Yarkshire Gamers Reet Big Wargames Podcast

Episode 20 - Half a Plastic Crack, with Ken and Dom

Welcome back and a Happy New Year to you all.

The first episode of 2022 features the two original members of the Plastic Crack Podcast, a live Monday Night stream of general gaming chat which is growing and growing in popularity.

Starting in March 2020 with my guests the show has featured a number of Hobby Glitterati as guests but is probably best known in its current format as 4 gamers chewing the fat over the most important and quite often least important topics in the hobby.

The show features all our usual features and as always we drift off onto important topics like "should you have gravy on chips". We have another couple of entrants into Wargames Room 101 as well as another fun trip round the Yarkshire Gamer Quiz.

The Podcast circulates round the four channels of the guys involved,

Dom runs Boots on the table and his channel is below,

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkVZHHEgIzNmQwCzZ-UHRhA

And Ken runs Miniature Wargaming Warriors, link below

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaDBpS2gxvtD4Om8yX-o3-g

The new release schedule of 2nd and 5th weeks of the month means that there will be just one Episode per month for Feb and March. So I will see you next month when I hope to be speaking with Gerry Elliot of Wargames Holiday Centre fame.

Until then, Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

 

Episode 19 - Brews in the Binyard Xmas Special

Its Christmas Time, there's no need to be afraid, or maybe there is as Brews in the Binyard returns for a Xmas Special.

Sadly there is just me and Alex as the third 6 from the unholy trinity Sean Clark couldn't make the recording.

Its a typical end of year episode with a review of 2021 and a look forward to 2022, as usual there are 14 swear words in the episode so please don't play aloud near children or nervous goldfish.

Which is better, Worcestershire Sauce or Henderson Relish, Yazoo or The Flying Pickets and what we are having for Xmas Dinner. Stories of tape measure duels and Big Games abound in a lengthy 2 hrs and 40 minutes.

Also included are some more of Yarkshire Gamers Rules for Life.

Many of my previous guests have been kind enough to record special Xmas messages throughout.

Its been a brilliant 2021 and I want to thank all my guests and especially you, the listeners. You have made this Podcast worthwhile with your support, likes, comments and follows, thank you one and all.

We will be back with new episodes in 2022, have a great Xmas and a Happy New Year.

Until next time, Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

Alex can be found at Storm of Steel Storm of Steel Wargaming - YouTube

Episode 18 - Curt Campbell - Analogue Hobbies Paint Challenge

Welcome to Episode 18 and today we have saved on jet fuel and stayed in North America for todays guest who is Curt Campbell.

Curt lives in Canada and has an excellent Hobby Blog called Analogue Hobbies.

Analogue Hobbies (analogue-hobbies.blogspot.com)

Each year for the last 12 years Curt has run a Painting Challenge over the Northern Hemisphere Winter Months (20 Dec to 20 Mar). Painters from all over the world have gathered together in a virtual Art Studio every year to encourage each other to make an big hole in their Lead (and plastic) mountains. The web page for the Challenge is below.

The Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge (thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com)

As always the chat is full of the usual features, the Big Game chat, the Quiz and the new feature Wargames Room 101 gets a new entry.

If you enjoy these Podcasts then why not nominate it for the Little Wars TV Caesar Awards, it would be great to grab a nomination in the Podcasts first year. Link to nominations is below.

Caesar Awards - Home

I hope to have a couple of episodes out in December so stay tuned, until then

Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

Episode 17 - Jason Weiser - Military Miniature Magazine

Back to the usual single guest format for this episode and I am very pleased to be speaking with Jason Weiser who is the Editor in Chief of a new, yes I said NEW Wargames Magazine, based in the USA.

As usual I speak to Jason about his own Wargames story in the first part of the Episode, before moving onto our usual Big Game Chat.

Then after Sean and Alex tried to destroy the Yarkshire Gamer Quiz in the last episode we get into further problems with translation and somehow manage to upset the State of Texas in the process !

The final section of the Episode (starts 1hr 14 mins in) is all about Military Miniature Magazine. How it started, how its going and what its plans are for the future.

The main website for the magazine is at

Home - Military Miniature

Jasons own personal website is at

It's 500 Miles to the German Border! - A Twilight 2000 miniature wargaming blog (500twilight2000.blogspot.com)

I didn't realise that the US didn't have a currently in print Magazine for Wargaming at the moment and I wish Jason and the Magazine every success in the future.

