John Sandars Saturday

I have decided to declare today John Sandars Saturday, and post various items of interest I have been digging out over the last few weeks.

On the back cover of his book Introduction to Wargaming (Pelham, 1975) his publisher's About the Author states:

John Sandars has a wealth of experience in modelling and wargaming to put into this book. He started by modelling ships and soon became interested in military modelling in general. His scratch-built vehicles and figures from the desert campaign of the Second World War have become famous.

He plays many forms of wargaming and has become well-known as the creator of a special game simulating desert fighting. He has recently retired from the navy and lives in Portsmouth.

Among the posts today are a two part series from Miniature Warfare in 1970 on devising a set of rules, which may be seen to be initial thoughts towards his later book. It was always a source of frustration that the book doesn't actually set out the rules completely. In 1988 Dave Tuck and Richard Marsh recreated them in an article in the Solo Wargamers' Association's magazine, the Lone Warrior. Doug Crowther tracked these down and provided a scan which is available on Henry Hyde's Battlegames Magazine site as a pdf to download (6.5 mb). The scanner has cut off one or two words but the document is serviceable one, if you are interested in these rules.

On the Rapid Fire website Richard Marsh and Colin Runford acknowledge the inspiration of John Sandars. For many this inspiration included his modelling and scratch-building, and his series of articles in Airfix Magazine (and later Airfix Magazine Guide) on the 8th Army in the Desert.

Other posts below include some photographs of his work, an article on photographing models in a pre-digital age, and an account of an infantry action in the desert.

John Sandars: devising a set of rules part 1, Miniature Warfare August 1970

John Sandars: devising a set of rules part 2, Miniature Warfare September 1970

John Sandars: 8th Army in the Desert

John Sandars' series on the 8th Army in the Desert ran to 10 parts, from July 1973 to April 1974. I remember eagerly waiting for each new instalment. The series was collected in edited form in the Airfix Magazine Guide 20, published by PSL in 1976.


These photographs are from Miniature Warfare December 1969 and are interesting as they predate the Airfix Magazine series and book by a number of years, though some of these troops will be familiar to these later readers. The military policeman on the scooter from the Airfix civilians set is particularly fine...

Desert Infantry Action 1942-3, by John Sandars, from Miniature Warfare 1973

Model Photography by John Sandars, Miniature Warfare September 1968

For those who fondly remember attempting to develop their own black and white photographs before the age of digital photography, this 41 year old article may be doubly nostalgic. I hope it may be interesting enough anyway.

John Tunstill on the Wooden Warriors of Stirling Castle, Miniature Warfare January 1969

Another find from Miniature Warfare magazine is this brief article with pictures, of Webb Military Figures for the Practice of Tactics, from the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders' regimental museum.

Callan, from Miniature Warfare May 1970

One of the things that strikes you reading through old copies of Miniature Warfare is the impact on the hobby of a number of feature films. Miniature Warfare had big spreads with publicity photos of films including Patton - Lust for Glory, Cromwell, War and Peace, and the Charge of the Light Brigade (which coincided with the release of Minifigs S Range Crimean figures, or possibly vice-versa).

Although there is a famous wargaming scene in the Callan movie, using ACW figures and scenery provided by Peter Gilder, the pictures from this issue of Miniature Warfare are from an episode of the television series. Some of you may recognise the cover picture (minus background) from the home page of Vintage 20mil.

The caption for the front cover picture reads: "Actor Edward Woodward on the set of Thames television's studios at Teddington admiring some Hinton Hunt French cavalry, part of the collection of Mike Stephenson." They look like dismountable series hussars to me. It is hard to make out the figures in the pictures of the game itself, but they are Napoleonic - hard to work out who the French are fighting, though.

I particularly like the umpire's tent in the first of the pictures of the game. Perhaps this could be revived for competitions?

Peter Gilder In the Grand Manner series in Miniature Warfare 1970

While quarrying through John Tunstill's Miniature Warfare magazine, mainly looking for photographs of Hinton Hunt, S Range, Minifigs 20mm and other figures for the blogs, I came across this series by Peter Gilder, of which I have no recollection at all. As sometimes happened with Miniature Warfare, it seems to peter out after article 4, although it implies further articles are to follow. (I will check out whether it started up again after a gap of a few months).

Interesting for the title chosen by Peter Gilder, the articles are supposed cover the planning of a large Waterloo refight in Hull in 1970, including the organisation, planning and actual modelling for the battle, culminating in the actual battle towards the end of the year. He also offers the possibility of some readers getting involved in the project.

The series is illustrated with black and white photograph's of Gilder's terrain and Hinton Hunt figures.

The wargame itself should not be confused with his previous involvement in the 1965 Waterloo wargame at Chelsea Barracks.

