Operation Tiger Memorial

While I was on holiday in Devon a few weeks ago I had the chance to visit the Exercise Tiger Memorial at Slapton Sands. I've been here before, way back in the mid 80's, but this time I wanted to return and pay my respects at the Memorial now that I have a little more understanding of why it is here and what it signifies. 

On the 27th April 1944 thousands of allied soldiers began boarding eight Landing Ships for an amphibious assault on a heavily defended beach. This was a carefully choreographed rehearsal  of the Normandy landings that would take place just a couple of months later and was designed to give 'green' troops some valuable invasion experience and thereby save lives. Unfortunately this trial run turned deadly when a  group of German E Boats stumbled upon the convoy and began launching torpedoes against the lightly armed LCT's. Three Landing Craft were hit, two of which sank within minutes. Both were full of soldiers in full combat gear wearing life preservers they had had precious little instruction in using. 749 Soldiers and sailors lost their lives and the survivors were ordered never to tell the story for fear that Allied invasion plans would leak out. 

In the 1970's a local man, Ken Small found artefacts washed up on local beaches and this set him on a path to uncovering the story of Exercise Tiger and the huge loss of life that went with it. He eventually got permission to raise a Sherman DD tank from the seabed and in 1984 the tank was dragged ashore and turned into a permanent memorial to the men that lost their lives preparing for D-Day and the liberation of Europe. 

This Sherman DD Tank was recovered from the sea and set up a memorial to Exercise Tiger

The dedication of the memorial

Despite over 50 years on the seabed the tank is in pretty good shape

Part of the specialised DD drive on this tank

Me and the Sherman in 2015

...and back in the mid 80's. 

There is lots more information and some interesting pictures and videos on the Exercise Tiger Memorial website including pictures of the tank being raised in 1984.

40 Years of Adventure

My job has been exceptionally busy over the last few weeks and as a result I have had very little opportunity to write anything for the Blog or paint anything for the Analogue Challenge. I'm still very busy but I am slowly getting to grips with my suddenly increased workload and hopefully things will return to some sort of equilibrium over the next couple of weeks. I'm hoping to have a new entry for the Challenge by the end of the week (I've already submitted my Casualty bonus entry) and I am trying to catch up on the huge back load of Blog Posts that I haven't had a chance to read. I'll get there eventually, but it may take a couple of weeks! 

D&D Red Box - My Introduction to Adventure

One event that almost passed me by unnoticed was the 40th anniversary of the Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying game. My own involvement with this game started over 30 years ago when I was about 12 or 13. I was first introduced to D&D through a friend - after a very brief apprenticeship in fantasy gaming through the Fighting Fantasy solo gaming books by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone. It was a short step from these adventure books to proper roleplaying when I and some of my friends bought the now famous Frank Mentzer 'Red Box' rulebooks. We played the sample scenario given in the Dungeon Masters booklet and I still vividly remember my first combat victory against a Carrion Crawler. My character was a stereotypical Barbarian hero called Vulcan the Slayer (facepalm!) and that first game was a simple monster bashing adventure, but I loved it, and I was instantly hooked for life.

This was also the time when I painted my first model - a Knight in black armour with gold edging - using the only paints I had available at the time, some Humbrol enamels. It was an awful paint job but at the time I was very proud of it. I was one of only a handful of player's to use a fully painted miniature in those early games and although the techniques and materials I use have changed a lot since then, I still hold true to the principle that I never game with naked metal! Unfortunately that first mini was lost a long time ago and its only now I look back and wished I had realised that this was a special possession marking the start of a lifelong hobby. I can't remember where I even bought the model, but back then there seemed to be plenty of small independent games shops to choose from. 

A picture of me before I became 'BigLee' circa 1985
(clearly 'Selfies' are not a new phenomenon!)

Our small group consisted mostly of friends from school and although the composition of the group changed a bit over the years the core members continued to play together for nearly three decades more. In the early years we would meet for games at least once a week and we even ran a charity game in school with some of the teachers joining in! When University or jobs beckoned we played less often but for many years we still managed bi-weekly games and it was D&D that kept us in touch with each other more than anything else.

Most of the group have run games over the years and I have twice adopted the role of Dungeon Master for short campaigns. This picture shows me preparing for a game sometime around 1985. We were still using the red box 'basic' rules at the time but we had also bought the Blue 'Expert' box and the Black 'Master' boxes as they became available. I would happily spend hours planning out huge underground complexes, stocking them with all manner of monsters, traps and treasures.

Most of the time we would create our own 'dungeons' but we would also reach for inspiration in the pages of Dragon magazine and even the earlier editions of White Dwarf. One such dungeon complex I developed was based on an article in WD43 called The Hive of the Hrrr'l which featured creatures called the Flymen. I expanded the original maps into a huge complex of rooms and chambers which kept us busy for many many weeks. In later years, using the 3rd edition rules I designed an entire world setting called The Isles of Ethos and my players fought their way through two long story arcs before we moved on to the 4th Edition rules.

