Legendary Resource

ANYONE interested in the history of wargaming can discover much by reading classic books by such as HG Wells, Donald Featherstone, Charles Grant, Young & Lawford, et al.

But to get a flavour of the nuts and bolts of how the hobby developed in its relatively early days, there is no more useful resource, I believe, than Wargamer's Newsletter.

This is the monthly magazine produced by Featherstone from 1962-80, of which more than 200 issues are available free at FourCats.

The newsletters, especially the early issues, look amateurish, and read that way too, at least when compared with publications for today's hobby.

But it should be remembered Wargamer's Newsletter was highly regarded at a time when wargaming magazines were scarce indeed, and resources for researching uniforms, battles, etc, were not a great deal better.

Ploughing through each issue is hard work, I find, but skimming while keeping an eye out for interesting titbits can be very rewarding.

Featherstone pictured at his famous sand-table (photo by Richard Tennant for Tackle Model Soldiers This Way)