Monday, September 7, 2015

Sad News

It is with great sadness that I must report the passing of a good mate, Nick Garden. I first met Nick at the very first Flames of War competition in the South Island, Conquest, back in 2001 at Kendall School hall in Christchurch. IIRC Nick ran a British infantry list with 2x Churchill platoons. FoW had only recently come out and the five rounds had the 2 published missions: Free for All and Hold the Line alternating all weekend- ah good times!

Nick soon became a good friend and we attended many, many competitions together. Originally from Dunedin he moved up to Wellington for work but came down a couple of times a year to game (usually for my TAGCONs/Day of Days and for Southcon in Dunedin). He took part in all the TAGCONs and Day of Days I ran and always had a place for me to stay when I headed up to Wellington for gaming.

Nick was a top bloke and I had many enjoyable weekends playing FoW and hanging out with him. Here is an example of one of our many, many tussles at the tabletop.

Nick was a wealth of knowledge, a formidable opponent on the table (making it to Number 1 in NZ with Flames and was usually very, very high up in the rankings), and was a hell of a nice guy. I had many, many enjoyable evenings hanging out with him and Poochie before, during and after competitions. We'd sit around discussing the highs and lows of our day, analysing tactics, talking military history, having a laugh and generally just chilling. In fact when it came to planning our themed Day of Days events Nick was, along with Poochie, a driving force in the informal organising committee, which was for all intents and purposes the three of us brainstorming ideas. We'd sit round saying "hey this would be a cool theme...", "what about...") and getting things up and running and as the events got closer  a flurry of emails would be exchanged as we honed the ideas/ rules. The events wouldn't have been so successful and so much fun without his guidance, input and participation.

Nick was also a talented painter and also ran a blog, Lintman's Wargaming blog (which lapsed in recent years). In the past few years he took part in an increasingly varied range of gaming, such as joining in the large 28mm events put on.

Nick's passing is far too soon for someone so young, he will definitely be missed

Nick taking part in the Chunik Bair project.




Farewell Nick, rest in peace

Craig

14 comments:

  1. Jesus I didn't know that. I met him once of twice and he was always helpfull.

    RIP

    Paul

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  2. Holy smoke!! That is a real shock. I didn't know Nick all that well but well enough. We played opposite each other at the big Gettysburg game! Really nice guy who will be sadly missed!

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  3. Very sad news. I first got to know him when I arrived in Upper Hutt in 2007, and very good bloke to have around.
    Always involved in the big games - its only 3 months ago at the Waterloo refight in Wellington that he despaired of his British allies between Hougomont and La Haye Sainte advancing off the ridge towards the French lines.
    I will miss him, and his inventive use of horse artillery.

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  4. Crumbs, he must have been 10 years younger than me at least. I didn't know him but I did live in Chch for 3 years so I know how close knit the gaming community is in NZ. Sounds like a decent fellow so I was saddened to read your news.

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  5. Very sad news. I met Nick during the diorama project and had a great respect for his skills. Faerwell Nick.

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  6. He will be greatly missed by myself, I spent many a game being kicked all over the table by him and his quirky lists.

    Gone too soon

    Tim

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    1. Agreed. His valentines + bishops one was my favourite- I think he first used it at Southcon in 2005 or 2006, not long before he headed up to Wellington- that one was nasty!

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  7. Thanks for the comments everyone, Nick was an integral part of the FoW community (and wargaming communities in general) in both the North and South Islands and not many people have been as active in both. In recent years he became a regular of the Hutt gaming club, umpired many comps and got totally immersed in the gaming community up there. He will indeed be missed by all who knew him. I look forward to saying goodbye tomorrow and meeting up with some of his many gaming friends.

    Craig

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  8. Way too young :(
    Thx Craig, glad you shared or i wouldnt have known.. i feel the same, excellent player, friendly and funny, great painter... an example of a great wargamer. His paras were the death of my chances at one Cavcon.

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  9. Only met him briefly at the refights but seemed like a great guy. Terrible shame, my condolences to his friends and family. Mark.

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  10. Thanks for this Craig as well as the email earlier this month.
    A very cool young man. I was privileged to both play as a team with him at Gettysburg as well as against him a few times at FoW.
    His work for the WW100 was pretty epic as well.
    Just gutted really.

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