The Independent Wargames Group

 Obituary: GEORGE GUSH 2^nd August 1935- 8^th June 2026.

 

I felt it incumbent upon me to post an obituary regarding George Gush who died on the 8^th June 2026 aged 89 years. There was a brief obituary in one of the wargames magazines which I really felt didn’t do George justice.

Gush was a huge influence on John and me as we discovered Renaissance wargaming in the early 1970’s. He wrote several wargaming books, all were brilliant reads crammed full of information and written in a style one rarely sees nowadays.

There was very little information to be had back then, and also very few figure ranges.

But then George Gush wrote and published Renaissance Armies in 1975, a wonderful book crammed full of information about the various armies of the period 1480- 1650.

I remember buying this book at the old Wargamer’s Den in Durham city, and because I didn’t have very much cash, I was ticking on the purchase with Derek Sharmen, paying the princely sum of £1.00 every two weeks.

The book was based on a series of articles that Gush had written for Airfix Magazine in 1973. I later bought the series and discovered even more information about the period.The book became my renaissance bible.

 

He also wrote and published wargame rules for the period. These rules published by the Warmes Research Group, were innovative for their time, and John and I embraced them. We used the rules for many years. One thing I learned in that period, never fight the Swiss, a B Class Fanatic in armour.

George Gush was a historian who was head of department at West Kent College. It went without saying that the information he produced was first-rate and well researched.

Gush also co-wrote a Guide to Wargaming with Andrew Finch, published in 1980. In its pages was the history of wargaming, rules for wargaming and information about tactics.

 

Gush also co-wrote an Airfix Guide with Martin Windrow about the English Civil War. Again, this book is a classic and highly recommended.

Gush was also a member of the Society of Ancients and became one of their committee members and occasionally wrote articles for Slingshot.

He also wrote articles for Miniature Wargames and Battle magazine.

Not satisfied with that, he founded the Tunbridge Wells wargames club and ran it for many years.

Sadly, he disappeared from the wargaming firmament in the 2000’s but clearly continued in the hobby he helped establish and support. I suppose he felt he had done enough to establish the hobby. Gush was extremely important to me as I embraced wargaming; he established my love of Renaissance history and warfare, and the fact that I still take his books out of my bookcase to re-read is a testament to his influence.

I was very lucky to discover that parts of Gush's wargame collection were recently for sale on E Bay and I was able to buy a unit of Wallachian delli by Gush, which John very kindly rebased. 

The delli are one of my favourite Hinchliffe Renaissance figures, and being owned by George Gush makes them extremely precious to me. 

So thank you, George, for the many years you devoted to wargaming and renaissance research in particular.