Books by John Curry

Stuart Asquith is a key contributor to the development of modern hobby of wargaming. His extensive work included editing Practical Wargamer for 12 years, authoring over twenty books and editing many more. This book focuses on one of the Stuart Asquith?s key interests, 17th century warfare. This book aims to bring together some of Stuart Asquith?s work, focussed on this era. Other books in the series cover his writing on other wars. The book has 20 scenarios for wargamers including:Edgehill (1642) The Storming of Brentford (1642) The Battle of Lansdowne (1643) Roundway Down (1643) Cropredy Bridge (1644)Marston Moor (1644) The Battle of Nasby (1645)Dunkirk (1658)Medway (1667)Drumclog (1679The Battle of Sedgemoor (1685) The rules are Terry Wise?s popular wargaming rules for the English Civil War and the Thirty Years War circa 1618-1651.This work is published as part of The History of Wargaming Project range of books that aim to document the development of wargaming

This is an example of an early professional counter insurgency game written for the Pentagon to explore a rural insurgency through a wargame.America was engaged in a strategic counter insurgency in Vietnam. Every effort was being made to wage war more effectively in the conflict. One of the tools applied was wargaming, such as this game. The game has players representing all sides. The game allowed the players to explore the asymmetrical conflict from a different perspective, using the prism of wargaming. Agile was played in key establishments and had some training value. One success was pulling special forces soldiers away from their normal military skills focussed training and asking them to actually influence the hearts and minds of the people in the villages of rural South Vietnam. This book includes after action reviews of 12 games. It also has examples of the American players committing atrocities against the civilian population as an in-game strategy.

The games in this book were made to help the navigators of Bomber Command improve the chances of locating their target. Written by Sir Francis Chichester, the games reflected his vast experience at the exacting art of pinpoint navigation.This book was first published in 1942 at the heart of World War II. Bomber Command was flying regularly to hit targets on the content, but the navigators in the individual bombers were struggling to find the targets. Using his experience of long-distance flying, Chichester created three games to help the navigators improve their skills prior to operations. Game 1 was a game of chance, game 2 involved finding the correct longitude and latitude, but game 3 required the player to correctly locate themselves on the map. Reading the paragraphs that describe the situation, then studying the map for clues offers insight into the difficulties faced during the early stages of the bombing campaign, before electronic navigation aids became widespread.

The famous Unites States Naval War College wargames have been seen as an important part of the US Navy's preparation for war with Japan. The actual naval commanders took lessons from these wargames into the conflict in the Pacific 1941-45. This book makes the 1936 edition of the tactical rules readily accessible for the first time to the public. It includes the detailed rules for movement, gunnery, damage and other aspects of real naval warfare from the big gun era. The object of these games was to aid students of strategy and tactics in the comprehension of these complex subjects.The book includes: Original guidance from 1922 on how to play the game. Sample gunnery tables. Torpedo fire cards. Rules for visibility and smoke. Details about speed and fuel. Sample ship cards to illustrate how the rules worked.The book is published by the History of Wargaming Project. It is part of a series to document key steps in the development of modern wargaming.

First published in 1975, this book deals with the most popular period for fighting sea battles in miniature- the First and Second World Wars. It brings together all the information that the naval wargamer needs when tackling the 20th century era. This edition includes three new chapters not included in the previous editions. The author takes the reader through his own rules, which aim above all at practical playability and they are illustrated by numerous diagrams. Based on a simplified Fletcher Pratt damage system, they cover movement, gunnery, torpedoes, as well as submarines and air craft. The rules are shown in action in the defence of a convoy in the Adriatic Sea in 1915 and the hunt for a Japanese raiding cruiser in 1942. Naval campaigns are also discussed, with the example of a semi historical-naval campaign around Korea in 1918. China and Korea are facing Russia and Japan. The campaign rules describe practical ways to manage fuel, combat at sea, allocating ships, use of troops etc.

Possibly the sort of wargame H.G Wells might have developed if he had been a child in the 1970s. But perhaps not. Written by Tim Gow (shown left) and Bertrand Plastique, the book recreates battles from the era of the Cold War. Based on the original ideas of H.G. Wells, this book brings the original toy soldier rules up to date to recreate wars from the time of the Cold War onto the wargamer's table top or preferably, his lawn. The rules grasp the essentials of Cold War combat; movement, close assault, direct fire, artillery and air support. They also include additional rules to cover the complexities of engineering, smoke and the wider air battle. They do so in a style reminiscent of Little Wars, just with tanks and aircraft. These rules are straightforward, but comprehensive toy soldier rules that allow the wargamer to experience the battles, actual and potential, from those days.

