Floor Games......An Inspirational Tale

 I have recently added a nice first edition copy of  'Floor Games' by H.G.Wells, to the library here at Apperley Towers. This is a book which has both inspired me and influenced my thinking about what I want from my toy soldier games. It speaks to the child in me who still wants to push toy soldiers around in a make believe world, where the combatants can all be heroes who live to fight another day. A far remove from the horrors of the real world and a welcome reprieve from the pressures of the need for historical accuracy. H.G. Wells wrote it with a warmth and sense of whimsy, that draws the reader in and this is reinforced by the delightfully comic marginal illustrations of J.R Sinclair.

Floor Games was published in December 1911, some 18 months or so before its more well known sequel, 'Little Wars'. Floor Games is not a book about wargaming per se, but a book about children's imagination, world building and a father encouraging his two sons to explore the worlds they create together on the nursery floor. Wells brings those worlds to life as he explains to the reader the conventions that rule their imaginary countries. He paints a picture, with the help of Sinclair's cartoons and some photographs, of the architecture and terrain where these adventures take place.

It is this combination of English humour, and the rich and inventive landscapes inhabited by the toy soldiers of his children, that chime with my own ambitions. In particular, the world building that they so enjoy, is something that I have come to enjoy more and more. Creating a visually stimulating background and 'country' for my armies to struggle over, is a source of huge pleasure to me. I get just as much satisfaction from acquiring or creating a new building or civilian character, as I do painting a new unit of troops. Yes, toy soldiers and the wargame are the core of my ambitions, but the scenery against which they are set, is the icing on the cake.

I suspect I am in a minority in the small community of people who like to game with traditional scale toy soldiers, but I am sure there are others who feel the same way. If anything I have said chimes with you, then don't hesitate to track down a copy and read it. Its a book which I have enjoyed for many years, having stumbled across a special library reprint from 1966, which I think was only available to university and public libraries. At the time, in the late 1980's, it was a struggle to find a copy at all, but it has since been reprinted and is now widely available. 

I wanted to read it, as its successor volume Little Wars had been a favourite book since my teenage years. I frequently borrowed a 1973 reprint from Dudley library  and was curious about the other book. It was 20 years before I found the abovementioned copy for £4.50 in a little second hand bookshop in Halesowen.

I later acquired a first edition of Little Wars, but unfortunately it was stolen at an event I attended in the early 2000's, where I had taken it to show friends. It was a nice copy that had belonged to the son of the publisher. The Christian in me hopes whoever stole it needed it very badly, but I also hope their 4.7" Naval cannons never fire true and that lead rot visits their toy soldiers! 

I have missed that book, and always wanted to source a decent replacement copy and eventually the stars aligned in spectacular fashion, when nice affordable copies of both books came up at  virtually the same time!

Both books were published by Frank Palmer and when seen together are obviously companion volumes which the publisher felt would appeal to the same readership. Whether they were planned as such originally, I am not sure. I suspect 'Little Wars' was an opportunity that the publisher seized upon, following the publication of two articles by Wells on his wargames, in the Windsor magazine. The decision to then make the books similar in  style and appearance would however make good commercial sense. In fact there is an advert for Floor Games in the frontispiece of the first edition of Little Wars, mentioning it as 'uniform with this volume'.

As I reflect upon these two books, I realise that they encapsulate the two sides to my current wargaming experience. The first, my desire to 'create worlds' and the second, my yearning to fire fine artillery pieces at those iconic toy soldiers, even if only in dice form!

I am not a dedicated Bibliophile, but these two first editions give me a sense of time and place which modern reprints would not. I am fortunate enough to have in my artillery park, an original first version of the iconic 4.7" Naval gun (with the closed trail). It gives me pleasure, to imagine that the great man himself may have fired this exact same gun during a game with his friend Jerome K. Jerome. 

Both volumes will now reside safely here in the library at Apperley Towers, until such time as I am called upon to roll some dice on the large wargames table in the sky! 

As a postscript to this tale, the copy of Floor Games in question has a bookplate in it for an 'Oliver Brett'. Curiosity and a quick Google search quickly established that the bookplate is that of Oliver Sylvain Baliol Brett, 3rd Viscount Esher. As he did not succeed to the title until 1930, the bookplate must have been placed no earlier. He was then approaching 50 years old. Was he too a toy soldier enthusiast? We shall never know, but it gives the book an interesting provenance. Maybe its time I had my own book plates printed!

When I started this Blog, I promised there would always be toy soldiers.......so I will sign off this very bookish post with pictures of things to come........

Tara a bit!