Classic Wargames Book No. 60

Today was something of a rare day for me. I managed to find another outstanding item for my classic wargames book collection in a local second hand book shop, in good nick and at a decent price. To find something I didn't already have was quite surprising as that has never, ever happened before.

Here's what I picked up... Sea Battles in Miniature by Paul Hague.

To date I've only managed to scan it but it looks pretty darn good. There are not that many books on naval wargaming for a start and they all hark back to Fletcher Pratt in one way or another as this one does. Sea Battles in Miniature offers a comprehensive overview of naval actions from galley warfare right though to the early 20th century with a decent chunk devoted to age of sail and ironclads as well.

As is quite typical of books from this period it is a combination of potted history, author's rules and supporting material all intermingled into chapters divided roughly by time period. Today those rules, OOBs and supporting material would normally be split out into different sections, and often into separate tomes i.e. the ubiquitous "army book" or "force supplement" favoured by some many modern publishers and game designers. Back in the early 80s you got the lot in one jam packed 160 page book. Maybe that was not such a bad thing...

Cheers,
Millsy