The Weekend Wargamer, Vol IV — remembering Jim Quinn
The board wargaming community recently lost a beloved faithful enthusiast. James “Jim” Quinn of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, passed away this March after a long battle with cancer.
Jim was a longtime Squad Leader and Advanced Squad Leader player and for the past several years moonlighted as the endearing president of the Philly ASL club. Jim’s love and devotion to not just ASL but the club was unparalleled. His loss is immeasurable.
I first met Jim Quinn in 2017 after a fellow Philly ASL club member extended an invite to the group via Boardgamegeek. Despite my complete illiteracy with ASL — Jim, as he did with all Advanced Squad Leader acolytes, welcomed me to the hobby and club without any reservation. With Jim’s hands on mentoring I was able to learn ASL (starter kit) fairly quickly — via the best way possible (playing it with the game’s vets). I, like many other ASL newbies, will always be grateful for Jim’s tutoring: no rules conflict was too elementary for Jim to answer when questioned and no scenario choice was too off limits to play in his presence.
Advanced Squad Leader is a dense, time consuming affair — the kind of board game that somehow still survives in today’s world of instant gratification and minuscule attention spans. Under Jim Quinn’s tutelage the Philly ASL club not only survived but thrived. He was a tremendous ambassador for the hobby — adding more members to the group every year. Per Tom McCarthy, Philly ASL club member: “Jim welcomed me into this group when I found it by replying to a Facebook post. I will miss him very much.”
During the monthly Saturday afternoon meetups at The Games Keep in West Chester, PA Jim was always the first on the scene, helping to transform the tables into battle areas and gleefully displaying his “Want To Learn ASL? Come Join the club!” signage nearby, hoping to recruit and any all prospective armchair colonels to the game.
“Jim was the glue that kept Philly ASL together. Unelected, he led. Unappointed, he organized. Uniquely he communicated,” said Philly ASL member Mark Shyrock. “Enthusiastically he always drew us into the group and made us renew our commitment to it by encouraging attendance of game days and to stand with the group for his photos.”
Jim’s approach to ASL and our club meets was novel and fresh, oftentimes employing RPG elements to personalize the experience. He insisted on every combatant shaking hands after each match (almost always with Jim documenting the display of sportsmanship) and every group meet ended with a team photograph — our President proudly beaming front and center. Jim also encouraged each player, pre-match, to choose one of the scenario’s squad leaders to represent themselves in the paper engagement with the hopes that the added role playing element would supplement the enjoyment of each battle. Every player would expect to be questioned by Jim, doing his rounds among the group matches, if their “SL” survived the intensity of warfare. (“Hi Jim….nope…8–1 Sgt Schmidt was me and he sadly bought the farm with a bazooka blast to the face in turn 3!”)
Jim was considered the “Commissar of Communications”, and would always keep the club up-to-date on upcoming game days, new ASL related products and finding new members. His emails regarding upcoming matches always took the form of “battle communiques”, many times supported by a collection of appropriate WWII photos.
Jim and I shared a deep fascination for the Eastern Front, and I will miss the emails he sent to the group anytime a new book about the titanic conflict between Germany and the USSR arrived at his house…which he naturally dubbed “Cave Barbarossa”. There was many a match that was sidetracked for dozens of minutes while Jim and I chatted about history and military matters.
Outside of gaming Jim lead a full, interesting life. He was a Philadelphia area resident and Navy vet, serving on the nuclear submarine USS Shark in the 70s. Jim was a valuable employee of Sunoco, joining the company after the Navy and working in various capacities until his retirement. Most importantly Jim Quinn was a loving family man. He is survived by his wife Susan, two daughters and two grandchildren.
Personally, Jim’s unfortunate passing has reinforced the notion that what makes wargaming, or any group hobby in general, special is not just the fun of competition or fulfillment of leisure time….but the people with who we share those interests and activities. And Jim was no exception.
Philly ASL member Vinny Maresca summed it up best. “There was no greater champion for the game and Jim Quinn will be greatly missed.”
