Hi,
I am Vince Hughes and now reside in a village near Rochester in Kent, England, but I am originally from South-East London. I have no idea how long I have been 'officially' wargaming ? Started off with my first box of Airfix soldiers when I was 5 years old, so that’s 1969, although the battles then simply involved flicking marbles across the Living Room floor with each side getting a turn each ! In 1974, a friend on the council estate I lived on then with my Grandparents brought home a book from the library by Donald Featherstone simply called 'Wargaming' or some such. It had simple rules in there for a few periods (Ancients, Napoleonics, American Civil War and WWII ). This set me off and running with tape measures and dice. At 11 years old (1975 or thereabouts) I was introduced to either Panzerblitz or Panzerleader. Didn't take to it too well, and 'binned' board gaming for a while having had a bad start. However, a year later, the same mate and some others got me into 'Kingmaker' and suddenly board games did not seem so bad. At 13 years old (1977) I was shown Squad Leader and hooked into that big time. To me, it was the ultimate game and dispensed with the need for WW2 figures. I bought all the following modules and extra scenarios, making sure I had the complete collection. By the time GI Anvil of Victory came out, I was off to serve in the British Army before I could get into it.
I served 4 years in the Army as a Military Policeman and had some of the greatest times of my life, and as such things seem to go, some of the worst times too !! Those that have served will understand that I'm sure. However, when I was not on night duty, I tended to spend my time OUT socialising, drinking, wenching and all things 'entertainment'. One of the locations I served was the biggest British Military town, Aldershot. Whilst there (in 1985 I think), I spotted a local wargames shop called Esdevium Games. Low and behold, the all-new promised 'streamlined' ASL was now for sale. Snapping it up, I made my way back to barracks to break it out, the box-game Beyond Valour and the ASL Manual keenly grasped. The box contents certainly seemed exciting when I rustled through them. But imagine my extreme disappointment when I checked out the rulebook. Sacre Bleu…. Despite many attempts, I never got through it and this basically spelt the end of most of my wargames right up until around 2007/8. I immersed myself in solo sports replay games instead, but did do the occasional 6mm Napoleonic or ACW battle.
From the Army, I joined London's Metropolitan Police in 1988 and served pretty much as a patrolling constable for most of my career. However, in 2006 I think it was, I went to the main communications centre. Whilst there, I met Wayne Baumber who comes here, and it is he ho can be credited getting me back into wargames. I tried an ASL starter kit battle with him. It was OK, but I knew there would still be too much to learn. It was in 2008 I discovered PG and showed it to Wayne and…………...…………... Here we are !
Amongst all this, I have played AH games, GDW.
In the non wargaming World, I am married and have a 15 year old daughter I am extremely proud of. The Mrs accepts all my gaming and has never been one of those that has tried to rein in any of my gaming time. She's been brilliant on that. We travel around Europe quite a lot and have some spanking good holidays. I should be retiring from the police in 3 years and will hopefully do some part time work and then…. Well, it'll be a gaming and gardening frenzy.
Finally, I have managed ftf, skype and email games with the following PG players (those in italics I have had the joy of meeting).
Wayne Baumber (Surrey), Alan Sawyer (Mass),
John Legan (Ill), Joshua Gottesman (Nev),
Joe Oppenheimer (Ca), Tony Langston (Ill), Shad (China), Joe Ladd (US and Morocco), Keith Plymale (NC),
Alan Rhodes (Herts). There have been a couple of others but they are not really known well to the PG crew. My next targets are Daniel (hugmenot) and Matt W. I believe Daniel may get a game on with me soon.
Outside PG another hobby of mine is travelling Europe to sample beer and food !
Munich, Leuven, Lake Constance and Langenau !
The Official --( Introduce Yourself )-- Thread!
