Welcome to Phil Barker’s Web Page
February 2010.

Philip C. Barker is a military historian and the author of the WRG wargames rules and army lists as well as several books. He has been active since 1968 and is still working. His autobiography may be seen here. Prototypes of the sets currently under development may be also seen here and enthusiasts are encouraged to play test games and report on their experiences. He welcomes feedback from these tests, so please contact him at his email address, pc.barker@blueyonder.co.uk.

His books include "Armies and Enemies of Imperial Rome", "Alexander the Great's Campaigns" and the "Airfix Guide to Ancient Wargaming" (usually known as the "Purple Primer"). In addition, it is now possible to see a number of Phil's published articles, mainly from the 1980s, such as "In Defence of Toy Soldiers" (claiming that in some circumstances wargaming with miniatures can be MORE realistic than other methods of simulation) or "The Rule Writer's Point of View" (although written in the mid 1980s, many of the points are still relevant) and an account of his visit to Australia in 1984 "War Gaming in Australia". In addition, you may see one of the great wargaming verses "Seti on the Flank" by Tom McMillan - a sad story which will be familiar to anyone whose plan has relied heavily on the arrival of a flank march.

Current Projects.

1. "De Bellis Magistrorum Militum", DBMM is a radical development of DBM, which had previously been by far the most popular ancient rule around the world. It keeps many structures and procedures and much of the basic data. The most major difference is simulating command and control more realistically and in particular emphasizing the C-in-C’s plan. This inspires its title, which translates as “For the Wars of the Masters of Soldiers”. Version 2.0 of DBMM will soon be published by Wargames Research Group Ltd, while its three (soon to be four) books of army lists are currently available from Caliver Books.

2. "Horse, Foot and Guns" (HFG), a set of wargames rules for the period 1701-1915. Both the rules and the army lists are available here in WORD format.

3. THE SHARP END. An experimental set of modern rules.

4. A set of rules for small scale games De Bellis Velitum.

5. DAMN BATTLESHIPS AGAIN, a prototype set of wargames rules for pre-dreadnought naval battles between 1890 and 1913.

6. "Subs and SAMs", a VERY early prototype of a set of modern naval rules.

7. DBA-ix - a test set for a game involving Pirates, Romans and Gauls which was used for Sue's game "Asterix and Redbeard's Treasure" at COW 2007.

Page maintained by Sue Laflin-Barker for Phil Barker.