I will be back in two weeks time speaking with Curt Campbell on the eve of yet another Analogue Hobbies Winter Paint Challenge.

Until, then Sithee,

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

Episode 16 - Wargames Room 101 with Alex and Sean

Here we go with Part 2 of the Brews in the Binyard Episode.

PARENTAL GUIDANCE - This Podcast contains at least 14 naughty words.

If you missed Episode 15 I was talking to Alex Sotheran of Storm of Steel and Sean Clark of Gods own Scale, it took us nearly 2 hours to get to the end of what is normally the first section of what is normally my first section of the Podcast, so a strategic decision was made to cut the recording in half and present it in two separate episodes.

So we start where we left off and have a short Big Game discussion (having covered a lot in Part 1). We then go into what can only be described as a "very different" Yarkshire Gamer Quiz. With Alex and Sean taking the quiz at the same time and Alex doing the quiz pretending to be me it made for the longest ever Quiz but probably the funniest.

Up next in homage to Seans Gods Own Scale Virtual Library I introduce Yarkshire Gamers Wargames Tip or Wargames Room 101. So if you have a particular aspect of Wargaming that's a pet hate for you then, if you can persuade me, I'll chuck it on an old trailer and take it down tip for you. Tune in to hear the choices of my two guests. 

We end the show with a #askournora Wargames Problem Page which generated some really interesting discussion. I finally disclose my detailed painting philosophy.

Alex produces excellent Battle Reports, Reviews and Painting Tutorials on his wonderful channel Storm of Steel

(3) Storm of Steel Wargaming - YouTube

Whilst my other guest hosts the brilliant God's Own Scale Podcast, broadcasting small scale loveliness to the world on a regular basis

God’s Own Scale Podcast (podbean.com)

Pop along and enjoy their content (obviously after you have listened to this first !)

I really enjoyed doing these episodes and hope to persuade Alex and Sean to come back and do a Brews in the Binyard special every now and again.

Back on the 2nd week of November with an interview with Jason Weiser who has just launched a new Wargames Magazine called Military Miniature in the US.

Until then, Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

Episode 15 - Brews in the Bin Yard with Alex and Sean (Part 1)

I want you to think of this as more like a Magazine Episode, obviously not Hello Magazine, more like Hey Up, Love.

I've gathered together my own little Wargaming "Supergroup" and managed to persuade the Giant of the Utubes Alex "Storm of Steel" Sotheran and the Podcast Legend Sean "God's Own Scale" Clark to appear together in this episode.

We chatted for that long (nearly 4 hours) that I have had to split the recording into two parts, the first half would be the introduction section in the normal episodes.

PARENTAL GUIDANCE - This Podcast contains at least 4 naughty words.

Back in the day a Parental Guidance sticker would get you another million album sales, here's hoping.

Alex produces excellent Battle Reports, Reviews and Painting Tutorials on his wonderful channel Storm of Steel

(3) Storm of Steel Wargaming - YouTube

Whilst my other guest hosts the brilliant God's Own Scale Podcast, broadcasting small scale loveliness to the world on a regular basis

God’s Own Scale Podcast (podbean.com)

Pop along and enjoy their content (obviously after you have listened to this first !)

Back in two weeks with the second half of this recording.

Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

Episode 14 - Robbie Roddis - The Borgias and Peter Gilder

I'm back to the normal format with this Episode when I talk to another stalwart of the North East Wargames Scene, Robbie Roddis.

My guest has been gaming for most of his life and will be well known to many on the show circuit by the wonderful display games he and his gaming chum John Reidy used to put on.

Robbie has a number of different websites but it was his love of the Borgias and his site dedicated to building his Cesare Army that inspired me to get into the Italian Wars and I think we all know where that went !

Aut Caesar, Aut Nihil (wargamingtheborgias.blogspot.com)

The first half of the show is dedicated to Robbie and his gaming as well as the usual Yarkshire Gamer Quiz. We discuss many different topics, Robbie loves a chat and has plenty of stories to share, his general wargaming blog can be found on the link below.

The Independent Wargames Group

The final section of the episode is dedicated to one of the greats of our hobby, Peter Gilder, a man associated with Yorkshire through the Wargames Holiday Centre which he founded in a village called Thornton.

Robbie has took it upon himself to get as much info, photographs and articles relating to Peter and put them together on one website. In addition to that he has gathered memories (and a video) of those who attended the WHC when it first began.

