Lionel Tarr (1920-2003) is widely recognized as the first modern wargamer, modern being 1939-1945. He first came to prominence when his rules were published in 1962 in Donald Featherstone’s classic book, War Games.  

This book contains much previously unpublished material about the Tarr wargame and his epic decade long WWII Eastern Front Russian Campaign. This wargaming campaign was almost as well-known at the time as Tony Bath’s Hyborian campaign.

This book includes:

     The previously unpublished Tarr wargaming rules he first drafted in 1947 and modified until 1973.

     Donald Featherstone’s 1962 summary of the rules

     Reflections on the rules

     Tarr’s Armies: Russian and German Army ORBATs           

     Solo Wargaming Eastern Front Campaign             

     Wargaming the Battle of Stalingrad         

     Air warfare on the Eastern Front

     Various articles by Tarr

     A.W. Saunders (Tarr’s cousin) modern warfare rules from 1957

     Tarr’s Napoleonic Rules

The History of Wargaming Project aims to document the development of wargaming, including publishing new material about these early wargames.

The book is available from Amazon and other online retailers.