Yarkshire Gamers Reet Big Wargames Podcast

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

Episode 42 - George Nafziger - Author and King of the OOB

Welcome to Episode 42 of the Yarkshire Gamer Podcast and today I have an absolute hobby legend for you.

George Nafziger is a prolific author who has had many many titles published over the years. His first book in 1988 Napoleons Invasion of Russia was a fantastic debut and the subsequent series of books on the later 1813 and 1814 Campaigns are absolutely essential reading on the topics. When the came out they were the first easily accessible source of information on those campaigns I was aware of in the English Language. We in the UK were often fixated on Waterloo and Wellingtons Campaign in Spain that these books opened up a new area of interest in the Napoleonic Wars.

Not only that my guest is well known for his amazing series of Orders of Battle from the mid 17th Century onwards which are available both online and in the case of the WW2 series in book form. Its hard to describe the level of detail that is contained in these lists. If you want an accurate army with the kit they had, this is the place to go for research.

It was great to talk to George and as you would expect from Yarkshire Gamer, no rabbit hole was left explored ! I did have some technical issues with the recording but hopefully they have been ironed out in the edit.

George has a web site covering his books and orders of battle

Home - Nafziger Collection

With the books available here

Products Archive - Nafziger Collection

Remember if you are ordering from outside the US, contact George direct via e-mail and he will sort out the postage rates for the country of your choice.

Or By mail at

PO Box 1522

West Chester, OH 45071-1522

Or by email

Drnafziger@yahoo.com

Next episode I hope to be talking with Paul Thompson of Early War Miniatures. 

Until next time, Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

Episode 41 - Nick Schofield - Papal Zouaves

This episode as previously stated will be something a bit different as I move away, just for a short while, from the usual tried and tested format.

Todays guest is Nick Schofield and although Nick had a brief dabble with wargaming when he was younger he hasn't rolled a dice for many years.

My guest works in the church and has studied in Rome so there is no wonder that he has gained an interest in looking at the British and Irish Volunteers in the Papal Army during the 1860s.

So with my first ever non-wargaming guest I have shifted things around a bit so regular listeners will notice that the tried and tested format has been put aside for this one episode.

I chat with Nick about his background and his wargaming experiences before moving onto the history of the St Patricks Battalion and the Papal Zouaves using his book Victorian Crusaders, published by Helion as my guide.

It was a great chat with Nick, he's very engaging and clearly knows his stuff and it was lovely for me to talk to someone about a subject I am very interested in as well as stepping outside the comfort zone of my regular format, its definitely something I will do again in the future.

Nicks book is available from Helion direct and also from many other book sellers, link below

Victorian Crusaders | From Musket to Maxim 1815-1914 | Helion & Company

Hope you enjoy this little excursion from the Wargames path and I will see you in 3 weeks time for another episode.

Until then Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

Episode 40 - Steve Shann - Nations in Arms

Today my guest is Author, Painter and old friend Steve Shann.

Steve has been a full time painter for many years now and many of the figures in the collections of my previous guests have originated from his brushes, so it's a great excuse to get a bit of a geek on about Paints, techniques and of course wet palettes 😆

Alongside the painting Steve has been writing articles and books for the hobby and beyond. He has a passion for the Franco Prussian War with a number of cenario books, wargame and uniform guides going back to the 1980s.

In recent years Steve has self published two excellent scenario books on the diverse subjects of Leipzig in 1813 and The Seelow Heights in 1945.

It's a long old chat with the episode just tipping over 3 hours. This isn't a short format, I want to bring you a good all round wargames chat not a 10 minute sales pitch, I know a lot of people who listen to this whilst painting so hopefully you will get some more figures done, so here is an excuse to get some more done !

I'll be back in 3 weeks time when I will be speaking with Nicholas Schofield, who has written a book on the British and Irish Troops in Service of the Papal States in the 1860s. It will be an experiment in an episode that is more about the history than the wargaming, hope you will enjoy it.

