Yarkshire Gamers Reet Big Wargames Podcast

Episode 52 - Giles Shapley(Eric the Shed) - Shed Wars

Welcome to the first Podcast of 2024, it always seems to take me a while to get started again in the New Year, but at least I managed to get an episode out i January this time around.

Today my guest is the author of the blog Shed Wars, Giles Shapley who is also known by his nom de plume "Eric the Shed".

Shed Wars was and remains one of the staple Wargaming Blogs and it continues to be regularly updated (unlike some, yes I mean you Yarkshire Gamer !) with the gaming adventures of Giles and his friends.

In recent months the Shed has relocated to a more rural location outside the M25 and Giles has converted on of the buildings on the land he bought into a new improved version of the Shed. Plans are afoot to get on site accommodation so you can stay and play.

All the usual features are here, so sit back and enjoy nearly three hours of Wargames Chat.

The Shed Wars Blog is here

Shed Wars

And details of The Shed Wars Experience

The Shed Wars Experience

I'm in the process of organising recording of the next episode so I'm not able to announce my next guest but expect 2 episodes in February.

Until next time, Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

Episode 51 - Xmas Brews in the Binyard 2023

Its back, the Podcast within a Podcast, our traditional (well 3rd episode) of the Brews in the Binyard Xmas Special.

After being serious this year with special episodes on Paintbrushes and Papal Zouaves its time to let our hair down with a festive blow out. Sadly our usual hombre Sean Clark wasn't available this year so the wonderful Iain McDonald of Flags of War has stepped in, so Sean's Mexican corner is now Iains Jacobite Corner.

As usual the episode has a Parental Guidance Sticker as Alex can't stop swearing (as usual), I am of course as clean as a church mouse !

Sadly the recording of the track for Alex in part 1 didn't record so I have edited it together as best as I can, I couldn't leave out the Mistletoe and Wine bit.

Then Part 2 sees us review the recent entries into Wargames room 101 before moving onto a hot topic chat about how History is represented on the big screen. I then have my own Perry Miniatures related rant !

Finally its your questions and me and Alex actual get serious on our Complexity vs Playablity Session for a least 5 minutes.

Hope you all have a great Xmas and New Year. Its been a great 2023 for the Yarkshire Gamer Podcast and I want to thank everyone who has listened in. I hope to be back in the New Year with many more.

Until then, Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

Episode 50 - Toofatlardies - World Cup Winners

For my Golden Jubilee Episode I thought I'd celebrate with a couple of the hobbies luminaries, who just happen to have recently won the World Cup of Historical Wargames Rules with their Chain of Command WW2 set, not only that the runners up were another one of their rule sets, Sharp Practice.

Nick and Rich have done many Podcasts in the past so I tried to approach familiar topics from a different angle or ask new questions, in Part 2 I turned the tables on Rich and got him to interview me on Sidney Roundwoods 7 golden rules of Podcasting.

It was a great way to celebrate 50 Episodes, here's to another 50 more !

The next episode will be the Xmas Brews in the Binyard, I did have another 3 episodes planned for this year, but I don't want to make the same mistake as last year and end up burning out trying to catch up, so those will appear early in 2024.

Finally thanks to all the listeners over the last 50 episodes, great to have you all on board.

Until next time, Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer 

Episode 49 - Dave Brown - O Pickett de Armee

After last episodes Paintbrush Geek Out its time to return to the regular format of the show with one of the hobbies premier rule writers.

Dave Brown broke into the world of wargames rules with his Napoleonic set General de Brigade and since then has developed successful sets of rules in both WW2 and the ACW, with other taking forward the basic system into the AWI, Seven Years War and late 19th Century Europe.

Dave has recently joined forces with the toofatlardies to reinvigorate his earlier rules and we now have another holy trinity of O Group, Pickett's Charge and General de Armee.

We cover all the usual sections and have a good laugh through the quiz and Wargames Room 101.

We have a quick chat about the forthcoming GdeA2 but mostly its me asking him how long it took to think of the name.

Its a long one, over 3 hours so make sure you have a couple of pints of milk in so you can keep the brews coming !

