Don Featherstone and the Sands of Time: Terrain, from War Games Digest British Issue September 1960

Back in the day, sand tables were the height of wargaming technology. Here Don Featherstone brings to bear some insights from his other life as a physiotherapist. The sand table through the floor is an interesting variant on the lead soldiers through the ceiling story.

I've checked, and a copy of Sgt Major Sloman's book is currently available on Abebooks at £7.50...

Tony Bath on campaign: Campaigning on Maps (1), from War Games Digest (British Issue) September 1960

I guess almost everyone who has ever thought about war game campaigns will have read, come across or heard of Tony Bath's Hyboria campaign. This article, from the War Games Digest (British Issue) of September 1960 signals an early appearance in print. His book, Setting up a Wargames Campaign, was published by Wargames Research Group in 1973.

Men in Battle, by Mary Bath, from War Games Digest (British Issue) September 1960

A 50th anniversary - War Games Digest British Issue September 1960 - My War Games Table and Figures, by Lionel Tarr

A real curiosity is this copy of the British Edition of War Games Digest, edited by Don Featherstone and Tony Bath, from September 1960. A short lived interlude saw a British Edition of the War Games Digest published in March and September, interspersing the US edition produced by Jack Scruby in June and December. This experiment was short lived and ended in tears two years later with a disagreement over editorial policy. This was followed by Jack Scruby launching Table Top Talk, and Don Featherstione starting Wargamers Newsletter,later that year (1962)- so it really was a moment of creative differences..

The Courier's Timeline of the Historical Miniatures Wargaming Hobby has links to Don's article and the editor's exchange on the subject.

I think this must be the second of the British Editions and I will probably post more of the content in the coming months.

As a start, here is Lionel Tarr's article on his war games table and figures for his famous Stalingrad campaign.

I apologise if the scans are difficult to read. As this is 50 year old roneod typescript this is not too surprising. I have run them through the high pass sharpen on paint shop, but it seemed to me it would be of interest to see the article in its original form. The alternative would be to scan for optical character recognition to transcribe the article into text. This would be quite time consuming so for the moment I am following plan A.

A Typical Day at Scruby Miniatures, from Table Top Talk September 1965

A burst of activity over at the Old Metal Detector posting pictures of Scruby figures has made me think it might be intersting to post this article from Jack Scruby's Table Top Talk from September 1965.

The Old Metal Detector posts can be found here.

Scruby Miniatures pictures from John C Candler's Miniature Warfare du temps de Napoleon

A little burst of energy has seen me posting the photographs I have of Scruby Miniatures figures over on the Old Metal Detector blog here.

The black and white pictures are of the 30mm Napoleonics range; the colour photos are from a 1981 Ultimate Miniatures catalogue.

It is very difficult to find any images of Scruby figures on the internet, so hopefully posting these will be of some use.

Bellona Battlefields Interim Catalogue 1968/9

I've now dug out an earlier Bellona catalogue and am posting it now, in addition to the 1983 one found in an earlier post here

More from Airfix

A staple of early wargames magazines, including Wargamers Newsletter and Airfix magazine, were articles on coverting Airfix soldiers into other completely different types, usually with a sharp knife, some plasticene and a quart of banana oil.

Here from the Airfix Magazine Annual of 1973 is D V Oakley's take on the potential of the Airfix Confederate Infantry set.

Italian Army in the Desert, by George Gush, from Airfix Annual 1973

Thanks to DC for these scans from Airfix Annual 1973. I had never seen this article by George Gush before, I have always had a soft spot for the Italians, and John Sandars never seemed to cover them.

By Request #2: Operations around Boston Part I

The first article of two by D Zmarzty, from Miniature Warfare & Model Soldiers October 1973.

By Request #3: Operations around Boston Part II

The second article by D Zmarzty, from Miniature Warfare & Model Soldiers November 1973.

By Request #1:Uniforms of the American Revolution by Doug Cross, parts 1,3 and 4, Miniature Warfare & Model Soldiers 1972

In response to DC's request, here are three of the four parts of this series (some of the later magazines seem to be either missing or kept safely elsewhere...).

I'm not sure how useful these articles are now, but they are interesting as an example of the sort of uniform references that were available to wargamers in the 1970s.

Paddy Griffith on Napoleonic Siege Wargames: Miniature Warfare & Model Soldiers, August 1972

I have always been fascinated by sieges, first through Christopher Duffy's book Fire & Stone; then inspired by Ron Miles's articles in Battle magazine; and also through reading R C Sherriff's The Siege of Swayne Castle.





Here are the thoughts of the other PG (Paddy Griffith) on the subject, from Miniature Warfare in 1972.

Pigeons in Warfare

For all the friends of Speckled Jim, an article from Miniature Warfare of November 1970 on this unjustly neglected subject.

Miniature Warfare magazine: year indexes

I thought it might be a useful reference to post the following indexes of articles published in Miniature Warfare. I have only been able to find these for four of the six years of publication. The idea is if anyone remembers an article they may now be able to find it. If you see something in one of these indexes you would like me to post, let me know.

I've not been able to find indexes for year three and four - not sure whether John Tunstill didn't do them, or whether I have just missed them.

The War Game to End All War Games!

John C Candler reproduced this article in Miniature Wargames du Temps de Napoleon in 1964, having taken it with permission from Don Featherstone's Wargamer's Newsletter for September 1962. In turn the Don was reprinting it from its original appearance in the Bulletin of the British Model Soldier Society for January 1953.

Gerard de Gre and the Model Generals' Club: Melee Deployment Matrix and Artillery Fire Matrix

Included as an addendum in John C Candler's Miniature Wargames du Temps de Napoleon were these two rules meachanisms from the Model Generals' Club. The first (MDM) was adopted in July 1963, and the second (AFM) in October 1963.

John C Candler: Napoleonique

Harry Pearson and Richard Black's Vintage 20mil (to which as always I am indebted) states that in Miniature Wargames du temps de Napoleon John C Candler promised further sets of rules which sadly never followed. I assume this refers to this intriguing page on Napoleonique, which seemed to foreshadow later wargames marketing efforts and would have been very innovative at the time.

If anyone knows any more about Napoleonique, and whether they did indeed see the light of day, or perhaps was even involved in their play testing, it would be great to hear anything you can add..