H.G. Wells: Wargamer Extraordinaire

Games

Seeking a more structured way to play war games, Wells wrote Floor Games (1911) followed by Little Wars (1913). Little Wars is recognised today as the first recreational wargame and Wells is regarded by gamers and hobbyists as "the Father of Miniature War Gaming."[13]

And if there were only some way of contriving that a state or an army should be made up of lovers and their loves, they would be the very best governors of their own city, abstaining from all dishonour, and emulating one another in honour; and when fighting at each other's side, although a mere handful, they would overcome the world. For what lover would not choose rather to be seen by all mankind than by his beloved, either when abandoning his post or throwing away his arms? He would be ready to die a thousand deaths rather than endure this. Or who would desert his beloved or fail him in the hour of danger?

—[3]

arsan


Yes, ancient Greece look like a good candidate...
But better still than Alexander... how a bout their enemies, the Thebans??
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_Band_of_Thebes

"The Sacred Band of Thebes (ancient Greek: 'Ιερός Λόχος τῶν Θηβῶν Hierós Lókhos tón Thebón) was a troop of picked soldiers, consisting of 150 age-structured Brave couples, which formed the elite force of the Theban army in the 4th century BC.[1] It was organised by the Theban commander Gorgidas in 378 BC and played a crucial role in the Battle of Leuctra. It was completely annihilated, however, by Alexander the Great under Philip II of Macedon in the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC."

Plutarch records that the Sacred Band was made up of male couples, the rationale being that lovers could fight more fiercely and cohesively than strangers with no ardent bonds. According to Plutarch's Life of Pelopidas[2], the inspiration for the Band's formation came from Plato's Symposium, wherein the character Phaedrus remarks,

And if there were only some way of contriving that a state or an army should be made up of lovers and their loves, they would be the very best governors of their own city, abstaining from all dishonour, and emulating one another in honour; and when fighting at each other's side, although a mere handful, they would overcome the world. For what lover would not choose rather to be seen by all mankind than by his beloved, either when abandoning his post or throwing away his arms? He would be ready to die a thousand deaths rather than endure this. Or who would desert his beloved or fail him in the hour of danger?

—[3]

The Sacred Band originally was formed of picked men in couples, each lover and beloved selected from the ranks of the existing Theban citizen-army. The pairs consisted of the older "heniochoi", or charioteers, and the younger "paraibatai", or companions, who were all housed and trained at the city's expense

Private life

H.G.Wells' Home, Maybury Hill.


In 1891 Wells married his cousin Isabel Mary Wells, but left her in 1894 for one of his students, Amy Catherine Robbins, whom he married in 1895. He had two sons with Amy: George Philip (known as 'Gip') in 1901 and Frank Richard in 1903.[9]
During his marriage to Amy, Wells had liaisons with a number of women, including the American birth-control activist Margaret Sanger[10] and novelist Elizabeth von Arnim. In 1909 he had a daughter, Anna-Jane, with the writer Amber Reeves,[9] whose parents, William and Maud Pember Reeves, he had met through the Fabian Society; and in 1914, a son, Anthony West, by the novelist and feminist Rebecca West, twenty-six years his junior.[11] In spite of Amy Catherine's knowledge of some of these affairs, she remained married to Wells until her death in 1927.[9] Wells also had liaisons with Odette Keun and Moura Budberg.
"I was never a great amorist," Wells wrote in Experiment in Autobiography (1934), "though I have loved several people very deeply."

 
"though I have loved several people very deeply."