John Ruddle’s garden wargame: Some more photos

Whilst sorting through the pile of clippings in my office I found several more photographs of John Ruddle’s garden wargames.

The man himself! John Ruddle sitting in the midst of his garden, surrounded by the terrain over which he fought his wargames.

A detail from the above photograph showing some of the numerous buildings that he constructed.

The main British naval base.

A full-scale naval battle in progress on John Ruddle's lawn/ocean.

Part of the British army on parade at one of the numerous barracks that dotted the garden battlefield. Notice its proximity to the railway, which enabled the troops to be rushed to the frontier in times of diplomatic tension.

A British coastal town. It has several defensive mobile artillery batteries as well as a small barracks for its defenders.

A typical inland town. Many of the model buildings were apparently based on real buildings.

Another British port. The building at the front with the double set of stairs leading up to its front door seems to have been based upon ...

... the Queen's House in Greenwich.

I was particularly interested to see so many of his warship models ‘sailing’ across his lawn/ocean. Truly inspiring, as were all his models.