John Treadaway is the current Editor of Miniature Wargames – yes, the man who picked up the baton when I stepped away from the job in September 2016 – though his role differs somewhat from how I ran the magazine because he now deals with others based at Warners HQ who have responsibility for certain aspects of the publication. But three years on and he’s still there, steering the hobby’s senior magazine as it navigates the ever-changing world of wargaming.
John had, of course, provided a regular Fantasy Facts column for me since July 2013, when I decided to revive that honourable slot in Miniature Wargames with Battlegames 363 that had been missing from the mainstream wargames press for many years since the demise of Practical Wargamer.
Last Friday, he invited me into his magnificent garden room which houses a vast collection of models, memorabilia, militaria and, most importantly, a couple of wargaming tables on which he had set up a game of Hammer’s Slammers, the sci-fi game based on Vietnam veteran David Drake’s novels.
The game, however, was for later, because we spent an hour and a half before lunch recording a ‘live’ podcast on the corner couch, so bear this in mind when you hear the occasional cough, sniff, scuff of furniture and even – my Secue mic is incredibly sensitive – the strange, wurgly noise made by the air conditioning firing up!
We covered a range of subjects, including historical, fantasy and sci-fi gaming, the quality of miniatures sculpting, John’s involvement in writing columns for various wargames magazines, the development of the Hammer’s Slammers rules, his tremendous efforts staging participation games at shows over decades, and of course his significant role in the South London Warlords and their well-known Salute show.
Finally, we also had a chance to spend a few minutes chatting about Stuart Asquith, who sadly passed away on Monday 3rd November and will be greatly missed by his family, friends and the wider wargaming world who knew him through his tremendous output of wargaming material encouraging simple, friendly gaming over many decades, most especially Practical Wargamer. (I shall be recording something separately about Stuart in due course.)
I hope you enjoy this insight into the wargaming world of one of the busiest magazine editors in our hobby, a man who has had a voice in the hobby dating way back to his articles in Military Modelling and Battle for Wargamers in the 1970s.
Henry
Hammer’s Slammers: the Crucible ruleset
John can often be found on The Wargames Website
Be the first to comment