Matrix Games are an established way of running seminar type narrative games in the professional environment. This handbook is the most comprehensive set of papers to date on their use in education, training, research and innovation. The book starts by exploring the origins of Matrix Games, with contributions on the development of the method. It includes a sample game about NATO and Russian posturing on the Baltic Sea. Many wargames explore war in this contested area of sea, but a Matrix Game is used to explore a conflict short of kinetic. In the theory section, some of the underpinning philosophy of Matrix Games is outlined by Chris Engle, the inventor of the method. Education has applied Matrix Games in teaching. This section includes examples from around the world from language training to military education. The final section outlines operational analysis problems, innovation and using a Matrix Game to explore contemporary conflict by Professor Rex Brynen.

This is an example of an early professional counter insurgency game written for the Pentagon to explore an urban uprising.It is a multi-player megagame representing a growing urban crisis. The government have their police and the general support of the population. The key is to position the guards at the threatened critical urban infrastructure to increase the chance of detecting bomb threats. They also use their secret police to uncover the insurgents. The players representing the public have roles from factory owners to middle class shop-keepers. They have to maintain their income, in the face the growing insurgent threat. Their support decides who wins the game. The insurgents have sway the population, but also disrupt the cities economy. Of course, they can only do this if they remain undiscovered. Included are detailed player briefings, after action reviews, along with analysis of 20 key uprisings. This book is published by the History of Wargaming Project.

Wargames Through the Ages was first published to fill a gap in literature of the hobby of wargaming. It was a one volume summary of what was loosely called the Napoleonic period and beyond. Each chapter assesses the techniques and fighting methods of the opposing forces and indeed, the battle descriptions are often sufficiently colourful to inspire reconstruction. In discussing how this can best be simulated on a table-top battlefield the author gives comprehensive information as to contemporary styles of warfare which provides a basis for the formulation of rules. The period under review is extensive, and beginning with The French Revolutionary wars, it carries the reader through the Napoleonic Wars, then onto later conflicts with the Mexican War 1846-48, the Crimean War 1854-1855 and the Austrian/ French Wars of 1859.

Wargames through the Ages was first published to fill a gap in literature of the hobby of wargaming. It was a one volume summary from the outbreak of the American Civil War and the concludes with the end of World War II in 1945. Between 1860 and 1945, the shape of warfare, armies, tactics and equipment underwent a wholesale change. In the same era, the map of Europe was redrawn and the machinations of world politics saw the introduction of military movements by land, sea and air on an international scale hitherto unconsidered. In 1861, the cavalry retained a still significant, if diminishing, role in the schemes of battle commanders; but by 1945 massive technological advances, culminating in the introduction of computerised planning had so altered the situation that a fundamentally new approach was necessitated as it is for the wargamer. The author has therefore considered at length the problem of formulating new rules, and the classification and assessment of armies and their conditions.

The Alamo in Miniature explores the whole range of Alamo figures, buildings and accessories made for play, collecting and wargaming. George Kearton has been collecting toy and model soldiers since 1955 and his fascination with the Alamo dates back to the early 1960's. The book also gives overviews of the Alamo, the Texas Revolution and its aftermath and includes details of over 30 other Alamo books, many Alamo boardgames, the most recent 'Alamo' films and their soundtrack music. Items by nearly 100 makers worldwide are listed and the book includes photographs of over 50 items from the author's own collection. He is the author of The Collectors Guide to Plastic Toy Soldiers, 1947- 1987 which is still the only comprehensive single-volume history of plastic toy soldiers. This iconic work was republished by John Curry in 2012 as part of The History of Wargaming Project.

Lionel Tarr (1920-2003) is widely recognized as the first modern wargamer, modern being 1939-1945. He first came to prominence when his rules were published in 1962 in Donald Featherstone's classic book, War Games. This book contains much previously unpublished material about the Tarr wargame and his epic decade long WWII Eastern Front Russian Campaign. This wargaming campaign was almost as well-known at the time as Tony Bath's Hyborian campaign. This book includes:The previously unpublished Tarr wargaming rules he first drafted in 1947 and modified until 1973.Analysis of the rulesTarr's Armies: Russian and German Army ORBATs Solo Wargaming Eastern Front Campaign Wargaming the Battle of Stalingrad Air warfare on the Eastern FrontVarious articles by TarrA.W. Saundars (Tarr's cousin) modern warfare rules from 1957Tarr's Napoleonic RulesThe History of Wargaming Project aims to document the development of wargaming, including publishing new material about these early wargames