A Small Salute on Donald Featherstone’s Centenary

Posted on March 20, 2018March 20, 2018 by 26soldiersoftin

My homecast Salute to Donald Featherstone’s Centenary (54mm Prince August).

My toy soldier style tribute to Donald Featherstone, Don being the physiotherapist to Southampton FC for many years (Airfix Footballers). He probably wore a suit and tie, not a tracksuit.

MARCH is my excuse to photograph my MARCHing figures and MARCHing bands in my collection so these are a small tribute to Don, the sort of Britain’s figures that he would have seen in his inspiration – H.G. Wells’ Little Wars.

A tiny parade of some of my vintage Britain’s Guards, MARCHing to celebrate Donald Featherstone’s Centenary.

Some Donald Featherstone inspiration – his 30mm Spencer Smith figures in the Plattville Valley, an ACW game from his first book (and my favourite) War Games 1962

Donald Featherstone (1918 – 2013) would have been 100 years old today.

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2018/03/03/featherstone100-donald-featherstone-centenary-20-march-2018/

Happy Birthday Donald Featherstone! An inspiration to us all.

A little suitable light reading for the day …

Blogposted by Mark, Man of TIN, 20 March 2018

Published by 26soldiersoftin

Hello I'm Mark Mr MIN, Man of TIN. Based in S.W. Britain, I'm a lifelong collector of "tiny men" and old toy soldiers, whether tin, lead or childhood vintage 1960s and 1970s plastic figures. I randomly collect all scales and periods and "imagi-nations" as well as lead civilians, farm and zoo animals. I enjoy the paint possibilities of cheap poundstore plastic figures as much as the patina of vintage metal figures. Befuddled by the maths of complex boardgames and wargames, I prefer the small scale skirmish simplicity of very early Donald Featherstone rules. To relax, I usually play solo games, often using hex boards. Gaming takes second place to making or convert my own gaming figures from polymer clay (Fimo), home-cast metal figures of many scales or plastic paint conversions. I also collect and game with vintage Peter Laing 15mm metal figures, wishing like many others that I had bought more in the 1980s ... View all posts by 26soldiersoftin

11 thoughts on “A Small Salute on Donald Featherstone’s Centenary”

Tony March 20, 20187:06 am Reply

Don was the greatest influence on my wargaming hobby, I first read his book at school in 1968 , we will not see his like again.

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26soldiersoftin March 20, 20187:21 am Reply

Tony
You, me and so many others could say the same. This side of the Atlantic, I think Don Featherstone was a huge influence on so many people. I always made a beeline to 793.9 in my branch library to see if his books were in or could be reserved. Every time a game is played using (someone’s tinkered version of) his rules is his tribute, every setting out of Troops for a game his own small parade. He would no doubt himself say the same of H.G. Wells.

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Maudlin Jack Tar March 20, 20188:39 pm Reply

Nice tribute Mark.

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1. 26soldiersoftin March 21, 20187:21 am Reply
  
  Thanks MJT Jack, I’m sure many people have their best Featherstone moments …
  
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  1. Maudlin Jack Tar March 21, 20188:20 am
    
    The ACW game above is one of my favourites
    
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  2. 26soldiersoftin March 21, 20186:48 pm
    
    That ACW game keeps me hankering for Spencer Smith ACWs. I am successfully resisting so far though …
    
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steve the wargamer March 21, 20182:19 pm Reply

The picture of the Platville Valley action kick started a whole project for me40+ years after I first saw it… HUGE influence on me, but a matter of great delight that I managed to meet him and tell him that before he died..

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1. 26soldiersoftin March 21, 20186:55 pm Reply
  
  Wonderful! I hope that many people had the chance to do the same as you, Steve. I think I might have been a tiny bit overawed to have met Don Featherstone. Having met one of my other (non-gaming) heroes, you think what could I possibly say that would be of interest and that hasn’t been said a thousand times already.
  
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  1. stevethewargamer March 21, 20187:03 pm
    
    The other joy of it was that I saw him and had no time to think about what stupid old fool I might appear to be.. that man made an enormous difference to my life, and others, so it was an instant decision.. Colours it was..
    
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Jennifer March 22, 201811:29 pm Reply

I’m lucky to own that book; found it a few years ago in the Portsmouth Naval Museum’s antiques shop. I wish I had bought some of their Britain’s toy soldiers too…

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Return of the Macc – Suburban Militarism October 22, 20203:47 pm Reply

[…] a footballer as a tribute to the demise of a club once begun by rifle volunteers, he having himself once done the same for one of the great contributors to wargaming, Donald Featherstone on the centenary of his birth, (Featherstone was Southampton FC’s physio for a number of […]

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