Hello everyone,
It deeply saddens me to write about the passing of my good friend, Martin Oakes, on the 18th September 2026. He was a passionate cat lover, a massive DVD collector, a music collector and fan, and a wargamer, to name a few of his loves. He was a long-standing member of the Battle Circle wargaming group at Highcroft Community Centre, which is where I met him.
His wargaming collection covered the three walls of his front room, from floor to ceiling, with his gaming table in the middle, which was covered with that day's game terrain, sometimes bought, sometimes home made, ready for us to take part. He loved putting on games for us happy troopers that were able to come and join him and his putty tats on Sunday afternoons. Terrain and models were everywhere, science fiction, historical and fantasy, all neat and tidy, with a model painting area set up in one corner by the window.
I would just like to point out that it was not always wargaming at Martin's house, sometimes we would just go round for a good old chat, grab some food from the shops and listen to music and show off our latest painted models in the process. On other occasions, we would meet up at Richard's and have a gaming session there. Either way, it was worth the trip to Erdington.
In his younger days, he did live-action role-playing weekends, having the complete kit of a soldier, ready to go. He took along his Bauron, so that he could join in the music that sprung up in those social events. His dedication to the cause included brewing strong hooch in the weeks before and distributing it during evening meals. After sampling a drop or two during one gaming session, I can confirm that it was a rather nice tipple.
Here are one or two of his games for you to enjoy.
2018/06 - wizards-tower-terrain - His work in progress.
Some more terrain 2021.06
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| The Zombie Maze. Avoid the Zombies and get to the central Tower First. |
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| Giant Putty Tat Alert! |
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| Putty Tat is readying an attack. |
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| The Zombie Totems looking down on us. |
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| Castle |
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| Taverna. |
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| Storage for wonders. |
2018/11 - Project-Z-battle-report-2.html
2019/05/project-z-campaign-pt1-battle-report.html
The Wild West Layout
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| Giant sponge dice at the ready. |
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| I am not sure if these were part of a game or just set up, ready if he wanted to run something on the fly. I do remember doing a wild west game, along with "Her Majesty's Secret Service." a couple of times. |
I have just played "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd, "The Hedgehog's Song" and "the Painters box" by the Incredible string band, "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane and "Battle of the fields" Album by the Albion Country Band. I think Martin would have approved.
If you knew Martin, you were a happier person for it, I certainly was. Thanks for all of the good times you shared with us all.
Ivor Cogdell