Little Wars

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3691/3691-h/3691-h.htm

by slater • 15 years ago

53 14 15 years ago

vonkow• 15 years ago

So glad to see this here. I live in the boston area, and have been attempting to acquire appropriate cannons with which to play. If you're in the area and wish to join me in my mad quest (in either finding the cannons, or playing), message me (@vonkow on twitter works too).

firefoxman1• 15 years ago

Wow this is cool. I had never heard of this and Wells is my favorite author.

eru• 15 years ago

You may also like the Kriegsspiel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kriegsspiel_(wargame)).

jarin• 15 years ago

H.G. Wells, Original Wargamer :)

This reminds me of a similar game called Lego Wars that my friends and I used to play in middle school (I downloaded the rules off of GEnie):

http://mama.indstate.edu/users/sean/legowars/wars.htm

pxm2• 15 years ago

See also BrikWars: http://www.brikwars.com/rules/2005/cover.htm

sambeau3• 15 years ago

Not the original, wargaming appears throughout history.

The Prussians used it as part of training in 1812: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kriegsspiel_(war-game)

Also it also appears in 'The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman' from 1759 (and the Steve Coogan film).

mikemccabe• 15 years ago

http://www.archive.org/stream/littlewarsgamefo00welluoft#pag...

seclorum• 15 years ago

BRB, using this as the basis for an iOS/Android game .. ;)

pxm2• 15 years ago

Wells also wrote Floor Games: A Companion Volume to 'Little Wars': http://www.gutenberg.org/files/3690/3690-h/3690-h.htm

eliben• 15 years ago

"A Game for Boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more intelligent sort of girl who likes boys' games and books"

-- Hmm... old-school chauvinism, or am I just imagining?

sambeau3• 15 years ago

…Or feminism. It really depends how you read it and in which context you choose to place it.

praptak• 15 years ago

There's also: "It can be played by boys of every age from twelve to one hundred and fifty—and even later if the limbs remain sufficiently supple—by girls of the better sort, and by a few rare and gifted women."

The condition on which boys can play it is that their limbs are supple. Girls can only play it if they are of the better sort, not to mention women - only a few rare and gifted can play it.

It looks like there are some underlying assumptions about the abilities of boys and women. Hm... nope, they do not look much like feminism to me but what do I know.

Little Wars

Related Stories