By Rob Morgan
Much of the substantial outpouring of Don Featherstone’s mighty pen has been re-reviewed in this corner of the electronic world over the past few months. I was, however, reminded of what I believe was the first book he wrote containing material on wargaming. “Tackle Model Soldiers This Way” was published in hardback in the early Sixties. I found a copy on the library shelves and was intrigued, being about 13 years old. The “Tackle …” series was, I think, fairly substantial and crossed all sorts of hobby boundaries.
The Don Featherstone book dealt with making and painting model soldiers in, generally, the larger scales. It also contained a chapter on how to wargame, and this was pure gold! I did own a copy sometime in the Seventies, but that was lost in a loan, and so I can’t specifically recall the content of the book as far as wargames rules and information are concerned.
Can anyone else?
Amazon.com has this book as a used copy. I just picked one up and when it arrives in two days I can post a more detailed response if you are interested. Give me a day or two to do a quick read.
Jerry
Hi Rob,
I did pick up a copy – cheaply – from Amazon. The two rules sets deal with ancients rules and a second with rules for modern gaming. The former looks like it can be used up to around 1500 while the latter rules seem to be designed for WWII and Korea. They are not complicated and I am thinking of typing them up for use with my gaming group.
The rest of the book is rather interesting as well with commentary on things like figure conversions and homecasting of miniatures. The book is fifty years old and the second of Featherstone’s series of works. It was worth adding to my war gaming library.
Jerry