Tuesday 5 April 2016

A new beginning.

Welcome, to my Peter Gilder, In the Grand Manner blog, and first introductory post. Having wittered on about the great man on my other blog, Independent Wargames Group, I thought it made sense to put everything I have and intend to get on a separate searchable blog of its own.
 I intend to post new images of all things Peter Gilder, and also over a matter of time build up a comprehensive history of him and his work.
 I would ask if anyone has figures from the great mans collections, to kindly consider sending them to me so that I can place them on what I hope will become a searchable record.
 This should include, anecdotes, meetings, conversations, in fact anything that will be of interest to all wargamers both young and old.
  I first truly appreciated Peter Gilder with the publishing of the first Miniature Wargames which contained images of wonderfully painted wargames units, on beautifully made terrain.
Prior to that I had admired his work only in black and white photographs in the Military Modelling, when Charles Grant wrote his wonderful monthly series on the Napoleonic Wargame, which later became a book.
  A lot of photographs of units attributed to Peter Gilder were in fact painted by a large number of very talented individuals that Gilder met via the vaunted Hull Wargames Club. I dont think this detracts from what he was about, as Gilder clearly inspired many young talents who were very keen to paint units for him in exchange for large numbers of new castings that he was designing all the time.
  I hope to provide a more detailed explanation of the Hull wargames group in the very near future, when I make my way into deepest Humberside for a talk with some of the people who were very closely associated with the great man. Anyway, from tiny acorns, and all that.






6 comments:

  1. Colin,
    It looks like youre my only inaugural postie, win a goldfish.

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  2. Can I join Colin in congratulating you on starting this excellent idea. I look forward to seeing it grows. I was never really a fan of his figure designs but hugely influenced by his approach to wargames terrain.
    Chris
    http://notjustoldschool.blogspot.co.uk/

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Chris,
      I know what you are saying about some of the figures, and when I saw some of the units painted by Gilder, they could look decidedly ropey, until you put them back on the table, and then they looked wonderful.He was a master of the 'impressionist' style of figure painting, I never could work out how he did it.

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    2. Robbie I wasn't in any way criticising the painting or the effect on the table, goodness it wowed me in those days, merely the exaggerated poses and not so lifelike as, in my opinion, Hinton Hunt. A feature on his methods of terrain construction, from table up, would be great in the future if you get any material.

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  3. Nice to see a website tribute to the late great Peter Gilder.

    Who I first met as in 1980 at the Wargames holiday center.

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