"Charles Grant's "Battle" Available Free Online" Topic

Some people may or may not be aware of this, that the above book was originally a published Magazine Series in Meccano Magazine prior to going into book format, Some may also be aware the magazine series has additional material not in the book, and some may or may not know that Meccano Magazine have nearly 100 years of publications on the web and free to download.

So if you have been looking for a copy of "Battle", or want to see the extra 'chapters', or are just into those classic Don Featherstone/Peter Young/Charles Grant era publications – I've posted the detail about its availability at Meccano on my blog at:
link

So if it interests you and you weren't aware of the above – Enjoy!

:-)

Have a copy of Battle and love it. Play the odd game from time to time still and re-read it regularly. Never knew there were extra parts published in the magazine so thanks for pointing that out.

Thank you – I love this era of wargaming.

Have a copy of Battle and love it. Play the odd game from time to time still and re-read it regularly. Never knew there were extra parts published in the magazine so thanks for pointing that out.

No worries – I think the book must have been published to a deadline so just got what was written up to the point it was due for final editing (i.e. around July-August 1970 approx) – and the extra sections on Terrain, Maps, and the Back Yard Game just weren't included.

And I love the final part (XXXII) where he gets the old 1/32nd stuff out in the back yard amongst the grass & rockery! He' must've been 40+ (or more) years old at the time! :-)

Thanks John

As you well know these are my rules of choice and have been for over 30yrs (with tweeks and changes I admit).

Lots of good reading :-)

That is great, thanks. I never saw it in Meccano Magazine, but I did have to re-buy 'Battle' a few years ago after my original copy went astray.

I always thought the book was bit dis-jointed in parts!

I wish the book had additional vehicle stats – one can make them up, of course – but they would have made it more complete to have Shermans, etc.

Fantatsic link – thanks for sharing, that was really appreciated.

Altfritz:

If you go to the Old School Wargaming Yahoo group; then go to the Files section; find the File labelled "Grant's Battle"; look at the last few pages of the last PDF in there, you'll find stats for Shermans and a lot else besides.

There used to be a website called Battle Game (nothing to do with Henry)put up by someone called Fraser, who had a lot of extra stuff relating to Grant's "Battle". The items at OSW are just part of it.

Great stuff – reminds me of my early days with the Airfix Germans and Brits going at each others, using this very set of rules – the picture of the Panzerscheck gunner at the "Battle of Twin Farms" is very nostalgic!

Many thanks for posting

"you'll find stats for Shermans and a lot else besides."

At the time I just rated Shermans the same as Panzer IVs.

thanks for a great resource

No worries Guys – One of the OSW guys has compiled all the articles into a single PDF, and also all Charles Grant's "Militaria" review column articles too. I've updated my blog post with the details: link

Enjoy.

Fantatic thanks – this was my first ever introduction to 'proper' wargaming. Fond memeories!

Thanks for the tip, charla!

It's funny but sometimes I think the closest thing to Battle nowadays is FOW. I think it's b/c in Battle you had supporting units like Artillery.

I can't remember if Grant accommodated Off Board stuff, but I'm pretty sure FOW doesn't understand the concept.

Thanks for the link. I actually reread the "Recon" AAR yesterday in my well-worn book. "Battle!" was the first war-games book I read that got me hooked on the hobby in 1984. I was thinking of playing a skirmish game using the rules.

I have his book on Horse and Musket Warfare. I never knew he did one n modern battle.
Weaselhoffen.

I have his book on Horse and Musket Warfare. I never knew he did one n modern battle.

He did several – the original fantastic inspiring one was "The War Game" for 18th Century Frederick The Great era, then he subsequently did "The Napoleonic Wargame" (self explanatory) and "Battle" (for WW2 and early Moderns era) – in addition to his various work on campaign and scenario books, magazine series (like Table Top Teasers), and more.

There's a full bibliography of his books in PDF form at the Old School Wargaming Yahoo!Group.

:-)

Happy memories, but not a very good game by modern standards.

Played it once last year and enjoyed it a lot as a piece of nostalgia. Won't be playing again in a hurry.

DH – remember that CG was always focussed on the game. I find it a great introductory game for kids and newbies. It lacks the refinements of modern rules, but it is fun.

"I have his book on Horse and Musket Warfare"

I, ahem, have a signed copy of his Napoleonic one.

I ws also fortunate enough to lay hands on the actual model houses used in the photographs in 'Battle' when CS Grant brought them to Partisan a few years back.

I'm such a groupie.

Brilliant -while browsing this I found CGs review of the original WRG Ancients – "at times they seem to verge on the over complex" -surely not!!!!
nzmeccano.com/MMviewer.php

I still have my treasured copy!!!

Thank you very much Mycenius – this was my first introduction to wargaming when I came across a copy in my local library. This plus some house rules was a source of great pleasure for several years (I bought a copy of the book – I did return the library copy!).

thank you.

great memories.

Battle rules also appeared in Miniature Wargaming 170 with additions from Jim Webster. There are many tables and vehicle strike values. Rolling for a strike value has always sounded more fun to me than automatic effects.

Great stuff! I still remember finding my first Battle article in the Meccano magazines at the Remuera public library in Auckland when my mum took me up there one cold winter's night!
IIRC some folks at the Society of Twentieth Century Wargames have been expanding upon Battle over the years.

What memories. This was my introduction to miniature wargaming. I've been gaming 20mm WWII ever since.

TomT

Fantastic stuff – love the days when plastic soldiers were real plastic soldiers and a tank was just a tank!!! Where did it all go wrong?

Thanks for this. I still have the copy of the book that I was given when I was a kid – it was my introduction to wargaming.

I hadn't realised that it started out as a series of articles.

Russ

Battle Game Yahoo Group is still up and running.

John. Thanks for posting this. I still have my copy.
Has anyone seen/played his Napoleonic rules? I wondering if they were full of simple enjoyment like his WW2 set.

Yes. No.

Ha ha! Thanks Marc. Thats a good enough review for me.

Sorry, should not mess around like that really. What I felt was they were more typical of the 70's than the 60's, so lots of tables, factors and assorted guff. Which the WW2 set did have, but less of, and cleaner. I boughtthem hoping for a "fun" set, but they did not match that expectation. Worse, I found out that the current Grant Naps rules are based on them, but are a development., so the set I bought have not had the benefit of being "streamlined" over the years. Shame really, as I like the simplicity of the early Grant rules.

"current Grant Naps"? I don't think I've ever heard of them.

Like the link to his Militaria column – especially the first one that starts along the lines "whoop boys we're really living in the golden age of gaming, it's not like the bad old days, you can get EVERYTHING now"

Dated : August 1968 !

Zombie thread alert

With the demise of yahoo groups does anybody have a link to the extended charts/data mentioned above please?

Thanks for posting the link.