>Little Wars is a set of rules for playing with toy soldiers, written by H. G. Wells in 1913. Its full title is Little Wars: a game for boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more intelligent sort of girl who likes boys' games and books.

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

>>18365032
H.G. Wells was fucking BADASS.

Little Wars = Floorhammer.
It begins.

Seriously, is there anything that man can't do?

Fukken hell, this is available on Gutenberg! Now I know what I'm gonna be reading tonight.

>>18365007
>Be bored
>Get tin soldiers with friends and a miniature cannon.
>plink tin soldiers with said cannons.
>H.G. Wells and Co: "This shit be insane, we need rules, like actual war."
>Wargaming pioneers

the story behind Little Wars is funny.

>>18367164

>>18367173

>>18367179

>>18367184

>>18367189

>>18367192

>>18367206

>>18367208

>>18367213

I guess it's safe to say Wells would play Tau, right? He was all about Utopianism.

>>18367219

>>18367225

>>18367240

>>18367248

>>18367259

>>18367262

Thus ends the Battle of Hook's Farm, and the first 'battle report' in wargaming history.

>>18367219
>Tau
But he wasn't a weeaboo faggot.

Warhammer 1K

>>18367299
I think this is more Warhammer 1.8K

Warhammer 1K would be more like Warhammer Fantasy with knights - however with epic battles like "The Battle of Hastings".

Warhammer 2K would be modern time with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

One of the great things about Little Wars is Wells describing the development process in detail, how they added features and rules, how the military types were utterly indecisive during play and so on.

That and some things probably everyone can identify with:

"Primitive attempts to realise the dream were interrupted by a great rustle and chattering of lady visitors. They regarded the objects upon the floor with the empty disdain of their sex for all imaginative things."

Though of course there was the one woman he writes of rather favourably for not being disparaging and taking the photos of their game, not sure if mention of her playing is made, though it would not surprise me that she did.

"It was an easy task for the head of the household to evict his offspring, annex these advantages[gaming room with a cork floor], and set about planning a more realistic country. (I forget what became of the children.)"

>>18367323

When reading it, I was amused by Wells' irritability at the lady visitors, considering he was a great lover of women and pursued them often and vigorously. He just had no tolerance for any frivolity in the War Game!

I have a new-found respect for H.G. Wells.

>this whole thread

First thread seen today, and likely the best.

Aw shit, this made my day.
The nice thought that all our /tg/-stuff has history.

>>18367333
Bitches sneered at his hobby.

Little Wars : http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3691

and Floor Games, basically the first sourcebook ever : http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3690

>"Primitive attempts to realise the dream were interrupted by a great rustle and chattering of lady visitors. They regarded the objects upon the floor with the empty disdain of their sex for all imaginative things."
>the empty disdain of their sex for all imaginative things.
This part made me laugh harder than it probably should have.

>>18367333
As it should be.

This thread only has 20 some replies, but it still deserves an archive.

Also, H.G. Wells is now my new hero.

Since Little Wars was published in 1913, I hope there's something notable happening at wargame shows and such to commemorate the centenary, what might even be blaggable as 100 years of (popular/published) wargames.

if only he'd developed his own rules for scifi combat. it would have been so much different...

It's sad how many people don't know that H G Wells is the father of modern wargaming (And by extension, RPGs)
He's the reason this board is here.
And since he's the father of science fiction as well...

We have a lot to thank him for.

And now in vague relation, Peter Cushing was a fa/tg/uy too:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEC7dsFlvIE

>>18367484
I thought there was a supplement he did for War of the Worlds?

"One impossible paladin slew in succession nine men and turned defeat to victory, to the extreme exasperation of the strategist who had led those victims to their doom."

This is actually a great read! Thanks OP!

>>18367497

>OI, CUSHING!
>THIN YOUR BLOODY PAINTS!

not too much to add, but bumping this awesomeness.

>>18367497
Little Wars isn't really the predecessor of todays wargames.

It didn't have much general impact, there was no real wargaming hobby started by LW, the reason it's so relatively well know todays is just that is was written by Wells.
The real start of wargaming as a hobby to which todays scene can be traced back was in the late '50s with Don Featherstone and Jack Scruby.

It's like Cugnot's car, it's technically the first but it didn't start the automobile industry.

Although LW isn't even the first miniature wargame either, there's one described in an Scribners Magazine article from 1898:
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~beattie/timeline/rlstext.html

And 'War Games for Boy Scouts' from 1910.

>>18367527

If you want to get real particular, then the Kriegspiel of the Prussian War School was really the first 'modern' wargame with figures and rules.

