Wargaming is the craze...

by Gary L. Bloomfield, from the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the USA Magazine, February 1995.

Operation Sealion - 'Dad's Army', by Terry Wise, Airfix Magazine August 1975

Watching the cricket match episode of Dad's Army today (the one with Fred Truman) reminded me I hadn't posted Terry Wise's Operation Sealion article on the Home Guard, so here it is.

Wargaming in Australia

Two more undated articles, the second is from around but after 1971. I don't know which publications they are from.

I apologise for the scans being in two parts - until and unless I get an A3 scanner this is the best I can do.

Wellington unveiled

M S Foy's and Anonymous's comments on the Waterloo refight at the Duke of York Barracks (below, here) have made the connection with another photograph and caption - the top-of-the-headless Wellington is almost certainly Eric Knowles (before his Antiques Roadshow fame - another lame cultural reference unintelligible to those outside the UK). Thanks Tony and Anon.

Waterloo refought 3: The RAF

Third and final instalment on a theme, this time from the Cambridge Evening News of Saturday 13 1972.

I think one line of the article may have been lost (at the crease) in the scans - hope you can fill the sense in if so. I am particularly glad to see the reference to the dangers of tie wearing - please see Tony Bath post below.

Wargaming in the Twin Cities, 1966 - take 2

David Wesely, one of the subjects of the 1966 article posted below, has been in touch. This has proved one of the most widely read posts on this blog and provoked a flurry of comments, new readers, and followers. I thought people might be interested in what David said:

A friend sent me to look at your site tonite. I was amazed to see the
Wargaming in the Twin Cities, 1966 picture, which I immediately
recognized because I have a copy on the wall in my office. My copy is
in much better shape than the one you have; but then I am the guy in
the yellow-shouldered sweater! I also still have most of the Scruby
figures seen on the table, which went on to serve in many more battles.
Some of the figures should be Hinton Hunt (though I cannot spot them in
the pictures) and some are very early work from GHQ (before they
invented the first 1:285 scale microarmor). Looking at the picture
takes me back. Most of the gamers went on the many more battles too,
notably Dave Arneson (in green at the far end of the table). And the
table (with the same scenery, but laid out differently) became the site
of the first Role Playing Game, Braunstein.

Thanks for getting in touch David, and for the extra information.

Waterloo refought 2: Tony Bath

Another Don Featherstone photograph, again undated, and captioned "Wellington and Napoleon at the start of a reconstructed Battle of Waterloo".Napoleon is Tony Bath, while not only has the photograph cut off the top of Wellington's head, I can't read his badge either. If anyone knows when and where this was, and who was Wellington, please comment.

Good to see wargaming in ties, though Tony Bath has sensibly tucked his in with a cardigan to avoid any unintended trooop movements.

Waterloo refought 1: Don Featherstone

I don't have a date or attribution for this cutting - I think it is from the Southampton Echo, and possibly from the 1970s?

Wargaming in the Twin Cities, 1966

With apologies again for the quality of the scans (given the condition of the original they are the best I could do on my scanner) here is an article and pictures from The Minneapolis Tribune Picture supplement from April 17th 1966.Although some of the print has been lost I think the sense of the article is still there.

I imagine the figures are mainly Scrubies. Also for UK readers, is this evidence of Vic Reeves collecting 54mm figures?

Lionel Tarr

Further to my previous posts on Lionel Tarr, here are what appear to be some original photographs of his wargame set up in his loft, for his Russo-German Campaign of 1941, and his use of an over-the-table net for dogfighting aircraft. Interesting to note the militaria - caps, gas mask, medals - hanging on the wall.

Don Featherstone's captions are shown below each photo


Blimey! Where did that company spring from? Surprise attack by Russian Guards eat of Berislavl


Kolchos 505. The first snow.


Stalingrad reconstructed by solo-gamer Lionel Tarr for his Russo-German campaign 1941.


Stalingrad South


Air-wargaming - a dogfight between aircraft suspended in an over-the-table net.

Battle in the Attic - Don Featherstone in the Daily Telegraph June 10th 1995

Apologies for the quality of the scan - my original is a photocopy of the newspaper article which has cut a little of each edge of the article off - I think it is possible still to understand it and I thought it might be of sufficient interest to post. I am told (see comment below from John T) the publication date was June 10th 1995.

