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Who are the founding fathers of our hobby? Any good books about them or hobby history in general?  [RSS] Share on facebook Share on Twitter Submit to Reddit
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Made in gb
Courageous Grand Master




-

It occurred to me the other day that despite being in this great hobby since the 1980s

that I know little about the history of our hobby and how it came to be widespread in a format we all know and love.

For sure, Chess is an obvious starting point, and that game has obviously been around for centuries. And yeah, I'm familiar with the early days of GW, White Dwarf and Citadel miniatures when they first started off.

And as somebody who loves Airfix and Tamiya model kits, both of those companies have been around for decades, and I remember the toy soldiers they did when I was a kid

But what about the rest? Who were the pioneers, the men, and maybe women, who dared to dream?

In short, when did wargaming become a thing, and where can I read about it?

If this were a TV documentary, there would be an old parchment from 14th century France, with a sketchy image of a monk or something as a starting point

Thanks for any replies.

"Our crops will wither, our children will die piteous
deaths and the sun will be swept from the sky. But is it true?" - Tom Kirby, CEO, Games Workshop Ltd 
   
Made in us
Dakka Veteran




Seattle, WA USA

H.G. Wells is often considered a grandfather of miniature wargames, from his Little Wars publication.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Wars

   
Made in gb
Malicious Mandrake




This Wikipedia article names names I've heard before when this has come up:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wargame

Also, there was a fairly recent (year maybe) thread but my dakka-fu is weak today.
   
Made in us
Longtime Dakkanaut




Maryland

Playing at the World by Jon Peterson, is about the development of Dungeons & Dragons, but covers a lot of the history of wargaming both as an actual military tool and a hobby since D&D was an evolution of a Fantasy variant of Chainmail, which was an evolution of Medieval Wargaming.

The Wargaming Compendium by Henry Hyde is another publication that covers the founding of recreational wargaming, and in my opinion is a book every wargamer should own.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2019/10/01 18:14:00


   
Made in gb
Blood Angel Terminator with Lightning Claws





Cloud City, Bespin

What about this

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kriegsspiel

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
Straight out if the pot, bang it on. What else is there to know?
 DV8 wrote:
Blood Angels Furioso Dreadnought should also be double-fisted.
 
   
Made in de
Krazy Grot Kutta Driva




Nickin' 'ur stuff

Great post, it never occured to me to look for the historical roots of my hobby (despite me having studied history for some time )




Wow, this is insane. It even has wounds, difficult terrain, measuring with a ruler etc.

Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like soup. Now you put soup in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put soup into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now soup can flow or it can crash. Be soup, my friend. 
   
Made in gb
Dakka Veteran




Lincoln, UK

Post-war in the UK, look for Donald Featherstone, Tony Bath, Charles Grant.

Many of their books have been reprinted in the last couple of years, and an Amazon search will give more details.

Achtung Schweinhund! by Harry Pearson (a Guardian sports journalist, no less) is a potted history of growing up with wargames in the 60s and 70s. It has a good overview of the history of wargames.

The Bronte sisters wrote stories about the toy soldiers they played with as children - search for Angria or Gondal. Forging the Narrative since the 1830s!

Kriegsspiel is republished by Too Fat Lardies.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2019/10/02 08:23:12


 
   
Made in fr
Veteran Inquisitorial Tyranid Xenokiller





Watch Fortress Excalibris

stroller wrote:
Also, there was a fairly recent (year maybe) thread but my dakka-fu is weak today.

You're probably thinking of this thread. Which branched off from this one.

A little bit of righteous anger now and then is good, actually. Don't trust a person who never gets angry. 
   
Made in gb
Malicious Mandrake




Probably.....
   
Made in gb
Courageous Grand Master




-

 infinite_array wrote:
Playing at the World by Jon Peterson, is about the development of Dungeons & Dragons, but covers a lot of the history of wargaming both as an actual military tool and a hobby since D&D was an evolution of a Fantasy variant of Chainmail, which was an evolution of Medieval Wargaming.

The Wargaming Compendium by Henry Hyde is another publication that covers the founding of recreational wargaming, and in my opinion is a book every wargamer should own.


Thanks for the recommendation

I've ordered myself a copy.

God Almighty, there's a treasure trove of wargaming books I've missed out on

because by focusing on that book, I got hints and suggestions from Amazon on a ton of other books I've overlooked. I'm very disappointed in myself


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Waaaghbert wrote:
Great post, it never occured to me to look for the historical roots of my hobby (despite me having studied history for some time )




Wow, this is insane. It even has wounds, difficult terrain, measuring with a ruler etc.


I'm in the same boat - I can't believe I overlooked the history of the hobby.

And yes, that game does look insane, so naturally, I'm curious

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2019/10/02 14:19:45


"Our crops will wither, our children will die piteous
deaths and the sun will be swept from the sky. But is it true?" - Tom Kirby, CEO, Games Workshop Ltd 
   
Made in pl
Wicked Warp Spider





From the quick look at the history of Kriegspiel in the linked article I must say this - this game, through umpires, would infuriate all those modern combo seeking "generals" that want to have direct and absolute control over outcome of their actions. And it is much, much closer to how I personally percieve relation between myself and my little toy soldiers and their battle stories.
   
Made in us
Infiltrating Broodlord




Lake County, Illinois


   
Made in ie
Norn Queen






Dublin, Ireland

I ordered the wargaming compendium after reading this thread.
Kudos peeps!

Dman137 wrote:
goobs is all you guys will ever be

By 1-irt: Still as long as Hissy keeps showing up this is one of the most entertaining threads ever.

"Feelin' goods, good enough". 
   
 
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