CONTACTS
GDWS Officers Chair: Dave Soutar Secretary: Dave Watson Treasurer: Gary Weston Committee: Graham Robertson, Rab McNaught, and Denis Craig Society Contact: Dave Watson [email protected] |
Glasgow and District Wargaming Society was founded in 1969 and we are one of the oldest clubs in continuous operation.
We meet fortnightly on Sundays from 12:30pm to 5:30pm in the Scout hall, Shawmoss Road, Crossmyloof, Glasgow G41 4AD. We also arrange all-day themed open days for the big games. We have around 40 members and space for all! We have our own tables and terrain and can cater for all periods from biblical to the future. We allow prospective new members two free games. After that the annual subscription is £60. As an alternative you can pay £5 a meeting table fee, or £30 for five games after which you can convert to a full membership for another £30. There are a range of annual competitions and campaigns that provide an opportunity for new members to get involved including TtS! and ADLG. Members wargame a wide variety of periods and rules. On a typical Sunday you will find ancient and medieval battles using Lion Rampant, To the Strongest!, ADLG or Hail Caesar. Renaissance with Pike & Shotte and For King & Parliament. Napoleonic and 19th Century conflicts using Black Powder, Black Seas, Blucher and Rebels and Patriots. WW2 using Bolt Action rules. While primarily an historical wargames club, Fantasy and Sci-Fi games are regularly played. The club runs several tournaments and campaigns that are a good way to introduce new members to the society. We also participate in competitions across the UK and try to support all the Scottish wargame shows. To understand the history of wargaming we would recommend this video on YouTube. |
50 Years of GDWS
Glasgow and District Wargaming Society is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2019 - one of the UK’s oldest wargaming clubs in continuous operation.
We have the epic film ‘The Longest Day’ to thank for the Society’s formation. A group of school friends in Glasgow were so impressed that they set about recreating scenes from the film using Airfix and Minitanks models with primitive rules. A library copy of ‘War Games' by Donald Featherstone opened up the world of wargames, and an advert in the Airfix Magazine brought together a small band of gamers that met in each other’s houses.
In 1969, helped by Dundee Wargames Club, eight members gathered in St Nicholas Church Hall for the first meeting of GDWS. The Society grew rapidly in the 1970s, no doubt aided by the incentive of a pie and mash lunch! Members participated in the regional competitions that led to the formation of the Federation of Scottish Wargames Clubs and UK conventions. As is the case today, wargame clubs defied attempts at national organisation, but the informal networks survive today across Scotland's vibrant hobby.
Relations with the ‘Father Ted’ like priests had always been cordial, but the church hierarchy decided wargaming wasn’t compatible, leaving GDWS homeless. After a couple of moves, the Society found its current home at the Scout Hall, in Crossmyloof, on the south side of Glasgow.
On a typical Sunday afternoon at GDWS, you will see a wide variety of games played by the society's forty plus members. There are several core groups of gamers, but variety is a feature of GDWS as can be seen in the photographs on the Society’s Facebook page.
The WW2 gamers mostly play Command Decision, but Chain of Command and naval games make an appearance. The 15mm ancient players have moved from DBM to FoG and now mainly play L’Art de la Guerre. Finally, we have the big toy group of 28mm players. In recent years Dan Mersey’s rules have been popular; Lion Rampant, Pikeman’s Lament and the Men Who Would Be Kings. Bolt Action is a regular favourite as well as Black Powder and the related period rules for big battle games.
While primarily a historical wargames society, fantasy and sci-fi games are regularly played. Battletech, Star Wars Legion and Armada for the sci-fi buffs, with Runewars being the current choice of the fantasy gamers.
At least once a year the society plays over two days, giving an opportunity to play a huge game, or competitions. In January, the society holds an Open Day, which has been the starting point for many current members.
The Society participates in the main Scottish shows – Carronade and Claymore. Big display games have been a trademark GDWS production, often on less well-known conflicts including Napoleon in Egypt, South American Wars of Independence and Prince Eugene in the Balkans. Our Secretary’s obsession with the Balkans means there will be a link to that peninsular somewhere!
In recent years, there has been a notable shift to participation games, often using cut down versions of Dan Mersey’s rules. These range from fantasy, to medieval to the Russo-Turkish War.
All of this activity is reflected on this web site, Facebook page and active Twitter feed. Wargaming in Glasgow has come a long way over the past fifty years, but there will always be a warm welcome for gamers at GDWS.
Glasgow and District Wargaming Society is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2019 - one of the UK’s oldest wargaming clubs in continuous operation.
We have the epic film ‘The Longest Day’ to thank for the Society’s formation. A group of school friends in Glasgow were so impressed that they set about recreating scenes from the film using Airfix and Minitanks models with primitive rules. A library copy of ‘War Games' by Donald Featherstone opened up the world of wargames, and an advert in the Airfix Magazine brought together a small band of gamers that met in each other’s houses.
