A collection of links and material related to Tony Bath's legendary Hyboria campaign. If you have any additional resources, please let me know ...
Tony Bath playing a game using flats (probably early 60s). Clearly visible are the elephants, the dreaded "Pachidermi Horrendi Antoninii" |
What are the lessons of Hyboria? Well, firstly, what you get out of a game is in relation to the amount of effort you put into it. Secondly, a well constructed fantasy soon takes on its own life, and from that point needs only minimal guidance. Finally, if you want to test the limits of your imagination and still keep the whole thing within a logical framework, there is no better medium than creating a fantasy world. Besides, it's fun!
(White Dwarf #4, December 1977 / January 1978)
(White Dwarf #4, December 1977 / January 1978)
Articles and materials by Tony Bath featured on this blog
- Article "Hyboria" in Games&Puzzles, No.23 of March/April 1974. This article is especially interesting, since it was written before Original Dungeons & Dragons was published, and hence does gives us an unbiased view how Tony Bath looked at roleplaying and wargaming campaigns.
- Article "Fantasy Gaming" in Games&Puzzles, 39, 1975. In this article, Tony Bath gives an overview of the various forms of fantasy gaming at the time.
- Article "Hyboria" in White Dwarf #4 (Dec 1977, Jan 1978).
- All articles that appeared in Battle for Wargamers and Military Modelling, in the series "Hyboria - The Campaign That Grew", from January 1978 till March 1979. Thanks to fellow wargamers Wim VdB, Mike G, and Sun of York.
- All 15 parts combined in 1 pdf file
- Relevant pages on this blog:
- A History of Hyboria. This document is the original Hyboria campaign chronicle as written by Tony Bath himself. Made available thanks to Frederik Geudens, whose father, Rudi Geudens, received these documents personally from Tony Bath.
- The original "History of Hyboria Vol 1", completely scanned: see also blogpost.
- The original "History of Hyboria Vol 2", completely scanned: see also blogpost.
(Wargaming) Books that discuss Tony Bath's Hyboria
- Tony Bath's Ancient Wargaming - including "Setting up a Wargames Campaign". Reprint by John Curry, History of Wargaming Project.
- There is an extensive discussion about Tony Bath and Hyboria in the book "Playing at the World", written by Jon Peterson.
- "Wargaming Campaigns" (Henry Hyde, 2022), features a large section on Tony Bath's Hyboria campaign.
Tony Bath's Rules
It is somewhat difficult to track all the variants of rules written by Tony Bath, because there are sometimes small changes in publsihed material to be found
Ancients
- More Wargaming Pioneers (edited by John Curry, History of Wargaming Project), has a chapter "War Games of the Middle Ages and Ancient Times by Tony Bath 1956", originally published by the BMSS Bulletin, June-July 1956, pp 248-252, and continued in BMSS Bulletin, Aug-Sept 1956, pp 266-269
- Wargames (Don
Featherstone, 1962 - reprinted by the History of Wargaming project), has rules for the Ancient Period, attributed to
Tony Bath. It also contains an extensive battle report, "The Battle of Trimsos" between Hyrkania and Hyperborea.
The ancient battle of Trimsos (from Wargames 1962, Don Featherstone)
.The ancient battle of Trimsos (from Wargames 1962, Don Featherstone - Donald Featherstone Lost Tales (edited by John Curry, History of Wargaming Project) has "Rules for Ancient Wargames 300BC-AD500". These are in some summaries of this book and some sites attributed to Tony Bath, but not in the book itself.
- Tony Bath's Ancient Wargaming (edited by John Curry, History of Wargaming Project) has the Peltast and Pila Ancient Wargaming Rules (rules originally published in 1976).
- There is The rules for the ancient period in this book are attributed to Bath.
Medieval
- Donald Featherstone Lost Tales (edited by John Curry, History of Wargaming Project) has a number of rulesets by Tony Bath. The rulesets in Lost Tales are collections of rules that were previously published in Wargamer's Newsletter.
- Medieval Rules -- see also this blogpost on the Prometheus in Aspic blog for the original pamphlet.
- The ruleset "God for Harry, England and St. George" is also included in Donald Featherstone's Lost Tales, and these rules are almost identical to the Medieval Rules attributed to Bath in this same volume. They are a clear descendant, possible a variation written by Featherstone.
Pike and Shot
- Donald Featherstone Lost Tales (edited by John Curry, History of Wargaming Project) has a number of rulesets by Tony Bath. The rulesets in Lost Tales are collections of rules that were previously published in Wargamer's Newsletter.