>>18367497
HELL YEAH MOTHERFUCKER

>>18367541
Go here, saying fuck your shit I existed over a thousand years before your sorry ass

>>18367541
Yeah, it wasn't a miniature wargame though.
(Unless you want to consider wood blocks miniatures.)

>>18367541
Hell, it would not surprise me that the Chinese were playing wargames in 200BCE.

Gotta give Wells credit though, since he's the one most notably looked back on, making it a game for adults and not just kids, and not a training aid.

Circa 4000BCE Ig and Ook played the first true wargame, Rock. It ended after a brilliant play in the third turn when Ook smashed Ig's head in with his general.

>>18367527
He does say in the introduction that he knows it's by no means the first of its kind. It was just that no other rulesets had been made readily available to the English gentleman who might wish to partake of such a civilised and manly contest of intellect and wills as this.

Starting vintage wargaming dump.

May 1974.

>>18367810

June 1972.

>>18367843

>>18367857

February 1970.

>>18367876

1962.

>>18367900

>>18367911

Battle report from a game played in 1971, published in 1973.

>>18367936

>>18367947

>>18367955

>>18367964

1966.

>>18367497

Pause at 0.50. Cushing has different coloured eyes, I did not know that.

>>18367981

>>18367497

*lays out battlefield, casually sparks up cigarette*

What a guy

Around 1972.

1971.

well, wikipedia says Wells is the father of miniature war gamming, so it must be true~~

>>18368047

>>18368051

rolled 56 = 56

>>18367357
>"LITTLE WARS" is the game of kings--for players in an inferior social position.

HOOBOY.jpg

>And at last our rules have reached stability, and we regard them now with the virtuous pride of men who have persisted in a great undertaking and arrived at precision after much tribulation. There is not a piece of constructive legislation in the world, not a solitary attempt to meet a complicated problem, that we do not now regard the more charitably for our efforts to get a right result from this apparently easy and puerile business of fighting with tin soldiers on the floor.

1968.

>>18368094

Around 1971.

>>18368127

>>18368139

>>18368127

>using a foot ruler that is actually 15"
>swapping your opponents with a 11" one

this is the sort of magic the hobby has lost

>>18368147

1966.

>>18368171

>>18368177

>>18368171

>1966: first known sighting of Nerd Pocketus Protectus

>>18368185

>>18368171

Funnily enough this is what my gaming group looks like in 2012

Beginning of the '60s.

>>18368186
I wish todays neckbeards would look like this.

>>18368219

Dose hills

>>18368230

>Now for a while you listen to General H. G. W., of the Blue Army. You hear tales of victory. The photographs of the battlefields are by a woman war-correspondent, A. C. W., a daring ornament of her sex.
>1913
>Marrying a girl gamer

>>18368240

>>18368219

>medals on display

From the period when the bulk of the players were WW2 vets

Unknown date.

>>18368247
>>18368240

I've seen those before, that was for a massive Stalingrad game fought between American and Brit gamers, IIRC.

>>18368273


>>18368265
Donald Featherstone, one of the most influential persons on early miniature wargaming was also a WW2 vet.

>>18368301

>>18368273

Ruddle was a fucking legend, he built a roughly-to-scale recreation of Europe and India in his garden, and fought a massive solitare campaign where he kept track of
every officer's career, maintained rolls, and so on. I read a lot about him as a kid.

>>18368301

>Featherstone

Another legend; indeed, he served with the Royal Tank Regiment in North Africa

Its amazing how even handed most of these reports are. This is what we get these days:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17274186

Condescending BBC twats

December 1972.

>>18368301
>Wife buys gynecologist model soldiers to distract him from all the women he gets to meet
Heh.

>>18368327

1969.

1978.

>>18368407

>>18368323

In all fairness, that was a pretty neutral article.

See the recent article in a Greek newspaper if you want genuinely bad reporting on our hobby.

>THIS THREAD

Great thread!

September 1973.

>>18368432

Neutral? The title is :Why are adults still launching tabletop war?

But I know what you mean, that Greek was was just awful

September 1960.

Also September 1960.

>>18368486
But the actual article goes on to explain why they're still doing it, etc.
It seems worse than it is.

>>18368518

>>18368486
That's like saying an article called "Why are adults still breathing air?" that goes on to basically go "because air is necessary" is a horrible article bashing air breathers because the title, taken out of context, sounds bad.

>>18368537

>tfw my father actually designed a wargame way back when

Feels good, man.

September 1965.

>>18368553

You cant say anything on tg sometimes without someone taking offence

please don't ruin this thread by ranting about that stupid insignificant 40k article.

>>18368607
Tom Goes to the Mayor was a horrible show.

>>18368581

>>18368605
Coasters.

let's see someone take offence to THAT!

1964, first published in 1953.

