Innehållsförteckning för January 2022 från Miniature Wargames

WELCOME A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF One of the things I love about wargaming is the way that gamers take a perfectly acceptable set of rules for one period or style; look at them and think “I know: let me turn this into something else!” I saw loads of that sort of creativity present at two shows – SELWG and Salute – both of which are featured in this issue, but you’ll also find a fine example of that kind of ingenuity in this months magazine with Punic Alternative. Of course that extends to the crafting component of our hobby and The Dead are Following and French Descent are two great examples of modifying figures and scenery by masters of their craft. As I write this month’s editorial…

ANYARAL Twilight fantasy Anyaral is an interesting game which we saw at Salute 2021. Set in a twilight world it’s a fantasy miniatures skirmish system with its own specific figure range. It avoids the ‘normal’ races derived from the works of Tolkien so Twilight has a complex background in which creatures and cultures have evolved, each in their own way. Lots of the models seem to have a reptilian vibe to them which looks fun. If you want to try the rules, you can download the first edition for free from the website and these will give a good introduction to the basics After that they offer two sizes of Starter Sets (starting at £70), each of which include the main rulebook, a couple of forces plus dice and other…

BILLS, BOWS & BLOODSHED ebay £12.50 I picked up a copy of a rules set at Salute called Bills, Bows& Bloodshed. Written and produced by Barry Slemmings, this is a self published item that – in many ways – harks back to the history of wargaming, in more than one sense. Aimed at allowing play in the Wars of the Roses, they are the fruits of fifty years or Mr Slemmings’ experience as a gamer and member of the Lance and Longbow Society along with much research and are born out of his dissatisfaction with the organisation style and ‘disconnect’ (his words) of many available rule sets that cover the period. This edition (it’s actually version 2.2) does not require base changes if one already plays either DBA or Bloody…

COMMAND DECISION COUNTER PUNCH St Lambert-sur-Dives: North-west France 1944 Words and photos by Jon Sutherland & Joe Dever Each Command Decision aims to offer a series of playable options in timeless military scenarios. Command Decision is designed so you can read the situation and figure out your own command decisions if you were leading the troops on the ground. You can either work through the various options or use the mechanics to create the precise circumstances of the table top engagement. The scenarios may have particular historical themes and settings, but you can easily adapt the mechanics to suit your own preferences and collections. This game can be used as a follow up from last month’s Falaise Conundrum. SITUATION REPORT The Canadian 4th Armored Division under Major General George Kitching…

RECCE BOOK REVIEWS FOR THE DISCERNING WARGAMER THE RECKONING Prit Buttar Osprey (2021 reprint of 2020 hardback) £14.99 496 pages (softback) ISBN:9781472837912 This is the follow-up to the author’s ‘Retribution’, this time detailing the Soviet 1944 offensives in Southern Russia and Romania. It is the same blend of primarily operational and tactical accounts, offering a wealth of potential wargame scenarios: the reconquest of the Crimea (amphibious and land actions); the several encirclements of German corps; the maskirovka (surprise and deception measures) plus the actual operations in the summer offensive; and so much more. Just to mention one scenario to whet your appetite: the January 1944 encirclement at Kirovograd, where the Germans ran a large supply convoy into the city before it was surrounded, involving an escorting recce battalion plus…

ARRIBA ESPANA! INCLUDING THE PORTABLE SPANISH CIVIL WAR WARGAME RULES Bob Cordery Eglinton Books (2021) £5.99 from Amazon UK; Kindle edition £2.99 100 pages (softback) ISBN:979-8531945587 The latest publication by Bob Cordery consists of several sets of wargame rules for the Spanish Civil War. I must declare an interest: I proofread a draft of the text and suggested that the scenarios given for the Portable Spanish Civil War rules would be even more useful if ideas were also included for converting them for use without grid areas for the different versions of Arriba Espana! The first, Arriba Espana!, is a slightly revised version of rules Bob originally published in 1989 for battles with 1:200 scale figures, in which each base represents a company, with amended movement and fire tables…

GERMAN TANKS IN NORMANDY; & PANZERGRENADIER Steven Zaloga; and Thomas Anderson Osprey (2021) £11.99; and £30 48 pages (softback); and 304 pages (hardback) ISBN:9781472843203 & 9781472841797 Two fine authors: two fine titles… Both books are packed with useful tables for the wargamer. The first title has a good summary of German armoured endeavours in Normandy, plus photographs, but the main strength is in the tables of equipment holdings, losses, etc at divisional level and above, month-by-month – excellent material for an operational-level wargame or a campaign, if you wish to reflect the true state of the main German forces rather than their authorised strength. The author brings out the fact that the Normandy front at its peak had more German armour than the whole of the Eastern Front –…

