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A SHORT HISTORY The Hong Kong Society of Wargamers was founded in October 1980, by a group of stalwarts who came to be known as the Founding Members. They had two things in common, a wish to wargame and Police Messes. The Founding Members (FM) were Pete Summers, Ken Lloyd, David Russell, Chris Briggs, Peter Hunt, Bill McIntyre and Ken Davey. They first met to wargame at the flat of Peter Hunt, a second meeting followed swiftly after and was held at the Bugs Retreat, Mong Kok Police Station Officers Mess. The Bugs Retreat named, after their tents, by ex-soldiers who had served in the Malaysian Campaign, made a fitting venue. In the following months the group expanded and a need for venues with greater table space was required. The HKSW's first real home was the China Fleet Club, which provided the necessities of wargaming, a large function room and bars serving cheap beer. A move to the Mariners Club followed where the club stayed for sometime before higher rents drove us to the then Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Police Officers Mess. We stayed until the building was sadly demolished whereupon, after a short interval of holding meetings at the Jardine Staff Club in Quarry Bay, we took up 'residence' at the venue of the Hong Kong Police Senior Officers Mess, Arsenal Street, Wanchai. More recently, KITEC has become the Society's regular venue. Hong Kong is transient by nature and a large number of members have come and gone over the years, many of them now members of other clubs around the world. The list of members is as complete as our records will allow (please advise any corrections); whilst some joined and stayed for only a short period of time, many contributed much in the time they were members and are sorely missed. Only Peter Hunt, the current Treasurer, remains as a Founding Member, Jeff Herbert and Andrzej Cierpicki came a close second and third, but have now moved overseas. A number have left the club and remain in Hong Kong, but appear to either have lost interest in wargaming or have other more demanding interests to pursue. Others have been wooed away by Games Workshop whose games have a well established following locally and although a number of our current members enjoy the various Games Workshop activities, the bulk of the interest is in historical wargames. We are, however, very glad to say few have ever left in a huff and only one person has been 'expelled', although even that was technical, as he hadn't paid his subs! Since its inception the club has been dedicated to the pursuit of fun and, apart from some in-house competitions in the early days, little has been done in the way of competitive wargaming. The reason for this is probably our relative isolation and the fact that, at any one time, we have a small hard core membership, a handful of enthusiasts and those for whom wargaming is of a lower priority than other activities. Also, Hong Kong by its nature tends to be very competitive so gaming for fun provides for much needed stress relief. We wargame almost anything, from the ancient period through to modern, with one of the recent hits being Darkest Africa, more members have figures for this than any other period, although WWI aeroplanes and Napoleonic ships are not far behind. The Russian Civil War has also recently gained a following. Figures are the main interest, particularly at meetings, but most also play board games, with a handful playing virtually nothing else. The HKSW is a registered society and would have been called, "The Hong Kong Wargames Society", except this already existed under the leadership of Nim White, who at that time was gaming with fantasy figures. Nim later joined us and his group were never registered but when he left Hong Kong he donated a splendid Silver Rose Bowl as the Nim White Napoleonic Trophy. Many people have added to the colour of the club over the years and some put in considerable effort, particularly in the early days. Despatches, which was the club magazine, was quite a production and provided for the need created by the void of wargaming material. With the advent of the popular wargame magazines, Despatches gradually fell into decline, but thanks must go to people like John Cartwright and Ken Lloyd for their early efforts. John was a very prolific wargamer and even went as far as buying and bringing into Hong Kong some ancient armies to get the club going. Ken Lloyd with Pete Summers set up Hong Kong's first dedicated (albeit short-lived) wargames shop, which declined, not so much through lack of demand, but because it was hard to staff. Ken Lloyd had, and presumably still does have an excellent Late Roman 25 mm Army. HKSW CHAIRMEN Over the years, the following have acted as HKSW Chairman: 1980 - 1983 Peter Summers 1983 - 1984 John Cartwright 1984 - 1985 Andrzej Cierpicki 1985 - 1986 Bill Mcintyre 1986 - 1987 Al Morgan 1987 - 1988 Lawrence Ho 1988 - 1989 Kenneth Chan 1989 - 1990 Oliver Silsby 1990 - 1991 Jim Currie 1991 - 1992 ? 1992 - 1993 ? 1993 - 1994 Bruce Meyer 1994 - 2000 Bill McIntyre 2000 - 2016 Andrzej Cierpicki 2016 - 2022 Jeff Herbert 2022 - Kenneth Chan MEMBERSHIP POLICY Our doors are open to all, although, unlike in the past, we have no junior members at the moment. Most of the younger generation have gone in the direction of Games Workshop who have attracted a dedicated following. 1997, saw big changes in our membership with many sadly leaving. This included some who worked in local Government and those just purely emigrating. It also shut the door to the intermittent flow of recruits from the British Armed Forces who were undertaking their tour of duty here. These latter gentlemen had always been a welcome addition to the club tending to be very active gamers with good collections, and we did on one occasion stage the Battle of Leipzig at the Osborne Barracks, an event held over two days. Membership dwindled to less than 20 in the late 1990's but has since risen to a very healthy membership of, on average, over 70 keen wargamers. MONTHLY MEETINGS
We have three venues at present and two of these are chosen on a monthly basis for club meetings (please check the website and/or forum regularly to see where meetings will be held). The three venues are: (i) Senior Police Officer's Mess, 6/F Police Headquarters, Arsenal Street, Wanchai, Hong Kong island; (ii) 6th floor of the KITEC Centre, Kowloon Bay, Kowloon. (iii) Room 2A, Youth Outreach, Sai Wan Ho, Hong Kong island Visitors are always welcome. Our rule is: the first visit is free, the second time they must join. Our annual subs are a bargain HK$220. Newly joining members will be charged on a pro-rata basis, based on the remaining months to the next Annual General Meeting, rounded up to HK$10 to cover the remainder of the first year that they join the Society. Thereafter membership renewal runs from AGM to AGM at the full rate. In addition attendees are charged a HK$80 per meeting, to help cover the cost of the venue. |
