After a brief break over Christmas from my ancients project. Painting of Romans began again last week. The first 3 of some 20 planned Roman units are completed and based.
 |
| Work begins on the Roman units. All figures are HaT. |
Back in December 2020 Nundanket on the Horse and Musket Gaming blog posted about three books which had a major impact on his wargaming. See link below...
https://horseandmusketgaming.blogspot.com/2020/12/influential-books.html
This got me wondering which three books would I chose, and what was the reason for them being influential to my wargaming.
The first book on my list is "Introduction to Battle Gaming" by Terry Wise.
 |
| The first wargaming book I ever owned and I still have the book. |
In a sense the first wargaming book you read is in most cases going to be influential. I my case it was this book, and I still have the book in my library. It was a present from my Mother when I was 11 or 12 years old. What made it so captivating, other than the idea of moving toy soldiers around with a defined set of rules, was all the photographs of the games and figure conversions were using Airfix figures. I already had a number of Airfix figures and model kits, and they were affordable with my pocket money and readily available at the local toyshop and model shop.
The second book selected is "One-Hour Wargames" by Neil Thomas
 |
| Get me back into wargaming |
I purchased this book in 2015 and got me back into wargaming with its pared back rule approach, gaming with a small number of units, and 30 scenarios. Prior to this book I had given wargaming a miss for some 25 years with the exception of an occasional Warhammer 40K game with my son. The complexity of wargaming rules of the 1980's had turned me off the gaming side of the hobby and I had retreated to the occasional modelling and painting project. Moving countries and having a young family also meant my focus was elsewhere.
After reading this book and enjoying the approach to wargaming rules. I finally, after some 35 years, finished painting my old Peter Laing WW1 and AWI armies and got them onto the tabletop. Since then I have slowly increased the periods I wargame.
My third book is "War Game Campaigns" by Donald Featherstone.
 |
| The source of many campaign ideas. |
The third choice was a book I remember getting repeatedly on loan from the local library in my youth. However, it is a book I have appreciated more in recent years after returning to historical wargaming and becoming interested in stringing together a series of wargames into a campaign. It is a book with many suggestions which I enjoy re-reading and 19 campaign ideas for various war-gaming periods.
Great choice of books there. A friend of mine had the TW book when we were at school, and I picked up a copy a year or so ago in a charity bookshop. OHW is excellent for good, quick games, and the scenarios are a must. The last one I've never got my hands on. There were many of us competing for it from the local library.
ReplyDeleteOf the three books I would say OHW is the most used and is always close to hand.
DeleteThree classics indeed. The Wise book was wonderful to me particularly because the games were being played with figures I actually had!
ReplyDeleteI also was brought back to wargaming by Neil Thomas's splendid One Hour Wargames.
The Ancients are looking good!
I am looking forward to getting the Ancients ready for the tabletop.
Delete3 influential books? Interesting challange to trim it down, even if I restrict it to wargaming books.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good trio that you've chosen. I shall have to give it some thought and post my three.
It is not an easy task. I almost included the Paper Solder series of books by Peter Dennis instead of War Game Campaigns.
DeleteWhile I never read Wise’s book, your other two choices are solid. I suspect OHW is a big influencer for many in the younger generations but very important for the Old Guard as well. I should pull Featherstone off the shelf for a re-read.
ReplyDeleteWise's book is not a book I read much now, but was the book that got me into wargaming. OHW is probably my most read and favourite book.
DeleteI’ve never read any of those 3. I might have to order the Don’s campaign book. I have NT’s introduction to wargaming book which has 1-hour style rules, and played a game from his excellent 19th century book.
ReplyDeleteYour top 3 books post certainly was an interesting challenge.
DeleteNice to see you have found time to get back to painting Peter:). I count myself as fortunate that I missed out on the late 70's and 80's overly complex rulesets, as a combination of Uni and work meant I had no time for wargaming, other than some board games now and then.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen the Terry wise book and may see if I can find an original copy for a reasonable price, if only to drool over pics of Airfix soldiers at kits! The Neil Thomas book is great and whilst I don't like these rules, I do love the other ones he has written. The book is worth buying for the scenarios alone. The Featherstone book is a joy and full of ideas, which I really should delve into more.
Yes, I am back into painting mode with the Ancients. Most enjoyable to get the units off the painting table. The choice for the third book was the most difficult.
DeleteGood start on the Romans. Not familiar with the first book (although I have another Wise title in my collection somewhere) , but I have Don's Campaign book, which is a great source of inspiration, and I also enjoyed OHW.
ReplyDeleteI am happy to get going painting the Romans. All being well I hope to complete them in 3 months.
DeleteI have the Terry Wise and Don Featherstone books and another title by Neil Thomas (C19th wargaming) but my inspirational books were Young's Charge! and Charles Grant's The Wargame and Napoleonic Wargaming (the latter serialised in Military Modelling) plus Chandler's The Art of Warfare on Land just for the photos.
ReplyDeleteAll enjoyable books and understandably inspirational.
Delete