Sad to read this morning of the death of Donald Featherstone. I grew up on a diet of his wargaming books, played some of his rules and met him briefly once at a show. In many ways the father of modern wargaming. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Featherstone_(wargamer)
He hasn't been well for a few years. I met him on a battlefields Trust tour to Crecy and Agincourt about ten years ago. A nice man. I don't think there can be any qualification to the description of him as the father of modern war-gaming. HG Wells played wargames with GK Chesterton before the First World War. Peter Young and Charles Grant were army officers and wargaming alongside their professional interest. Don Featherstone's Wargames was published in the 1960s and set off the modern hobby in the UK. He was the inspiration to a whole generation of hobbyists. He, and the late Paddy Griffith also bridged the gap between the hobby of war-gaming, serious military history and battlefield travel. Don was an honorary member of the Guild of Battlefield Guides. Ever since the First World war there has been an issue about the extent to which the study of war and battle can ever be a hobby. Don showed that as a WW2 veteran it was possible to both be a veteran remembering old comrades and a hobbyist. Most wargaming is currently undertaken on computers and driven by the entertainment industry.
Sad news for me. Featherstone is a revered name among old gamers, together with Grant, O'Brien, Gush, the infamous Quarrie... with whose books I made friendship in the early 70s. May your dice always roll high up there, Don! And thank you.
Well worth reading the book Actung Schienwhunt ! concerning the war games world of the 1970s very funny and recommended.