Nugget 272

I collected the latest edition of THE NUGGET (N272) from the printer on Thursday afternoon, and posted it out to members of Wargame Developments on Saturday morning.

I have now uploaded the PDF versions of THE NUGGET and THE NUGGET COLOUR SUPPLEMENT to the Wargame Developments website and they are available for members of Wargame Developments to read online or to download and print.

IMPORTANT: Please note that this is the eighth and penultimate issue of THE NUGGET to be published for the 2013-2014 subscription year, and that it is the last issue before COW2014 (the Conference of Wargamers 2014).

An award for FIREPOWER

It is somewhat more than merely ironic that during the week when the news of the closure of the Royal Artillery Museum FIREPOWER became common knowledge, the Museum was given an award by TripAdvisor.

This award is based on customer feedback ... and I suppose it only goes to prove that providing an excellent service is no guarantee that you can stave off closure if your visitor numbers are not high enough.

D-Day ... plus 70 years

Today marks the seventieth anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy. Over the past few days there has been extensive coverage of the events leading up to the landings, and today there will be ceremonies taking place in France and elsewhere to commemorate this anniversary.

There has been much mention of the fact that this will be the last big commemoration of the D-Day landings as the number of veterans is dwindling. Even the youngest of those who took part is in their late eighties, and each year the number grows less. The media has been recording their memories, and at times it has been hard to watch and listen to these old men and women remembering their part in this great enterprise. For a few brief moments they become young again.

On a personal level, one veteran will be missing ... my father. He died just over a year ago, and even whilst the dementia from which he suffered over his last few years was at its worst, his days as a young soldier were still clear in his mind.

My father served with 53rd Airlanding Regiment (Worcestershire Yeomanry), Royal Artillery right up until the end of the War. He was part of the forward observation team and eventually reached the rank of Staff Sergeant. Today, whilst we remember all those who took part in the D-Day landings and the Liberation of Europe, I (and the rest of my family) will be remembering our father and the part he played.

George Cyril Cordery
(1926 - 2013)

Thanks ... and a reminder

Thanks to everyone who responded to yesterday's blog entry about the campaign to try to save the Royal Artillery Museum FIREPOWER in Woolwich. I understand that over 200 people signed the e-petition yesterday, and I suspect that quite a few of them did so as a result of my blog entry, my Facebook entry, and my message on The Miniatures Page (TMP).

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The Milton Hundred Wargames Club will be running the BROADSIDE wargames show in Sittingbourne next Sunday. I hope to go ... and if you live in Kent or South East London and have not yet been to this show, I thoroughly recommend that you go along.

The venue is the Swallows Leisure Centre, Sittingbourne, Kent, ME10 4NT. Entry cost is £3.00 ... and women and children can get in for free!

Click on the image to make it larger

The traders who will be attending are:

T1 - Adler Miniatures
T2 - Armourfast
T3 - Brigade Models
T4 - Redoubt enterprises
T5 - David Lanchester Books
T6 - Fenris Games
T7 - Ainsty Castings
T8 - Cymbeline Games
T9 - Tablescape
T10 - Harfields Military Figures
T11 - ToleHaven
T12 - Realistic Modelling
T13 - Early War Miniatures
T14 - Shellhole Scenics
T15 - Col. Bills.com
T16 - Lesley's Bits Box
T17 - WargamesNkits
T18 - 7th Heaven Games
T19 - Monarch Millitary Books
T20 - SHQ Miniatures
T21 - Polly Oliver Castings
T22 - Red Knight Wargames
T23 - Wargames Emporium
T24 - Always Darkk
T25 - Warmill
T26 - Andy's Models
T27 - Royal British Legion
T28 - Wargames Foundry
T29 - Warlord Games
T30 - WW1 display by Historical Research Group of Sittingbourne
T31 - Pilum Painting
T32 - Gladius Game Arts
T33 - Essex Miniatures
T34 - Sphere Products
T35 - Wargame Solutions
T36 - PE2 Collectables
T37 - East Street Games
T38 - Engine Shed Toys

The clubs that will be attending are:

G1 - Gravesend Wargamers Club
G2 - Maidstone Wargames Society
G3 - Posties Rejects
G4 - Herne Bay Wargamers
G5 - Deal Wargames Club
G6 - Skirmish Wargames Group
G7 - Shepway Wargames Club
G8 - The Gamers Hub
G9 - Southend Wargames Club
G10 - Hornchurch Heroes Gaming Club
G11 - Friday Night Fire Fight Club
G12 - Gravesend Gamers Guild
G13 - South East Essex Military Society
G14 - Medway Wargames Society
G15 - East Grinstead Gamers
G16 - Rainham Wargames Club
CTK (Crush The Kaiser) Wargaming will also be providing a demonstration game using their WW1 rule set but are not part of the club competition.

