FIRESIDE CHATS
Product Description
Originally written in 1913 by one of the fathers of modern science fiction, this is a reprint of one of H.G. Wells’ lesser-known works. Little Wars will appeal to science fiction fans, history buffs, students of politics and international affairs, wargamers and RPGers, and anyone interested in the other works of this great author.
Features of this edition include:
• Clear, authoritative, and entertaining text that reveals both the great mind and the sense of humor possessed by one of the world’s greatest science fiction authors.
• A complete miniatures wargame system that can be played as-is or used as the basis for other miniatures rules.
• An appendix on Kriegspiel that expands upon Little Wars and shows how it can be adapted into a military training tool.
• Foreword by Gary Gygax, whose development of Chainmail and Dungeons & Dragons were influenced by H.G. Wells in General and by Little Wars in particular.
• Introduction by editor Michael J. Varhola, author of several history books, gaming sourcebooks, and the Skirmisher miniatures rules.
• 19 original black-and-white photographs from the 1913 edition of Little Wars.
• More than 75 black-and-white line drawings from the 1913 edition of the book.
August 20th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
It is immensely appropriate that I review `Little Wars’ by H. G. Wells on the day Stephen Spielberg’s remake of a film version of Wells’ `War of the Worlds’ opens in theatres around the country. I have known of Wells’ little book for at least 45 years, when I first became interested in wargames and searched out titles on the subject which, in 1960, seemed to be few and far between.
The early sixtys were the heydey of Avalon-Hill’s tabletop sized board games with little cardboard counters representing everything from a single sargeant to an army corp. These games grew out of the minatures rules which would later contribute, along with the popularity of the `Lord of the Rings’ novel to the creation of `Dungeons and Dragons’ roleplaying games. Both Avalon-Hill styled and Dungeon and Dragons styled boardgames have been partially superceded by computerized versions of these simulations and, while I still fondly fondle my chit representing the 82nd airborne division as it participates in the Normandy invasion, I get much more satisfaction out of a good computerized version of the same campaign.
And yet, Wells’ simplified minatures rules with no more than a few dozen pieces per side and firing success being determined by real live aiming, physics of ballistics, and the effect of wind deliver the same kind of charm evoked by that old Robert Lewis Stevenson poem of the young boy with his toy soldiers navigating the hills formed by his blankets lying over his outstretched legs.
I am not intimately familiar with minatures rules, but what I do know tells me that they are quite complicated with lots of tables based on the role of dice. Wells’ rules are much simpler. And, he is not deeply involved in realistic landscapes which are so interesting to minatures hobbyists. Not a word is said here about cleaning and painting raw lead or tin soldiers. All our troops here are fully clothed straight out of the box. All the landscapes are created by nothing more complicated than the kind of plain wooden building blocks I so coveted when I was a kid. These are embellished with the outsides of houses painted or drawn on the plain side of wallpaper which is then folded and glued around the blocks. There is not interest with any ability to hide inside any of these houses, as this would simply slow things down and make the rules more complicated. The only other concern is that if rivers are part of the landscape that there are enough fording and bridged points to not funnel things too much into a single choke point.
The rules only deal with three kinds of troops, infantry, cavalry, and artillery. As this book was written in 1913, and Europe had largely been at peace for almost a hundred years since the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, it is not surprising that the strategies evolving from these three types of troops are strongly similar to Napoleonic battles. As this was the period of muskets, long range infantry fire was remarkably ineffective compared to the destruction caused by Napoleonic era artillery. To a person versed in 20th century wars, it is strange to see the lineup of forces at, for example, the Battle of Waterloo, where the guns were in front of the main lines of infantry rather than far to the rear. This was before the age of indirect artillery fire, which just began in the American Civil War and it’s great mortars.
So, the only way our small forces can inflict damage at a distance is by little cannons which fire real live wooden projectiles and, a soldier is killed only if you actually succeed in knocking the little fellow down with the wooden pellet.
A similar combat simulation which existed in parallel with Wells’ and other minatures’ rules is the kind of wargame simulations invented by the German General Staff with the very German name of `Kriegspiel’ or War Play. An expert in English Kriegspiel practice compares this professional exercize with Wells’ game and finds the latter far more fun, as the Sandhurst (English Army Military Acadamy) version is weighed down with rulings from referees and the kind of tables of outcomes so familiar to modern manual wargame rules.
Remembering that this book was written in 1912-1913, it is chilling to read Wells’ final assessment of the lack of proficiency of professional military men at this little game. The most chillingly Strangelovean statement is that `You have only to play at Little Wars three or four times to realize what a blundering thing Great War must be’. This was written in 1913!!!
One may be discouraged from reading this book by the prospect of reading 120 pages of game rules. This is not what this book is about. All the details of the rules are compressed into the last six pages. Everything which goes before is the stuff which is written to bring out the little boy in us all. And, the author knows nothing of politically correct gender washing, as he is firmly committed to the idea that this is an activity for little boys, and maybe girls who think like little boys.
A minor classic worthy of it’s famous author.
Rating: 5 / 5
August 20th, 2010 at 11:28 pm
I was curious when I first heard about Little Wars, a wargaming book written by H.G. Wells. I really wasn’t familiar with the title until recently, when some friends told me it was about to be reprinted and how excited they were about it. I got a copy and have to say that it’s a tremendously enjoyable read and a fascinating chance to see how an English gentleman and author went about developing a wargame system using toy soldiers and toy cannons… decades before wargaming caught on as a popular hobby. The book is written with a great sense of self-humor and details how Wells and his friends developed the system through repeated play-testing… what worked, what didn’t and what was changed around. In the end you have a very effective and simple system for wargaming with toy soldiers, that has a number of interesting rules conventions not normally seen in modern miniatures rules. Wells talks about types of troops, turn based movement, initiative, fire support, terrain and all the elements we’re used to seeing in modern wargames. I strongly recommend the book to anyone who enjoys wargames or may even be working to develop their own.
Rating: 5 / 5
August 21st, 2010 at 2:12 am
As a fan of BOTH H.G. Wells and table-top miniatures, I’ve been looking for a reasonably priced copy of Little Wars for years. It is finally back in print! Thank you Skirmisher Publishing! My collection is now *complete*
Rating: 5 / 5
August 21st, 2010 at 3:26 am
I was overjoyed to hear about the reprinting of Little Wars. This classic wargaming book written by one of the fathers of science fiction has been out of print for decades and has become almost impossible to find.
Wells’ Little Wars is a book on the development of a wargame system by Wells and his friends, exhibiting many of the same conventions of modern wargames while offering some interesting and unique elements developed in their system which are not widely seen today. It details how their rules evolved in time, and is written with humor and an obvious love for the game.
The new edition by Skirmisher press is handy and easy to read, with artwork and photos from the original editions. There is a foreward by Gary Gygax, creator of Dungeons and Dragons, who discusses how Little Wars influenced his own wargame development.
I strongly recommend Little Wars to all lovers of wargames and it’s even a fun addition to the collection of fans of HG Wells, seeing the writer in a new light as he details the game he and his friends developed with such passion and kid-like enthusiasm.
Rating: 5 / 5
August 21st, 2010 at 4:22 am
“Little Wars” is a good opportunity to look back 100 years and see how wargames were played then. Wells has a lot of interesting tips on the way to improve your game playing. Since he was a lot closer to the time period that is often recreated there are things he thought about that time has made current designers forget. The pictures of the buildings he built to game aroud make me feel good about some of the primitive structures I have gamed around.
Rating: 5 / 5