Whilst I was waiting for my wargaming mojo to return, I spent some time looking at the World War II wargame books on my shelves and thinking about how much they have influenced my World War II wargaming.
The first was Donald Featherstone's WAR GAMES ... and it was both his basic rules and Lionel Tarr's rules that I started using first.
My much battered copy of Donald Featherstone's WAR GAME. I do have a copy in much better condition and a copy of John Curry's reprint, but this volume has very fond memories for me.
In particular, the images of Lionel Tarr's Eastern Front/Great Patriotic War battle around Stalingrad ingrained themselves in my wargaming psyche and I still hanker to fight similar battles in my dotage!
The next was Charles Grant's BATTLE: PRACTICAL WARGAMING.
Once again, the battered cover of this book shows just how much usage it got in the years after I bought it.
The main text of this book had originally appeared as a series of articles in the long-defunct MECCANO MAGAZINE, and its influence on me was mainly the way in which Charles Grant organised his troops into units and sub-units and in his use of ROCO Minitanks. It is thanks to him that I have loads of T-34/85s and sWs half-tracks in my collection although most of them remain unpainted!
When it comes to showing how it was possible to model a whole variety of different military vehicles from the limited resources available at the time, John Sandar's AN INTRODUCTION TO WARGAMING stands head and shoulders above his contemporaries ... and his rules were bl**dy good as well!
Thanks to his influence, I have - over the years - converted all sorts of ROCO and Airfix military vehicles into something that I could not buy off-the-shelf ... as the recent photographs of my Eastern Front/Great Patriotic War collections show.
Some examples of John Sandar's vehicles, as featured in a book edited by Peter Young and entitled THE WAR GAME. The book was illustrated with photographs taken by Philip O Stearns.
I know that my old friend Chris Kemp (the designer of NQM or NOT QUITE MECHANISED) was also inspired by John Sandar's book, and his rules had a profound influence on my World War II wargaming. The original draft of the rules (which were originally titled PANZERBLITZ OR NOT QUITE MECHANISED) were quite literally drawn many years ago and I have followed their evolution and development ever since.
The cover of the very first edition of NQM. My copy was the first of only twenty!
The cover of the recently published edition of NQM.
NQM led indirectly to the development of Tim Gow's MEGABLITZ!, a set of rules that I had a small part in helping to develop.
I took part in many wargames using these excellent rules, and putting together armies for them led directly to the creation of my Eastern Front/Great Patriotic War collection.
A Megablitz battle that I staged at a wargame club in Norwich.
Finally, Frank Chadwick's COMMAND DECISION ...
... (and particularly his bathtub campaign book BARBAROSSA 25) ...
...made me realise that I could stage a large-scale Eastern Front/Great Patriotic War campaign if I felt so inclined.
Other books that deserve an honourable mentions include LIONEL TARR'S MODERN WARGAMING RULES 1939-1945 (as recently published by John Curry as part of his 'History of Wargaming' Project ...
... and Gavin Lyall's OPERATION WARBOARD.
WAR GAMES was written by Donald Featherstone and published in 1962 by Stanley Paul (ISBN 0 09 064901 X). It was republished in a revised edition in 2014 by the History of Wargaming Project (ISBN 978 1 2918 5142 7).
BATTLE: PRACTICAL WARGAMING was written by Charles Grant and published in 1970 by Model & Allied Publications Ltd/Argus Press Ltd.
AN INTRODUCTION TO WARGAMING was written by John Sandars and published in 1975 by Pelham Books Ltd. (ISBN 0 7207 0681 3).
NOT QUITE MECHANISED was written by Chris Kemp and published in 2024 by Lulu Inc. (ISBN 978 1 4452 7312 9).
MEGABLITZ! was written by Tim Gow and published in 2002 by Stratagem Publications.
COMMAND DECISION and BARBAROSSA 25 were written by Frank Chadwick and published in 1986 and 1988 respectively by Game Designers Workshop.
LIONEL TARR'S MODERN WARGAMING RULES 1939-1945 was compiled by John Curry and published in 2017 by The History of Wargaming Project (ISBN 978 1 3269 1498 1).
OPERATION WARBOARD was written by Gavin Lyall and published in 1976 by A&C Black (ISBN 0 7138 1646 6). It was republished in 2013 by the History of Wargaming Project (ISBN 978 1 2913 2352 8)
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Bob,
ReplyDeleteYou never played the WRG rules that Martin Rapier has been blogging about? We moved from Battle to WRG although admittedly with 1/300 models.