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

You can find out lots more about Steves Book, Paintings and Terrain at his blog site

https://steve-nationsinarms.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

Episode 39 - Martyn Kelly - Big Gaming in the USA

Welcome back everyone, it's been nearly 2 months since the last episode, doing 5 in December was like setting a flamethrower to both ends of the candle and I had burnt myself out.

But after a good rest and concentrating on my hobby projects for a while I'm back and ready to go again. I've got the next 8 episodes planned with some great guests, I have Manufacturers, Painters, Authors, Big Gamers, Hobby Legends and the like to bring to you, I also hope to bring episodes from countries we haven't visited before and get the low down from fellow wargamers around the world.

In addition to that I have a tester episode with a non wargaming Historian which will follow an obviously different format, but if it works its something I plan to do in the future if it works out well.

But that's the future, it's time to introduce my guest, I first became aware of Martyn Kelly from his Facebook posts regarding some huge participation games he has put on at Conventions in the US. He's done some brilliant Italian Wars games featuring a 196 figure Pike Block which in my opinion really represents the 9,500 men who were actually in that block, much better than 24 figures for sure.

I love talking from Gamers outside the UK and getting there perspective on a hobby we all love in so many different ways. All the usual features are here, Big Game Chat, Quiz, Wargame Room 101, Desert Island Wargame and the usual chat in between.

I talk to Martyn in the Big Topic about the set up of Conventions in the US, how they are organised and what a visitor expects to see. We then move on to talk about what visitors expect from a Big Game at a convention and the differences between putting such a game on between one with friends and one with total strangers at an event.

Its then a deep dive into how my guest goes from that first germ of an idea through to actually playing the game at a show. Trust me its a lot of work and guys like Martyn go a long way to make these events what they are, so if you haven't say thank you to your game organiser.

It wouldn't be Yarkshire Gamer with a bit of Italian Wars Chat (now apparently an extension of the Wars of the Roses ;-) and we start the Pavia Challenge live on the show. Martyn has gone for 1:25 scale so I've gone 1:24 !

It was a great chat and the fact that I thought that we had only done an hour and a half when we had done two and a half shows that the phrase "time flies when your enjoying yourself" is true.

Keep up to date with what Martyn is doing next as well as a wealth of information about his previous projects on his blog, College of Kings.

College of Kings - Posts about my miniature armies.

Thanks for listening and welcome back to the show, don't forget to subscribe, like and leave a review wherever you listen to this. Not much in life costs nowt, but this Podcast does so give us a like.

My next episode will be out in a fortnight and I'll be speaking with Steve Shann. I've known Steve for a long time and you will be familiar with the name if you've listened to previous episodes. Steve has a number of publications to his name covering diverse topics like WW2, Leipzig and The Franco Prussian War. On top of that Steve does a spot of painting so get ready for 2 hours on the correct shade of blue for French Uniforms !

Until next time, Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

 

 

Episode 38 - The Yarkshire Gamer Awards 2022 - The Golden Puddings

Well by now you are probably sick and tired of seeing who the Best Wargames Manufacturer is and who has the best Customer Service in the hobby, its time to delve into the stuff we are really interested in like "What is the best Wargames Rumour (with or without substantiation), so sit back and enjoy finding out who is the best Wargames Troll on a Yarkshire Based Podcast, Blog or Utubes Channel.

Its a star studded audience and our roving reporter will be outside T'werking mens club to see the guests arrive before we go inside the auditorium for the award ceremony itself.

I'm joined by my co-hosts Alex "Storm of Steel" Sotheran and Sean "Gods Own Scale (retd.)" Clark. So sit back with a pint of best, some left over Christmas Cake and Wendsleydale Cheese and enjoy.

The awards have been voted for by an illustrious panel of judges in the main with two voted for by the public, so any complaints, direct it to them.

All the best for the New Year and thank you once again for listening to the Yarkshire Gamer Podcast.

See you all in 2023

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

Episode 37 - Xmas Brews in the Binyard Special 2022

Christmas comes round once a year and with it comes our traditional (well we've done it twice) Brews in the Binyard Special Episode.

