I just stumbled upon this clipping from a July 1977 issue of the Montreal Gazette.
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| Hard to believe but some of these Heritage pikemen still march on my table under the banners of the Midlands on the Gathering of Hosts blog. |
One of my first (and possibly the last) appearance in a major newspaper. I had graduated from the College Militaire Royale de Saint Jean in May and been assigned to the HMCS Ottawa in Halifax for on job training before heading to the West Coast to finish my training. However, I also had leave and came home to visit my parents in St. Lambert, across the river from Montreal. While I was there, the Montreal Wargames club, of which I had been a a member, (The club itself and some of its original members are still active.) was taking part in an exhibition of hobbies etc over the summer. Since I was there, I volunteered to do a shift and thus had my first interview with a professional reporter from the Montreal Gazette.
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Ever since I read the distorted, inaccurate, supposed quotations, (not to mention the misspelled name,,,)
I have given less weight to newspapers!
I have given less weight to newspapers!
Fame ! even if fleeting
ReplyDeleteFresh-faced youngster!
ReplyDeleteRoss Mac (or should that be Ross Mc!),
ReplyDeleteYour painting output was quite prolific compared to mine. By 1977 I doubt if I had more that four or five hundred figures in my collection ... and not all of them were painted!
All the best,
Bob
A good read, though I shudder to think what C$1,000 Canadian would be worth today.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see, thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteAlan Tradgardland
Very interesting and a nice thing to have.
ReplyDeleteWell that's cool! It was about 1977 that I first learned that you could actually play war games with toy soldiers.
ReplyDeletePlus ca change!
ReplyDelete1977! In my mid-20s I had only a couple of years before discovered war gaming was a Thing. It went a long way towards dampening my obsession with chess! I still play online (under my 'Archduke Piccolo' nom-de-guerre; not real-time, though) but chess was long ago very much eclipsed by War Gaming!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Ion
I join the other 'war-game freaks' in enjoying your posting of this article and being amazed at your painting output back then—not to mention your expenditure. You *were* a cashed up young man, weren't you?! 😀
ReplyDeleteI have a similar article, circa late 80s, in which members of our wargames' club were interviewed for a local, suburban 'rag', so far less 'fame'. Interestingly (and unsurprisingly) the comparison to chess and comment that no-one gets hurt appeared there too. The latter is one of the key drawcords to the hobby and was, of course, espoused by HG Wells too (first?).
Best wishes, James
I started painting airfix miniatures for wargames around 7 years before that interview, but I think the 1,000 might be a 'bit' exaggerated.
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