This post was original published on the HMGS site on June 6, 2019.

A Grognard Looks at Forty Mother, Mother rivets, I have heard you call Wanted to count then since I was three feet tall No, I won’t continue this silliness any further, it’s gone far enough! I have just turned 40 though and am wondering when I’ll start counting rivets and buttons and saying well actually way more than necessary. (More than necessary is more than once by the way!) I find myself playing more historical games than I have in the past and I like my historical miniatures to be “right.” Then again if it looks cool, or has a game purpose, I’m willing to be slightly anachronistic. My Vikings don’t have horns, but they have the same colors across the warband to tie them together. I’m not willing to proxy one tank for another, but I don’t feel obliged to research every unit and piece of equipment that should have been in a specific engagement. Of course, all minis must be painted to hit the table but that’s nothing new! I went to Adepticon this year for the first time where historical games were far and few between. It was my first time really attending a non-HMGS show. Hmmm. It turns out after thinking about it maybe 40 is the new 30 in the Historical Gaming world. I’m still amongst the youngest at HMGS events which is something I’d love to see change. I have some ideas on that topic, I’m sure I’ll bring it up at some point. If any of you out there have ideas, please let me know!

-Wachtmeister

PS My favorite grognard comment of all time occurred at an HMGS show. My friends were running a Civil War game, Millers Cornfield at Antietam, and they had a cornfield about three feet by five feet long. The corn was all lined up in neat rows made out of Christmas tree branches when they were approached and heard: “Well, actually, in the Civil War era cornfields were laid out in a herringbone pattern.” A well deserved “Well Actually” over historical corn! Glorious!