WD, COW, and me

In a fortnight's time, COW2019 (this year's Conference of Wargamers) will be half over, and I will already be planning for COW2020 ... which will be the fortieth conference!

Wargame Developments was the result of a conference organised by the late Dr Paddy Griffith in 1980. It came after the demise of Donald Featherstone's WARGAMER'S NEWSLETTER, and brought together people who had contributed to it or who had achieved prominence in the hobby within the UK. At the end of the conference it was decided to set up Wargame Developments to run further conferences and to publish a regular journal, which was called THE NUGGET. I was elected to be the Treasurer and Membership Secretary ... and I've been doing it ever since (along with a stint as editor of THE NUGGET and helping to organise the conference!).

At the end of the first COW, Paddy Griffith wrote the following statement or manifesto:

Our Objectives will be to spread the philosophy of realistic wargaming THROUGH the hobby (“better realism and better game structures”), and to explore the subjects already discussed at the conference. Many aspects of wargaming have been raised, but due to a lack of time few have been investigated in depth. We should therefore study and develop them more fully. We should not, however, attempt to produce any set of ‘official’ wargames rules, as that might lead to the creation of another mainstream.

Our other main objective is to put like-minded ‘realistic’ wargamers in touch with each other, so that they can more easily exchange ideas and rules. We noticed at Moor Park that many members did find some ideas which were new to them, but others regarded such ideas as commonplace. Also, in some cases the same idea was reached independently by two people. Cross-fertilisation is therefore very desirable.

It is not part of our objectives to ‘lay down the law’ about wargaming to anyone, or to set up in ‘opposition’ to anyone in the hobby. We are simply pursuing and sharing our ideas of how games can be made, for us, more realistic, playable, and satisfying.

In general, we foresee most of the activities and study undertaken by members of WARGAME DEVELOPMENTS will be done locally on the initiative of individuals or small groups, without reference to the society’s committee (although short final reports would be welcome for our journal). A great deal of decentralisation is seen as the key to progress and productivity in this field. We will come together centrally only at the annual conference.

The society will stand or fall on the enthusiasm and imagination of its individual members. The central organisation exists primarily to reassure those who share our view, that they are not alone.

Please note that the use of underlining and upper-case lettering in certain parts of the statement were deliberate choices made by Paddy Griffith to emphasis what he considered to be the most important aspects of the statement of objectives.

Despite the occasional ups and downs, the members of WD have been striving to fulfil 'our manifesto' ever since. Looking back, it seems to me that quite a lot has been achieved by the members (my underlining for emphasis this time!), and that THE NUGGET and COW have helped to make those achievements possible.

Next year COW will be 40 and I will be 70! ... and I would have been a member of WD for somewhat longer than I haven't. Being an active member has helped keep my interest in wargaming alive ... and I hope that it will do for many years to come.

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THE NUGGET is so-called because it was expected to contain lots of wargaming ideas (or little 'nuggets') and because it was what Paddy called D20s.

WARGAME DEVELOPMENTS was the name I suggested to the first conference as it summed up the group's objectives and because it lent itself to a simple logo design based upon that used by the old War Department. Hence the logo includes the letters W and D as well as a stylised version of the old War Department mark or 'nick' as Kipling called it.