Innehållsförteckning för March 2023 från Miniature Wargames

◗ caliverbooks.com ◗ £42.50 As you may see from this review and the one on the previous page, Caliver Books have gone all out on the Boxer Rebellion. The Dragon Subdued is the third volume of the full, limited edition guide to said Rebellion. Written by Mike Blake and Chris Swan it is 260 pages in A4 format and packed with colour illustrations, especially uniform details. It deals in great detail with the Russians, US, and Germans for the first 150 pages and then – in a section called Other Nations – covers in lesser detail the forces of Belgium, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Denmark and Korea. Although these last six didn’t actually take part in the conflict they might well have done, given a suitable opportunity, so they would…

The most important of Operation Ladbroke’s five objectives was the Ponte Grande Bridge (code name ‘Waterloo’), the destruction of which would delay the British 8th Army’s swift capture of the key port of Syracuse. Ultimately, it would also hamper its advance onto the Plain of Catania via the Malati (as featured In MW 467) and Primasole Bridges. The Italian defenders of the bridge were few and the British 1st Air Landing Brigade was to carry out a glider-borne couple de main in overwhelming force. Eight Waco and Horsa gliders would deposit men from the 2nd Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment within its vicinity at night, a much larger force than the one that famously captured Pegasus Bridge in 1944. Unfortunately, the attempt was doomed from the start because precision glider landings…

Last month Mr Wheeler introduced us to scuba and sub spy shenanigans. This month he covers the rules!. Ed. DAVY JONES’S LOCKER In part one of this article, I mentioned that (as I previously alluded to) that I never had any scuba divers for my childhood games, except that is for a couple from Britain’s. Those World War Two era combat swimmers on a “chariot”, saw a lot of use in the bath! Having now escaped the limitations of childhood wargaming, I can now present my own take on a scuba game, minus the bath-tub! Prepare decks for action! ACTIVATION The game relies on a card driven mechanic for activation with a few twists from specific “traits” allocated to characters. The basic mechanic is entirely robust and provides some subtle…

◗ Robert Forczyk ◗ Osprey (2022) ◗ £15.99 ◗ 96 pages (softback) ◗ ISBN:9781472842732 ◗ ospreypublishing.com The author’s trilogy on the Stalingrad campaign completes with this account of the Soviet counter-offensives and encirclement of the German 6th Army, the severe fighting to drive off the German relief efforts, and the destruction and capture of almost 300,000 German and Allied troops in Stalingrad. The German High Command was well aware of the possibility of Soviet attacks into the long flanks of 6th Army, but believed that they could hold them off or, if encircled, supply them by air (despite Luftwaffe advice to the contrary) until relief forces arrived. The Soviets choreographed successive hammer-blows into the Rumanian, Italian and Hungarian flankguards; they fought well, but were heavily outmatched in numbers and equipment.…

◗ David Clammer ◗ Helion & Company (2022) ◗ £25.00 ◗ 254 pages (softback) ◗ ISBN:9781915113900 ◗ helion.co.uk The women who accompanied the British Army on its campaigns during what was then called the Great War with France have not been remembered in the popular imagination as has the Crimean War heroine Mary Seacole, although they played an equal – or even more – significant role in maintaining the men’s morale and health. A splendid life-size model of Mrs Bridget ‘Biddy’ Skiddy carrying her husband Dan on her back, when he was sick of the ague and could not march (based upon her description in the memoirs of Ensign George Bell of the 34th Foot) used to be on display in the National Army Museum but was given away when…

Join over 120 traders and the community gathering at ExCeL London to celebrate all things wargaming. NEW to this year, enjoy live painting zones as well as live Q&As over in Conversation Corner with authors, painters, rules writers and a whole host of other individuals leading the industry in their own respecting fields. Subscribe for the year and get your FREE ticket worth £12. www.ttgami.ng/salute50ticket Official media sponsor of Salute 50 Small print: This is an introductory offer, and is only valid with annual Direct Debit subscriptions. This offer ends on 13 March 2023. Your free Salute 50 e-ticket will be sent via email from the event organiser before 16 April 2023. Your name and email address will be shared with Salute for this purpose only.…

◗ caliverbooks.com  ◗ £27.50 As you may see from this review and the one on the following page, Caliver Books have decided that the Boxer Rebellion is the current period du jour and – with the current crop of figures from the likes of Wargames Atlantic (in plastic) and North Star (in metal) – who’s to argue with their assertion? Righteous Harmonious Fists is a “Wargamer’s Guide To The Boxer Rebellion”. Written by Mike Blake and Chris Swan it is 160 pages in large format, soft-backed and packed with colour illustrations, including maps. After some introduction, historical setting and some detail on early clashes, there are 19 separate scenarios and they are detailed yet flexible enough to fit most needs. Listed as Free him; Seymour’s Struggles; The Train - 1st…

The American 7th Army landings to the west of the British beaches were spearheaded by a direct assault on the town of Gela. This was carried out by the dramatically named ‘Force X’ made up of ‘Darby’s Rangers’, two battalions of the elite US Ranger force led by their charismatic colonel William Darby. In support was 1st Bn 39th Combat Engineers and the heavy mortars of the 83rd Chemical Mortar Battalion. This landing was going to stand out as the most bitterly opposed of all during the Husky amphibious assault. Opposing the Americans were elements of the 2nd Company of the 429th Italian Coastal Battalion and attached machine gunners from 116th Company GaF (Frontier Guards) from 112th Machine Gun Battalion, supported by coastal artillery. Typical of the poorly equipped coastal…

