A book that I once thought was rubbish has now been re-published ... and is much improved!

During my life as a wargamer I have bought almost any and every book I have found about wargaming. Almost without exception I have enjoyed them, but one stands out as being one that I thought was truly awful ... Donald Featherstone's COMPLETE WARGAMING.

Now before I start to get all sorts of comments about my audacity to state that I thought that Don Featherstone actually wrote something that was not very good, may I quote from John Curry's foreword to the recently republished – and heavily revised – edition of the book.

As with many of Donald Featherstone's books, there is a story behind the book. The first edition of Complete Wargaming in 1988 was an editorial shambles. The publishers wanted another wargaming book on their lists and so they turned to the author in British wargaming, who duly assembled some wargaming material that had not been used in his previous works. The publishers turned over the material to an editor who obviously knew nothing about wargaming and apparently nothing about history. The ideas, scenarios, rules and historical pieces were assembled into a random sequence that was based on efficient use of the page count; such as putting smaller pieces into the margins of the book wherever they fitted. Unfortunately, the lively correspondence between the author and the publisher as a consequence of this editing has not survived the passage of time. At some point, Donald Featherstone decided it was better to let the publisher get the book into print, 'wargamers, being a group of above average in intelligence and endeavour, would uncover the pieces of immediacy and use them.' Upon reflection, this was probably the correct view.

Thanks to the work of John Curry – ably assisted by Arthur Harman – the book has now been completely restructured into a logical sequence ... and is much better as a result. I know, because I have now bought a copy!

The book is now organised into three sections, with each section having separate chapters.

• Section 1: reflections on Wargaming
• Chapter 1: Wargaming for Real
• Chapter 2: Rules - A Necessary Evil
• Chapter 3: Planning a Wargame
• Chapter 4: Fighting in Built Up Areas: A Desirable Wargaming Residence
• Chapter 5: Weather in Wargaming
• Chapter 6: Treachery: Double-dealing on the Wargames Table
• Chapter 7: Civilians in Wargaming
• Chapter 8: the Fog of War
• Chapter 9: Surrendering and Prisoners-of-War
• Chapter 10: Tabletop Terrain
• Chapter 11: Forming a Club
• Section 2: Historical Scenarios and Notes
• Chapter 12: Early Wheeled Warfare – Chariots of the Ancients
• Chapter 13: The first battle of All Time – Qadesh
• Chapter 14: Ancient Warfare: Cynoscephelae (197 BC), the Roman Legion, the Roman Civil War and Boudicca's Revolt
• Chapter 15: Ponderous Pachyderms – Rules for Elephants
• Chapter 16: The Incomparable English Archer, the Forerunner of the English Infantryman
• Chapter 17: They Fought for Gold! Mercenaries of the Middle Ages
• Chapter 17: Wargaming The Thirty Years War (N.B. For some reason there are TWO Chapter 17s in my copy!)
• Chapter 18: Formal Warfare of the 18th century
• Chapter 19: War of The American Revolution
• Chapter 20; Wellington in the Peninsular
• Chapter 21: The American Civil War – Instant Wargaming
• Chapter 22: The Sands of The Desert ...
• Chapter 23: Great-Grandfather's War – The Boer War 1899-1902
• Chapter 24: They Came in Like Great Birds ...! The Storming of Eben Emael 1940
• Chapter 25: Pure War - Tanks in the Desert 1940-42
• Chapter 26: They came From the Sea – Commando Raids – Saint Nazaire
• Chapter 27: A Battle For All Seasons – Auberoche
• Section 3: Reference

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book ... which is – to all intents and purposes – a new one rather than a merely revised and re-edited one. Its details are as follows:

DONALD FEATHERSTONE'S COMPLETE WARGAMING Revised Edition. Written by Donald Featherstone, edited by John Curry, and published by The History of Wargaming Project (2012) ISBN 978 1 291 03476 9