Not leaving it there, my guest has interviewed many of those who knew Peter and has gathered together an impressive collection of documents and memories which he has put together in a dedicated website, see below.

Peter Gilder A life in Wargaming

It's great that Robbie has taken the time to put all this information together and I'm sure if you have any similar documents or memories Robbie would love to hear from you.

I think its a fantastic memorial to someone who had a massive effect on our hobby, who (of a certain age !) wasn't influenced by those pictures of Peters figures in the early Wargames Magazines or those Battleground TV shows. If you haven't seen them, you are in for a treat !

(1) gettysburg - YouTube

Don't forget to send in pictures of your "bounce sticks" 

I'm hoping Episode 15 will be out mid October when I will be doing something different again. A bit of a Wargames Magazine Episode with two other Social Media Gamers, Sean Clark (God's Own Scale) and Alex Southeran (Storm of Steel) so we will have perspectives from 6mm to 28mm via 15s.

Until then, Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

Episode 13 - A Grand Old Catch Up

Not wanting to lumber a single guest with Episode 13 I decided it was time to introduce a new, occasional format for the show, The Catch Up.

One thing I noticed with other Podcasts I listen to is that, a guest comes on and announces a game or a new range of figures or an event and that's it you never hear from them again !

I thought it would be interesting to "catch up" with old guests and see how something they spoke about on their Episode went. Such a chat probably wouldn't need a full episode so I came up with the idea of having multiple guests on the same show, each chatting for 20 minutes to half an hour on a certain topic.

That led me to consider adding other guests who haven't been on the show before to do a shorter format interview. So that's how this idea was born and it was all going so well until my fourth guest for this show had to pull out at the last minute. A bit of a panic, not his fault, a genuine reason but I managed to fill the time with some else new. 

So all in all a different episode, I hope you enjoy it.

I speak with Chris Breeze from Episode 1 about the World War Roses event and his involvement in playtesting the new Wars of the Roses Rules, Test of Resolve.

Test of Resolve – Wargame Rules

Next up is Andrew Dickinson from my Wargames Club in Leeds and we talk about the new club venue, the history behind that and the forthcoming show FIASCO at the Royal Armouries in Leeds

Leeds Wargames Club - Organisers of FIASCO

Then its Gareth Lanes turn in the chair, another veteran of Episode One who tells us all about the huge uplifts in his ongoing projects.

Finally I brought forward The Wargames Problem Page to fill the vacated interview slot. Here me and Nora Batty discuss a number of gaming topics, some controversial, some less so.

We are back to the normal format next episode (10th September) for a Peter Gilder special, when I speak to Robbie Roddis about his time in wargaming (including blaming him for getting into The Italian Wars) and his website dedicated to Mr Gilder.

Until then, Sithee

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

Episode 12 - David Marshal - TM Terrain

This episode sees us return to Gods Own County after a trip round the world in the last episodes.

Todays guest is David Marshall who runs the company TM Terrain. He is an outstanding terrain maker and very kindly gave up his time to chat about how he got interested in the terrain aspect of our hobby as well as talking about his techniques and methods.

We had a cheeky idea to visit Games Workshop, buy the smallest thing in the store and then when asked what we were into, we would reply with the most obscure army we could think of, surely a game all the family could play.

David is most famous for working with the Perrys to produce the awe inspiring Agincourt Display which is now in the Royal Armouries here in Leeds and we of course chat about how that amazing piece of work came about.

I've failed again to come in under two hours, David had more than one question for me at the end of the show and we ended up talking Big Games for a bit longer, whats wrong with that !

Thanks again for listening, I hope you enjoy.

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer

Episode 11 - Stephen Wold - @OldWargamer

Episode 11 sees me refueling the Yarkshire Airlines Pigeon and going Hey Up and Away to Adelaide Australia to talk with Steve Wold.

Better known by many as Old Wargamer from the Twitters, Stephen was one of the first wargaming trailblazers on that social media format and his following today is over 6,000.

We cover many topics during the two hours we chatted, from the Wargames Scene in Australia to the Yarkshire Gamer Quiz.

We even find time to talk about Contrast Paints, yes those things, as well as the joy that is wargaming twitter.

A great fun chat, I hope you enjoy it on your journey to work, during your painting session or as my friend Stephen Barker uses it it, during his morning run (coming soon a Yarkshire Gamer fitness video !).

I will see you all in the second week of August for the next episode.

Until then, Sithee..

Regards Ken

The Yarkshire Gamer