By request - for Allan Mountford: On Casualties, by Duncan Macfarlane

These scans are of an article which appeared in Miniature Warfare & Model Soldiers magazine in November 1972.

Le Kriegspiel - Part 1 - Foreword, Introduction and Terrain

I am grateful to Pat Condray for his permission to post his 1969 translation of Pierre Foure and Jean Belaubre's Le Kriegspiel rules.

I have split it into five sections to make it easier to use.

My apologies for the quality of the scans - these have been taken from a slightly dodgy photocopy, rather than an original of the book.

Le Kriegspiel - Part 3 - Combat and Situations

Two further sections from Pat Condray's 1968 translation of these rules - thanks again for his permission to post these.

Le Kriegspiel - Part 4 - 1680 Variant

Le Kriegspiel - Part 5 - American Civil War variant

I'm not sure whether this is complete or if my photocopy is missing the last two pages of the book.

Obscure rule set #1 - Le Kriegspiel by Pierre Foure

I have a photocopy of Pat Condray's 1969 translation of these rules, published by the Armchair General. It comprises a series of games (Napoleonic; then 1680 and American Civil War variants) which were originally devised by the Societe de Collectionneurs de Figurines Historiques. They were edited by Pierre Foure and first translated into English by Pat Condray in 1964. The 1969 version contained a revised translation.

They are noteworthy for a number of reasons:

a) they are not well known
b) they are unusual because of their French origins
c) they are designed for use on a hexagon based board
d) they could be used with figures or with bases (playing pieces)
e) they contain short adapted versions for two further periods.

Given the current interest in playing Command and Colours Napoleonic with figures, perhaps they deserve to be better known.

I would be interested to know if anyone out there is familiar with these rules or has indeed played them.

They also contain some interesting line drawings in the section on the 1680 variant of a line of 20mm figures. Again, I would be interested to know if anyone can identify this range.

Apologies for the quality of the attached pictures - they are scans from a not very good photocopy.

Redcoat - review from Battle Magazine April 1977

Some interesting views on boardgames, campaigns and supposed differences between British and US wargaming in this review by Tony Bath (I think).

Thanks to DC of Unfashionably Shiny for the scan.

Redcoat - The Newest Concept in Wargaming ... 36 years ago

A suitable post for Independence day, I hope. I came across this brochure recently. People may remember there was quite a spate of wargame activity in 1976 over the bicentennary of the American War of Independence/American Revolutionary War. I don't remember ever coming across these rules this side of the pond (and I don't think Empire ever achieved the same foothold over here as in the US) so I can't comment on them, but I thought the brochure might be of general interest.

Operation Warboard

One of the early books which seems to get unjustly neglected is Gavin Lyall's Operation Warboard (though it does have a number of strong adherents). Lyall was better known as a thriller writer, and was married to the journalist Katherine Whitehorn.

I wonder if anyone out there remembers making the machine gun grid for this game...

I am fortunate that my copy of the book is the original hardback (though I have a sneaking suspicion I may have a paperback copy somewhere too).

The pictures show the front and back covers of the hardback (published Adam and Charles Black 1976) and an ad for the Pan paberback from Military Modelling incorporating Battle for wargamers from November 1978.

Wargamer's Newsletter Rules

Following the comment on the previous post, I dug out my copy of Athena's 1987's publication of the Wargamer's Newsletter Rules.

In my response to the comment, I relied on the contents given on Vintage 20mil, but once I dug out my copy I realised this was not comprehensive.

The rule sets included are:

1. Rules for Ancient Wargames 1000 BC - AD 900 by Tony Bath
2. Medieval Rules by Tony Bath
3. God for Harry! England and St George! Wargame Rules for the Medieval Period by Donald Featherstone
4. Rules for the English Civil War by Donald Featherstone
5. Rules for the 1750 period in Europe by Tony Bath
6. Napoleonic Rules by Donald Featherstone
7. American Civil War Rules by Donald Featherstone
8. Rules for late 19th Century wargames by Donald Featherstone
9. Rules for 1917 period wargames in German S.W. Africa (including rules for early tanks, armoured cars etc) by Donald Featherstone
10. Rules for 1944 (Normandy) Wargames by Phil Barker.

The Athena publication is a 124 page A4 perfect bound booklet with an orange colour.

The second two images are of the original issues of the Tony Bath ancient and Medieval Rules, as Wargamer's Newsletter Handbooks. These were available to order from Donald Featherstone. 8 of them (excluding the Don's medieval and English Civil War rules) are listed in a notice in Wargamer's Newsletter from December 1967 at 3s 6d each or the set of 8 for a guinea, including postage. Also listed is Wargames Terrain for 10s 6d, an illustrated booklet describing how to construct realistic battlefields. I'm not sure when the original sets were first made available, or the order they came out in.

John C Candler: Miniature Wargames du temps de Napoleon

This famous set of early wargames rules was published by the author, John C Candler, in the States in 1964. They were presented as printed sheets in an A5 size green ring binder. Illustrated with pictures of Scruby 30mm figures, they ran to 120 pages, including rules, historical notes, biographies of Blucher, Archduke Charles, Nelson and Wellington, and notes on suppliers. They include sections on war at sea and international wars. Charmingly it includes the name and addresses of all the wargamers the author knew of, and several items which will be included in later posts.