I have received the following brief obituary for Stuart Asquith, who sadly passed away yesterday. The response to my earlier tweets and Facebook page announcement has been extraordinary, which I hope will be a comfort to his family and friends.
“It is with great sadness that I must report that Stuart Asquith passed away on 3 November 2019. I count myself very fortunate to have known Stuart for some 40 years. In that time I have benefited from his enthusiasm, inspiration, knowledge, friendship and the wonderful hospitality provided by his wife and himself. I have also been lucky enough to share a good few table top battles with Stuart.
Stuart was essentially a modest man, but one should be in no doubt about Stuart’s place in the hobby. He ranks among the wargame pioneers he admired so much like Don Featherstone, Peter Young and of course his own hero H. G. Wells.
A full appreciation of his written contribution to the hobby must wait for a more complete tribute but suffice to say that with more than 20 publications and countless articles to his name he leaves a lasting literary legacy. It is difficult to select one aspect of Stuart’s contribution to the hobby out of so many, but for me the one that stands out is his editorship of Practical Wargamer. Stuart edited the magazine for 12 years and influenced a generation of wargamers. Stuart was Practical Wargamer and his editorship raised the bar and set the standard for all wargame magazines.
Stuart was the very best kind of wargamer. Generous to a fault, he always found time to encourage others. He loved every aspect of the hobby; the research, the painting, the rule writing and of courses he rejoiced in bringing his troops to the table. All of this comes through in his writings. While he talked happily of the battles he has lost, he has won a good few too – but irrespective of the result he has enjoyed and relished them all.
With Stuart’s parting wargaming has lost one of its great ambassadors. Our thoughts are with his wife and family.
Charles S Grant“
Sad news. Stuart was an outstanding ambassador for wargaming and military history. I was so pleased to be able to work with him to publish two collections of his writings about the 17th and 18th century battles. Stuart was always helpful, polite and modest about his impact on the developing hobby. I remember pleasant times sat in his garden as he reminisced about his life. We always felt he was a little bemused by the respect he received from the hobby. It must be said that at one point, he withdrew from the hobby, but he did return and greatly enjoyed his games with his local wargamers. I must also add he clearly loved his family and would do anything for his friends. I did a video interview of him, one day I should publish it on Youtube.
John, thank you so much for your kind words. Please can you speak to Charles Grant who has my number so I can speak with you directly?
Kind regards
Tom, Stuart’s son.
Henry thank you for posting Charles Grant’s obituary. Many, many years ago I had the great pleasure of meeting Stuart at a small wargames show in Chatham. We only spoke for a few moments but he was an absolute gentleman. A year or so after that meeting he published an anonymous letter in ‘Practical Wargamer’ criticizing wargames editors in general and him in particular as being ‘little emperors’ in ‘ivory towers’. I wrote a letter to the magazine in his, and the other editors, defense. Stuart responded by sending me a personal letter thanking me for my support. As others have said: the wargaming world is a sadder place for his passing. Thank you Stuart for all you have done for the hobby.
I had the privilege of meeting Stuart earlier on this year and it was nice to talk about wargaming related subjects with him.
His ideas on wargaming were inspirational and influenced me from the early 7o’s, he will be sorely missed, a great man.
My condolences to you and your family Tom at this sad time.
Very sad news Henry and the hobby is smaller for his passing. Inspiration was something that Stuart emanated with ease, albeit humbly, and he remains one of the people who will forever influence my wargaming life.
I have just seen these comments. I am from a very privileged position, I got to call Stuart by his other name… dad.
My dad introduced me to wargaming at a very early age, where like many others I was into 2nd world war German, dad being a firm favourite of napoleonics, he spent years trying to convert me over.
It is so nice to see names on here from the past and names I am not familiar with commenting on how dad influenced them in wargaming. He would have loved to have seen these messages.
He was my dad and my best friend. I will miss him dearly.
Thank you all so much, thank you Charles for providing your kind words. I will print all of these off for mum.
Tom Wayne (nee Asquith)
Tom, my most sincere condolences to you and your family for your loss, a loss keenly felt by so many of us in the Wargaming community.
You might like to visit my Twitter feed https://twitter.com/battlegames where there are now dozens of lovely comments, and the Facebook page where there are also a large number of responses.
Henry
Tom, sincere condolences to you and all your family.
A gracious and fitting tribute. I remember as quite a young player when Practical Wargamer started. Stuart was a very important figure in the hobby for many years, contributing enthusiasm and expertise, and importantly, a platform for us to find out what was new and exciting in the hobby, especially for those of us who lived far from the doors of conventions and clubs.
Thank you for sharing this with us, Henry. I have a copy of Stuart’s Guide to Solo Wargaming, the corners of which are well-thumbed and the pages virtually memorised.
He sounds like the kind of chap I would love to have played a wargame with.
Thank you for everything, Stuart!
What sad news. I’ve known Stuart on and off for over forty years, and he was always welcoming, friendly, and encouraging to relatively in experienced wargamers. As editor of BATTLE and PRACTICAL WARGAMER he set a standard that few could match today, and I have more articles from those magazine in my clippings collection than from any of the newer publications.
His book were also inspirational, and I was honoured when he gave me a signed copy of his last one when I visited him a couple of years ago. The Napoleonic figures he passed on to me now form a significant part of my collection, and were featured in my PORTABLE NAPOLEONIC WARGAME book.
He will be sorely missed by those wargamers who knew him, and I pass on my deepest condolences to his family.