What's a Grognard?

Grognard (noun)

     1. an old soldier
     2. A soldier of the original imperial guard that was created by Napoleon I in 1804 and that made the final French charge at Waterloo. 
     3. (games, slang) Someone who enjoys playing older wargames or roleplaying games, or older versions of such games, when newer ones are available.

From the French word grogner which means to grunt or grumble.

Well, I'm getting older but I'm definitely not that old. The third definition holds the key to this blog post. I'm one of a small percentage of Americans (it has a larger following and is more common in England and many European countries) that engages in the hobby of tabletop wargaming. Many people play games like Battlefront or Call of Duty and call themselves wargamers, but that's not what we're talking about here. When I try to explain what I do, people have a difficult time understanding what I mean, so I usually try to add pictures. Often, I simply give the answer...its like really detailed and convoluted chess. Sometimes it makes me nervous to share my hobby because I'm not sure how people will react to it.

We spotted this M7 Priest a few years ago and my son had to have his picture taken with it...wonder who he takes after.

Even within the small tabletop gaming community, I tend to stick with an even more specific genre and am known as a historical tabletop wargamer. This means my focus isn't on wizards, elves, space marines, or dragons. I focus on recreating real or realistic battles to simulate outcomes with or without changes to the variables. I've always been interested in history and specifically military history from an early age. I've read hundreds of books, my favorites are usually the individual stories of the soldiers. Just to be clear, I do not glorify warfare, but study it and celebrate those who served and sacrificed.

A large part of the hobby is the artistic component, where the gamer creates the game table through a variety of means and paints miniature models of soldiers and vehicles to use during gameplay. Often, when you purchase miniatures they are bare metal or plastic pieces that must be assembled. After that, you prime the miniature, give it color through paint, shade, drybrush, and finally base the miniature. It is quite the process. I started doing this when I was twelve years old and have finished thousands and thousands of figures in my time. Hopefully, some of my passion for this hobby is evident in my words, but I'll show a few more pictures to help you visualize just what this means.

From a WWII scenario a few years ago.

A shot from the woods of a German anti-tank gun.

Another shot showing part of a town and some woods with an ambush.

 Almost everything you see in the pictures from the ground up (literally) has been created and built by myself. The models are all vehicles and figures that I have painted. For reference, my infantry figures are 10mm tall - there are larger and smaller scales out there, but that's another post for another day. Needless to say, attention to detail and precision are key!