In 1969, helped by Dundee Wargames Club, eight members gathered in St Nicholas Church Hall for the first meeting of GDWS. The Society grew rapidly in the 1970s, no doubt aided by the incentive of a pie and mash lunch! Members participated in the regional competitions that led to the formation of the Federation of Scottish Wargames Clubs and UK conventions. As is the case today, wargame clubs defied attempts at national organisation, but the informal networks survive today across Scotland's vibrant hobby.
Relations with the ‘Father Ted’ like priests had always been cordial, but the church hierarchy decided wargaming wasn’t compatible, leaving GDWS homeless. After a couple of moves, the Society found its current home at the Scout Hall, in Crossmyloof, on the south side of Glasgow.
On a typical Sunday afternoon at GDWS, you will see a wide variety of games played by the society's forty plus members. There are several core groups of gamers, but variety is a feature of GDWS as can be seen in the photographs on the Society’s Facebook page.
The WW2 gamers mostly play Command Decision, but Chain of Command and naval games make an appearance. The 15mm ancient players have moved from DBM to FoG and now mainly play L’Art de la Guerre. Finally, we have the big toy group of 28mm players. In recent years Dan Mersey’s rules have been popular; Lion Rampant, Pikeman’s Lament and the Men Who Would Be Kings. Bolt Action is a regular favourite as well as Black Powder and the related period rules for big battle games.
While primarily a historical wargames society, fantasy and sci-fi games are regularly played. Battletech, Star Wars Legion and Armada for the sci-fi buffs, with Runewars being the current choice of the fantasy gamers.
At least once a year the society plays over two days, giving an opportunity to play a huge game, or competitions. In January, the society holds an Open Day, which has been the starting point for many current members.
The Society participates in the main Scottish shows – Carronade and Claymore. Big display games have been a trademark GDWS production, often on less well-known conflicts including Napoleon in Egypt, South American Wars of Independence and Prince Eugene in the Balkans. Our Secretary’s obsession with the Balkans means there will be a link to that peninsular somewhere!
In recent years, there has been a notable shift to participation games, often using cut down versions of Dan Mersey’s rules. These range from fantasy, to medieval to the Russo-Turkish War.
All of this activity is reflected on this web site, Facebook page and active Twitter feed. Wargaming in Glasgow has come a long way over the past fifty years, but there will always be a warm welcome for gamers at GDWS.
PRIVACY POLICY
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Our site contains links to other sites and servers. GDWS is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites.
How we protect your information
Our website has security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse or alteration of the information under our control. Our server is located in a locked, secure environment.
Contacting us about privacy
If you have any questions about our privacy policy, the practices of this site or your interaction with this website, please contact us by emailing [email protected]
We can be contacted at the following address. You can also send data protection requests at the address below:
9 Ottoline Drive
Troon
Glasgow
G2 6RX
We will continue to evaluate our efforts to protect your information and will update our privacy policy whenever necessary.
edit.
IP addresses and other log file data
The GDWS website does not automatically capture or store personal information, other than logging the user's IP Address or the location of your computer or network on the Internet, for systems administration and troubleshooting purposes. (If you are connected to the Internet you have an IP address, for example an IP address might read "154.198.99.9"). We also use IP addresses in the aggregate to track which pages people visit in order to improve the quality of the site.
We collect data about the activity of visitors to many of our websites. This data is not used to identify you personally but it gives us aggregate level information on user activity that helps us improve the functionality and experience of the website. The data that is collected may include the date and time you visit the website, information on your location inferred from your IP address, and the content you view. Click here to find out more about Google Analytics and how it collects and processes data. If you want to opt-out of Google Analytics and prevent your website visit data from being used by us, then you can click here to install the Google Analytics opt-out browser add-on.
Cookie
A cookie is a tiny text file that is stored on your computer. We may use cookies – including analytics cookies provided by companies such as Google – in order to tailor your experience on our site according to the preferences you have specified. However, we will only access the information that we stored in your cookie file. We will not access any information stored in a cookie placed by other websites. Our cookies do not contain personally identifiable information, other than your IP address, which itself is only very rarely enough to identify you as an individual.
Links to other sites
Our site contains links to other sites and servers. GDWS is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such websites.
How we protect your information
Our website has security measures in place to protect against the loss, misuse or alteration of the information under our control. Our server is located in a locked, secure environment.
Contacting us about privacy
If you have any questions about our privacy policy, the practices of this site or your interaction with this website, please contact us by emailing [email protected]
We can be contacted at the following address. You can also send data protection requests at the address below:
9 Ottoline Drive
Troon
Glasgow
G2 6RX
We will continue to evaluate our efforts to protect your information and will update our privacy policy whenever necessary.
edit.