Friday 29 June 2018

The Importance of Being Earnest

 
Oscar Wilde's famous Victorian satire
 
 
I am feeling rough. A thick head, sore throat, streaming nose and nagging cough have all conspired to make yours truly feel positively wretched so thank the heavens it is Friday!
 
In a moment of whimsy - mainly because I was unable to concentrate on anything and the football last night was particularly dull - I had a quick look over some old blog posts from 'back in the day'. I must confess that there were quite a few cringe inducing moments in terms of profound statements about what I was doing and how I was going to do it. It seems to have been a continual round of plan, counter plan, discard plan and repeat.
 
Are all gamers like that or is it just fickle old me?
 
I set out with earnest intentions about project x (whatever that may be) and even occasionally manage to see them through to a conclusion although perhaps far less often than I would like. As I have often said there are those periods of history that I keep returning to in one form or another but I guess that in the past I have struggled to find the form of game I want to settle on, hence the revolving door of collections and material (not to mention time, effort and resources).
 
I genuinely believe that I have at last found what works for me in terms of the style of game and the periods of continued interest after a lifetime of experimentation - at least for the most part that is as there is always another corner to be turned. I think in the past I have allowed myself to be seduced by the latest 'ooh shiny' thing - which of course we all have at one time or another - which has had the knock on effect of making me lose sight of what is important to me. My own ideas and schemes are wholly worthwhile (at least they are to me) and whilst they may not appeal to the masses or even be described as mainstream or 'on trend' are personal and so should be celebrated. For sure I can have the occasional dabble into something new but for the most part my core interests will be nurtured
 
I am fortunate in having a gaming circle that values me and my ideas for what they are and even occasionally to take part in them so my path is not a solitary one despite some of my ideas being a little 'off piste' so to speak.
 
As soon as my head clears I shall be back to the painting of the Axis and Allies WW2 ships with a view to getting some games in. Whilst they are under way I will also look to get Denmark Strait action fought.
 
That is earnest intention and of course it is important to be so.
 
 
 
 



10 comments:

Jonathan Freitag said...

From muddle-headedness comes clarity. Bravo!

BigLee said...

"plan, counter plan, discard plan and repeat"...sounds like a typical year in the life of a wargamer.

David Crook said...

Hi Jonathan,

I sincerely hope so!

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Lee,

You may think so....but I couldn't possibly comment....

All the best,

DC

The Good Soldier Svjek said...

Think the vast majority of games are fickle butterflies - the hobby industry depends on it - just imagine we only bought one lot of toy soldiers and painted them and played with them !

David Crook said...

Hello Good Soldier Svjek,

Looking over all my early blog posts has made me realise just how undisciplined I have been in respect of projects many and varied. I now have a clear and achievable long term plan in place which will give me sufficient variety of gaming experiences from within my own immediately available resources.

I am hoping this will mean that I will get some things finished....:-0

All the best,

DC

tradgardmastare said...

“There is nothing new under the sun...”
Alan

Charles Litka said...

Well, Dave, I must admit that I've seen a lot of your projects bubble up... and then disappear without a trace. What ever happened to those plans for a China Station Fleet? And I have to say that I think it is one of the great charms of your blog -- so many ideas, so many projects, that they can't help but get into each others' way. Having too many ideas and being too enthusiastic is not a problem. It's a feature. I enjoy reading about all your projects, even if they come to mysterious ends... Please keep it up!

David Crook said...

Hi tradgardmastare,

That is true but I have to avoid the continual Groundhog Day if I am going to make any kind of progress!

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Charles,

Many thanks old chap - guilty as charged! I should add that one of the problem I also experience is not always thinking a project through logically and this is what happened with the China Station idea. For a variety of reasons too numerous to mention I decided that the scope of what I wanted to do kind of hit a buffer - I should have remembered from when I took part in the SE Asia naval campaign run by Eric Knowles years ago in the same locale - so I ‘nuked’ it.

It would have been short but glorious!

All the best,

DC