Next episode will be my Golden Jubilee so I will be having special guests Nick Skinner and Rich Clarke on to celebrate their remarkable achievement of getting two rule sets in the final of the recent World Cup of Wargames Rules.

Until then, Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

Episode 48 - Peter Thompson - Pro Arte

Its Podcast time again, this episode I've stepped aside from the usual format to get a deep dive into the world of paint brushes.

My guest is Peter Thompson, the head honcho at Pro Arte a company based in my favourite place in the world, Skipton.

We had a lovely chat covering the history of the company before moving on and discussing the finer points (pun intended) of the brush making world. From brush types, to materials, to handles, to brush care, its all there.

Its important for me to step slightly outside the Wargaming World and have guests who can enlighten us on aspects that maybe sit just outside our hobby yet still have a big influence on it, I hope you enjoy it.

The main Pro Arte website detailing the full range of brushes is here,

Pro Arte UK Artist Paint Brush Makers | Watercolour, Acytlic Oil Painting

Recently a company called ABC Brushes has started to attend UK Wargames shows selling some Pro Arte brushes so you should be able to pick some up there.

ABC Brushes

My next episode will be with the Big Game rule writer, Dave Brown.

Until then, Sithee

 

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

 

Episode 47 - David Manley - Naval Wargaming

Welcome to Episode 47 of the Podcast and this time we take a look at one of my  favourite Wargaming niches, that is Naval Wargaming.

And to help me on that journey I have press ganged David Manley to guide us through a minefield of turning circles, broadside markers and wind gauges.

David has been involved in Naval Wargaming most of his life, inspired by his fathers service in The Royal Navy in WW2, he has gone on to a career in Naval Ship design and currently uses wargaming within his course content at UCL.

If its Ancient Galleys, Ships of the Line, Pre and Post Dreadnoughts or Nuclear Powered Carriers, David has written a set of rules for them or desigend a 3d ship for them so who better to help us get our feet wet.

David's rules and 3d ships can be found on the link below,

https://www.wargamevault.com/browse.php?author=David%20Manley

Sit back and enjoy our chat about all things Naval.

The next episode will be out in 10 days, its already recorded. I will be speaking with Peter Thompson who is the owner of Pro Arte, The manufacturer and supplier of paint brushes to Yarkshire Gamer (and a few others !) for over 40 years.

Until then, Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

Episode 46 - Summer Brews in the Binyard (World Cup 23 Edition)

Welcome to the Podcast within a Podcast, yes it's time for another Brews in the Binyard Episodes with the regular gang, Sean Clark of Gods Own Scale and Alex Sotheran of Storm of Steel Utubes.

As regular listeners will know this is very different from the usual Episodes and is a lot more free form. Imagine three mates talking down the pub about a hobby that they love and you won't be far off the end result.

The first part of the show sees Alex and Sean finally evicted from the cellar whilst Sean has a confession to make when it comes to his latest hobby purchase. At the end of this section the boys complete the draw for the Yarkshire Gamer World Cup of Historical Wargames Rules, which was actually quite exciting 😀 

Part 2 has the team acting in their capacity as adjudicators of entries into Wargames Room 101 before adding our own (obviously deadly serious) take on the Mid Winter Minis incident a few weeks ago.

Then, in Part 3 its time for the listeners questions in the #AskOurNora section.

I love making these Brews episodes, I hope you enjoy listening to them.

Next up will be David Manley an experienced rule writer and font of knowledge on all things Naval Wargaming.

Until then, Sithee 

Regards Ken 

The Yarkshire Gamer 

Episode 45 - Mark Hides - Real Life

Welcome to episode 45 of the Yarkshire Gamer Podcast and today we have our feet firmly planted once again in the soil of Gods Own County as we travel a short bus ride through the streets of Sheffield to meet todays guest Mark Hides.

Mark has been involved in the hobby all of his life and has carved out a career embracing various aspects of wargaming.