Nearly all the members of my first D&D group are
pictured here. 

D&D and painting inevitably and rapidly led to our involvement in other games and our first flirtation with wargaming in the form of Warhammer Fantasy Battle, WH40k, and Epic 40k. This of course was in the days when my friends and I still had disposable incomes (student loans mostly!) and before careers and families nibbled away at our spare time. For a long time we wargames and roleplayed simultaneously depending on who could attend a game and where we were playing. If we had space to lay out a wargame on a floor we would play WFB and if we didn't we could happily pick up where we left off in our D&D campaigns. 


Over the years many of my early gaming buddies have moved on and moved away and as far as I know I'm the only one still playing with toy soldiers on a regular basis. But although we are not gaming on a regular basis most of us still keep in touch - through the wonders of social media - and we still occasionally gather for an impromptu board game or one off RPG game. I credit the strength and endurance of our friendships entirely down to the hours we spent 'adventuring' together as young adults. Yes we were socially awkward geeks but through the enduring power of collaborative roleplaying games like D&D we became slightly less socially awkward adults... and I wouldn't trade a minute of it for anything else. 

Memory Lane with Model Soldiers

When I heard the news last week that Donald Featherstone had passed away my first reaction, like many others, was to write a post saying how influential I thought the man was to our hobby and how much he would be missed. Like many I felt that the wider wargaming community had been diminished by his passing but also that his legacy in terms of his vast back catalogue of written work was incalculable. Like many I have very fond memories of my first encounters with his work, although for me this came not at the beginning of my hobby but much later when I had been away from wargaming for several years. One of the books that really helped with that transition was Battles with Model Soldiers.

I don't recall where I first saw this book, I think it was lent to me by a friend but for the life of me I can't remember who it was (senility is clearly creeping in, and I'm still only in my 40's!). What I do remember is that it was the perfect reintroduction to the wider hobby of wargaming and that it came just at the right time. I and my friends had been enthusiastic Warhammer and Epic 40k players for many years and I in particular always fielded fully painted armies. All through our University years we would regularly meet up for big games played out on living room floors because we didn't have a games table. Those were halcyon days when we had money to spend, time to indulge and relatively few commitments to confine our enthusiasm.

But (like many others judging from the stories I have read on other peoples Blogs) we started to drift away from wargaming as my friends and I began our working careers. It had always been an expensive habit, but when I got married and started a family (in the mid 90's), time became an issue, space was at a premium, the money dried up and so did my enthusiasm. As a group of friends we had always had a diverse range of interests and some in the group just weren't that into wargaming and painting and so it was inevitable that we would collectively 'move on' to other things. Looking back on this time I'm just glad we decided to move on together rather than loosing touch as I'm sure that would have killed off my hobby interests entirely.

There was a long time when I was in danger of drifting away from gaming altogether and it was only my by now disparate circle of friends determination to keep in touch that kept us meeting as a group. For many years we switched our tabletop interests to other games and indulged in a variety of boardgames, CCG's and RPG's, in particular our first love, Dungeons and Dragons. Most of us had by now sold off our old Warhammer and Epic 40k armies, although I kept a few models as a keepsake. I was still painting but by now my output was almost exclusively fantasy figures to support the many tabletop RPG's we were playing at the time. I don't regret this period for a moment, it kept us together and it kept us gaming and it was 'right' for that time in our lives. Then someone handed me a copy of Battles with Model Soldiers and the low burning embers of my interest in wargaming were fanned back into life. 

I never got round to buying a copy of this book (I reluctantly returned the borrowed copy) but after learning of the death of Don I decided it was high time I corrected this oversight. I was overcome with a deep feeling of nostalgia and an overwhelming desire to became reacquainted with the book that literally saved me from abandoning wargaming altogether. So I did what we all do nowadays, I logged into Amazon and found myself a 1972 edition ex library copy of the book. Its the same edition I read some time in the early 'noughties' which just goes to show the longevity of Don's work. When I got home from work yesterday there was my parcel and inside was a fantastic trip down memory lane that has been both enjoyable and enlightening. This really is a great book for the beginner (or the lapsed wargamer for that matter), especially his review of the periods available. Reading that section in particular had helped me to evaluate what I was really interested in and set the course for my return to wargaming that lead inexorably to where I am today. 

Saluting Salute 2012

I missed the 2011 show because it fell during the Easter holiday and I had already committed to a family holiday (the sacrifices I make!). So today's review of past Salute's is last years show in 2012. In really struggled to get round this event in the time available. Partly this was because of the size of the show but also because I spent so much time meeting friends and chin-wagging! Not that that's a bad thing, but I really must rein it in a little this year. I was still buying stuff at ten past five as traders were trying to pack up and the stewards were ushering us out the exit!

I thought the standard of the display games this year went from "Impossibly Good" to "Gobsmakingly Awesome!". The Demo game eye candy is always one of the things I most like about Salute. But I have to say the Corunna table by the Essex Gamesters was amazing and a very worthy winner of Salute Challenge Shield. 

