One of the articles from an old copy of the WARGAMER'S NEWSLETTER (No.62, published in May 1967) that Tim Gow recently sent to me was entitled GRIDDED WARGAMES. This described Joseph Morschauser's gridded FRONTIER wargames rules in detail, and I although already had a copy of the article, I did read it again. (I incorporated the text of the article in the reprint of Joseph Morschauser's book that I edited for John Curry's HISTORY OF WARGAMING PROJECT.)
What struck me when I re-read the article was how much my own wargame designs of recent years have been strongly influenced by Joseph Morschauser's work. This is particularly true of my PORTABLE WARGAME rules and – to a slightly lesser extent – my MEMOIR OF BATTLE rules. (The latter owe almost as much to the work of Richard Borg as they do to Joseph Morschauser.)
All this has come at a time when I have been planning to do a lot of wargaming ... but have not actually done any! I have therefore decided to 're-visit' Joseph Morschauser's gridded FRONTIER wargames rules for while in the hope that it will rekindle my interest in doing rather than thinking about doing some wargaming.
What struck me when I re-read the article was how much my own wargame designs of recent years have been strongly influenced by Joseph Morschauser's work. This is particularly true of my PORTABLE WARGAME rules and – to a slightly lesser extent – my MEMOIR OF BATTLE rules. (The latter owe almost as much to the work of Richard Borg as they do to Joseph Morschauser.)
All this has come at a time when I have been planning to do a lot of wargaming ... but have not actually done any! I have therefore decided to 're-visit' Joseph Morschauser's gridded FRONTIER wargames rules for while in the hope that it will rekindle my interest in doing rather than thinking about doing some wargaming.
Delighted to hear it - lets see more doing young Cordery!
ReplyDeleteConrad Kinch,
ReplyDeleteMy plan is to 'do' some wargaming this weekend ... but the weather - and the need to do some gardening - might interfere with my plans.
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob,
ReplyDeleteLast week, I received a long-coveted copy of "How to play war games in miniature." It's the original (I believe) 1962 edition.
Now, it's going to be a treasure in my collection of old wargaming books, but it looks like I've made a tactical error.
I've been following your various gridded war games with interest, and expected to find the foundations for those games in the book. But, beyond some tantalizing photos of gridded games in progress, the book doesn't mention gridded game as far as I've been able to find.
I take it, from your comments in this post, that I should have bought the edition you edited instead, if that's what I was looking for. Yes?
Thanks Bob, in advance for answering this, and for all of the inspiration I get from your blog and rules.
Will
Will Scarvie,
ReplyDeleteI am sure that you will enjoy reading the original book as much as I did, and that it will occupy a place of honour on your bookshelves.
You have discovered - as I did - that the original book did not contain the gridded wargames rules, which is why I added them to the book that I edited for the HISTORY OF WARGAMES project. That said, a copy of the rules is not to difficult to obtain, and I suspect that you may well find a copy in you email in-tray in the near future.
Read and enjoy!
All the best,
Bob
My thanks in advance, Bob! I look forward to reading them very much :-)
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, I'm been reading my other gift to myself: copies of Wargames and Advanced Wargames by Featherstone, from the Curry editions. I used to check the originals out of the library back in college. Nice to have my old friends back.
Will Scarvie,
ReplyDeleteI hope that you enjoy reading them as much as you enjoy reading your other two new books.
Like you, I used to borrow Featherstone's books from the library for as long as I could get away with it, but in the end - when I could afford it - I bought my own copies.
All the best,
Bob