◗ Stephen Carter ◗ Helion (2022) ◗ £35 ◗ 221 pages (softback) ◗ ISBN:9781915070258 ◗ helion.co.uk The 1685 Monmouth Rebellion in SW England, supported by Argyll in Scotland, surely forms an ideal wargame campaign for this period – an interesting interplay of politics, colourful and varied troop types, relatively small forces that won’t wreck your wallet, and with reasonable archive coverage. This book is a sumptuous portrayal of those events – beautifully produced, with attractive wargame figures, full-colour plates and painting guides, and with superb maps of all the significant engagements including contours, scales and troop manoeuvres. Actions range from skirmish level (two opposing cavalry patrols, of 24 and 18 men) right up to the main engagement at Sedgemoor with around 5,000 men present. Unusually, there is full coverage of…

◗ Michael McNally ◗ Osprey (2022) ◗ £15.99 ◗ 96 pages (softback) ◗ ISBN:9781472850225 ◗ ospreypublishing.com Within three weeks of the start of WWI, Germany’s outnumbered forces in the East inflicted a massive defeat on one of the two Russian armies in the northern theatre, with German losses of around 13,000 dwarfed by Russian losses of 90,000 or more…. the battle of Tannenberg. The book follows the usual Osprey ‘Campaign’ series format of strategic background; opposing forces, commanders and plans; the campaign itself; and a short concluding chapter. Unusually for Osprey, the maps do not include a number of the key places in the text, and the culmination of the fighting in late August has only one map when it really needs two or three, so the reader has only…

◗ Alexander Mikaberidze ◗ Osprey (2022) ◗ £15.99 ◗ 96 pages (softback) ◗ ISBN:9781472850188 ◗ ospreypublishing.com The crossing of the river Berezina was one of the grimmest episodes in a vicious campaign that saw the collapse of Napoleon’s hopes for European domination. Even the Russian observers were horrified by the carnage and suffering around the rickety bridges and the ice floes in this late-November disaster. The author mixes well the strategic and the tactical. French units varied from a minimal post-Moscow strength, to a few divisions picked up on the retreat and still capable of serious fighting; the Russians had superior numbers, but were riven by command rivalries and poor inter-communication. There was much heroism on both sides - especially the French/Dutch sappers and pontonniers, many of whom froze to…

At dawn on March 6, 1836, the 13th day of the siege, the Battle of the Alamo commenced. Fighting lasted roughly 90 minutes, and by daybreak all the Defenders had perished, including a former congressman from Tennessee, David Crockett. Santa Anna’s refusal to take prisoners during the battle inspired many Texians and Tejanos to join the Texian Army. Motivated by a desire for revenge, as well as their desire to preserve a border open to immigration and the importation and practice of slavery, the Texians defeated the Mexican Army at the Battle of San Jacinto, on April 21, 1836, ending the rebellion in favour of the newly formed Republic of Texas. The Defenders at the Alamo were from many different countries, including some troops who were native-born Mexicans. Following the…

The Italian armed forces had a torrid time in WWII. Driven on by the over vaulting ambitions of a megalomaniac leader, they went from being humiliated attackers in Southern France, Greece, North East Africa and Egypt in 1940 to defeated defenders in North Africa, Russia and Sicily in 1943. However, despite their bad press, many Italian troops fought well, despite being let down by their leadership, poor equipment and increasing lack of enthusiasm for Mussolini’s numerous ‘adventures’. Italy, of course, had its own elite forces, from the daring underwater demolition exponents of the Decima Flottiglia MAS to the ‘guastatori’ combat engineers and the Folgore parachute division. However, this article looks at three actions when ‘ordinary’ Italian troops took on the best the Allies could field and, if not necessarily emerging…

The only paratroops to be dropped on Sicily during the initial assault were the 505th Regiment of the US 82nd Airborne Division, reinforced by the 3rd Battalion of the 504th. They were to protect the beach landings by capturing key points such as bridges and road junctions likely to be used by Axis counterattack forces. Like the British ‘Ladbroke’ glider landings, the lack of experience and realistic planning – coupled with poor visibility and strong winds – meant rather than landing concentrated on four DZs near their objectives the paratroops were scattered across 65 miles of the Sicilian landscape. This, however, had the benefit of inciting panic amongst the Axis command, giving the impression that huge numbers of airborne troops were landing all over the island. However, it played havoc…

◗ Rohan Saravanamuttu ◗ Helion (2022) ◗ £25 ◗ 133 pages (softback) ◗ ISBN:9781804510100 ◗ helion.co.uk Whilst marketed as ‘No 8 in the Helion Wargames series’, this is actually a very decent and well-sourced history of the key actions of the campaign and in particular the forces on each side. It is in two main parts – a 50-page historical account, and a 45-page offering of seven scenarios (Liebertwolkwitz; the whole of the main battle from 16th-19th October; Mockern; Wachau; Lindenau; Leipzig on 19th October; and a ‘What If’ scenario that assumes that Napoleon did not leave 50,000 men back at Dresden). There are useful two-page campaign and battle maps, showing the main terrain, supported not only by scaled-down wargame forces but also an additional18-page section on the historical orders…

◗ Arthur Hannan & Charles Qualmann ◗ Wicked Wargames (2022) ◗ £10.00 GBP/$12.00 US on Wargame Vault ◗ 24 pages including covers (pdf) ◗ No ISBN ◗ wickedwargames.com The Momentous Issue of War (MIOW) is a very professionally presented, concise set of rules which occupy only nine A4 size pages, if one excludes the two-page terrain generation system, with plenty of helpful explanatory illustrations of movement, shooting, combat and pursuits in full colour. The rules are also summarised on two pages – one of which is the inside back cover – of Quick Play Sheets at the end of the book. (Mr Harman has written an accompanying series of rules suggestions to use with this game in this very issue: see page 12 onwards. Ed.) MIOW is designed to be…