FORWARD OBSERVER News, previews and community submissions from the wargaming world NEW OSPREYS Wars of the Republic & Frostgrave Osprey have two new titles to be released by the end of 2021: Wars of the Republic is a set of wargaming rules covering the wars of Republican Rome, from the First Samnite War to the end of the Gallic Wars. By Eric Farrington, they are designed as 28mm (but flexible), with no re-basing needed for troops you may already own. They use D6 and D3 and have a five phase turn: Points allocation (“Calculate Commander’s Gaze”); Bid for Initiative; Activations; Resolve Melees; and End. Although the book is 60 odd pages long, the core rules cover twenty pages plus there’s special and advanced rules then battle types and campaigns, plus six…

COMMUNITY CORNER LORD OF THE RINGS This months Community Corner talks to Mike Peters whose big passion is creating book-accurate Lord of the Rings models for wargaming: “I first read Lord of the Rings when I was about 11 years old. I was instantly hooked and have been ever since. I have always wanted to create the forces from the books in the way that they appeared in my imagination. Originally, back in the day, this involved Airfix figures, converted with drawing pin shields and sewing needle spears and painted with Humbrol enamel paints. Recently with the advent of new, multipart plastics it has become easier to achieve what I envisaged. “Like every other Tolkien fan I was excited at the prospect of seeing my dreams realised when Peter Jackson…

BAYONETS, SHAKOS & TOMAHAWKS £9 We have some of the next wave of Silver Bayonet figures along with a similar new release from the Muskets & Tomahawks/Shakos ranges from North Star. And – as they’re all ‘sort-of Napoleonic’, let’s look at both together! First off I’ll deal with the latter set: themed for the French Retreat from Moscow, they are half a dozen, fairly chunky looking figures (on account, of course, of wearing at least one overcoat and a cover for their headgear). All are at the advance or firing from the shoulder positions and all six are unique sculpts and they fit together well as a unit. All of the men are bearded and suitably bedraggled (it’s been a long walk, after all). All are about 31mm to…

FIGHT FOR A THRONE Christopher Duffy Helion (2021 reprint) £35 678 pages (softback) ISBN:9781914059155 This is that ‘one in a hundred’ book: an outstanding campaign analysis, covering all significant historical, military, political, social, economic and even legal elements of the Jacobite 1745 ‘rebellion’ and its after-effects. The author is a renowned commentator on 18th Century wars, and writes well, including a welcome dry sense of humour. His maps are self-drawn, with a distinct and attractive style. Curiously, orders of battle are often skimpy or absent, but are generally available via websites. You are treated to a handsome 82 maps and diagrams, including eight on the weather patterns during the campaign (from British naval logs). To give you an idea of detail, Culloden and its immediate preliminaries occupy around 55…

REVIEWS THE FINNISH-SOVIET WINTER WAR 1939-40 David Murphy Osprey (2021) £15.99 96 pages (softback) ISBN:9781472843968 This war has often been termed a ‘David and Goliath’ conflict, with an under-equipped Finnish army (mainly reservist) versus large Soviet forces supported by ample tanks and aircraft. However, as the author shows, the terrain and climate had an overwhelming impact in playing to the Finnish strengths of an aggressive defence supported by the fixed fortifications of the Mannerheim Line. As usual, the Campaign Series format is: background; opposing forces, commanders and plans; and campaign account. The contrast between the natural Finnish affinity with operating conditions, and the raw suffering of the ill-supplied Soviet forces in temperatures of-20C or more, is marked – amplified by the sudden swift close-range attacks on Soviet roadbound columns,…

US AIRCRAFT CARRIERS 1939-45 Ingo Bauernfeind Casemate Publishers Ltd. (2021) £39.99 240 pages (hardback) ISBN:9781612009346 There are many books on American aircraft carriers so what makes this one worth its price? First thing to note is that it is from the ‘illustrated series’ and is printed on high-quality paper which enhances the many photographs. Every fleet and escort carrier class has at least one picture complemented by others of flight deck operations and aircraft. There is some text giving a brief operational history for each ship and technical details of each class. A chapter on carrier aircraft which flew from the ships during the war is interesting, but the author misses the opportunity of researching the Carrier Air Groups associated with each of the carriers. There is an interesting…

