One of the amazing things about vintage wargaming books, especially from the classic era (for want of a better term) of the 1960’s through until the early 1980’s, is how they still inspire today (at least in my mind) and in many cases the originality of ideas. As time goes by I have continued to collect more and more of these, and to ‘back fill’ my collection that started in the 1970’s and 1980’s, so continuing on from Part One here’s a look at more of my classic wargaming books from the 1960’s through to 1990, including some of the more obscure book series such Knight’s Battles for Wargamers, Concise Campaigns, Bellona Battles for Wargamers and Background Books for Wargamers and Modellers.
The content of this post was updated on 31 August 2022.
More of the Classics
First up here’s a few more classics from the 1970’s (and one much later one) that I missed in my lists in the Part One. The George Gush Renaissance Armies and Bruce Quarrie’s Napoleonic Campaigns in Miniature are classics of the era (as perhaps Battle Notes for Wargamers by Don Featherstone also is). While the Charles Grant Ancient Battles for Wargamers seems to now be quite a rare title.
- Battle Notes For Wargamers [D. Featherstone 1974]
- Renaissance Armies: 1480-1650 – 2nd Edition green cover [G. Gush 1975 / 1982]
- Napoleonic Campaigns in Miniature: A Wargamers’ Guide to the Napoleonic Wars 1796-1815 – Fourth Edition [B. Quarrie 1977 / 1992]
- Ancient Battles For Wargamers [C. Grant 1976]
- War Games through the Ages, Volume 4: 1861 AD to 1945 AD [D. Featherstone 1976]
- Scenarios For All Ages [C.S. Grant & S. Asquith 1996]
The classic Napoleonic Campaigns in Miniature: A Wargamers’ Guide to the Napoleonic Wars 1796-1815 by Bruce Quarrie is one of those formative books for its given period, and has been (possibly rightly) described as ‘the bible for most Napoleonic period wargamers‘, at least up until the most very recent times. Certainly in the 1980’s and 1990’s it was likely the most referenced work for wargamers new to Napoleonic Wargaming. It was inspired by the huge success of the Airfix Magazine Guide 4: Napoleonic Wargaming (1975), which I believe was Bruce Quarrie’s first ever wargaming book (Tank Battles in Miniature #2 came out later that same year) – and from that initial popularity of the Airfix title grew the even more popular and successful Napoleonic Campaigns in Miniature, a more comprehensive and ambitious book.
I have a fourth edition copy from 1992 but have always wanted to pick up an original 1st edition to compare, and see how much of the actual wargaming rules text remained unchanged over the 15 years, and 4 editions, it was in print!
The next series are the ones published by Chris Knight in the early 1970’s – I never even heard of these at the time and doubt copies of these ever made it to bookshops in New Zealand in the 1970’s and early 1980’s. So these weren’t a direct influence on me when young, but are a valued asset now. These are a fantastic series written by skilled military historians and Brigadier Peter Young provided the introduction in all of the titles starting with something along the lines of “Man is an aggressive and competitive beast…”. I only became aware of these relatively recently and started collecting them – I wish I had seen them and known about them back in the late 1970’s and 1980’s.
Knight’s Battles For Wargamers
As far as I am aware there are 11 titles in this series (but there might have been more) – my collection is missing the Oudenarde 1708 and Gettysburg 1863 books (both of which are very rare, and the latter seems so rare I can’t even find a picture of it on the internet)! For those who have not seen these in person the best way to describe them as being near identical to the Airfix Magazine Guides (see below) in terms of size, external cover construction & finish, internal print, but obviously published about 3 years earlier. So I actually wonder if Airfix copied the Knight’s concept when they created their Magazine Guide series? Anyway, my collection currently contains:
- Knight’s Battles for Wargamers: Poitiers 1356 [D. Featherstone 1972]
- Knight’s Battles for Wargamers: Dettingen 1743 [M. Orr]
- Knight’s Battles for Wargamers: Minden 1759 [H.N. Cole]
- Knight’s Battles for Wargamers: Saratoga 1777 [J. Sweetman 1971]
- Knight’s Battles for Wargamers: Borodino 1812 [E.R. Holmes 1971]
- Knight’s Battles for Wargamers: Vitoria 1813 [J.P. Lawford]
- Knight’s Battles for Wargamers: The Alma 1854 [H. Harris 1971]
- Knight’s Battles for Wargamers: First Bull Run 1861 [P. Davis & H. J. Cooper 1971]
- Knight’s Battles for Wargamers: Chancellorsville 1863 [H.J. Cooper 1972]
I’m especially interested in acquiring the Oudenarde 1708 book by Eversley Michael Gallimore Belfield (published 1972) as it’s a somewhat unique WSS battle and featured John Churchill (the Duke of Marlborough); so both key 18th Century interests for me. As its an unusual meeting engagement its always good to read the interpretation of it from different high quality historians and authors.
