Southend Wargames Club

Club Members

	Dave 'Big Boy' Wood
	Paul 'The Thong' Blessing Paul has been playing war games for 21 years and especially enjoys most periods, scales and game sets. Paul served in Her Majesties forces and saw many tours of duty wherever the thin red line was required. Consequently Paul’s interests and choice of game tend to veer towards modern conflicts and periods of history. Paul is single although attached to his beautiful partner who is extremely patient as he is a fully paid up member of ‘Vikings’ who are the oldest and largest Dark Age re-enactment society in the UK. Paul also has an unhealthy fascination with ‘Thongs’ and ‘Chicks with Guns’!!
	Andy 'Cull Them' Culham Andy has been playing war games since the age of eight. Andy is an avid history fan and likes nothing better than to play any wargame. He has a particular interest in 19^th to 21^st century theatres of war. That said he loves ECW, Medieval and Ancients, and loves Aero and Nautical games. Andy loves playing at tournaments when he can or attending Wargame/hobby shows. Andy is an avid painter and collector and has won a number of competitions for his painting and presentation skills. Andy presently lives in Essex, and has recently been ‘liberated’ allowing him to spend more time on his leisurely pursuits. When Andy isn’t playing, painting or talking about playing and painting he is a qualified Lecturer, academic and writer. Andy is a keen bass player (jazz, nice!), movie lover and collector, reader and Ebay addict!!!
	Richard Partridge Richard is probably the only member of the founding meeting of the original Southend Wargames Club still gaming back in 1964. Richard will play nearly anything, although he is yet to get into Ancients, but he is most happy when playing Napoleonics or ACW. Richard is an accomplished painted with many armies under his belt. Richard is a Performance Manager for Romford Council and lives in Westcliff. Richard has been married to Frances for almost 30 years, and has four daughters. Richard was editor of Age of Napoleon for Dave Ryan’s Partizan Press, on the back of which the International Napoleonic Society awarded him a Fellowship. Richard has also co-authored books with Mike Oliver – Battle Studies in the Peninsula, Napoleonic Army Handbook Volumes 1 and 2, and Glorious Field of Grief (the Battle of Albuera). Over the years I’ve built up what I think is a pretty comprehensive military history library. I’ve got an interest in history generally, particularly British and American history, and political history. Apart from this I enjoy reading historical novels, techno-thrillers, and crime. Music-wise, I enjoy listening to folk, especially traditional material.
	Roger 'Sidewinder' Sidwell Roger has been gamming for over 25 years now, starting with modern naval combat and Warhammer Fantasy back in the early 80’s. I gammed back then with Dave (still a friend and a fellow member of the club) and our friend Andy Austin who now lives in the USA. Roger is a big fan of all things naval, from ancients up to the Falklands and pretty much all the periods in between. He likes aerial combat, particularly WWI. Roger loves the Napoleonic and roman periods but also enjoys seven years war, ACW, WWII and modern. Roger is presently single (despite the rumours) which means he has more time and money for gaming J!! He lives in South Woodham Ferrers in Essex and works as an I.T. manager for a book publisher/distributor. His other interests include astronomy, scuba diving and all things historical.
	Mike 'Eagle' Oliver Mike has been a wargamer since 1967 (42 years) when he played his first game at Ken Lazenby’s house where the 25mm Napoleonic British battalion he was given to command was slaughtered by artillery fire! From that moment he was hooked! Mike loves to play Napoleonic, 7YW, ACW, WW2. "But I’ll play anything that seems to offer a challenge". Mike is married with two children (a daughter & son), and 4 grandsons (who he is training up). Mike sells Warmodelling wargames figures and makes maps but is “officially” retired from the world of Cosmetics &, latterly, the Construction industry. He plays keyboards and has done a little computer programming (but not for a while now). Mike lives with his wife in Great Leighs, a village near Chelmsford.
	Paul Cayton
	Simon Cayton
	William Ray (Northern Defence Contingent, Keeper of the Queen's Knees) Bill has been wargaming since the early sixties (over 40 years) and has tried his hand at everything including roleplay. At present Bill is into WW2 KGC2, WW1 using "If the lord spares us", Napoleonic using LFS and colonial using Soldiers of the Queen. Bill has 10mm WW2, 15mm WW1 and 25mm Colonial, also 10mm wars of the roses that have yet to find employment. I own a large collection of board games and Board/miniature games including all the command and colours system games (Memoir44, Battlelore, C&C Ancients & Battlecry). Bill is Married with 5 (Yes 5) daughters, he also play roleplay D&D games with his wife Heather.