Retirement hasn't brought the free time I anticipated, but a
bout of insomnia gave me a chance to start on a recent second-hand book
acquisition. Harry Pearson's Achtung Schweinehund! was published in 2008 and has
been discussed on TMP but it was new to me.
It's essentially the personal odyssey of a wargamer, and for men of a certain age and inclination it's all so
true: the cultural stimuli of the early post-WW2 era, the compulsion to
collect, the oppressiveness of having to paint, house and play with a large and diverse collection, and the discretion with which one treats a hobby/obsession which is
simultaneously seen as puerile, geekish and
belligerent.
The book doesn't purport to be a comprehensive history of
wargaming but I learnt things I didn't know and was reminded of things I'd
forgotten. The author is rather harsh on fantasy gamers and LARPists, but being
of a certain age myself I can appreciate his frustration at the way historical gaming has been crushed by the fantasy juggernaut.