>>18368625

May 1968.

>this thread

>>18368432
>>18368486
greek article?

>>18368655
Basically went "people who play Warhammer are Nazis".

Funny as hell.

>>18368639

1965.

>>18368674

>>18368668
...Eh. I can see how someone might draw that conclusion.

I love it that Wells fantasizes about huge battles and campaigns. Something I think most of us do as well.

>>18368676

>>18368685

>>18368676
>$11 for a miniature of earnest hemmingway coming out of a jungle hut with a bunch of bananas in one hand and a bottle of gin aloft in the other

I'd buy it.

>>18368687

1968.

1957.

>>18368761

Also 1957.

>>18368778

1963.

August 1970.

>>18368820

>>18368824

>>18368830

>>18368171
Oh hey, it's Arneson.

May 1970.

>>18368862

These pictures show scenes from the TV series Callan, like >>18367810 and >>18367821

More wargamers should be British Colonels in suits.

>>18368870

Fall 1971.

>>18368900

>>18368872
It does make everything look way more respectable than a bunch of fat hairy neckbeards in stained Iron Maiden T-shirts standing around a table.

Damn it, I'ma gon make an effort to look smart for my next game now. Or at least smart-casual.

January 1969.

>>18368918

>>he is 33

Jesus! This guy is a year older than me but looks about 50. He must have had a rough old life

May 1971.

>>18368947
right there on the page, Centurion tank gunner/operator and merchant navy. So quite probably yes.

Also, The Centurion is a sexy tank.

>>18369012

>>18369017
Sexy, sexy Centurion

Shit. From classy, well mannered gentlemen it turned to unwashed raging assholes.
What has gone wrong?

Unknown date.

December 1967.

May 1963.

>>18369040

Well, the guy in >>18368918 is unmarried and has "lots of time for hobbies" so...

>>18369040

Suits used to be the Jeans&Tee back in the day.

1971.

>>18369076

>>18369079

>>18369040
The 80's.

>>18369087

>>18368245
pffft

>>18369069
Fought in real wars.

>>18369094

>>18369104

>>18369112

>>18369089
To think, that guy, plus Rick priestly, created GW as we know it.

>>18369117

>>18369129

>>18368245
I jelly

October 1972.

>>18369148

>>18369153

>Sunday, 2 May 2010
>I was sad to hear today of the death of Bob O Brien, one of the movers behind the Wargames Research Group.
>Bob's interests covered wargaming from earliest recorded history onwards and on land or sea and in the air. His impact on the hobby has yet to be fully assessed but he will be missed. As a veteran of WWII both with the BEF in 1941 and later in North Africa his store of ancedotes could both enlighten and distract. When telling him about our BattleAxe game 2 years ago I mentioned Halfaya Pass, his response 'I know it well'. Few men have driven the along the whole of the coast from the southern border of Turkey to Tunis. Much of it more than once.

End the dump ends here, credit for most of the scans goes to http://vintagewargaming.blogspot.de/

>>18367527
umm
no
Little Wars was not the first by far

yer gonna have to go a bit further back than what Wells did for what may be considered the first

hell technically if you want to go REALLY far back then ya go tto go back to Hamarubis time. thats the first recorded instance of using a set of rules for military mauvers

Kreigspeil-released 1812
and its still played today pretty much in its original rule state
http://www.kriegsspiel.org.uk/

good to see all these old pics. people need to remember the roots of wargaming

>But our latest development has been in the direction of killing hand to hand or taking prisoners. We found it necessary to distinguish between an isolated force and a force that was merely a projecting part of a larger force. We made a definition of isolation. After a considerable amount of trials we decided that a man or a detachment shall be considered to be isolated when there is less than half its number of its own side within a move of it. Now, in actual civilised warfare small detached bodies do not sell their lives dearly; a considerably larger force is able to make them prisoners without difficulty. Accordingly we decided that if a blue force, for example, has one or more men isolated, and a red force of at least double the strength of this isolated detachment moves up to contact with it, the blue men will be considered to be prisoners.

Even in a wargame you've got to be a gentleman. It IS quite barbaric to not be able to take prisoners.

Oldest True-True-Scale army.

>>18367357
The library I work at has a copy of Floor Games in the Rare Book Room. I know what I'm doing next week.

>>18369317

God, you should see the early models. They used to be so fucking terrible.

>>18369323
I'm pleasantly surprised my university library has one copy as well.

I know what I'll do during my lunch break tomorrow.

>>18369323
>your university has a rare books room

I'm so jealous! Fuck, I wish my school was big and old enough to have a rare books room. Not that it wouldbe used much by the majority of the school..