As an aside Eversley Belfield (who wrote “Oudenarde 1708” for the Knight’s series) is the historian & author who also wrote (among others) Brian Horrock’s WWII memoirs “Corps Commander” (1977), Pan Grand Strategy’s “The Battle for Normandy” and also wrote “The Boer War” title for the Concise Campaigns Series (in 1975) – more about that latter series further on… I believe Belfield passed away about 1986.
However I would have expected more Napoleonic’s (e.g. an 1805, 1806 or 1809 book, or otherwise Waterloo), and possibly at least another Ancient or Medieval era one (not to mention the Renaissance or ECW). In fact Brigadier Peter Young mentions Vimiero 1808 in passing in his blurb, thereby suggesting that battle may be another title in the series (or was intended to be). So perhaps there were actually 12 (or possibly 13-14) titles, and the others are even more rare than I seem to be finding Gettysburg to be (so much so there is no reference to them on the internet). Or perhaps it was intended to do more but it never happened, and the series stopped at 11, and then got reprinted rather than having new titles released?
The majority of these (Knight’s) books came out with orange-red coloured covers, however Oudenarde I have only seen pictures of it in a more distinct red (that may still be the orange), Minden in blue and Dettingen in cinnamon-brown. Meanwhile Poitiers, Saratoga and The Alma I have seen in the orange and also in medium green, pale green, and blue, respectively. And Borodino may have been in a khaki or olive-green (almost brown-olive) colour as well as the orange. So I suspect therefore there was at least 1 reprint and the original issues were possibly all the orangey-red covers, and the second printing saw the covers of many of the books changed from orange to the other colours mentioned (and possibly more).
If you are not familiar with this series you can read a little more about it at ‘Knight’s Battles for Wargamers’ — A long-ago series (on the Solo Wargaming Association Journal) and as time permits I may write a blog post dedicated to them.
Concise Campaigns
While not a wargaming specific series to the best of my knowledge this seemingly mysterious series (from the early-mid 1970’s) obviously offered a good resource in a single book to wargamers in the later 1970’s and 1980’s. I have only recently come across this (although I have seen the books previously) and am still researching it – but to the best of my knowledge I have only been able to identify 2 books that were published (and which I have in my library) under the “Concise Campaigns” umbrella:
The Crimean War (Concise Campaigns 1) by R. L. V. Ffrench Blake (Archon Books 1971, Sphene Paperback 1973, Pen & Sword reissued 1994 and 2006*)
The Boer War (Concise Campaigns 2) by Eversley Belfield (Leo Cooper Books 1975, reissued ~1990)
*This title appears to have been reissued by Pen & Sword in 1994 with a new cover and dropping the ‘Concise Campaigns’ connection, and then reissued again by P&S as a completely new ‘title’ in 2006, with an updated introduction, talking about access to the Crimea, etc, from the original author.
These are not exhaustive, comprehensive titles but do seem to provide a good (concise!) overview of the military campaigns. For example a contemporary (1973) review of The Crimean War’ by The Slavic Review, while acknowledging the weakness of Russian sources and viewpoint (notably the Russian Army guarding their Northern & Western frontiers, no railway from Moscow to the Crimea, etc); also especially refers to the author being “free from the usual British Russophobia and is unsparing in his criticism of many of the British commanders and civil servants. He is also willing to praise the French and the Russians when it is merited. The treatment is more inclusive than most histories of the Crimean conflict, for it deals with the Danube campaign in 1854, the fighting in Asia Minor throughout the war, and the naval operations in the Black, Baltic and White Seas, and even the brief fighting in Kamchatka. The chief merit of the book is that it presents a detailed and well-reasoned account of the main campaigns, free from rhetoric and written in a clear and understandable fashion.“
If anyone knows more about this series – as in were there more titles published and who was behind the ‘Concise Campaigns’ concept (given the 2 titles I have were different publishers for the original editions); then I’d love to know.
