Charles Stewart Grant (–1979)

Charles Grant, like Donald Featherstone (see other reviews) was a leading figure in the British wargaming in the 1970s. This book focuses only on the ancient wargame, roughly from Egyptians and Assyrians down through Greeks and Persians to the Romans. Much of this parallels Featherstone's work, but this book is interesting because besides the regular army vs. army wargame, he discusses individual vs. individual combat, especially reproducing the struggles of gladiators in the Roman arenas. show more This contributed to the small-party fantasy combats that led to Dungeons and Dragons, and it also remains (with or without fantasy elements) a standard sub-genre of role-playing games down to the present. show less

A much-beloved classic how to play with "little soldiers", complete with beautiful illustrations of actual miniatures and a fascinating mock campaign. One of the most treasured books in my library.

A very old Osprey trade book in their Men at Arm series which requires a complete rewrite as the first half is a mere re-hash and plagiarisation of David Stewart of Garth's biased overly romantic "Sketches of the Highlanders". The poorly rendered and inaccurate colour plates also require a complete overhaul.