Think I've already mentioned that, for me, the books came before wargaming.
So I just thought I'd post something about those early influences.
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| This is the earliest one I can date... |
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| Mainly because it's inscribed and dated... |
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| True, it had Greeks and Persians... |
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| Plus some strange WW2 artwork... |
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| But the major influence was Newnes Pictorial Knowledge - don't know the date, could even be earlier than The History of the World. |
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| A lot of the stories in this are still remembered today - for example the story of the Spartan boy and the fox. his picture doesn't show that story! Actually, in the story the boy is hungry, steals a fox cub, hides it inside his tunic, is stopped by someone in conversation, and the fox bites him to death. A true Spartan, he doesn't let the pain show. |
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| Another story remembered for life was the Song of Roland. One of the strange aspects of that is that I never did any armies of the period! |
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The Newnes Pictorial Knowledge set is not my original one - that suffered major water damage a few years ago, this replacement set is in poorer condition than my pre-damaged one and was acquired off ebay.
The Persians/Greeks picture is wonderful Rob
ReplyDeleteThat book has a style all of it's own!
DeleteIf only our parents knew what they were setting in motion when they gifted us with books like this back then!
ReplyDeleteNot to mention grandparents...
DeleteI'm with Jack Tar, what boy could see that portrayal of the Greeks fighting the Persians and not end up playing it out on his bedroom floor. Inspirational stuff.
ReplyDeleteYes, it has been one of my inspirations over a long periods. The one in Funcken is as well!
ReplyDeleteThat's a strange one, while I came across Funcken in my youth I never really took to those books, somehow the illustrative style just didn't inspire me.
DeleteMore than 1 type of picture in Funcken - somehow I took to the picture on page 39 vol 1 of 'le costume et les armes des soldats de tous les temps' (lower case on the book so...) - 'Les Thermopyles' - I based a lot of my Persian conversions on this picture.
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