Bellona Battles For Wargamers
The “Bellona” Battles For Wargamers Series by Terry Wise of the 1970’s are a great little series. The first one I acquired was the Tunisian one about 1991, the ACW one more recently. To the best of my knowledge there were only ever 6 titles in total, the other 4 I have yet to acquire being: The 2nd Punic War; The Roman Civil Wars 49-45 BC, The Peninsula War 1813 and World War II The Western Desert; all by Terry Wise and published in 1972. My current collection is:
- Bellona Battles for Wargamers: The American Civil War 1862 [T. Wise 1972]
- Bellona Battles For Wargamers: World War II Tunisia [T. Wise 1973]
Background Books for Wargamers and Modellers
Another slightly obscure series of books primarily for wargamers (despite the title) was Background Books for Wargamers and Modellers of which, as far as I know, only 3 titles were released (and all in 1975). I have all three of these titles in my library:
- Background Books for Wargamers and Modellers: Battle of Salamis [R.B. Nelson 1975]
- Background Books for Wargamers and Modellers: Battle of Fontenoy [C. Grant 1975]
- Background Books for Wargamers and Modellers: Battle of Waterloo [B.J. Hurren 1975]
There is a brief review of Charles Grant’s The Battle of Fontenoy’ by Paul Le Long at the Solo Wargaming Association’s “Lone Warrior“.
If anyone knows anything more about this series – i.e. again as with Concise Campaigns above knows if there are any other titles – please feel free to comment or contact me. I’m curious (like Concise Campaigns above) as to whether there were more titles (possibly too obscure to find now by internet searches) or alternately why there weren’t anymore titles. Charles Grant’s Fontenoy title I know is rated fairly highly for its content and this is a battle there has traditionally been limited ‘single-book’ resources on (e.g. I don’t think there is an Osprey title on it for example).
Airfix Magazine Guides
Another classic of the mid-1970’s through the 1980’s, the Airfix Magazine Guide series provided a collection of of works to get started wargaming quickly (for Ancients, ECW, Napoleonics, ACW and WW2) along with several resource books for World War 2 related subjects (North Africa, Four main Nation’s Tanks, etc). There were also several titles of WW2 Aircraft, and numerous modelling books. Some of the plastic modelling books are included in my collection because, (a) my father was a kitset modeller so he bought #1, #2 and #3 originally and I inherited them; and (b) I actually found them quite useful as a WW2 wargamer in the 1980’s and early 1990’s for the conversions of 1/76 and 1/72 scale World War 2 models to more useful and mundane vehicles (especially the British trucks in #3), converting variants of existing AFV kits, plus a few other things. My current collection is:
- Airfix Magazine Guide 1: Plastic Modelling [G. Scarborough 1974]
- Airfix Magazine Guide 2: Aircraft Modelling [B. Philpott 1974]
- Airfix Magazine Guide 3: Military Modelling [G. Scarborough 1974]
- Airfix Magazine Guide 4: Napoleonic Wargaming [B. Quarrie 1975]
- Airfix Magazine Guide 8: German Tanks of World War 2 [T. Gander & P. Chamberlain 1975]
- Airfix Magazine Guide 9: Ancient Wargaming [P. Barker 1975]
- Airfix Magazine Guide 12: Afrika Korps [B. Quarrie]
- Airfix Magazine Guide 13: The French Foreign Legion [M. Windrow 1976]
- Airfix Magazine Guide 15: World War 2 Wargaming [B. Quarrie]
- Airfix Magazine Guide 17: British Tanks of World War 2 [T. Gander & P. Chamberlain 1976]
- Airfix Magazine Guide 20: 8th Army in the Desert [J. Sandars 1976]
- Airfix Magazine Guide 22: Russian Tanks of World War 2 [J. Milsom & S. Zaloga 1977]
- Airfix Magazine Guide 24: American Civil War Wargaming [T. Wise 1977]
- Airfix Magazine Guide 26: American Tanks of World War 2 [T. Gander & P. Chamberlain 1977]
- Airfix Magazine Guide 28: The English Civil War [G. Gush 1978]
I wonder if the Russian Tanks of World War II guide that Steve Zaloga co-authored was his first commercial book release?
