Ah yes, the greats of early British wargame writing - Don Featherstonem, Charles Grant, Terence Wise, Tony Bath, and... David Nash?
Though not as prolific in specifically wargaming titles as some others in the 1970s, David Nash seems oddly neglected. One of the founders of the London Wargames Club, he was maybe better known for his work on the Prussian Army of the Napoleonic Wars and the German Army of the Great War.
Hamlyn all-colour paperbacks published his book Wargames in 1974. It covered three periods, the Napoleonic Wars, the American Civil war, and the Second World War. If you google it you will find Mike Siggins describing it as "seminal".
His book on the Prussian Army 1808-1815 was published in 1972 by Almark. In the same year he started a series of articles in Almark's Modelworld magazine called World of Wargaming, which covered Napoleonic Wargaming and seems to have run to eight instalments between September 1972 and May 1973 (there were no articles in the December 1972 and March 1973 issues). In comparison, Charles Grant's long running series The Napoleonic Wargame had started in Military Modelling early in 1971 ,and was published in book form in 1974.
To redress the balance somewhat, the next post includes the first three articles in David Nash's modelworld series. I do have the others and will post them if there is interest.
The eight articles cover:
ground and figure scales
the line and mixed order
the column
the skirmishing line
the square
cavalry tactics
engineer services
artillery
4 comments:
I recall having this book in the '70s and recall thinking how unattainable the idea of a permenant wargames room full of toys was. Happily I've made some progress in that area... I lent the book to someone and needless to say, never saw it again. In 2003, however, I picked up a very tidy copy in a charity shop. Cheap nostalgia.
Tim
I loved this little book..it seemed there was such a scarcity of information on wargaming around then, each time something appeared, or was discovered in the local library it was hugely important.
This was a fantastc book which I also had in the 70's and read it so often it fell apart. I'm certain I no longer have it. One of the pages which I looked at repeatedly was near the front. On one page is a stylized battle with representations of units and on the next page is it transformed onto the battlefield with figures. From memory they are playing lengthwise rather than across the table. I tried to imitate this for years. The coloured uniform pages for the napoleonic armies also stick in my mind.
guy
Wow, that cover brought back some memories. I too ahd this book when I was about 11 or so in the late seventies.
A quick check of Amnazon shows you can easily pick up a copy there for a couple of quid. I'm off to do that now... :P)
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