Thursday 16 December 2021

Nigel Slater and wargaming

 Yesterday I was watching “Nigel Slater’s Christmas Suppers “ on television. He is an excellent food writer and cook. One part of the programme dealt with him pouring over seed catalogues with a view to what he would grow in Spring and Summer. He was surrounded by catalogues and made many notes in his journal about his intended buys . He looked eagerly forward.

Sadly l cannot reveal that Slater is a wargamer but he did get me thinking of the days when we wargamers poured over catalogues too. Real physical paper ones- glossy and picture rich Airfix and list centred Minifigs. Amateurish lists hastily typed and photocopied yet worth their weight in gold to us.Yes we can access information online but the joy of thumbing through hobby catalogues was great, not to mention the eager anticipation of them coming through the letterbox.

15 comments:

  1. I echo your sentiments on paper catalogues Alan! What a joy it was to receive them in the mail and archive them in a certain desk drawer where they were always quick to hand! Some even had illustrations or photos, those were the days!

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  2. I remember those catalog days as well. Oh, the joy of receiving a new one!

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  3. With some you even got a free figure!
    Ronnie

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    1. I’d forgotten that. Which companies?

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    2. I'm going back to the days of typed/duplicated sheets. It was the Train Shop Supermarket, or similar, that I'm thinking of. They did lists of Hinton Hunt, Minifigs and Rose with accompanying "free" samples.
      Ronnie

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  4. Yes a great joy, useful paint schemes, tips and historical information in the Airfix (and less so the Matchbox) catalogues.

    The Peter Laing old typed catalogue - still useful as I catalogue my figures -
    There is a free pdf scan copy to print on Bob Cordery’s post link here on my Laingblog: https://collectingpeterlaing15mmfigures.wordpress.com/2021/10/25/bob-corderys-peter-laing-figures-wargaming-miscellany-blog/

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    1. I will pop over and have a look. It could be a lucky dip a bit buying from a catalogue without pictures…

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  5. I have fond memories of poring over the old Minifigs catalogue with the B&W photos on the glossy paper. I spent many hours in classrooms daydreaming over the armies I would one day command.
    The last good catalogue I recall seeing was the one published by Wargames Foundry in the early 1990s. Then it all went online, alas.

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    1. Old Minifigs catalogues were some of my favourites.

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  6. I miss paper catalogs too. What fun to pour over the catalog and make lists and plan armies. I still have many of those catalogs that I reference often.

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    1. I probably have one or too in the eaves storage , if l can bear it l will have a rummage in the new year.

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