Books, events, which have enspired you/caught your imagination

[Mike Tanner]

I left home in the early 80s. Many years later in the 90s after deciding to settle in Germany, I asked my parents to post some of my old books to me. Armies and Enemies of Imperial Rome was the one I wanted most. My version is ©1981.

Before leaving home I was actually in the middle of building a Minifigs Late Roman army in 25mm.

[Colonel Kilgore]

That was a great book, and I also liked the others in the series.

My first wargaming book was probably Bruce Quarries' Napoleonic Wargaming, in the PSL / Airfix series, followed closely by Phil Barker's Ancient Wargaming. I spent many happy hours perusing those / trying to work through the rules in the former...

[Duncan]

I think I have lots of the Roman, Celtic era books, also the one on chariots, hillforts and the Egyptians.

I did also get the ones detailing the Mk1, Mk4 and the first German tank the A7V. More just out of curiosity about them though.

[Sean Clark]

Book wise my first was the Know the Game series book on Wargaming. It was really not very good but it enthused me no end with a black and white photo report of a wargame between Sassanids and Romans. Agywr this is was John Sanders Introduction to Battle Games describing a set if rules called Sandskrieg for desert war games. Then Wargames Campaigns by Charles Grant with numerous games from different periods. Not much about campaigns but still my favourite.

An inspiring event would the first show I ever went to, Sentry 1990 in Stoke. There I met members of the Stoke Wargames Club many of whom are still friends to this day. There was a demo of the Battle of Atlanta using Dixon 25mm figures which stuck with me as an image of the best of what playing toy soldiers could be. It also started my love affair with the ACW period.

I'm still painting ACW figures 28 years later and can't wait to get my hands on the new ACW generals from Peter Pig.

[Leman (Andy)]

My first inspiration was Don Featherstone's 'Wargames' from Llandudno library back in 1966. Two other massive inspirations from the 60s were the films Shenandoah and The Charge of the Light Brigade.

[Mike Tanner]

My first inspiration was Don Featherstone's 'Wargames' from Llandudno library back in 1966. Two other massive inspirations from the 60s were the films Shenandoah and The Charge of the Light Brigade.

I discovered Donald Featherstone's Wargames many years later, again in a public library, probably about 1977 - 1979. The American Civil War battle in that tome was the one which really caught my imagination and from then on I was hooked. However, my favourite book by Featherstone was War Game Campaigns. I particularly liked the Landing in Force scenario which I re-enacted many times over with my unpainted Airfix troops.

I even splashed out on Amazon for an original copy of the book last year.

[Leman (Andy)]

A good buy. That's another one I borrowed from the library. I was in 6th form by then, and my wargaming buddy and I fought an ACW campaign on an island off the Georgia coast. It had originally been settled by Welsh immigrants and bore an uncanny resemblance to Anglesey. Fortunately it had been fully mapped by the Ordnance Survey before the AWI.