As always I am joined by my two scale "experts" Alex "Storm of Steel" Sotheran and Sean "Gods Own Scale (retd.)" Clark for a 3 and a half hour Monster Episode. If you are taking this in one sitting make sure you are warm and have adequate supplies of food and drink to hand and preferably something massive to paint. If that's two much then the show is split into 3 easier to digest sections.

The episode opens with a little story from Nick Skinner of Toofatlardies and if you don't enjoy that its going to be a very long 3 and a half hours. Interspersed throughout the show are Xmas messages from those guests from 2022 who could work out how to record a voice file ;-)

After the usual introductions and catch ups, section 1 has a relatively (for us) serious discussion on the tropes associated with World War 1, triggered by an episode of the American Podcast "Anything But a One". Alex and Sean are on fire in this one and have slapped the gauntlet down to the Blackadder like views of our Colonial friends.

Towards the end of the first part Sean is abducted by Aliens live on air, either that or the dial up internet connection in Stoke failed.

The second part descends to its usual levels with a review of entrants into Wargames Room 101 since the Summer Brews Episode and then Sean and Alex get to have a go at the new Desert Island Wargame Section.

Then for a finale its the usual "Ask Our Nora" section where the panel demolish the listeners questions. Sean once again is beamed up during the section but returns a short while later after a good probing by the Greys.

Brews in the Binyard is a bit Marmite, some of you love it more that the other "normal" episodes whilst others don't get it. Its designed to be fun, its a bit slack when it comes to editing out naughty words, we make a few jokes. So you have been warned lol.

Merry Xmas to all the listeners and viewers of the Podcast and thank you so much for all your support this year, Yarkshire Gamer has continued to get more followers and listeners during the year and downloads have now exceeded 50,000 which is simply amazing.

Thank you all.

There will be a special one off Awards Show between Xmas and the New Year so until then,

Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

Episode 36 Henry Hyde Part 2 - Henrys Back

Less than a week on from the first instalment of my interview with Hobby Legend Henry Hyde comes the "conclusion".

Regular listeners will notice that this show starts with the usual 3rd part of the Podcast, the features section so you will get to hear Henry answer the Avocado Question and are round dice still universally banned !

Its then onto Wargames Room 101 and Desert Island Wargame for some more great chat.

The final Big Topic ended up being a bit of a Podcaster Love In, as I chat to Henry about the origins of his Battlechat series. Even after around 4 hours of recording I still had a bunch of stuff I wanted to cover with Henry, some of it pretty weighty but at the end of the show we talk about how important it is to talk about these subjects. I hope to have Henry back on in the new year to go into more detail.

All of Henrys content can be accessed via his website

Battlegames – Wargaming content from Henry Hyde, Creator of Battlegames on Patreon

Next up I hope to have the "traditional" (well we've done it twice) Xmas Brews in the Binyard Xmas Special out a few days before Xmas, so until then,

Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer 

Episode 35 - Henry Hyde - Hairdryer, Mud Rant

Episode 35 of the Podcast sees the first of a two part interview with one of the stalwarts of the Wargames Hobby, Mr Henry Hyde.

There isn't much that Henry hasn't done in this hobby over the years, as an author, Podcaster, Magazine Editor, Wargamer, Artist etc etc etc etc !

He has been a guest and an interviewer on many occasions in the past so I've given Henry the full Yarkshire Gamer treatment and hopefully you will find out something you didn't know before, you certainly won't have heard his wonderful "Red Mud Rant" and the reason behind the soon to be released Battlegames branded hairdryers 😉

As you would expect with me and Henry this wasn't a 5 minute chat, this 2 and a half hour discussion covers what you would normally get in the first two parts of a "normal" episode and I cut the big game chat short !

We will be back next week with part 2.

All things Henry can be accessed via his website

https://battlegames.co.uk/

Until next time

Sithee

Regards Ken 

The Yarkshire Gamer