Lionel Tarr (1920-2003) is widely recognized as the first modern 
  wargamer, modern being 1939-1945. He first came to prominence when his 
  rules were published in 1962 in Donald Featherstone’s classic book, War 
  Games.  
  This book contains much previously unpublished material about the Tarr 
  wargame and his epic decade long WWII Eastern Front Russian Campaign. 
  This wargaming campaign was almost as well-known at the time as Tony 
  Bath’s Hyborian campaign. 
  This book includes:
       
  The previously 
  unpublished Tarr wargaming rules he first drafted in 1947 and modified 
  until 1973.
       
  Donald 
  Featherstone’s 1962 summary of the rules
       
  Reflections on 
  the rules
       
  Tarr’s Armies: 
  Russian and German Army ORBATs           
  
       
  Solo Wargaming 
  Eastern Front Campaign             
  
       
  Wargaming the 
  Battle of Stalingrad         
  
       
  Air warfare on 
  the Eastern Front
       
  Various 
  articles by Tarr
       
  A.W. Saunders 
  (Tarr’s cousin) modern warfare rules from 1957
       
  Tarr’s 
  Napoleonic RulesI have also republished the classic Bruce Quarrie book on the Arab Israeli Wars
Bruce Quarrie (1947-2004) was a prolific author and military historian. He wrote over forty titles, mostly on the Second World War, and edited many more. Len Deighton described him as "one of our most meticulous and well-informed historians”.
This 
  outstanding work is a detailed introduction to the Arab-Israeli Wars 
  between 1948 and 1973. That area saw four major campaigns, of which 
  those of 1967 and 1973- the so-called ‘Six Day War’ and ‘Yom Kippur 
  Wars’- are of particular interest to wargamers. These wars involved 
  large tank battles with Centurions, Pattons and M-60’s vied for 
  battlefield supremacy with Arab T-54’s and T-62’s. It provides detailed 
  technical information on the weapon systems deployed by the Arab and 
  Israeli forces. Their organization and tactical use, together with 
  numerous suggestions for their accurate recreation in miniature. The 
  book includes wargaming rules for these conflicts. 


 
I look forward to reading Lionel Tarr's book' and have already ordered a copy!
ReplyDeleteComment by David Bradley who supplied some key Tarr material.
ReplyDelete"May I congratulate you on your efforts. I think you have produced the definitive collection of material on Lionel Tarr's contributions to wargaming. I very much appreciated your signed comment - I am just glad I had the sense to send my Lionel Tarr "archive" to someone who was in a position to make it available to the wider wargaming community. Thank you also for including a host of supporting material, such as Ed Saunders' rules and Charles Reavley's "Space Time Continuum" which were important influences on the development of Lionel's rules - which provides added value to the book. Also for the photographic material you have been able to include. The one of Lionel standing by his sandtable - which I think measured six foot square - being particularly impressive. Heaven knows the weight of the sand! Lionel's floors must have been particularly robust! I am also glad you were able to include the ORBAT listing for Lionel's German and Soviet armies.
Did you do Lionel's writings (and by his extension his memory) justice? The answer is a resounding "Yes". Looking at the vast majority of "modern" rules available to todays wargamers one realises that all of them, to a greater or lesser extent draw on the mechanisms and methods developed by Lionel all those many years ago - so we all owe him a great debt. "