I have recently acquired some old wargaming magazines from 1968-69 off EBay , which nobody else seemed interested in and I was the only bidder .
The are the journal of the Horse and Musket Society , it was the time I started wargaming but I have never heard of the society nor this publication . A quick Google search doesn't bring anything up about the society so I'm not sure how long it lasted .
The layout and quality is definitely pre-electronic media , they are slim but full of period feel , an era when gamers turned Airfix Guardsmen into any army or uniform using razor blades and Plasticine and nail varnish (I never did track down the 'banana oil' you were advised to use). We are so lucky now when it comes to uniform information with the mass of books and the Internet at our finger tips , in one of them is an article on Austrian Napoleonic Hussar uniforms (very basic) but you can imagine people seizing on this and start converting American Civil War cavalry into Hussars .
On the back of several of them is a advertisement for Miniature Figures , I remember posting off orders to this address enclosing a Postal Order (no cheques for me, I don't think I even had a bank account then), They had a strange way of working out postage - and if you didn't send enough money the deducted figures from your order (usually the most needed figures !) and it took for ever for the parcels to arrive - you could easily wait a month or more , it's much easier now to spend money ! (luckily ?)
Wow, what a find! I never heard of these, either. I usually troll ebay for vintage mags like these, but I never turned anything like these up. Nice.
ReplyDeleteI must admit I would have missed them if it hadn't been a friend drawing my attention to them .
DeleteThe Bayonet is in the Courier hobby timeline so it must have been noteworthy in at one time. Did the Grimsby Wargames Society start out as the Grimsby Horse and Musket Society?
ReplyDeleteThis blog has a reference to the magazine in the comments section:
http://tradgardland.blogspot.com/2013/03/arraying-foote-for-charge-circa-1670.html
They had Charles Grant and Donald Featherstone as 'honorary members', so they must have been fairly well known at one point .
DeleteGood find..... I can remember regularly waiting for "up to 28 days" for delivery of figures. Now I get jumpy if it's a week.
ReplyDeleteYes we are in a golden age of mail order ! , think Garrison STILL owe me an order from 1971 ! .
DeleteI am glad you enjoyed them. I was hovering over the bin but couldn't bear to just destroy them if even only one person wanted them.
ReplyDeleteI cant tell you anymore than they were reviewed in Wargamers Newsletter back then. I don't think its possible to convey to anyone who wasn't around how exciting it was to get a magazine in the post back then.
John (the seller) ps. thanks for the money!
Glad I got them , it must have been exciting awaiting the next issue back then .
DeleteI found the following reference:
ReplyDeleteBayonet Publications: Published in Margate by Hamish Fraser editor of Bayonet, the Journal of the Horse & Musket Society. No copyright date is given but they seem to date from c.1970-72
This was under the "Rules" section of the
Vintage 20mil Wargaming
Yes I finally found this reference , They are from 1968-69 so must be the earlier issues.
DeleteYou lucky so and so, I dont know how I missed them as I am always hoping to complete my Wargamers Newsletter collection and trawl Ebay regularly. One day perhaps.
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough I have been attempting to downsize some of my ephemera and have found various society magazines from the 1980s including stuff by the Manchester wargames group.I will have to sell them as I hate destroying anything wargame related.
They are from the distant past - SO different from the present scene .
DeleteGood catch! Love the Minifig ad, International Reply Coupons! Some things I don't miss!
ReplyDeleteMail order was a pain in those days ! , don't miss that aspect of gaming .
DeleteNice to see someone else interested in these magazines. I have just been re-reading my copies of 'Bayonet' from 1968-70 and agree with the above comments - such a different time to be a wargamer, but the magazines do hold for me a considerable charm. I haven't been able to find out any more about the society, or indeed much about the magazine. I'd be interested to hear of anything about them. Regards, Iain.
ReplyDelete