Unidentified John Ruddle article

Over on his Wargaming Miscellany blog in November, Bob Cordery made a couple of posts (here and here) about the articles in one of the wargaming magazines of John Ruddle and his wargaming in the garden set up.

Yesterday I came across a small pile of old photographs and newspaper cuttings which I think have originally come from Don Featherstone and were collected (and some used) for Wargamers Newsletter.

Among them is this undated article from an unidentified publication which I thought might be of wider interest.

I'm sorry for the number and quality of the scans - the original is not in the best condition and my scanner can only cope with A4.

Exotically Continental - Roco Minitanks

Exotic (because of their sheer range and variety, and the difficulty in obtaining them in the UK), and exotic (because 1/87 scale, though confusingly described here as HO/OO as used by Airfix for their plastic soldiers), this ad for ROCO Minitanks is from Almark Modelworld December 1972.

Coup d'Etat

Brian contacted me about an ad he remembered from Miniature Warfare for a game called Coup d'Etat. Here are two versions of the ad - the "out soon" one from August and the "out now" one from November 1970. Brian wondered if anyone had, or played this game, or even knew if it was actually published - if so, could you post any information using the comments system?

Napoleonic Warships - Airfix "Victory" Conversions

While waiting for day 4 of the Adelaide Ashes test to start, I noticed that the blog has acquired its 111th follower. If you are not au fait with the great traditions of cricket, you might not now that scores of 111 are refereed to as "Nelson" and multiples (222, 333 etc) as double Nelson, treble Nelson etc, and are viewed with great superstition as likely to cause a wicket to fall. One test umpire (sadly no longer with us) would officiate standing on one leg until a further run was added.

No-one seems 100% sure why this tradition has grown up (cricketers are a very superstitious lot) but it seems to be called Nelson from the erroneous belief that along with one eye and one arm Nelson had only one leg. So the combination of a Nelson of followers and the Ashes made me think a naval episode might be appropriate.

This article reflects an earlier time in wargaming where you made the best of what was available, rather than having vast ranges of wargaming kit available. I have a soft spot for the small Airfix Series 1 ship kits, and i have even half heartedly started on a long considered project using the Golden Hind, Revenge and Mayflower models to create Royalist and parliamentarian fleets for Prince Rupert's later career as an Admiral.

There might be something in this Nelson stuff - Kevin Pietersen has just got out.

Order sheets

I am indebted to Mike for sending these scans of front and back covers and order sheet from the order pads produced by Shire Publishing as an accessory to their range of wargame books, including Arthur Taylor's Rules for Wargames, and John Tunstill's (name spelt wrong on the Shire list) Discovering Wargames.

John Tunstill also produced order pads among the wargames accessories available from Miniature Warfare magazine. The advert from April 1970 seems to sum up one philosophy of 1970's wargaming - "negates all argument". How things have changed (or not).

Scruby Figures: 30mm American Civil War

Scruby Figures

Jack Scruby was a giant of US wargaming and while known in the UK through the link up with Don Featherstone and Wargamer's Newsletter, his figures didn't cross the pond to any great extent. It is particularly noticeable that images of Scruby figures on the web are few and far between (although the figures themselves are available through Mike Taber at Historifigs)

A while ago I tried to redress this a little over on the Old Metal Detector, in part with pictures of the 30mm Napoleonics from John C Candler's Miniature Wargames du temps de Napoleon. I am grateful to Bill who has sent me a large collection of photographs of figures from a variety of the Scruby ranges. I have posted a slideshow of 25mm Napoleonic types over on The Old Metal Detector and below a similar one of figures from the 30mm Napoleonic range.

Further pictures of the 30mm ACW line will follow in due course.

Springwood Plastics

Thanks to a swap with Fire at Will I have now got my greasy fingers on some Springwood Plastics figures. As I mentioned in earlier posts these seem to have completely slipped under my radar when they first came out. They are smart practical wargames figures which I could imagine working well with, say, Rose metals. The figures here are British infantry painted by Will as Portuguese.

The Army of the Khalsa by Donald Featherstone Wargamer's Newsletter 85 April 1969