There are a further 6 or so titles (not pictured) that were also of some peripheral use for wargaming, six on air related items similar to the Afrika Korps, 8th Army and French Foreign legion books above, and a couple on modelling. These are #6 RAF Fighters of World War 2 (A.W. Hall), #10 Luftwaffe Camouflage of World War 2 (B. Philpott), #11 RAF Camouflage of World War 2 (M.J.F. Bowyer), #14 American Fighters of World War 2 (A.W. Hall), #18 USAAF Camouflage of World War 2 (J. Scutts), and #23 German Fighters of World War 2 (B. Philpott).
And about 4 of modelling ones that if (like me) you wargame in the 1/76, 1/72, 20mm scale range, offer some opportunities to do unusual vehicles and/or customise standard models to improve appearance, these being #5 Tank and AFV Modelling, #21 Modelling Armoured Cars, #27 Modelling RAF Vehicles (all 3 by Gerald Scarborough). I generally like the Gerald Scarborough books as they usually have some very useful conversions or custom projects in them (hence #3 Military Modelling is in my collection and got great use – I built many of the conversions included, some multiple times); and although perhaps not so critical now but in the 1970’s to mid/late-1990’s they were a great help for common things like trucks and such that were not readily available as kitsets. Now in the age of 3D Printing these are sadly somewhat redundant of course.
The other 6 remaining titles in the series (including the first 2 that are in my collection above #1 & #2) were devoted to various aspects of modelling with very limited wargaming application being devoted primarily to modelling & painting techniques (of the time) with existing kits (the other 4 being #7 Warship Modelling (P. Hodges), #16 Modelling Jet Fighters (B. Philpott), #19 Model Soldiers (M. Windrow and G. Embleton) dealing with 54mm multi-part figures and similar, and #25 Modelling World War 2 Fighters (B. Philpott) – it’s possible the Warship Modelling one #7 has some useful tips but I have not seen a copy of that in person to know the content).
You can see the full list and more detail on each book at the Vintage Airfix: Airfix Magazine Guides Page. As a final note I have also a copy of Airfix: Celebrating 50 Years of the Greatest Modelling Kits Ever Made in my collection for nostalgia, this along with a couple of old original Airfix and Matchbox catalogues from 1974-1983 era I still have take me back to those classic days – and the dreams of kid and what he’d do if he had all the figures and models he wanted from the catalogues!
Addendum: Something Different
I have the First Book of Wargaming from F.E. Perry (mentioned in Part One), but I never realised until quite recently there was a second book – so that now needs adding to my want list:
This 1978 book ran against all the precedents of the time – by the late 1970 [sic], wargaming was getting on a professional footing – many figure companies had sprung up (several still existing to this day), and there were eager scribes producing reams of material for the Wargame Society magazines or the newly wargames orientated Battle magazine. The Solo Wargamers Association was already two years old! We were all grown up, digging into obscure tomes of academe for more and better research material and the “bad old ways” of Donald Featherstone were looked back on by many as a necessary evil, but really no longer the ideal way of going about things. And amongst this maelstrom of new thinking and creativity MAP decided to publish two books that were the oldest of Old School (and there wasn’t even an Old School branch of the hobby as yet!). …but the purpose of the game is fun with a capital F! The resulting games are likely to resemble Biggles crossed with The Famous Five, rather than some deep investigation of strategy and tactics.
Jonathan Aird (taken from review of The Second Book of Wargaming from Solo Wargaming Association’s “Lone Warrior“.
That’s it for this post – looks like I’ll be doing a Part Three where I’ll finally get to the WRG Armies & Enemies Series and Tank Battles in Miniature and a few more recent titles – among other things (and yes there may be a part four to finally wrap up)…
Continue Reading in Wargaming Tomes Collection: Part Three.