injury I can think of might be incurred by which ever health and safety asked me for a risk assessment for playing a game of toy soldiers

I avoided a related injury by running.

Bloodbowl. I am 3-0 up. Last turn of the game- opponnent (Squigs) is half my age, and making last throw downfield for a 'conselation goal' to avoid the whitewash. Catcher rolls a miss. I pick up the ball, and toss it dead. Game ends.

I say "That's a catcher- you could have rerolled!" Cue club wondering why he is chasing me out the door.

(Before anyone quotes my Rule One- look at the situation- meaningless goal for the result, plus he was only too eager to pounce on any of my mistakes, such as forgetting to move my turn marker, and comedy value)

Burnt a hole through my trousers and left a nice red mark on my thigh whilst managing to pouring molten lead into a Prince August mould a few years ago – thankfully the lead landed on my thigh, eh ? With maturity and experience of course, I now work over a hardwood bench but somehow still manage to burn my fingers by being too eager to prise the little chaps and so on out of the mould before they cool down properly.

Had another run-in with superglue the other week. Managed to damage the undercart of a 1/144th aircraft just before take off. Was offered glue and zapper to repair. I didn't realise how runny the glue was (it went all over my finger), but got me mate to zap the thing and my finger promptly exploded in searing pain. Had a lovely blister the next day.

Whilst making bases on a big benchtop disc sander, I shaved off one finger joint right down to the bone. Very, very messy.

Not gaming , but fell out off a Chinook when it was putting me down on a scree slope! Knees didn't like that one, was wearning a bergan and full fighting order so had no chance to be graceful and commando like!

Royal marine.Ouch!

Angry gamer throws oversized dice (that are screwing him over) against concrete basement wall: resulting shrapnel flies around the room, fortunately hurting no one. But months later, I am still finding shards of shattered plastic, and there was plastic imbeded in the concrete wall!