Saturday 8 June 2013

Operation Warboard and Wargaming Commando Operations

I have just published two more books.

Operation Warboard- wargaming WWII in 20-25mm. I traced the co-author as his mother spoke in the House of Lords and the Guardian newspaper was kind enough to put me in touch with her literary agent.

The next book is volume 2 of Lost Tales, Donald Featherstone's Wargaming Commando Operations. This book was never published and the three copies of the partial manuscript were sold in Reading. As it was only 25 years ago, it was  simple matter to track down the owners (in their old peoples homes)... The book is a reasonable recreation of the lost book. An extract from the  foreword by Stuart Asquith is below.

"I find this latest work from Don quite fascinating; really it is three books in one. The first part looks at the British Commandos of the Second World, with an overview history of these troops, along with comments on their training and equipment. Don then relates a couple of the operations carried out by the Commandos – Operation Cauldron 1942 and the assault on Flushing in 1944. This part closes with thoughts on the lessons learned from Commando operations.

 
Next Don offers previously unpublished rules and scenarios for war gaming Commando operations on the table top. This section also includes the raid on St. Nazaire which for me brought back particularly interesting memories of a war game conducted several times where, to simulate the limited visibility conditions, the only illumination came from the players’ hand held torches.

The third section offers Don’s reflections and observations on a number of topics such his combat experiences with the 51st Tank Regiment in Italy during the Second World War, his recollections on war gaming 1927-2010 – which, in the opinion of this writer is well worth the purchase price of the book on its own - his visits to many battlefields, being in the media and thoughts on the late (great) Paddy Griffith.

For me, as noted earlier, this is all fascinating stuff. Don was at the fore front of the war gaming hobby from its onset in the mid to late 1960s into the early 1970s, and in my opinion this is very much a position he that he still occupies.

Donald Featherstone  may nowadays be of advancing years, but the glint in the eye and the cheeky grin are still very much in evidence and the brain is still sharp – take him on in a war game at your peril!

I have no reservations about commending this book whole heartedly to the reader; the only problem you will find is being able to put it down.

Nice one Don!"

Two more new wargaming books are close behind these two.