>>18369317
>The Terra Cotta Army is actually the largest model collection for the worlds biggest war game

>>18369537
Bummer.
Just checked the online catalogue. Our version of Floor Games is only the version from 1931. We do have a copy Little Wars from 1913, though.

>>18369670
...and tomorrow, you have to either field /your/ army.

>>18368918
>Mostly, he prefers to play solo games, as these can then last for days
;_;

>>18369219
Now I have a purpose to find good job, marry and have a son.
So I can pass to him my wargaming hobby, and always have ready opponent until he is 19.

"Son, leave those textbooks, siege of Tobruk awaits"

In order to keep a reminder of our games' past, and to have the story of the ancient wargames written for the future generations :

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/18365007/

Kriegsspiel is really Old_School.

1st Edition in 1812,
Revised in 1824,
2nd Edition in 1862.

And endorsed by Bismarck! It was THE hot shit to do in the Prussian Officer Corps in the 1860s, while the Frenchies were off hunting frogs or somesuch, with the expected results.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kriegsspiel_%28wargame%29

1st Edition Kriegsspiel Table

1st Edition Kriegsspiel Table, opened details.

>>18372963
>>18372942

Good god that thing must be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

BUMP FOR BEST THREAD

>>18367936
>>18367947
>>18367955
>>18367964
>>18367972
>mfw i live where this game was based

>>18378174
Union forces used the Hale Springs Inn(south side of main street) as their HQ during the occupation. Confederate forces used the Kyle House directly across the street from the Hale Springs Inn as their HQ during the confederate occupation.

fuck Jonesborough

Notice the quantity and the quality of terrain in those pics. It's awesome. The tactics were about utilizing your position to your advantage and not in taking the best units list. I wish terrain in WHFB mattered more, in ETC enviroment it's being dumbed down and made more and more irrelevant. And in base rulebook the terrain is a liability more often than not. I'm only a noob so I usually presume that terrain matter and try to position myself accordingly only to learn that it doesn't do shit and get blown to bits by some warmachine or shooters.
I mean it's been 8 edition - they should come up with a set of maps like they use in Starcraft of other RTS video games. OF course they can't balance the gmae as it is but I'd still take it.

Notice the quantity and the quality of terrain in those pics. It's awesome. The tactics were about utilizing your position to your advantage and not in taking the best units list. I wish terrain in WHFB mattered more, in ETC enviroment it's being dumbed down and made more and more irrelevant. And in base rulebook the terrain is a liability more often than not. I'm only a noob so I usually presume that terrain matter and try to position myself accordingly only to learn that it doesn't do shit and get blown to bits by some warmachine or shooters.
I mean it's been 8 editions - they should have come up with a set of maps like they use in Starcraft of other RTS video games. OF course they can't balance the gmae as it is but I'd still take it.

>>18380199
You probably just need to stop playing warhammer, and find an alternative.

>>18380265
And what about creating some additional rules to makes it that terrains matters in Wharhammer and 40k instead of being only decorative ? Just something like increasing the cover save of walls and obstacles could change a lot.

> I fire my bolters at your guardsmen
> You're aware of the fact that this aegis defense gives a 3+ cover save to my soldiers, right ?
> ... well, shit.

>>18381018
yeah, instead of
>I hide my unit in a forest
>It gives them nothing
>units get's shot to death
>well shit

He's not so well-known anymore, but Dennis Wheatley was also a proto-fa/tg/uy. He created a few German style wargames, ironically enough to warn people about the dangers of the hun.

This thread is going to make it into the Best-Of at the end of the year, I'm telling ya.

Also:

>>18369089
I LOL'd.
> Bryan Hansel

>a game for boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more intelligent sort of girl who likes boys' games and books
Wells described us /tg/ denizens better than anyone ever did

>>18369072

And there was no deodorant, and guys wore the same shirt under a woll suit all week and just changed the shirt collar every day.

They all stank.

I'm from the 70s, and I remember when deodorant was introduced - the world changed.

>H. G. Wells, The English Novelist, Cooking Spaghetti

>>18381682
We should ask moot to put it at the top of the page.

Not only is the quality of these old miniatures quite amazing, but so is the price. Once upon a time wargaming was for all eccentrics, not just the wildly rich ones.

>>18382600
I think you are not accounting for inflation.

Prices back then are not all that different to ones today, model for model and accounting for inflation. But amount of disposable income and leisure time has also increased, which actually makes it more of the reverse, that back then it was for the wealthy and now not really so much.

What has changed to alter the market is the visibility and increasingly widespread knowledge of wargaming, along with there being far more places to get games and people to play.

>>18383968
At today's prices the Chieftain in >>18368327 would cost ~$3.20.

>>18382025
he makes that face when he has sex