I've just read the sad news of Don Featherstone's death yesterday following a fall at his home. The interweb will be flooded with remembrances and obits for the next few days, but I couldn't let this event pass without comment.
I never met or knew Don Featherstone, but he was the original guiding light for me and for many others in our early years in the hobby. Well before we'd heard of Peter Gilder, Charles Grant or Peter Young, Don was telling us about a man named Tony Bath who was a rules wizard and a strange implement known as The Lionel Tarr Periscope.
Back in 1967 three schoolboys made meticulous copies of the rules contained in 'Wargames' in exercise books liberated from a variety of subjects and used them for years, only augmenting them with amendments pinched from Tony Bath's various rules.
Those three schoolboys are still gaming and genuinely owe it all to Mr Featherstone. Our grateful thanks for giving us much more than just a hobby.
RIP.
(There's an excellent piece on Don on Vintage Wargaming here and an interesting wargaming timeline here.)
If it weren't for Featherstone's Complete Wargaming, I don't know if I'd ever realised you can do more than roll marbles at Airfix figures! I owe a lot of fond memories to that book, and hopefully lots more to come!
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