Trying to save FIREPOWER

This week’s issue of the local newspaper confirmed rumours that I had heard about the closure – at the end of 2016 – of the Royal Artillery’s Museum FIREPOWER, which is located in buildings within the old Royal Arsenal, Woolwich. This news received further confirmation in an open letter written by Major General Michael Steele (the Chairman of the Friends of Firepower) in the Spring issue of the Firepower Newsletter, which I received in today’s post.

A full statement by the Chairman of the Royal Artillery Museum Board has now appeared on the Museum’s website. It explains the circumstances surrounding the decision to close the Museum.

As Chairman of the Royal Artillery Museum Limited (RAML) Board, I thought the time was now right to update you on some notable changes planned for our Museum. A strategic review of operations at Firepower has been underway for the last 15 months; its purpose has been to determine the best way to sustain a museum operation with maximum public access to the Royal Regiment of Artillery’s Collection whilst reducing the demand on our various supporting organisations whose ability to provide financial assistance is diminishing.

The sad, inescapable fact is that despite Firepower’s restructuring, streamlining and improvement – for which great credit is due to all involved – the Museum will be unable to live within the available income and it is also clear that the location is very unlikely to be able to deliver the number of visitors in the timescale needed for financial sustainability. Running costs cannot be reduced significantly below those achieved in the last 2½ years. Therefore, it has been essential to develop a new basis for sustaining the Regiment’s Collection.

The strategic review’s principal conclusion was that the long term future of the Regiment’s Collection would best be served by retaining a small heritage presence at Woolwich but moving the bulk of the operation elsewhere in partnership with others. Over the last 7 months, these conclusions have been examined more closely for feasibility and the Board will review findings in July/August 2014. This has been commercially very sensitive.

However there has been a recent development about which I can now update you. An early step of the review was to decide about the Royal Arsenal site where our assets lie and where we wish to remain in part. On 20 May 2014 we signed and exchanged a conditional agreement with the Royal Borough of Greenwich to reassign the leases of the museum’s buildings to them. This deal would see Firepower vacate its buildings by 31 December 2016 and, in the same timeframe, the creation of a permanent Royal Artillery exhibition in a combined heritage centre adjacent to our current site at Woolwich; this will set the Regiment’s history in the context of the Royal Arsenal and helps the Royal Arsenal site develop into the heritage quarter that has always been the Royal Borough of Greenwich’s ambition. Whilst further dialogue is needed with donors and supporters from the grant making phase in the 1990s, the deal’s conditions are assessed to be achievable.

In the meantime, we have been developing a better understanding of possible future sites for the long term museum operation and have 3 main options under active consideration. These will be presented to the RAML Board later this year and a preferred site will be chosen and developed to the next level of detail. Ideally we would move directly there from Woolwich, however it is likely that we will have to move some of the Collection via an appropriate storage facility. It is our firm intention to remain as active during the Transition Phase as we can be; amongst other things, we are working on plans for a virtual museum, access throughout transition to key parts of the collection and archive and specific events and activities to keep our heritage in the public consciousness.

Overall, this deal represents a significant opportunity to create a sustainable public access museum – the core purpose of our charity – whilst retaining a close and enduring bond with the Regiment’s birthplace at the Royal Arsenal. You can be reassured that our goal continues to be to provide the greatest possible public access to the history and heritage of artillery and the story of the courage and service of the men and women of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. Our short term focus must be on maintaining an effective museum operation at Woolwich until late 2016 and ensuring that whatever we develop for the future appropriately balances the need for financial viability with the core goal of public access to our heritage. Future plans will be appropriately updated as they develop.

The Royal Artillery was formed in Woolwich in 1716, and until just a few years ago there had been a continuous link between the Regiment and the town. Woolwich was the home of the Regiment, and there are very few ‘Gunners’ who have not spent part of their time in the Regiment in Woolwich.

When the Royal Artillery moved out, other units – including the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery – moved in. The only link between the Regiment and its ‘home’ was the Museum … and now that is slated for closure. Not everyone is taking this decision lying down, and an online e-petition has been set up in the hope that the decision can be rescinded. I have signed … and I am encouraging any of my regular UK-based blog readers to do the same. (Unfortunately the e-petition can only be signed by UK residents.) If you are interested in signing the e-petition, please click on this link.

