Wargaming on TV in the 70`s

[Driscoles]

Hi,

just found this little pearl at you tube.

I dont know if this was posted before here at the LAF. If not it would be a shame to miss this one.







Have fun
Björn

[Arlequín]

I watched them first time round.  

Edward Woodward, Paddy Griffiths and Peter Gilder in the first one... all legends in their own right.  

[Argonor]

Seems worth a peek!

[Vanvlak]

Very much worth viewing - at least after the first one on Gettysburg. Thanks for posting the link 

[warlord frod]

I enjoyed watching these. They are so old school  I played many a game like that simple concise rules long artillery sticks and templates what fun  Thanks for sharing.

[Arlequín]

... simple concise rules long artillery sticks and templates what fun ... 

I note that there are some 'new' rules that have returned to that very same format. 

[Arlequín]

I seem to recall that its slot was something like 11pm and that TV back then 'closed down' somewhere between 11.30 and midnight... barring BBC 2 which ran all its Open University programming into the early hours. 'Cultural TV' was typically at that end of the viewing schedule and its likely competition would be a visual tour round a stately home or some formal gardens.

A programme with Edward Woodward in was probably drawing a hefty share of the five or six people still watching TV at that time, who themselves were only waiting to switch channels to stand up for the national anthem when BBC1 shut down.

 

[Cherno]

I like the hairstyles and the gentleman at the end of the show in the "cigar lounge" where he somewhat condescendingly explains the viewers the finer points of the wargaming hobby.

[warlord frod]

I just like the fact some producer snorted so much coke one day that that actually thought televised wargaming might be the next big thing.  Bless!

And yet there are hours and hours of exactly that on youtube. 

[Supercollider]

Brilliant - as mentioned in one of the 'what got you into wargames?' threads, this was the thing that piqued my interest at a young age.  Soon after seeing it my Bro and I made some basiuc terrain for our ACW plastic soldiers and native Americans, and we're playing in the garden (embarassing photos of the event do exist).  So the program had an impact on my life, I suppose   

Maybe in this golden age of board and wargames Wil Wheaton's 'Tabletop' will branch out and embrace a pro-clebrity battle format?  Chris Pratt Vs Scarlett Johansson at Thermopylae?  Lady Gaga & David Beckham duke it out on the plains of Mars? 

[armchairgeneral]

Thanks for posting these. Watched a bit of the Gettysburg episode. They were a bit before my time.

Sad that Edward Woodward, Paddy Griffith and Peter Gilder are no longer with us. I met Peter Gilder in the mid-80s at his war games holiday centre. A true gent.

[Arlequín]

Nothing will turn an AI all skynet crazy faster I suspect.

I'm inclined to think it will just go back to playing chess and draughts for fun, having come to the conclusion that we will eventually make ourselves extinct through sheer stupidity, or if you prefer 'natural selection', if YouTube stunts are anything to go by.

 

[has.been]

I too remember the programs the first time, I was very disappointed it was not continued. My first exposure to wargames on telly were the Callan programs (& later the film) I was SO envious of his wargames army (which fitted into a shoebox in the TV series) also the little references, such as forging a rare figure. His sidekick 'Lonely' suggesting casting half-crowns (12.5p) bits instead then looking at the mold when Callan told him how much the figure would cost.

I did have the honour of meeting both Paddy Griffiths & Peter Guilder years latter, both were gentlemen.