The Graeme Posted September 5, 2003 Share Posted September 5, 2003 Just hauled an old favourite wargaming book out of my closet. "Tank Battles in Miniature: A Wargamers Guide to the Western Desert Campaign 1940-1942", by Donald Featherstone, published in 1973 by BlackFriar's Press. Really an excellent introduction to the subject. Half of the material pertains to the mechanics of wargaming with 1:300 scale AFVs, but the other half is good source material on the actual war in the desert. Chapter titles include: What was it really like? (with much info about effects of dust), The Battles of the Western Desert Campaign (in sequence with notes on the vehicles deployed), The Tactics of the Western Desert Campaign, The Terrain, Navigation, Visibility (with more on dust), Communication, and a wonderful chapter describing the AFVs and how they were used. I checked ebay and alas not currently available, but others in the series are, two of them perfect for CMBO & CMBB. They are: TBIM #2: Wargamers Guide to the Russian Campaign 1941-1945 by Bruce Quarrie, 1975. Listed at $37.57 TBIM #3: Wargamers Guide to the North Western European Campaign 1944-1945, by Bruce Quarrie, 1977. Listed at $30.00 TBIM #4: Wargamers Guide to the Mediterranean Campaigns 1942-1945, by Donald Featherstone, 1977. Unfortunately not available. TBIM #5: Wargamers Guide to the Arab-Israeli Wars 1948-1978, listed at $47.58 I only have the first in the Tank Battles In Miniature series, but if the others are as good, they are well worth having. They are small books, digest-sized, but all are hardcover and bound, and #1 at least has 150 pages & 17 photos of miniatures in action! Just thought I'd pass along this info. Cheers! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Firefly Posted September 5, 2003 Share Posted September 5, 2003 I read a few of Don Featherstone's wargames books when I was a lot younger, but not this one. IIRC Don was a former tanker who'd served in North Africa. (Edit because I shouldn't post until I've woken up) [ September 05, 2003, 11:11 AM: Message edited by: Firefly ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bergerbitz Posted September 5, 2003 Share Posted September 5, 2003 Yup, Mr. Featherstone did serve in the Royal Tank Regiment and saw action in North Africa and Italy. I knew the name sounded familiar. I have a copy of his Bridges of Battle on the bookshelf. It's one of the best bathroom books I've ever had. Er..got off topic, didn't I? Erhm..coffee's ready...'scuse me... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Runyan99 Posted September 5, 2003 Share Posted September 5, 2003 Sounds interesting. I'll look into these. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt Steiner Posted September 6, 2003 Share Posted September 6, 2003 Sounds interesting. I'll look into these. I have (or sadly in the case of No 4 had) these excellent little books. Don Featherstone authored No 1 (Desert) & No 4 (Med) nos 3 & 4 were by Bruce Quarrie (edit : just noticed this info in 1st post !!). Cant recall who done the Arab-Israeli version. No 2 the East Front version is weakest I feel as too little for such a large subject. Did anyone with 3 ever actually use Mike Spiks Air-to-Ground rules !! Ahh nostalgia............ Cheers [ September 05, 2003, 06:58 PM: Message edited by: Gary Barr ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ubique Posted September 8, 2003 Share Posted September 8, 2003 Just to add that I would agree these are an excellent resource; I have a full set of them, and often refer to them. They are getting rarer and rarer now, with no sign of a possible reprint, so I would recommend you buy them when you can. The chapters in each of them entitled 'what it was really like' always makes good reading. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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