Jack Scruby
Encyclopedia
John Edwin "Jack" Scruby (1916 - September 1988) was a manufacturer of military miniatures whose efforts led to a rebirth of the miniature wargaming
hobby in the late 1950s.
in 1955 and selling them from his shop in central California. Scruby made innovative use of RTV rubber molds. In 1958 Scruby began selling figures of his own design which he sold for 15 cents apiece as late as 1962. In 1963 he began using the 50/50 tin/lead alloy that would remain the industry standard into the 1990s.
In 1956, he organized the first US (and perhaps first anywhere) miniatures convention in California, and in 1957, he launched War Game Digest, the first publication devoted to military miniatures gaming (initially with 50 subscribers). Published quarterly, War Game Digest became the publication around which the early miniatures hobby coalesced. In 1962, Scruby began to publish Table Top Talk, intended as a promotional publication for his lines of miniatures and sets of miniatures rules, and ceased publishing War Game Digest in 1963.
Jack Scruby was also a founder of a miniature wargaming club in 1971 along with Robert (Bob) Casey, Stephen (Steve) R. Casey, Elliot M. Derman, Michael (Mike)W. Frank, Raymond (Ray) James Jackson, Wayne Ludvickson, David Rusk, Ronald (Ron) Vaughan, and Harold (Hal) Windell. This Club was very informal and had no name until the meeting on October 7, 1972, when on a motion by Ray Jackson, his proposal to call the Club the San Joaquin Valley War Gaming Association (SJVWGA), was unanimously accepted. The Club then became a formal organization with dues and officers, but no written BY-Laws. The SJVWGA on the same date became a chapter of the now defunct Spartan International. The San Joaquin Valley War Gaming Association still exists to this day as a subdivision of the War Gaming Society (WGS).
From the late 1950s until October 1973, Jack Scruby's miniatures business was in Tulare County, specifically in or near Visalia
. Then he moved to Cambria
in San Luis Obispo County (the California coast near Hearst Castle
) where he opened a retail shop, called like his mail-order business, The Soldier Factory. It was there that Charles Kuralt
and his CBS On The Road crew came in August 1977 to film a segment for the CBS Evening News.
In 1975 Scruby introduced a line of fantasy figures using the 30mm scale advocated by Gary Gygax
in Chainmail
and appropriate for use with Dungeons & Dragons
.
Miniature wargaming
Miniature wargaming is a form of wargaming that incorporates miniature figures, miniature armor and modeled terrain as the main components of play...
hobby in the late 1950s.
Scruby and Wargaming
To meet the needs of wargamers for inexpensive but historically accurate miniatures, Scruby began casting figures made of type metalType metal
In printing, type metal refers to the metal alloys used in traditional typefounding and hot metal typesetting. Lead is the main constituent of these alloys...
in 1955 and selling them from his shop in central California. Scruby made innovative use of RTV rubber molds. In 1958 Scruby began selling figures of his own design which he sold for 15 cents apiece as late as 1962. In 1963 he began using the 50/50 tin/lead alloy that would remain the industry standard into the 1990s.
In 1956, he organized the first US (and perhaps first anywhere) miniatures convention in California, and in 1957, he launched War Game Digest, the first publication devoted to military miniatures gaming (initially with 50 subscribers). Published quarterly, War Game Digest became the publication around which the early miniatures hobby coalesced. In 1962, Scruby began to publish Table Top Talk, intended as a promotional publication for his lines of miniatures and sets of miniatures rules, and ceased publishing War Game Digest in 1963.
Jack Scruby was also a founder of a miniature wargaming club in 1971 along with Robert (Bob) Casey, Stephen (Steve) R. Casey, Elliot M. Derman, Michael (Mike)W. Frank, Raymond (Ray) James Jackson, Wayne Ludvickson, David Rusk, Ronald (Ron) Vaughan, and Harold (Hal) Windell. This Club was very informal and had no name until the meeting on October 7, 1972, when on a motion by Ray Jackson, his proposal to call the Club the San Joaquin Valley War Gaming Association (SJVWGA), was unanimously accepted. The Club then became a formal organization with dues and officers, but no written BY-Laws. The SJVWGA on the same date became a chapter of the now defunct Spartan International. The San Joaquin Valley War Gaming Association still exists to this day as a subdivision of the War Gaming Society (WGS).
From the late 1950s until October 1973, Jack Scruby's miniatures business was in Tulare County, specifically in or near Visalia
Visalia, California
Visalia is a Central California city situated in the heart of California’s agricultural San Joaquin Valley, approximately southeast of San Francisco and north of Los Angeles...
. Then he moved to Cambria
Cambria
Cambria is the classical name for Wales, being the Latinised form of the Welsh name Cymru . The etymology of Cymry "the Welsh", Cimbri, and Cwmry "Cumbria", improbably connected to the Biblical Gomer and the "Cimmerians" by 17th-century celticists, is now known to come from Old Welsh combrog...
in San Luis Obispo County (the California coast near Hearst Castle
Hearst Castle
Hearst Castle is a National Historic Landmark mansion located on the Central Coast of California, United States. It was designed by architect Julia Morgan between 1919 and 1947 for newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, who died in 1951. In 1957, the Hearst Corporation donated the property to...
) where he opened a retail shop, called like his mail-order business, The Soldier Factory. It was there that Charles Kuralt
Charles Kuralt
Charles Kuralt was an American journalist. He was most widely known for his long career with CBS, first for his "On the Road" segments on The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, and later as the first anchor of CBS News Sunday Morning, a position he held for fifteen years.Kuralt's "On the Road"...
and his CBS On The Road crew came in August 1977 to film a segment for the CBS Evening News.
In 1975 Scruby introduced a line of fantasy figures using the 30mm scale advocated by Gary Gygax
Gary Gygax
Ernest Gary Gygax was an American writer and game designer best known for co-creating the pioneering role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons with Dave Arneson. Gygax is generally acknowledged as the father of role-playing games....
in Chainmail
Chainmail (game)
Chainmail is a medieval miniatures wargame created by Gary Gygax and Jeff Perren. Gygax developed the game with fellow Lake Geneva Tactical Studies Association member Perren, a hobby-shop owner with whom he had become friendly, and the game was first published in 1971...
and appropriate for use with Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
.
Periodicals
- War Game Digest (1957-1963, 1971)
- Table Top Talk (1962-1967)
- Miniatures Parade (1967-?)
- The Soldier Factory News (1973-1974)
Rulebooks
- All About Wargames (1957)
- The Strategic-Tactical War Game (1961)
- Fire and Charge (1964)