Sandtables and the ABCA in a WW2 Training film

I recently completed a four week free FutureLearn course, a Military History sampler unit from the University of Kent / National Army Museum called From Waterloo to The Rhine: The British Army from 1815 to 1945 https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/waterloo-to-the-rhine

In the fourth and final week, there was a short section on this Future Learn: British Army From Waterloo to the Rhine course, which showed briefly a US Army training film clip on the British Army’s WW2 ABCA (the Army Bureau of Current Affairs). I spotted what looks like a sandtable in the midst of the education and training room, full of plane identification charts and models, German equipment and uniform.

Watch the ABCA film here, the sandtable is about 14:30 and 15:30 into the film:

Periscope Films YouTube ABCA film https://youtu.be/jtL3jQ3-87o

A screenshot close up reveals a little more fuzzy detail:

Donald Featherstone writes in War Games (1962) about the wargames use of the sandtables whilst almost wistfully for a former tank regiment sergeant, he remembers the military use of these at Bovington during WW2:

“… the author recalls, with some pleasure, a fascinating hut at Bovington Camp, Dorset, in the Second World War, where miniature tanks were made to move over realistic countryside, being made mobile by the movement of magnets under the table.” (P. 16, Featherstone, War Games, 1962).

There is more WW2 manual material on sandtable training for the Home Guard on my blogpost here as https://lookduckandvarnish.wordpress.com/2020/05/14/gaming-the-home-guard-with-sand-tables-1941/

Sandtables are a bit of a gaming rarity these days. They had many operational drawbacks, not least the weight of the sand, but several pages were devoted by Donald Featherstone to their use and construction in War Games (1962).

I recently spotted sand tables in use again for 1944 tank battles by some such as John Muzy on 1/72 forums and pages on Facebook, linked to a YouTube video here https://youtu.be/vNnOQJa7mvc

Blog posted by Mark, Man of TIN, 6th July 2020.

Baling out and unfreezing the sand table

The recent nearly but not quite named ‘Storm Doris’ did minor damage in my garden overnight a day or two ago, flipping off the tied on and weighted-down lid of my improvised “sand table”.

A drowned landscape and forgotten flag …

This ‘sand table’ was flooded with rainwater and a topped with a thin sheet of ice  this morning.

Quite surreal, as this was how it was otherwise left at the end of a game.

The sculpted sand terrain had smoothed away underwater. Eerily many of the troops were standing or lying still where they had last fought.

In reality the ‘sand table’ is  a bright blue plastic family sand pit filled with fine play sand but it does service for garden games for all ages of family.

Cold War? Army transport with rocket launchers entombed in the ice.

Revealed frozen underwater was the end of a last summer  ‘pound store plastic warriors’ sand pit game, literally frozen in time.

I had forgotten to put this game away months ago, just tied the lid on and weighted it with stones.  The weather has not been great in the UK for outdoor garden gaming over the last few winter months.

Unpainted, these simple pound store troops about 25-30 mm high in three different ‘national colours’ looked surprisingly good underwater, especially this silver cluster.

I have never built a proper sand table Donald Featherstone style, having heard or read of several near disasters with the weight of sand indoors and the sand’s ability to get everywhere  – “can be rather messy, as sand does not always keep its proper place on the table” as Donald Featherstone points out.

Wise advice on sand tables  from Donald Featherstone in his War Games 1962

Gaming in the sand pit was always a good garden standby in childhood, mostly using  a rough pile of builders sand in the garden / yard left over from an extension. Growing up with dogs, the sand pit did not thankfully become a litter tray for the neighbourhood cats.

Figures occasionally vanished, sometimes to resurface during later completely different period games. Some were never seen again. By now the entombed 1970s Airfix plastic will have crumbled to dust if that childhood sand pile is still there.

The Sheil website has ‘sand pit’ rules  for those who want to try this in an undrowned sand pit (with well attached roof).

http://www.thortrains.net/armymen/piratgme.htm

http://www.thortrains.net/armymen/westgame.htm

Happy gaming!

Blogposted by Mark, Man of TIN blog, February 2017.