An abridged passage from the Bible, reads: “I had a child’s feelings and a child’s thoughts: now that I am a man, I have put away the things of a child.”

Not everyone dispenses with passions and hobbies from their young years, however.

For the past six years Alan Abbey has been running Milton Hundred Wargames Club, which meets in Iwade, to engage in fantasy combat using miniature soldiers.

It took some explaining, but it appears a group of people – mostly men – pit their model armies against each other on a board designed as a battlefield from a particular era.

Each player’s regiment is set an objective, be it take an enemy garrison or defend a stronghold – by an “umpire” who’s armed with a set of rules which are based on historical facts and govern when and how soldiers move.

To add to the confusion, there’s also a dice involved which introduces a random factor to proceedings. Games can last for hours and someone, somehow eventually wins.

Alan, 47, of Scocles Road, Minster, said we should ignore the voice in our head which screams “geek” when we think of him and his ilk.

He said: “Believe it or not, most wargamers are married. A lot of people think they’re 40-year-old men living at home with mum. It’s one of those hobbies that once you’re involved, you really do get involved.

“The people who play have done their research. They know how Roman armies worked, they know what a particular general in the American Civil War was doing. It allows them to play out histories with ‘what if?’ scenarios.”

Alan took wargaming when aged 11, he joined a secondary school where his interest was heightened by a teacher who ran a club.

He started work at a school in London , got married and had children, but the gaming continued and he generated a collection of figures worth thousands of pounds.

Something had to give, but he lost both his marriage and his soldiers. “My collection pretty much went on paying for the divorce,” he said.

“There was some good stuff in there, which 20 years ago was worth up to £6,000.

“There were other extenuating circumstances which led to the divorce, but wargaming didn’t help. I really miss that collection.”

Alan, who has a doctorate in history, said although not a day goes by when time isn’t spent on his hobby, either painting figures, checking up a rule or working on the club’s website, his second wife Maria is more understanding.

He said: “My daughter looks at me in strange ways, but she helps out when it comes to the war games shows.”

Before becoming a full-time carer for his wife and his 18-year-old daughter Victoria Alan sold military figures at trade fares in Britain and Europe. He says there is a huge market for the models, which stand between 2mm to 42mm and can cost up to £12 each.

Magazines devoted to the hobby sell worldwide and the ExCel Centre in London holds one of the biggest wargames shows in the country, pulling in 4,000 visitors a day and 200-plus traders. “It’s a massive, massive event,” he said.

Alan’s club has 12 members, all men, save for one “part-time” female. “Wargaming’s a great leveller,” he said. “We’ve got people with doctorates and labourers on building sites, but they all play the same game. They all understand the same rules. They all have their own armies.”

He said some members are ex-armed forces, which douses the suspicion wargamers are merely living out personal military fantasies.

Alan, a former marine cadet, said he signed up for the Army Tank Corps, but stopped his application when he met his first wife. “Then we had a child and I carried on with my new life,” he said.

He said the thrills to be gained in wargaming are no different to those found in more hi-tech conquests such as Championship Manager.

“Anyone can win with a nice big Roman army,” he said, “but they can be beaten – you’ve got to work at it.

“These days modern war games are much slicker, faster, more commercial. With the right set of rules, you can complete a big game in about three to four hours. That said, we’ve held open days and a game’s lasted the entire day, up to six or eight hours.”

In the heat of a long intense battle, players manage to – mostly – keep their cool.

Alan said: “No one likes playing rule merchants – people who read the rules and say things like, ‘you’ve moved your army a millimetre too far’. But everyone gets on okay at our club. We just enjoy playing the game and the social side of it.

“Wargaming works on the principle that every plan works until you make contact with the enemy – and then the plan goes out the window. Which is how real life works.”

• The club’s next meeting takes place at Iwade village hall from 6.30pm on Tuesday, July 8. Visit www.mhwc.co.uk