World War 2 or not..

All the stink about the SS re-enactors at Salute has got me thinking about the pros and cons of World War 2 gaming. Now, like many little boys, I got into wargaming through the Airfix plastic figures and tanks, encouraged by my father who fought in North Africa and then served in Palestine. Currently my little boy is playing with very many of the same tanks and figures in the living room and also with a rather violent Playstation game. When I first started wargaming properly at school with my friends Cess, Bean-kid and Brookbank it was largely World War two that we did.

Now however, I feel rather dubious about gaming it. I still have this sneaking suspicion that WW2 gamers are a bit odd and that while I used to game I grew out of it. Maybe it's still too close. My father was 37 when I was born and so most of my contempories fathers did not fight in WW2. It has always seemed that bit more immediate to me than for some of my friends.


Last year I bought some Airborne division figures from Arizan and very nice they are too. I painted just one but haven't done any more. My uncle was in the Airborne Division in gliders and fought at Arnhem so it was the natural choice for me. He was in hospital with shell shock for two years afterwards and never talked about it until about two months before he died when he came up with all sorts of funny stories about his experiences of being human ballast for trainee glider pilots. I think it took him nearly 60 years to come to terms with it.

Now I am tempted by the Artizan North Africa figures and the Chieftan armour models that go with them. Still, I'm not sure. Maybe its still too close. I sold all my Vietnam figures for the same reason. But my little boy is pestering me. Need to think about it.