Wargames Nostalgia – First Wargames Club

Herford Wargames Club

In 1971 we had been in Germany for almost two years, and wargaming a little longer than that.   We had a good collection of Airfix and Hinton Hunt Napoleonic figures and a few card buildings.   We had discovered German paper buildings, which we could buy from most toy shops.  They were very cheap and had two or three different buildings on each sheet.

 Until now we had only wargamed together.  Most of that time had been spent in Germany and we were not aware of any local wargames clubs. 

Hinton Hunt Polish lancers and British heavy cavalry

I was aware that the regiment had funds available to support leisure activities and clubs, so I applied for a small grant and the use of one of the many empty barrack rooms.   We were delighted to have our application approved and in addition to the grant we were provided with materials to decorate the room.    Within a week we had painted the room and decorated the walls with stills from “Waterloo”.  Four folding tables and a large sheet of model railway scenic paper provided the 4x12 foot wargames table.

Hinton Hunt and Airfix Waterloo wargame

We contacted the free army newspaper Sixth Sense and asked them to do an article to advertise the club.   They were happy to do so and they provided us with copies of the photos taken, which appear on this blog.  

We had a good response and the club ran for the remainder of our time in Herford, about a year.   We provided a wargame each week and in return we gained a permanent wargames room, where we could leave our figures and the table set up.   We could also game as often as we liked during the remainder of the week.

As a result of the article we also made contact with a local wargamer, who would remain a good friend throughout our time in Germany.