I, like may gamers, was saddened to hear of the passing of the
one of the legends of our Hobby, Donald Featherstone at the ripe old age of 96 (not
a bad innings that!). If modern wargaming traces its origins back to HG Wells Little
Wars then the popularity of wargaming as a hobby today owes a lot to the
seminal works of Featherstone (along with Grant and others) during the 1960s
and 1970s.
Like many gamers growing up in the 70s and 80s my interest
in war gaming started with the books of Donald Featherstone. My friend Ian and
I must have had his books on semi-permanent loan from the Christchurch public
library and the WWII rules in Wargames (by Lionel Tarr IIRC) were the basis of
our own rules which we hand typed on an old typewriter (we were very keen 10
year olds!). Later we added elements of Operation Warboard and these rules were
used by us for many, many years.
Featherstone’s books inspired me to delve further into history
and introduced me to a hobby that as given me thousands of hours of enjoyment
over the years. Even today I enjoy reading Featherstone’s books- they really
were cookbook of ideas and an approach
that is missing from today’s much more polished rulesets- gamers were supposed to
tinker, adapt and modify things to get the game that was right for them.
Donald Featherstone was one of the pioneers of our hobby and
has been a major influence on it. In an era when there was no internet, or other instant means of communication
to link people who shared a common interest, his books inspired wargamers around
the world.
Farewell Donald, and thank you
Craig
We owe him so much !
ReplyDeleteCouldn't have put it better Craig, I too started off , very similar to you it sounds like, with finding his book Wargames at the library (yes it was Lionel Tarr rules at the back of his book) and having it on almost continuous borrowing, the library got Operation Warboard in and that joined his book.
ReplyDeleteI learned to type, making cheat sheets and rules at the same time.
His book on tank/desert warfare was a brilliant read.
Rest in peace old fellow, you have earned it
cheers