- Rules for the 1750 period in Europe -- see also this blogpost on the Prometheus in Aspic blogfor the original pamphlet.
Naval
- Naval Wargames (Don Featherstone, 1965, reprinted by History of Wargaming project), has naval rules for the ancient period, by Tony Bath.
Articles written by Tony Bath
Many of the articles written by Tony Bath seems to overlap, or were later reused as part of other publications (e.g. Setting Up a Wargames Campaign, or the various chronicles of Hyboria)
War Games Digest
- Tony Bath on Campaign - War Games Digest, September 1960 (on Vintage Wargaming Blog)
- Chessboard War - War Game Digest, September 1961 (on Table Top Talk blog)
- Fact or Fancy - War Game Digest, September 1961 (on Table Top Talk blog)
Slingshot (w.r.t. rules and campaigns)
- A Points System in Wargames [for Society Rules] (1/8-9 rp.121/4-5, 16/4-5, Tony Bath)
- A Simple Map Campaign (6/25-26,Tony Bath)
- Moving, Firing & Fighting (Slingshot 9/5-7, Tony Bath)
- Campaigning with the Aid of Fantasy Fiction (9/10-13, Tony Bath)
- On Rules (Slingshot 15/16-18, Tony Bath)
- A Potted History of Hyboria (24/6-13, Tony Bath)
- Characterisation in Hyboria (29/23-25, Tony Bath)
- On Rule Writing [Peltast & Pila] (83/15-16, Tony Bath)
- The Tony Bath Rules –Jurassic Park for Wargamers (Slingshot 257/41-43,Kevin Large)
Others
- Luck in Wargaming - Miniature Warfare, June 1968 (on Vintage Wargaming Blog)
Sites featuring Tony Bath or Hyboria
This is a personal selection as I encounter interesting materials. Not everything is included, since a good search can also do wonders! :-)
Photographs
- Photographs:
- Some photos of Tony Bath next to his wargaming map of Hyboria (dated November 1963) on alamy.com
- Photographs of Tony Bath together with Joe Morschauser (dated ???) on alamy.com
- Images of Tony Bath's original figures on the Classic Wargaming blog
Websites
- Webpage by Rudi Geudens, showing some of the original maps and figures used by Tony Bath.
- In Memoriam, Society of Ancients website
- Another In Memoriam, by Bob Beattie
- Geekerati has 2 entries on the influence of British wargaming on D&D, with a discussion about Tony Bath.
- Tony Bath's 1966 rules ... a discussion on odd74.proboards.com
- Tony Bath on Wikipedia
Blogs
- A series of blogposts about Tony Bath and Hyboria, Hill Cantons blog
- Games in Hyboria, Projects and Procrastination blog
- Realm of Zhu has a discussion of the influence of Hyboria on early roleplaying.
- Blogpost: Wisdom from the Past on Jeff's gameblog
- DONJON LANDS features a campaign based on ideas by Tony Bath.
- Wargaming Miscellany has a number of posts on Hyboria.
- RPG History has a lengthy article about the Hyborian campaign and it's possible influence on roleplaying.
- Aufklarungsabteilung has posts on flats that look very similar to the ones Tony bath has used.
Videos
- "The Scouting Game"
- "Ancient-era Naval Battles", video showing naval games using rules by Donald Featherstone and Tony Bath
Timeline
This timeline is very incomplete. I want to track the various publication dates of Bath's rules, since there is quite some evolution in the rules he used. Any additional information welcome.
- 1926: Born in Southampton
- 1955: Joins BMSS
- 1956: “War Games of the Middle Ages and Ancient Times” in BMSS Bulletin.
- 1962: Ancient rules in Wargames (Featherstone)
- 1965: Starts SoA; Naval rules in Naval Wargames (Featherstone)
- 1966: ??? Rules for Ancient Wargames 300BC-AD500 ???, published by Wargamer’s Newsletter; Rules for Medieval Wargames (6p booklet), published by Wargamer’s Newsletter; ??? Rules for 1750 Period ???, published by Wargamer’s Newsletter
- 1973: Setting up a Wargames Campaign, 1st edition
- 1974: Article describing “Hyboria” in Games&Puzzles
- 1976: “Peltast and Pila”, published by Tabletop Warfare
- 1977: “Hyboria” article in White Dwarf
- 1978-1979: 15 part series on “Hyboria” in Battle and Battle for Wargamers
- 1986: Setting up a Wargames Campaign, revised 3rd edition
- 2000: Passed away
I agree, amazing, thank you indeed.
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