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A personal note: I feel very strongly about the closure of the Royal Artillery’s Museum for several reasons.

• Firstly, I live within a mile or so of the Museum, and visit it as often as I can.
• Secondly my father and my maternal grandfather (as well as at least one of my aunts!) were ‘Gunners’.
• Thirdly – and in some ways most importantly – my wife’s family has been associated with the Regiment since one of her forebears – John Bayne – joined as a Fifer in Woolwich in 1767 at the age of 12. He later rose to become Fife Major to the Company of Gentleman Cadets, one of the most senior NCOs in the Regiment. Her family have lived in Woolwich ever since, and the closure of the Museum would sever a family link that is almost 250 years old.

Nugget 272

The editor of THE NUGGET sent the original of the next issue (N272) to me last night, and I took it to the printer this morning. I hope to collect it from them on Thursday and to post it out to members of Wargame Developments on Friday or Saturday.

IMPORTANT: Please note that this is the eighth and penultimate issue of THE NUGGET to be published for the 2013-2014 subscription year, and that it is the last issue before COW2014 (the Conference of Wargamers 2014).

Thinking, gardening, and looking back

The good weather that we have been enjoying for the past few days has meant that I have been doing some work in the garden, and that has given my some time to think. (The use of the word 'good' is relative, and means that it is not raining most of the time.)

I have now installed wooden edging around all the flower beds and along the front edge of the cleared area underneath the laurel hedge. As part of this process I have removed all the earth that had built up around the garden shed, and with luck I should be able to begin sorting out what is in the shed as the summer progresses. I vaguely remember trying to do this some years ago, and a quick look back at my earliest blog entries shows that the last time I did was in 2009 ... and that my efforts were very short-lived!

The end of the garden. Until relatively recently the laurel hedge completely covered the shed.

The shed ... in all its unencumbered glory!

Most of my thinking has been about the possibility that I will ever write a set of wargame rules that meet all my needs ... and my conclusions were that it was very likely that I would not. I have had many attempts to achieve this aim, and have got close on a couple of occasions, but then I see something that makes me change tack and go back to the drawing board.

A look back at my blog shows that I have – over a number of years – written several sets of wargame rules that work and with which I should be satisfied. They are (in alphabetical order):

• BUNDOCK AND BAYONET
• CHACO WAR
• 'ERES TO YOU FUZZY WUZZY
• HEROES OF VICTORIA'S EMPIRE (HoVE)
• HEXBLITZ
• HORDES OF DERVISHES
• MEMOIR OF BATTLE (MOB)
• MEMOIR OF BATTLE AT SEA (MOBAS)
• MEMOIR OF MODERN BATTLE (MOBAT)
• MINI AND TOUTOU GO FORTH
• OPERATIONAL ART
• RED FLAGS AND IRON CROSSES
• RED FLAGS AND IRON CROSSES – TARRED AND FEATHERSTONED
• REDCOATS AND DERVISHES
• RESTLESS NATIVES
• RESTLESS NATIVES – TARRED AND FEATHERSTONED
• RESTLESS REVOLUTIONARIES
• SIMPLE COLONIAL WARGAMES RULES (SCWaRes)
• THE PORTABLE NAVAL WARGAME
• THE PORTABLE WARGAME (PW)
• WHEN EMPIRES CLASHED! (WEC)

Not a bad record – even though I say it myself – but indicative of a rather butterfly mind!

I think that I need to go and look again at some of my past efforts, especially as I suspect that I may not yet have explored their full potential.

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One thing that the better weather has not made to go away is the replacement of the gas supply pipe to the houses in our street. The trenches have got longer ...

... and the holes have got bigger and deeper.

The workmen were originally supposed to have finished installing the new gas supply pipe by the end of the month ... but I am fast coming to the conclusion that they meant the end of June not the end of May!

Another visit to the National Achives

One advantage of living in London is the accessibility of places like the National Archives ... although it does take an average of two hours to make the trip both there and back by car.

At present my wife and I try to visit the Archives as often as we can, and yesterday's visit was the second we have made in a fortnight. With my help she is trying to trace members of her family who served in the British Army.

During our visit I spent most of my time going through the numerical returns sent to the War Office by the commander of the independent company of Royal Invalids stationed at Landguard Fort in Felixstowe, Suffolk. The returns were sent monthly between 1760 and 1798, and contain details of how many officers and men were present.

