Innehållsförteckning för December 2022 från Miniature Wargames

I’ll confess that I’ve had a quite a hard month getting this issue together, mostly caused by personal health reasons. I wanted to get to visit later incarnation of the Partizan show but – sadly – I was just too ill, although I did manage to get to SELWG with my camera which was excellent and great compensation. It was nice meeting up again with gamers and just shooting the breeze (maybe I should consider a more incognito approach to shows, perhaps some sort of mask?). But – joking aside – there is a SELWG show report in this issue though what else do we have for the readers? Well there’s some mass Napoleonic rules to try out from Arthur Harman plus a fun trip to the Back of Beyond…

Sally 4th have been very busy. Also out from them this month are some new Royal Marine figures in their 1704 Pattern Uniform and Equipment. They come in a variety of poses and indeed hats (well, the officer has a tricorn) and they are suitable for deployment everywhere from Gibraltar to the Caribbean. Which means that – amongst other scenarios – they’ll go very well with the Swashbuckling Adventure range that Sally 4th already make which is chock full of suitable male and female pirates and other ‘timber-shivering’ ship’s crew types. The Marines are around 33mm tall to the top of the head (more in the mitre caps, obviously) and are well proportioned and nicely detailed. The models are £3 each or a set of six different ones are £15.…

◗ ospreypublishing.com ◗ £13.99 Osprey have just released a new work on the articulated plate armour worn by Roman legionaries (usually called – by modern historians – ‘segmentata’). M.C. Bishop, the author, is an authority on arms and armour of the era and has written extensively including for the Osprey Weapon series and Roman Shields for Osprey Elite. Known from the reliefs on Trajan’s Column, lorica segmentata evaded successful attempts to reconstruct it until 20th century archaeology revealed how it operated. The book is well illustrated by Giuseppe Rava and covers all of the usual variations with the six halves of cuirasses in a chest at Corbridge in 1964 along with the discovery of a complete set of this armour at Kalkriese. A fair amount of extrapolation and – via…

A few issues back, Paul sent in some shots to Community Corner an we said then that we’d like to showcase some of his work in the magazine. Well – even though he chose particularly small models – It’s only now we have been able to squeeze them in! So: take it away Mr Mackay. Ed. SETUP I thought I would offer a few thoughts about how I painted these Warlord Epic scale figures that you might find of interest. For me good lighting (day glow light bulbs) and – at times – my strongest magnifying lenses were my friends! I often get comments on social media about painting these figures along the lines of my eyesight is no longer good enough for painting figures this small. The truth –…

Prit Buttar Osprey (2022) £30 464 pages (hardback) ISBN:9781472851819 Another masterly account of the Eastern Front by this author – in this case, the severe attritional fighting in the Rzhev salient around 150 miles west of Moscow, and nicknamed ‘the meat grinder’ by Soviet frontline troops. This was no fast-moving offensive: the Soviets feared a renewed German strike at Moscow, and were determined to crush the German forces and (ideally) create a breakthrough. The result, including the final ill-judged Operation Mars (concurrent with Operation Uranus to encircle Stalingrad), was a staggering level of Soviet losses mainly through repetitive frontal assaults on German positions. Both sides reached near-breaking point, with battalions reduced to company or even platoon strength. The author writes superbly, with a good blend of diary and archive…

Robert Forsyth Osprey (2022) £15.99 96 pages (softback) ISBN:9781472836380 This is a rare personal foray into aviation technology, so please excuse the lack of analysis below… The Ju188 was a direct descendant of the Ju88, and came into service in August 1943. It was a multi-role aircraft: dive bomber, level bomber, torpedo bomber (notably against the Arctic convoys), reconnaissance, and covert operations such as the dropping of agents behind enemy lines. At one stage, agents were dropped in threes in a bizarre under-wing canister-type closed conveyance with parachutes – one can only imagine the feelings of the agents during flight… (you first! Ed.) The author writes well and with authority, supplemented with good-quality photos and an impressive set of 24 full-colour side profiles of the variants. This is not…

This month we spoke to Paul Cooke of Pandaemonium Miniatures. He sent in some fine shots of a scenery build so we just had to ask him how it was done: “This is a Wizard’s Tower, designed as a centrepiece for The Shattered Crown by Dead Earth Games. Like a lot of my scenery, it’s really inspired by the building tutorials in ‘90s White Dwarf. “It is predominantly scratch built, though I have included some pre-made elements, notably the cast resin Stone Hands set from Bad Squiddo Games, some cast resin dungeon doors from Zealot Miniatures, a few cast resin chimneys and a candle from Spellcrow, plus some 3d printed crates, barrels and pottery from Iron Gate Scenery. I began with a very basic sketch and developed the design as…

