Little Wars. By H. G. Wells. (Frank Palmer. 2s. 6d.
net.) —Some time ago Mr. Wells wrote a delightful book upon " Floor Games," and he has now given us the result of his further researches into the same fascinating subject. Little Wars is a specialized form of floor game, and is described as " a game for boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty, and for that more intelligent sort of girls who like boys' games and books." It is in fact the old friend of our youth "playing at soldiers" developed not only logically but imaginatively. Mr. Wells describes his new game and sets out its rules so attractively, and has, moreover, added to his description such alluring photographs, that his readers will find it bard indeed not to hurry out to the toy-shop round the corner, raise the necessary levies, and fall down forthwith upon hands and knees to emulate his achievements in the Battle of Hook's Farm. We may add that when Mr. Wells first published some of these chapters in a magazine he was led into " quite a considerable correspondence with military people," and the result is an appendix in which, with the help of Colonel Mark Sykes, he has shown how his game may be turned into " a Kriegspiel of real educational value for junior officers." But whatever may be its use for this higher (or, as Mr. Wells would have us think, lower) purpose, there can be no doubt at all as to the excellence of Little Wars as a game for its own sake.
Previous page