I have posted the four articles I have found below. If more turn up. I will add them later.

Peter Gilder In the Grand Manner series in Miniature Warfare: part 1 April 1970

Peter Gilder In the Grand Manner series in Miniature Warfare: part 2 May 1970

Peter Gilder In the Grand Manner series in Miniature Warfare: part 3 June 1970

Peter Gilder In the Grand Manner series in Miniature Warfare: part 4 July 1970

Weird Wargames Technology

From the dawn of time wargamers have been coming up with ingenious (and let's face it, often ridiculous) solutions to problems which may or may not exist, and pursued these enthusiasms far beyond the bounds of common sense. This has resulted in a vast number of proprietary home made devices which have slipped from our collective memory.

I'm not deriding the thought and effort of the inventors of these systems, and I am certainly not poking fun at their willingness to publish them and subject them to scrutiny by others - I think they are worth making accessible, and may help people develop their own thinking.

There is a Heath Robinson feel to some of these gimmicks, while others have so obviously had so much intelligence applied to them that they are completely beyond comprehension - does anyone else remember trying to read the chapter on the Timms War-games Computer in Don Featherstone's Advanced Wargames (which also featured Ron Miles' Rounders)?

The appliances required (bounce sticks, log pins, burst circles etc) often form part of the charm of many sets of rules from the 60s and 70s. While there are any number of professionally manufactured dice, markers and other accessories available to the hobby today, the Barry Bucknell type DIY nature of these earlier gadgets give them a wonderful character all of their own. I will be keeping an eye out for examples of these ideas and devices and will be looking to post a number of them in the future. To start with I have unearthed the Hyper Miniatures System, and the Bloody Angle, below. Please let me know if there is interest in seeing more of this sort of stuff.

The Hyper Miniature System by K F Jones, Miniature Warfare August 1969

Some of us may remember systems for using plastic hair rollers or matchsticks to provide large small scale armies, followed by Minifigs regimental blocks. Here K F Jones screws himself up to outline a possible alternative system...I thought I would leave the advert in, in the Carry On spirit of the time. I wonder if the tie was polyester and whether we might see on on e-bay one day.

The Bloody Angle, by Frank Heubusch, from Table Top Talk, September 1963

John Tunstill's Miniature Warfare ACW Campaign in Ireland

Another well-remembered campaign which appeared in early wargames magazines was the American Civil War campaign by John Tunstill, published in Miniature Warfare from the first issue in February 1968. This used a map of Ireland and was fought out with 30mm S.A.E. figures. This was a long running series - I think (without looking) around 15 articles - they will all be posted here over time.

The Story of War Game Digest, by Jack Scruby Fall 1971

Pontoon trains

Every respectable army on campaign requires a bridging train. I have always been keen on impedimenta and reproducing them on the table top. I think my obsession with pontoons and bridging may have started with reading C.S. Forester's Death to the French, the story of a lone Rifleman in the Peninsular War (and the equal of Forester's The Gun.)

The link to Vintage Wargaming is that my pontoon train to date has been three Hinchliffe 25mm pontoon wagons, a David Clayton-produced Hinton Hunt pontoon wagon without a pontoon, and a Fine Scale Factory French Pontoon wagon. All these (apart from the Hinton one) are 25mm.Two of the Hinchliffe wagons came from Terry Wise.



These have been done using an ingenious basing system - the wagon on one base, which is then glued on top of a second, double length base. The team (oxen, I think Jacklex) are then on a second base the same size as the wagons, but not attached to the long base underneath. This means they can be removed to be used with other equipment, swapped for horse teams etc. The final Hinchliffe wagon was a purchase from e-bay, with a horse team of S Range draught animals. Four are attached to the base, with a further three on a second base, to provide additional traction as required.



Definitely not vintage, but very useful, are the new French Pontoon Wagon sets which have just been released bu HaT in 1/72 and plastic. Each box contains parts for three wagons, and materiel (a pontoon and four roadway sections each)which can either be stacked on a loaded wagon, or assembled as bridge units. They are very cleverly designed to come apart and be reassembled, but given the cost it would be easier just to buy two boxes, one in each configuration. But NB,this may not be obvious, you need a box of the HaT French Napoleonic limbers to provide the front axles and teams.



These wagons could easily serve from 1700 up to the mechanized area (1930s or so) and possibly beyond.

New Posts

After a decent interval, I have posted up the second parts of three series: Neil Cogswell's Bombar Succession, Don Houghton's At the Colonel's Table, and Harold Gerry's French Invasion of 1810. For general interest I have added a brief profile of Terry Wise and an account of Joe Morschauser's visit to Southampton in 1964.