Rob Poyton is one of my patrons. He also, as it turns out, has lived in places adjacent to where I spent my early years, and is now a resident of rural Bedfordshire.
Born in 1963, he began playing with soldiers in a similar way to many of us, in the familiar world of Airfix soldiers, Tamiya tanks and Action Man, but had his first ‘proper’ wargame at school—in a biscuit tin!
Early adventures with 1/72 WWII battles and the wonderful Introduction to Battle Gaming by Terence Wise gave way to a fascination with fantasy gaming at the Ilford Wargames Club (he was a founder member), especially those set in Middle Earth, featuring the iconic ranges created by Miniature Figurines. As the 1970s progressed, he discovered Dungeons & Dragons, the Call of Cthulhu, Traveller, Star Fleet Battles and much more besides.
The 1980s saw him becoming a semi-professional keyboard player, and with the heady tunes of New Wave bands in his ears, he ventured deeper into Role Playing Games such as Vampire Masquerade, En Garde and Paranoia.
After an extended hiatus and a move out of London, his interests focused on model and terrain making again for a time, but his passion for Lovecraft prompted him to launch a fancast called The Innsmouth Book Club which is still going strong.
A chance encounter at an event in 2023 led to him finding the Bedford Gladiators wargames club, where his love of tabletop wargaming and RPGs has been rekindled. And being a born communicator, he also launched his own Dragon’s Teeth YouTube channel!
But wargaming is only part of Rob’s life and something he and I have in common is our interest in martial arts, particularly Tai Chi and Qigong—and interest that Rob has taken much further than I have, to the point of becoming a professional instructor and editing Tai Chi International magazine! His deep delve into martial arts has resulted in him experimenting with a variety of forms, most recently including a little-known Russian martial art called Systema.
This part of the discussion is something that I hope will be of interest to many of you because it flags up some issues that are faced by all of us as we get older and perhaps spend more time sitting on our backsides than is good for us—and Rob has plenty to say about staying mobile, and the benefits of gentle, low-impact exercise not just for the body, but for the brain too. We had a lively chat around this subject matter and I hope you come away with a couple of useful tips that will help you in your daily life.
I hope you enjoy our wide-ranging discussion—I’m keen to bring in topics outside the narrow focus of wargaming when they arise and I know from my own experience that there are few more important topics than our physical and mental health!
Henry
Innsmouth Gold (Lovecraftian stuff) https://innsmouthgold.com/home
Dragon’s Teeth (tabletop gaming, NOT just fantasy!) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiyVIIgR49hCpjRHQO_DOSw
Simply Flow (Rob’s mobility/Tai Chi classes) https://www.simplyflow.co.uk/
Cutting Edge Systema (the astonishing martial art from Russia) https://systemauk.wordpress.com/
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