H.G. Wells

The grand daddy of wargame books is undoubtedly Little Wars by H.G. Wells with its marvelous photos of grown men and famous authors sprawled out on the floor guiding their small armies. The illustrations look like something out of Winnie the Pooh. Wells obviously put a lot of thought into the game but his zeal for Britains working field artillery is a thing of the past.

Here is a link to the public domain editions at the Gutenberg site:
Little Wars at Gutenberg

Here is a version on Amazon for the Kindle reader:
Little Wars at Amazon

American Wargames

A wargames book for hobbyists was finally published in the US in 1929. The book is Sham-Battles. One could look at the book and think that it is a minor work but it was there first. It introduces the now common rules feature of offering an introductory game through intermediate to an advanced game. It avoids the firing cannon of Little Wars and instead uses a crude artillery and machinegun template. There is also a variety of terrain types outlined along with their effect movement and combat. For no apparent reason, the rules also use a spinner instead of a die. Other features such as a roll (or spin) to see who gets which army and who goes first are introduced. The constant reference to ‘boys’ is a little off-putting as in the reference to the advanced game being for boys 12 or older. But it is an interesting and ground-breaking book.

I do not recall my exact age when I stumbled upon this book but it was a memorable occasion.  Morschauser offers so much in such a small book that the invitation to years of further development is obvious.  I found the book on the shelves of F.A.O. Schwarz toy store in New York City when it was a store that had carved out its own unique niche and was more than happy to present the most esoteric of games to its customers.

Morschauser offers a very simple wargame.  He makes the unusual choice to base his figures and goes further to suggest a roster system to chart casualties.  He breaks down wargaming periods into Ancient, Musket, and Modern sadly losing the more complex pike and shot along the way.  Within those periods, he presents standardized armies as well as armies generated through a point system.

There are relatively few constraints on players.  Armies move, fire, and melee and bases are moved about with no central command or suggestion of formation though Morschauser does suggest that units of a regiment remain in contact. Terrain is also presented in limited form with hills slowing movement while trees block line of sight. Figures are mounted 4 to a stand with differing sizes dependent on figure scale.

Included in the book are a variety of fascinating photos.  Morschauser apparently had developed a set of rules which he used for games involving 54mm Britains figures maneuvered across a square grid.  He also shows pictures of 30mm flat figures rarely used anymore for gaming, and Airfix figures positioning on plasticine hills representing desert terrain. He refers to 20mm figures as the ‘tiny 20s’, the tiniest scale readily available at the time of the book’s publication.

It was a book to set the imagination going and appeared at a time when, while British gaming was well established, American gaming was still in its infancy.  The rules are readily accessible in their simplicity but will leave the contemporary gamer wanting more.  For their moment, they presented a forward looking piece of work, a leap beyond the simple mechanics of Little Wars.

The Wargames Handbook by James Dunnigan provides some insights into wargame design and development during the 60s and 70s. Dunnigan is closely associated with board games but games like Jutland for Avalon Hill showed an affinity towards miniatures. The book demonstrates game design by walking through the design of a small game on the Third Army’s advance on the city of Metz during WWII. It also offers interesting insights on research and gaming.
The Wargames Handbook

Donald Featherstone

This book always fascinated me as a child. From the prolific Donald Featherstone, a step beyond basic wargames. In fact, every wargame author was moving beyond the basic elements of the game outlined by Wells. Mechanics that might seem quite sophisticated often originated in the 50s and 60s. I am sure there are still people out there using Avalon Hill’s Jutland as the basis for new sets of rules.
This particular book reads more like a series of articles. Perhaps the reason is that Featherstone also published The Wargamer’s Newsletter, a magazine devoted to miniatures gaming.

This book is still in print after all these years.

One of the most prolific authors on wargaming with miniatures was Donald Featherstone. I have already listed several of his books. Here are images of a bunch more. As time permits, more details will be presented on each book.

During the 60s and 70s, British publishers put out a range of multi-volume sets on various hobbies. Here wargames are the subject in a 5-volume set dedicated to armor wargames written by Donald Featherstone and Bruce Quarrie.

The British Invasion Continues

A review of techniques for creating miniatures rules much in the style of Wargames Research Group, not surprising since one of the authors, George Gush, had written the 16th-17th century WRG rule book. Andrew Finch has written naval and air rules.

Charles Grant offers another volume, this one featuring scenarios for wargames. Each scenario provides a tactical action involving 2 forces, the inevitable red and blue. Each player selects a force from those listed for the scenario. Forces are explicitly outlined for 17th century and later, while points values are used for earlier armies. There is also some instruction provided for moving one force or the other if no player is commanding them to afford some solo wargaming.

AIRFIX GUIDES

Airfix became a predominant force in wargaming with their introduction of 1/72 scale plastic figures.  It is no surprise then that they also tried their hand at producing rules sets.   These were published as part of the Airfix Guides series, a series of small books each dedicated to a specific aspect of modeling.  Books specifically devoted to wargaming include one on the ancient period, another on Napoleonic wargaming, one for the American Civil War, and one for WWII.  Additionally, some guides like the one for the English Civil War include notes for wargamers.