"Tony Bath's Medieval Rules - Date?" Topic

Doing some research and I'm trying to determine the (earliest) date when Tony Bath's Medieval rules would have been published, or perhaps to be more accurate made available (as in written down and shared with other war gamers).

Thanks in advance for any info!

1962. In Featherstone's "Wargames". The rules are Tony Bath's ancient rules, but covered the medieval period as well. In those days there were only three "periods" – "Ancient", "Horse and Musket" and "Modern".

That's debatable. ACW rules were a separate entity to Napoleonic, though that did, I think, encompass 7YW too. I do seem to remember specifically medieval rules from the mid-60's.

The problem is with the word 'published' – rules tended to be 'Roneo-ed' in those days and distribution was a bit sketchy. I do remember thinking that 5/- was a bit steep for a set of rules in 1964 – AND they expected me to pay an extra 1/- postage too !! The cheek of it.

ACW rules were a separate entity to Napoleonic

Can you cite some examples?

I do seem to remember specifically medieval rules from the mid-60's.

I think you might be thinking of "Slim Mumford's Medieval Warfare" rules. The OP was asking about rules by Tony Bath.

London Wargame Section had some but they were not the only ones. I can remember a 'discussion' around '66-'68 about the respective merits of two sets.

You said that there were only 3 'periods' 'in those days', no reference to them having to be by Tony Bath.

You may be right about the rules but I don't think I saw those until a bit later, possibly early 70's. The name Ed Smith comes to mind – but they may have been Anciet & Medieval, even though I only used them for Medieval battles.

London Wargame Section had some

Had some what? If you are referring to Tunstill's ACW rules, they date from 1970. I was referring to the early to mid '60s.

You said that there were only 3 'periods' 'in those days', no reference to them having to be by Tony Bath.

Sorry, didn't make myself clear. What I was trying to say was that Tony Bath's "ancient" rules would cover "medieval" too, in that wargamers in those days (and I was one of them) didn't really distinguish between ancient and medieval the way we do now.

Ed Smiths War of the Roses Rules. My first foray into that period. Mid 1970's.
BTW I still have the LWS Nappy & ACW booklets. Very much of their time.

I thought that Tony Baths Medieval were first 'published' as part of the Wargamer's Newsletter rules. Not sure when though but I have seen 1966.

BTW We used the Tonys ancient rules, from Wargames, last Friday night and they are fun and easy to play. My next game is going to be doing Antietam using the Horse and Musket rules from the same book.

Cheers

Looks like consensus is early to mid 60's.

Not what I was expecting; As far as I know he started war gaming in the mid to late 50's (aged 31 by some reports, so 1957). I'll agree that early 1960's is accurate for mass distribution, but I'm still wondering about smaller circulation (hand typed and passed around or the like) that may have had wider circulation then usual.

The quest continues…

John Curry seems to be the exoert on this sort of thing. He was in conversation with DFF up until just before he died. Suggest you contact him. Here's his web site:
wargaming.co

I think I have my, well an answer.

Tony's rules for ancient war games appeared in the British Model Soldier Society Bulletins for June-July and August-September 1956.

This is more along the line of my expectations.

You might also want to check out 'Playing at the World' by Jon Peterson. That book describes mostly the history of the development of D&D, but has a large section on early miniature wargaming as well. Especially the influence of Tony Bath's rules on medieval rules developed by Gygax (a far precursor to D&D) is discussed.

I included the 1st edition of Tony Bath's rules in my book the Wargaming Pioneers, early wargames volume 4. This discusses the influence of Tony Bath and others on D+D. It also has Charles Grants initial comments on Tony Bath's first set of rules. They were not 100% positive!