Tony Bath (1926, Southampton[1] -2000) was a British wargamer who favored the ancient period. His Hyboria campaign[2][3], based on the Conan the Barbarian stories of Robert E. Howard, is sometimes cited as the first fantasy wargame. It is even said to have included role playing elements. The Hyboria campaign did not contain magic or fantastic creatures, however. A detailed account of the campaign has been reprinted in Tony Bath's Ancient Wargaming (2009) [4] It can now be revealed that Phil Barker was the decisive winner of the 10 year campaign. Phil still refers to this as his finest victory. [5].
After serving in World War II, Bath began collecting military figures. In 1955 he joined the British Model Soldier Society[6]. About this time he began wargaming, introducing Don Featherstone to the hobby. Bath contributed articles to Jack Scruby's seminal newsletter, the War Game Digest, and in 1960 he began editing the British edition of the newsletter with Featherstone. He also contributed articles to the Wargamer's Newsletter which Featherstone started in 1962.
When Bath began playing wargames set in the ancient period, the only miniatures available were German flats which were difficult to procure[7]. As the period became more popular with hobbyists, Bath's rules were the ones most often used in ancient wargames. In 1966 Featherstone published Bath's rules for ancient, medieval, and 18th century warfare in three separate pamphlets, part of a set of rulebooks covering eight historical epochs[8].
Bath founded the Society of Ancients in 1965. In 1973 his Setting up a Wargames Campaign was published by the Wargames Research Group. He worked as an administrative manager for Miniature Figurines, Ltd.,[9] helping them expand their selection of ancient and medieval miniatures.
They have been described by Kevin Large as "not intended for aggressive competitive play, but for a fast moving enjoyable game".[10] The earliest version that survives is the version in Donald Featherstone's WarGames.[11][12] Phil Barker claimed this version to be his "second favorite" ancients ruleset but considered the ruleset to have lost some of its appeal as later versions became more complex [13].
They were written to be played with flats and when solid figures became dominant he was slow to adapt them as he had written them first of all for his personal use. Some see this as a key reason that other rulesets became dominant.[7]. This is, however, disputed by others on the grounds that the Bath rules continued to be played extensively for a time after flats had been made obsolete by solids.[14]
He wrote a version of his rules designed for solid figures which was published as "Peltast and Pila"[15] in 1976.[16] In those rules Tony Bath did adapt to the trends of rules of the time while still keeping his basic style.[17]. In the trade off between historical accuracy and playability Phil Barker considered Tony Bath to have firmly chosen the side of playability. The basing was compatible with the frontages of WRG of that time though differed slightly in respect of base depth. The rules for terrain were especially detailed as were the rules for street fighting.[18]
The rules mixed dicing for groups to inflict hits along with individual saving throws to decide how many hits became kills.[19]
Tony Bath wrote an extension to his rules to cover Naval Warfare which was published as a supplement to the Society of Ancients Rules in 1968 and also appears in Donald Featherstone's Naval Wargames.[20]
His key works on wargaming have been collated in the book Tony Bath's Ancient Wargaming This is a collaboration between the Society of Ancients Society of Ancients and the History of Wargaming Project www.wargaming.co.