Donald Featherstone’s and Keith Robinson’s, Battles with Model Tanks, Wargaming 1914 – 1975

Donald Featherstone’s and Keith Robinson’s

Battles with Model Tanks

Wargaming 1914 – 1975

Written by Donald Featherstone and Keith Robinson
Edited by John Curry

That’s right, you are not seeing things, here is a NEW book by what is notably one of the fathers of wargaming, Donald Featherstone. This is a new book, with a lot of new material that takes you through battles with tanks through the time period of 1914 to 1975. For those readers that are fortunate enough to have the “Tank Battles in Miniature” series, this is an excellent addition to that series or is fascinating reading as a stand-alone volume.

When I first started to read this book, I didn’t find it very interesting. But that soon changed the more I read and the further I delved into the pages of the book. While it starts out slow, you quickly build up interest in the subject and want to read and learn more.

The book is divided into 3 Sections and 24 Chapters and is 129 pages in length. Within these Sections and Chapters, casual wargamers will pick up a lot of useful historical and wargaming information. The Sections and corresponding Chapters are;

Section One – Wargaming

Chapter 1 – Armored Operations as Campaigns

Chapter 2 – Campaign Supply Problems and their Simulation on the Wargame Table

Chapter 3 – Realistic Road Movement in Wargame Campaigns

Chapter 4 – Tank Recovery Operations

Chapter 5 – Fighting Solo Tank Battles

Chapter 6 – Terrain for Tanks

Chapter 7 – The Availability of Models

Chapter 8 – Scale and Realism

Chapter 9 – Painting Model Tanks

Chapter 10 – Rules for Tank Warfare

Section Two – Reconstructing Armored Actions

Chapter 11 – Armored Cars in Action, 1914

Chapter 12 – St. Julien, 1917

Chapter 13 – The First Tank Duel, 1918

Chapter 14 – North-West Frontier 1920s/30s

Chapter 15 – Spanish Civil War, 1937

Chapter 16 – Tank Recovery, Western Desert, 1942

Chapter 17 – D-Day, 1944

Chapter 18 – Russia, 1944

Chapter 19 – Armor in Action Since World War II

Section Three Armor and Other Arms

Chapter 20 – How Infantry Tackle Tanks

Chapter 21 – Armor and Aircraft

Chapter 22 – Artillery

Chapter 23 – Mines and Minefields

Chapter 24 – Communications and Orders

(Note: I have taken the liberty, being a Yank, to Americanize the spelling of some words such as Armour, Colour, etc.)

The first section of this book, which is 10 chapters, provides the reader with a tremendous amount of information. The authors begin by introducing wargaming campaigns and providing examples of things gamers should be taking into consideration. The final Chapter in this Section provides rules for Tank warfare. Here you are given rules which gamers can use or build upon to play their own games.

The approach taken by the authors throughout the book is one in which they keep you interested by introducing different concepts in the Chapters of the book with each chapter building on previous concepts. Also presented are different scenarios, some of which are based on historical fact and others created by the author’s.

Throughout the book Mr. Featherstone and Mr. Robinson weave interesting historical fact with wargaming theory and rules. It is the combination of these items that keep the reader interested in the book. As I said in the beginning of this review, at first, I thought the book would be boring. However, after reading a bit further, the book became extremely fascinating and full of facts that I never considered prior to reading the book. The manner in which the authors present the information keeps the reader involved from cover to cover by presenting a thorough, thought provoking look at the metamorphoses of armored vehicles and their use in wargaming up to 1975. Donald Featherstone’s and Keith Robinson’s Battles with Model Tanks is an excellent book that should be in every wargamers’ library.

Available from Amazon

Paperback $21.76 – Kindle $9.99