R.I.P. Robert T Luddy (Baltic Bob) 1944-2023
It is with regret that I have been asked to add this post on behalf of CrashCraig, who has compiled this in honour of his friend Bob.
As best I can remember, I first met Bob where we worked at NASA’s Goddard Spaceflight Center in 1975. He and a few of his NASA friends had decided to start a war gaming club at Goddard after hours. They showed up with their Avalon Hill board games to move cardboard counters over a game board. I showed up a few minutes later with trays of painted, metal Egyptian and Carthaginian soldiers, chariots, elephants & WRG’s Ancients 4th Edition rulebook. They were in shock. They had never seen this kind of war gaming.
They put away their cardboard and started pushing figures for the rest of the hour. After that, Bob was hooked. He started buying figures, painting them and putting on battles. For a short time, he even sculpted his own figures, made molds and cast them in his kitchen. Bob’s painting was so good, other players would commission him to paint their figures. When he was tired of his own figures, he had no problem selling them.
Bob really got interested in Vikings and later the Lithuanians, fostered by his maternal grandmother’s heritage. He was always getting me involved in new gaming systems including ancients (DBA), renaissance (DBR) and American Civil War (Fire and Fury).
In the 1990s he helped form what became the Historical Miniature Gaming Society (HMGS) which started hosting an annual war gaming convention. For those familiar with the origins of HMGS, Bob was one of the few who really was present at the famous Wally Simon basement kickoff meeting.
Bob was always a big fan of the American Civil War. In the 1990s he got very interested in the Bandy Station Foundation which had recently formed to preserve the Brandy Station battlefield. Shortly before retiring from NASA after 35 years of service, Bob was the first elected President of the Foundation and held that position for 7 years. One of his greatest achievements was leading efforts to purchase the Graffiti House which had been a field hospital and later an HQ after the battle. The Graffiti House has been preserved and been filmed on local television with the host interviewing Bob.
In the last few years, Bob (like myself) focused on playing less complicated, more relaxed game systems. With a lifelong interest in WW1 aviation, Wings of Glory seem to fit the bill. Here again Bob introduced me to WOG and started focusing on his Lithuanian heritage, paying a visit there a few years back. He painted up dozens of airplanes used by Lithuania during their post-WW1 fight for independence.
After battling a heart condition for over 14 years and more recently other related health issues, Bob no longer could attend our local monthly games at the Gritty Goblin. So Robert, aka RJG173, another gamer friend, “Irish John” and myself resolved to bring Gritty Goblin to him. We would play many Lithuanian scenarios at his home which he dubbed Lastner Meadows airfield. Bob finally succumbed to his condition this year leaving behind his wife of 56 years, Paula, two sons, Scott and Shawn, their wives and four grandchildren.
May you have blue Baltic skies.
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