THE LAST WORD ROB BURMAN Community Manager at Mantic Games If someone had told me when I first got into this hobby that solo play would become such an important aspect of miniature wargaming, I probably would have dropped my lead minis in shock and slowly walked out of the door. After all, isn’t a huge part of wargaming that sense of satisfaction as you stare across the table and watch as the telltale embers of enthusiasm in your opponent’s eyes are extinguished by your cunning, tactical prowess? Or perhaps that’s just me. However, what the past year and a bit has certainly showed me is just how rewarding and important solo play can be. While we were in lockdown, I turned to all-manner of alternatives to standard wargaming. I…

MOONSTONE Whimsical on stilts Goblin King Games are a new company that make Moonstone. It’s a whimsical fantasy skirmish game for 2-4 players leading characters across the dark lands in search of eponymous Moonstones. Players compete to collect as many stones as possible before the breaking of the dawn, when combat usually ensues pursuant of such a tempting treasure. A two player starter set will cost £65 and it was debuted at Salute. The system looks interesting with cards featuring heavily and it features some unique approaches to strategic and dynamic combat. Moonstone’s setting is very heavily based on fairytales and European folklore and it features some stunning sculpts for miniatures which include Humans, Goblins, Gnomes, Faeries, Giants and Trolls! Go to moonstonethegame.com…

THE WARGAMERS ANNUAL ebay £17.50 It’s the festive season again so it must be about time for another Wargamer’s Annual from Charles S Grant. This edition has the usual excellent selection of articles (over a dozen) and include the following: The Making of a Tabletop Mysore Army; The Search for Eldorado; Simple Combat (by Alan Tidmarsh who has written on the subject in this very magazine); Neither Biting nor Chariot (a piece on WWII landings); The Seven Years War: A Trial by Combat (where Angus Konstram discusses the benefits and advantages of differing rule systems that his group tried out for the period); Hodge’s Scout (a French Indian Wars solo game system); and Gettysburg in the Gazebo (playing a big ACW in the garden following the covid situation). There was…

PACIFIC CARRIER WAR Mark Stille Osprey (2021) £30 304 pages (hardback) ISBN:9781472826336 Carrier warfare in the Pacific has always had a fascination: a new tactical and strategic weapons system, but also a myriad factors such as training (the initial Japanese aircrew were reckoned the best in the world), differing tactical concepts, weather, reconnaissance, industrial might, and just plain luck. The author covers each of the five main carrier ‘battles’ – Pearl Harbor, Coral Sea, Midway, Santa Cruz, and the Philippine Sea – plus supporting chapters on men and equipment. Maps are clear, as are the (300+?) photographs: many of the latter show the nature of carrier combat, often in close-up. The text is both riveting and informative, including helpful Orbat charts for each engagement with numbers of aircraft by…

TULLAHOMA David A Powell and Eric J Wittenberg Savas Beatie, 2020 £27.50 ISBN:1611215048 The Tullahoma Campaign has been largely overlooked in the History of the American Civil War. This is unjustified, given its significance; but it happened as Gettysburg was being fought in the East and Vicksburg was being surrendered in the West. Its importance lay in pinning the South’s second largest army, commanded by Braxton Bragg, from affecting the outcome of either of the above campaigns as well as in winning back most of Tennessee for the Union. By the end, Bragg’s forces were prised from their strong central position. And this was done with a casualty bill for the victorious Union forces that was uniquely low. The campaign began with a stalemate. Bragg and his Southerners were…

THE PAULISTA WAR (VOL 2) Javier Garcia de Gabiola Helion (2021) £19.95 94 pages (softback) ISBN:9781913336370 Volume One came out about a year ago, as reported in Recce; this second volume covers mainly the southern areas of operations. This civil war in Brazil in 1932 is almost certainly a little-known war but is well-presented here, including some notable ‘firsts’ for the Americas – first aircraft shot down in air combats, and night bombing operations. There is a strong similarity with the later Spanish Civil War in terms of the mixture of troop qualities, the equipment and ammunition shortages, and so on. As with Volume One, the quality is excellent. The 1930’s era photographs are surprisingly clear, with many closeups of men and equipment. There are 18 maps – mainly…