Information

Sketch Map

Street Map

Polish Club Building

Contact Phoenix


Welcome to the Phoenix Wargaming Club's Web page!

Home of WAPPINSHAW

Wappinshaw 2010 date to be confirmed

10am-4pm at Woodside Halls

For information on the clubs and traders who attended WAPPINSHAW '09 click WAPPINSHAW

Club Notices

Wappinshaw 18 April 2009: Many thanks to everyone who attended and to all the clubs and traders who participated, particularly Falkirk whose game was a substitution at one day's notice! We look forward to seeing you at Wappinshaw 2010.

The club has a yahoo group.

http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/glasgowphoenix

A brief history of Phoenix

Phoenix is a small wargaming club which meets on Tuesday evenings in Maryhill, Glasgow from around 7.00 to around 10.30. Our convivial hosts are the local Polish Ex-Servicemen's social club (which happily makes us the only licensed wargaming club in Glasgow).

We are open to all those with an interest in wargaming, military history and boardgaming.

Phoenix began its life under an earlier name, long forgotten in the mists of a frosted glass. Formed by what were largely ex-university club members who had the misfortune to graduate, the club established its ethos early by meeting in a pub. This tradition has been carried on to the present day and it is in keeping with our approach to the hobby that we have always met in a licensed establishment of some form or another.

We began in the Courtyard pub in Glasgow's southside back in the early 1980's. Things were going swimmingly, lots of good times were had, and the hobby was developing nicely until, mysterious circumstances which Taggart himself could not explain, the Courtyard burned down.

Not to be deterred, members immediately moved to the Three Pigeons, and continued as if nothing untoward had occurred. Until tragedy struck for the second time, when our new home also burned down.

After a brief sojourn at Sloanes, contemplating the potential overheads involved in taking out fire insurance the decision was made to rename ourselves as the Phoenix Wargaming club, and seek a new home, preferably one with some form of fire fighting apparatus on the premises. The polish ex-services club was happy to look after us, and we began our association with them in the early 1990's, initially in the Kelvingrove area, and then later in our present home in Maryhill.

What is Wargaming?

Wargaming is a hobby which has been flourishing since the 60's, particularly in the English-speaking world. Its origins can be traced to tactical games such as Go and Chess, and through the Kreigspeil style planning games used by military strategists first begun by the Prussian army reformers following the disasters of Jena and Auerstadt in 1806.

Perhaps the first use of model soldiers to represent actual troop formations which were then deployed and manoeuvred for amusement can be traced to H.G. Wells in his "Little Wars", although modern wargamers would look rather aghast at his central notion of miniature cannons firing hardened matches at their hand painted figures!

The Modern hobby can be directly traced to the work of such enthusiasts as Donald Featherstone and Tony Bath, and Charles Grant. Donald Featherstone in particular being honoured with the title of Grandfather of American Wargaming for the inspiration effect his numerous publications in the 60's had once they received publication across the Atlantic.

Beyond that scattered history of the hobby, classifications of what the hobby actually is are rather more difficult to find. Wargaming includes those who play boardgames, and those who use miniature figures. Those who seek to recreate historical events, those who seek to try "what if's" from history, those who look to simply take a flavour of a part of history and make a good game out of it, those who are looking for a good game with vaguely military or historical flavour to it, and those who eschew all such academic niceties, and go straight for outer-space, or middle earth (or wherever they choose to call it). Primarily it is about playing with soldiers however, and that is probably the best description that anyone has ever come up with. In the words of our President: "och, its only a game of toy soldiers!"

Where to find us

We meet in the Polish ex-services club, 26 Genfarg Street G20, next to the Woodside halls in Maryhill, Glasgow. We are a rainy nights walking distance from the St Georges Cross Underground station (which is still running when the club finishes for the evening), and are easily accessible by car from Maryhill Road. A local sketch map is shown in the right-hand column along with a slightly more detailed street map.

Club Interests

Phoenix has a reputation for the more experimental rather than the traditional. This is partly because of the constraints imposed by the shorter time frame our meetings allow - unlike those clubs able to meet over a weekend afternoon- but also just because of the approach most of our members take.

The most commonly played rules are Armati by Arti Conliffe, an American set of rules which replicate battles from biblical through to the Thirty Years War by focussing on the use of battle lines to recreate a more historical look to games. But this is not to say that they are by any means the only rules which members enjoy. In fact, club members often try out new ideas for rules or scenarios themselves, and many of those have been included in this website for you to try yourself.

As many links of relevance to club members have been included as possible. You will find them on your left, below the navigation system of this site, so you can get a better idea of where members interests lie.