◗ anschlusswargames.com ◗ £21.50 The Forgotten Battles: Raids in the European Theatre 1939-1945 is the latest volume from Anschluss Publications in their interesting selection of books covering WWII scenarios which can be used by anyone who wants to game the period and with whatever rules system they fancy, although it’s fair to say that they are slanted towards their own War on the Ground system. There are 16 scenarios in this module, suitable for use from Platoon to Brigade level. They are presented in chronological order and several of them are linkedup to enable mini campaigns to be completed. There are ‘Special Rules’ to enhance the playability and accuracy of each scenario. Some of the individual scenarios are complex and challenging and have included new campaigns and units not used…

◗ modiphius.net ◗ £45 It’s fair to say that the editor of this magazine is a bit of a Star Trek fanboy. So – having established this – bear that in mind when you read this review. Modiphius Entertainment have been supporting their Star Trek Adventures Roleplaying System with some excellent figures, floor plans and adventures for a few years now and the latest tome to beam in is a biggie: although a PDF version is available, the print version is 250 or so pages of beautifully illustrated hardback and that’s what is being looked at. Front (cover) and centre is a shot of the 1701(A) in space dock so that’s a good start but the book covers a whole lot more. There is an extensive discussion of Starfleet’s history,…

Quintin Barry Helion & Company Ltd (2022) £29.95 233 pages (hardback) ISBN:9781914059926 This scholarly book (subtitled How the Industrial Revolution Changed the Face of Naval Warfare) is well referenced with footnotes, which sets the Battle of Lissa into context by covering the transition from sail to ironclad screw ships. It does this by tracing technological developments in the Royal Navy with reference to other nations where they pioneered change and the experience of combat, especially during the Crimea and American Civil War. It is quite one of the best books I have read on this subject. This account takes up half the book covering everything from paddle wheelers, screw ships, armour, and guns. This sets the background for an account of the unification of Italy, the development of the…

Ewan Carmichael Helion (2021) £35 265 pages (softback) ISBN:9781913336585 The battle of Minden in 1759 is, with its counterpart battle of Quebec, probably most famous for the solidity and firepower of the British infantry – most notably, the extraordinary tactical shock of infantry in line repelling successive waves of French cavalry. However, it was also an example of operational flair (or possibly recklessness?) by the Allied commander, Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, whose ploys drew the Franco-Saxon army from a secure position out into open combat. The author gives a nicely balanced appraisal of the events and manoeuvres preceding and after the battle, plus a detailed review of the battle itself, complete with some helpful maps and orders of battle (the latter going down to regimental level, although generally without…

Massimo Predonzani & Vincenzo Alberici Pagan Helion & Company (2021) £19.95 150 pages (softback) ISBN:9781913118808 The first part of this book is devoted to the three phases of the war: the League of Cambrai against Venice in the Battle of Agnadello in 1509; the Holy League against France and the Battle of Ravenna in 1512; and the Swiss against Venice and France at the Battle of Marignano in 1515. The opening chapter explains the political situation in Italy after 1495, assisted by a map of North Italy. It is followed by an account of the League of Cambrai and events prior to the Battle of Agnadello. The narrative of Agnadello contains four half-page diagrams showing the phases of the battle and is illustrated by three modern photographs of the…

Nic Fields Osprey (2022) £15.99 96 pages (softback) ISBN:9781472849045 The author has produced a thoroughly researched profile of this humiliating defeat of one of the Triumvirate and the loss of most of a Roman army. He combines a knowledge of the classical sources (as usual, few in number and reliability) with a grasp of the military issues at both strategic and tactical level. The first half of the book describes each side’s leader (Crassus versus Surena), military systems – including the qualities of the Parthian bow, ammunition resupply, the likely campaign strengths, and so on – and the political background to the campaign. The battle itself is covered in around twenty pages, with a concluding pair of chapters analysing the campaign and assessing the aftermath impact. Some of the…

Charles Stephenson Pen and Sword Military (2020) £25.00 320 pages (hardback) ISBN:9781526783615 Subtitled The Fleet That Had To Hide this is a fascinating account of how the Royal Navy went from the most ‘admired navy in the world’ after WWI to a position whereby its weakness both numerically, technologically and doctrinally obliged it to avoid combat when faced by the Japanese Navy. It is well referenced, covering the naval treaties and the strategic challenges as well as politics, inter-service rivalry, diplomacy and potential espionage in the period leading up to war against Japan, in a pleasing narrative style. It recounts the work and operations of Britain’s Eastern Fleet in the Indian Ocean until it was re-organised in 1944. Specifically, it narrates how Admiral Sommerville, starved of resources, successfully defended…