Bob Cordery

Robert (better known as Bob) Cordery has been wargaming for as long as he can remember. One of the first toys that he was bought was a wooden fort that was garrisoned by assorted lead soldiers ... and he has never looked back!

The first wargames book he bought was 'Charge!', although beforehand he had taken out Donald Featherstone's 'War Games' book on almost permanent loan from his local library. His first 20mm figures were the Airfix Guards Infantry and Band (in shocking pink!), soon followed by others as they were released, and by 1968, when he bought his first metal Hinton Hunt 20mm figures, he had a large collection of World War II figures, tanks, guns, and aircraft.

He was a founder member of 'Wargame Developments' and has been the treasurer and membership secretary since 1980. He has also organised – along with Tim Gow – the group’s annual conference (which is known as COW – the Conference of Wargamers) for more than fifteen years. His main interests are wargaming any wars from 1800 onwards, although he has a special interest in Colonial, the Spanish Civil War, and World War II wargaming. He also has a special interest in wargames that use square or hex grids for movement and weapon ranges - hence the development of the 'Portable Wargame' rules - and was involved in the early development of Matrix Games.

More recently he has tried his hand at writing fiction based on research he did for a wargame scenario. The more research he did, the more he began to realise that the plot for a book was emerging ... so he wrote the book rather than the scenario.

Bob is also an active Freemason, and has served as the Worshipful Master of his Mother Lodge (The Grove Park Lodge No.2732) twice. He is also a member of three other Lodges – one in London and two in Hertfordshire – including the Province of Hertfordshire’s Research Lodge, the Veritatem Sequere Lodge No.9615, of which he was Worshipful Master in 2017/18. He is currently the Province of Hertfordshire's Provincial Grand Orator, with the result that visits many Lodges in Hertfordshire and neighbouring Provinces to give talks and lectures about Masonic subjects.