Steve
Steve,
DeleteI have a copy (I know the chap who wrote them) but have yet to read it thoroughly. I’m not sure how well they would work with my 20mm collection … but it might be fun finding out!
All the best,
Bob
A very interesting review Bob.
ReplyDeleteI started with Operation Warboard - the paperback edition when first published. The advert had a picture of the Airfix 2nd generation Afrika Korps running LMG gunner. The book had a photo from Peter Gilder's WW2 set-up. Gavin Lyall referred to using Minitanks, but they were somewhat mythical where I grew up! Of course John Sanders used them or parts of them along with cardboard and balsa. He appeared in Airfix magazine? There was also the Airfix guide to the 8th army he wrote.
Using plastic kits, it was mainly 1944 Western Front in my youth, but the seed of the desert was well and truly implanted!
Much later I progressed to Command Decision or rather Combined Arms for post WW2, and started collecting Roco Minitanks and many other 1:87.
CD I only really used for SCW, but did play WW2 with others toys, both 20mm and micro.
I was planning WW2 desert in 15mm with CD, but have moved on to Operational games (as has Frank Chadwick it seems), I was initially sniffy about Megablitz, but have come to appreciate the mechanics, along with NQM.
All this has conspired to my current WW2 desert obsession in 20mm! I also need to finish my 1:87 Arab-Israeli armies.
Neil
Neil Paterson (Neil),
DeleteBeing that much older, I started with Featherstone et al and Gavin Lyall’s book arrived on the scene when I was well into WW2 wargaming. I bought my first ROCO Minitank in Woolworths in Southend-on-Sea in my mid-teens … and it was a PzKpfw VI King Tiger. I still have it somewhere!
I have several of John Sandars’ articles from the pages of MINIATURE WARFARE, all of them about his North African battles.
I also have a copy of COMBINED ARMS as well as the First World War version, OVER THE TOP. The latter included a bathtub version of the opening battles of the Great War and several interesting scenarios.
I also prefer Operational Level wargames, and it was NQM and MEGABLITZ! that inspired me to write HEXBLITZ and OPERATIONAL ART.
I look forward to seeing your North African troops in action one day … as well as you Arab-Israeli armies.
All the best,
Bob
You go back further Bob but we have a lot of commonality - and I can add you to my list of influences! Cheers mate, keep them ideas coming!
ReplyDeleteGeordie an Exile FoG,
DeleteBeing already past the three score and ten mark, I have been around for quite some time and knew several of the wargaming ‘originals’ like Donald Featherstone and Eric Knowles. As for trying to generate new ideas … well my oncologist and I recently agreed that ‘if you stop trying, you start dying’.
All the best,
Bob
It's a good idea to go back to your roots when you're looking to "get your mojo back" Bob. Taking a look at what inspired you in the first place can be the tiny ember you need to rekindle the fire.
ReplyDeleteMr. Pavone,
DeleteIt seemed like a good idea … and it seems to be working!
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob
ReplyDeleteSeeing the photo of Don Featherstone's War Games brought back some happy memories. My introduction was "Charge, or how to play wargames", but War Games was the first book I bought. We were living in Germany at the time and I well remember it arriving in the post and our excitement opening it. Don had signed it to "a lovely wargaming couple". I was only interested in the Napoleonic period at the time, and I remember that I found it quite a hard read. I bought every one of Don's books as they came out and some were a much easier read than others. I particularly enjoyed one called "Campaigning with the Duke of Wellington and Don Featherstone". It was about the Peninsular battlefields and I took it with me on two different walking holidays in Portugal and Spain.
Thistlebarrow,
DeleteFunnily, CHARGE! was the first wargame book I bought, having borrowed WAR GAMES from the library on almost permanent loan after I discovered it on their shelves.
I wish that I had a signed copy of Don’s book, and I am mightily envious! I also bought all of his books as they were published, although I lost several because I loaned them to people who never returned them. Luckily, I was able to buy reprints, mostly from John Curry who runs the ‘History of Wargaming’ project.
I used to have the ambition to visit the main battle sites of the Spanish Civil War, but I doubt that I’ll ever actually achieve that goal now … more’s the pity!
All the best,
Bob
BOB,
ReplyDeleteCertainly a fine collection of classic wargames books. I've been influenced by a single book- 'On To Richmond' by Paul Koch which was published in 1983- American Civil War rules.
Kev Robertson (Kev),
DeleteI first read ON TO RICHMOND when they were published in THE COURIER and bought a copy of the booklet when it was published. It seriously influenced the design of my Spanish Civil War rules, ARRIBA ESPANA!
All the best,
Bob