In fact with the ticket sheet intact in the front of the book, the first date in it [9 May 1983] bears a striking similarity to when I first would have read (a different copy of) it. Spooky to think "another wargaming soul" (albeit a Londoner .. as opposed to his opposite in the North) would have been going through similar deliberations (such as how do I get my hands on an average dice and a d10?). It seems to have been well read until June 1994, an eleven year tour of duty before "retirement" (see below, badges on honour and a passage through many wargamers hands - spooky if anybody who had took this book out was actually reading this post):
This was the reason why my parents "worried so much about what I was doing in my bedroom with balsa wood, a modelling knife, strong smelling balsa glue, Cornflakes cereal packets (used for bases), matchsticks and Tamiya paints [Grey, Blue and White]". Did they not realise I was creating the Grand Fleet and German High Seas Fleet in miniature? I also have Paul Hague's later book which I found "good" too but 'wanting' in childhood memory first love sense (see below, submarines, aircraft carriers and WW2 battleships):
2020 could see the recreation of the four classic "sea battles" contained in "Sea Battles in Miniature: A Guide to Naval Wargaming". A definitive counter-point to Fletcher Pratt which has to be done in 2020 (maybe at CoW 2020?).