Deal Wargames - Invasion of Denmark

GLC Games - Battle of Sagrajas

Oshiro Model Terrain - Assault on New Victoria

Oshiro Model Terrain - Battle of Komagane

Herne Bay and Whitstable - Crush the Kaiser

Phoenix Game Club - Jason and the Argonauts

Ilford Wargamers - HMS Aeronautica-REX

Greek Phalanx by Ancient & Modern

Donnington 'New Era' - Agincourt

Maidstone Wargames Society - Operation Deadstick

Wargames Illustrated - Siege of Sevastopol

Victrix - Battle for La Vajol

Loughton Strike Force - Aspern Essling 1809

Loughton Strike Force - Aspern Essling 1809

Chemins de Feu - Slowing the Tide - Baltic War

Bob Cordery's Portable Wargame -Seven Weeks War 1866

Continental Wars Society - Swiss Civil War – Battle of Gislikon

Newbury & Reading Wargames Society - Into the Hornet's Nest

South London Warlords - Scarlet Thunder

The 'Meet the Rejects' session went very well with lots of people coming to say hello. Here The Angry Lurker collects a prize from The Wargaming Girl, Tasmin. 

Uxbridge Gamers - Border Incursion

Newbury & Reading - The Battle for Homs 1620 BC

Skirmish Wargames - Falklands Skirmish

South East Essex Military Society - Kingdoms in the Dust

Les Marie Louise Des Flandres - La Der des Der

Taylor's Crew - Beyond the Tannhausser Gate

Essex Gamesters - Corunna 1809

Essex Gamesters - Corunna 1809

Essex Gamesters - Corunna 1809

Essex Gamesters - Corunna 1809

Essex Gamesters - Corunna 1809

Essex Gamesters - Corunna 1809

Saluting Salute 2010

Continuing the slideshow review of my pictures from previous Salute shows here are my photo's from the 2010 event. This was the first year when my note taking kept pace with my photo's but it was also the year when I realised what a struggle it was to get round everything in the sort of detail I like. I love the fact that Salute is a big show and attracts so many people but I really do think it is nearing the maximum size for a one day show. There is potential for growth in that the organisers could just hire an extra section and get more traders and displays in but its far from clear if it would be economically viable to spread the show over two days instead of one.

The queues were huge and moved into an adjacent empty section of Excel

Imperial Stormtroopers guarded the entrance as usual

Siege of Yokomi-jo by Oshiro Modelterrain

Dr Who Miniatures Game - Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Daleks

RC Kingtiger... I wan't one, but it won't fit in the back on my car. But I'd love to see the look on my wife's face if I rolled that into the living room on my return from the show..."Look what I bought dear!"

54mm Colonial Period - Sudanese vs Ethiopiana

Critical Mass Games

Red Hawk Down - Soviet era war in Afghanistan - Red Star Miniatures

Frothers Unite - Frotherheim

Frothers Unite - Christmas Truce - An imaginative take on the impromptu football game between German and British troops on no-mans-land - Christmas 1914

Armies of Arcana

Veni, Vidi, Vici - Aylesbury Wargames Club

Market Garden - A Flames of War game by Battlefront Miniatures

A North Africa Flames of War game also by Battlefront Miniatures

Raid on the Solent - Raiden Miniatures

Another Armies of Arcana game

A world turned upside down - Realtime Wargames - AWI

Battle of Blenheim 1704 by Matt Slade & Martin Holmes

Detail from the Battle of Blenheim game

Battle of Blenheim 1704 - Matt Slade & Martin Holmes

Battle of Busaco 1810 - Loughton Strike Force

Normandy Breakout - Braintree Wargames Group

Perry Miniatures - Battle of Tewkesbury 1471

Perry Miniatures - Battle of Tewkesbury 1471

Zama 202BC - Muswell Militia

Zama 202BC - Muswell Militia

1st Chaeronea 338BC - Society of Ancients

End of Empire - Spirit of the Game

Meuse of Bust - WW2 - South London Warlords

Meuse of Bust - WW2 - South London Warlords

Ride the Divine Wind - Whitstable & Hern Bay Wargamers

Ride the Divine Wind - Whitstable & Hern Bay Wargamers

To Boldly Go - Star Trek - South London Warlords

Millers Crossing 1778 - Uxbridge Wargamers

Viking Wars - Gripping Beast

My Feet Hurt Mum - WWI - South East Essex Military Society

Glider Assault - Pegasus Bridge 6 Jun 1944 - Honnington Wargame Group

Punic Wars - Newark Irregulars

Swashbuckler - Hornchurch Wargames Club

Projekt X - A Weird War Two game Scarab Miniatures & Kallistra

I hope you have enjoyed this collection of pictures from the 2010 event. Unfortunately I missed the 2011 show because it clashed with the Easter Holidays and I was away with the family (who say's I never make sacrifices) so tomorrow I'll be posting pictures from the 2012 show.