His day job is that of a Professional Painter with his company Conflict in colour, but in addition to that he has written a book about the hobby, "Real Life's a Bugger, A Tale of Sex, Dragons and Rock and Roll" which tells the story of a youth growing up in the 80s, finding their feet in the world and this great pastime of ours. His blog Real Life's a Bugger is well worth a read even if its not for the faint hearted.

If you graft onto that a figure company called Satanic Panic its amazing Mark has any spare time at all.

As you would expect from two lads who live in Yorkshire we have some opinions on a few things and "tell it like its is" but you will learn all about the Nuclear Attack version of Threads rather than the Zuckerberg Social Media one. We discuss the glory days of the greatest wargames show ever, Sheffield Triples along with strange blokes in Barnsley that look like Vikings and unreasonably large rule books.

In all the excitement the tinterwebnet failed to record a couple of chunks of the Podcast, especially our painting chat, so I will be inviting Mark back on the next catch up show to cover that aspect of things.

It was a great fun chat and I hope you enjoy it.

You can find out more about Marks Painting Services on the link below

Miniature Painting Service | Conflict In Colour

The figure range Satanic Panic, here

Satanic Panic Old School Inspired 28mm Miniatures

Marks Book is available here

(Real) Life's A Bu**er: A Tale of Sex, Dragons & Rock 'N' Roll By M.A Hides | New | 9781471643873 | World of Books (wob.com)

And finally Marks Blog can be found here,

https://reallifesabugger.blogspot.com/

I will be back in a couple of weeks time with Episode 46 The Summer Brews in the Binyard Special.

Until then, Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

Episode 44 - Pete Berry - Baccus 6mm

Todays guest is well known within the Wargames World for being Mr 6mm, but there is a lot more to Pete Berry than that.

Its a great chance to discuss his wargaming background and a love of Big Games going back to huge games using 15mm Medievals and classic old school Napoleonic Plastics.

Forlorn Hope are still a big favourite set of rules for ECW here at Yarkshire Gamer, written by Pete back in the 80s its great to discuss the rules and how they have survived over time, his interest in the period and how renactment of the period influenced his rules development.

There is of course a chance to chat about the 6mm - 28mm "divide" and how many of the myths around 6mm gaming and 28mm Big Gaming actually aren't that different.

We take a trip into the features section with the quiz and a great entry into Wargames Room 101 before moving on to talk about Baccus Miniatures and the 6mm focused show that is The Joy of Six.

You can look at the Baccus range on their website below,

Baccus 6mm

and get some details about the show below,

Joy of Six (joysofsix.co.uk)

My next guest is hopefully Mark Hides who runs a Professional Painting Service, Conflict in Colour. As well as that Mark is an author who runs a great blog. We will also go all gooey eyed over the old Sheffield Triples show, still, for me, the greatest Wargames Show ever.

Until next time,

Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

Episode 43 - Paul Thompson - Early War Miniatures

Welcome to Episode 43 of the Reet Big Wargames Podcast and today my guest is Paul Thompson of EWM or Early War Miniatures.

Pauls company specialises in 20mm WW1, Interwar and WW2 figures and vehicles as well as a growing range of scenery, including a certain Binyard !

Its a long episode but Paul had some great stories outside of our usual chat so get ready for tall tales of German Military raids on the Isle of Wight in 1943, torpedoing sail boats in paddling pools with 1/35 scale submarines, riding around the country in a tank with the Perries and facing wargames gilterati whist dressed in plate armour.

On top of that we have all our usual features, Wargames Room 101 keeps going strong as another pet wargaming hate gets added to the Vault, we have another excellent attempt at the quiz and an unusual choice on Desert Island Wargame.

Thanks very much for continuing to tune in, the Podcast reached 75,000 downloads just after the release of Episode 42 and is already racing towards 80,000. If you enjoy the episodes and get chance please like, subscribe and leave comments where you listen to the show. Its a great way to get more people interested in the show.

You can get EWM figures via the link below, or why not pop and share a Ginger Nut with Paul at the next show.

EWM (earlywarminiatures.com)

Next episode should be out in around 3 weeks and I will be chatting to Pete Berry of Baccus Miniatures in the first ever Battle of the Scales :-)

Until next time, Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer