The Army of Georland

The Army of Georland

Sunday 19 January 2014

Wells Outgunned - Franz Stollberg


We don't (yet) know much about the way George Alfred Keefe, his brothers and their friends fought their battles, but we do know it involved firing miniature black powder cannons. I have seen it suggested that in some way this places them at the "playing toy soldiers" rather than the "wargaming" end of the spectrum. personally I don't think this argument holds water - they simply outgunned H G Wells's matchstick firing cannon, and RL Stevenson's "sleeve-links" and printers' ems.

We als know from his letters that in January 1878 George Alfred Keefe bought a kriegspiel set from a Colonel returning home; it was missing the rules and he sent home for a copy of Baring's English edition of the rules - this seems enough to put him in the serious wargaming fraternity.

This article from Wargamers Newsletter #101 of August 1970 shows this practice might have lasted longer than might have been expected.

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