<P> In 1955 Jack Scruby started producing miniatures using RTV rubber molds, which greatly reduced their expense, and he turned this into a business (Scruby Miniatures) in 1957 and started publishing War Game Digest . It, and its successors, put fellow miniatures enthusiasts in touch with each other, and provided a forum for ideas and locally produced rules to be shared with the rest of the hobby . </P> <P> Around the same time in the UK Donald Featherstone began writing an influential series of books on wargaming, which represented the first mainstream published contribution to wargaming since H.G Wells . Titles included: Wargames, Advanced Wargames, Solo Wargaming, Wargame Campaigns, Battles with Model Tanks, Skirmish Wargaming . Such was the popularity of such titles that other authors were able to have published wargaming titles . This output of published wargaming titles from British authors coupled with the emergence at the same time of several manufacturers providing suitable wargame miniatures (e.g. Miniature Figurines, Hinchliffe, Peter Laing, Garrisson, Skytrex, Davco, Heroic & Ros) was responsible for the huge upsurge of popularity of the hobby in the late 1960s and into the 1970s . </P> <P> Meanwhile, the first modern mass - market wargame, based on cardboard counters and maps, was designed and published by Charles S. Roberts in 1952 . After nearly breaking even on Tactics, he decided to found the Avalon Hill Game Company as a publisher of intelligent games for adults, and is called "The father of board wargaming". The modern commercial board wargaming industry is considered to have begun with the publication of Tactics II in 1958, and the founding of The General Magazine by Avalon Hill in 1964 . </P> <P> In 1959, Diplomacy was released commercially after being developed by Allan B. Calhamer in 1954 . Unlike war games to date, it focused primary attention on the dynamics of alliances and betrayals, and avoided the use of dice or other sources of random effects . It was played by John F. Kennedy and Henry Kissinger and the latter has said it was his favorite game . </P>

What kind of game is age of war