(For most of the period that I was studying, the company had a Captain, a Lieutenant, an Ensign, three Sergeants, two Drummers, and between thirty five and ninety Other Ranks. One or more of the senior officers were absent for much of the time, and most of the Other Ranks were trained 'in the Artillery Exercise' so that they could act as gun crews for the artillery emplaced as part of the fort's defences.)

I also managed to do some research of my own. This included reading the First World War Battalion War Diaries of the 6th (Service) Battalion, Queen's Royal West Surrey Regiment, a unit in which a member of my Masonic Lodge served ... and died.

A (Different) Gasman Cometh

Some months ago we received a letter from the local gas supplier informing us that they were going to replace the main gas supply pipe in our area. The projected date was early February ... but they never started.

We then received another letter informing us that the work had been delayed until March. They did begin work ... but on another road nearby.

Over the past three months many of the other roads in our area have had their main gas supply pipe replaced, but our road was singularly ignored ... until last Friday. Late last Friday afternoon various blue and red lines and dots were spray-painted on the road surface and the pavements, both sides of the road had 'No Parking' cones placed along the curbs, parts of the road had safety barriers put up so that the pavement and part of the road were closed off, and a set of automatic traffic lights were installed so that alternate single-line traffic flow was imposed.

Over the long weekend nothing further happened and many of the locals moved the cones so that they could park outside their homes. On Tuesday morning the workmen arrived, reinstated the cones, and began to dig up the road. By 10.15am the trench had reached outside our house, and there was a danger that both our cars would be marooned on our hard-standing. A quick word with the workmen ensured that the trench would be filled in when we had to leave, and they were as good as their word. At 10.30am my wife drove off to do some shopping and I drove over to Wimbledon to collect something from one of my regular blog readers (and an old wargaming friend), arthur1815.

When I got back at 2.45pm, I found that the workmen had left a gap in the safety barriers so that I could drive my car onto our hard-standing. I also discovered that when my wife had returned there had been no gap in the barriers and she had had to park some distance away. Needless to say, she was at all happy with the situation. I went to collect her car and was just able to park it on the hard-standing. (The gap in the safety barriers was just wide enough for one car to pass through.)

By the time I got back the workmen had packed up for the day, and had left the road looking like this:

The heavy rainfall we had been experiencing for most of the day had already begun to fill up the holes and trenches they had dug, and I suspect that when they return today they will have to pump them dry. As to how long this disruption will last ... who knows?

I've been Liebstered!

It would appear that A Wargaming Gallimaufry has 'nominated' my blog for an award of sorts ... a Liebster Award.

I have no idea what the award is for, but it would appear that to 'accept' this award I have to nominate at least five other blogs and to answer some questions.

I could easily have just nominated the blogs that are featured on the right-hand sidebar, but instead I decided to nominate some of the other blogs that I follow. My nominated blogs are:

• A Little From Leofwine
• Adventures with Gun, Sabre and Horse
• Big Lee's Miniature Adventures
• Brazos Evil Empire
• Geordie's Big Battles
• il Desto Fante
• The Dancing Cake Tin
• Wargame Hermit

The questions (and my answers) are as follows:

Why did you start blogging?

• I started whilst I was still teaching Information Technology to 17/18 year olds. The syllabus required them to create a blog and I had no idea how to write one ... so I did. So I started as part of a self-learning process.
  

If you could change one thing about the wargaming hobby, what would it be?

• The spurious pursuit of realism. Once I accepted that what I do is play warGAMES (with emphasis on the games part of the word) and stopped trying to con myself into believing something different, I began to enjoy the hobby far more ... and to discover that you can actually create quite realistic and historical results from simple, quick, and easy to use game mechanisms.

What is best in life?

• My family and friends. Life would not be worth much without either.

Fame or fortune?

• I suspect that getting this award is about as famous as I will ever get, so I suppose that I will have to settle for fortune.

What miniatures are you most proud of having painted?

• Some Russian World War II infantry that I sold to another wargamer. I had forgotten that I had passed them on to him, and when I saw some photographs of them on his blog I asked where he had got them because they looked so good ... and was very surprised when he told me that I had painted them!

How do you deal with burn out?

• Not very well. I usually just take a break and do something else ... and that seems to cure the problem.

Why is a raven like a writing desk?

• No idea.

Star Wars or Star Trek?

• Star Trek. I enjoy both, but Star Trek just has the edge. But if Dr Who had been included in the options, Star Wars and Star Trek would have both been out of the running.

If you could only buy from one miniatures company from now on, which one would it be?

• Essex Miniatures.

What is your favourite takeaway?

• Fish and Chips, closely followed by Chinese.