Innehållsförteckning för November 2023 från Miniature Wargames

Mammoth Miniatures are a small outfit that we bumped into at the Hereward show. They make an interesting selection of resin cast minis in 28mm but what we have is their latest set of rules, Planet 28 (Second Edition). Produced in A5 in a neat hardback (with a dust cover) the rules are an 84 page, open source skirmish system that uses a full set of polyhedral dice (d4 through to d20) and will set you back £16. The rules cover character and warband creation; campaign rules; solo and co-op play; vehicle creation and a combat system, plus lists of character traits, abilities, equipment and more. The rules are supported by some smaller, A5 supplements: Death in the Throneroom and Brutal Quest both for less that £5.50 each. Go to…

◗ manapress.com.au◗ $AU 35 Mana Press make several sets of rules available in both printed and PDF format. Tribal (Second Edition) is around £18, after conversion from the Aussie dollar, and is a neat set of an (almost) ‘Osprey’ sized book of 64 pages with a soft cover and nicely illustrated. It is designed to simulate skirmish combat between (as the title suggests) tribal units and uses an interesting system based on a card deck with regular playing cards. The suits and numbers are all significant denoting both defensive and attacking postures and whether wounds are taken. The cards are also used for activation (higher numbers being favoured) and then to actually measure movement with a long card length or a side length all being utilised. That means a ‘regular sized’…

◗ Jonathan Davies ◗ Helion (2023) ◗ £29.95 ◗ 295 pages (softback) ◗ ISBN:9781804512012 ◗ helion.co.uk Volume One dealt with the armies and enemies of the Tudors over four reigns and 72 years: this second volume focuses solely on Elizabeth’s reign, and (like its predecessor) is a superb production. Part One covers politics, diplomacy and strategy, and Part Two covers the battles and campaigns, especially those in Ireland – the latter was one of Elizabeth’s greatest fears, with the prospect of Spanish control leading to invasion from the west. Maps are clear, and the writing style is a delight to read – a compelling mixture of good research, clarity of message, and a deft touch of humour. Above all, the author is clear about the overriding priority of Elizabeth: the…

Latest released from Osprey are two titles: With Hot Lead and Cold Steel (£14.99) and Stargrave: Bold Endeavour (£20). The first is a ‘blue book’, 80 pages in length, and contains a full set of rules for playing large ACW games in (primarily) 28mm. The author (Arthur van de Ster) makes it his gaming mission to both cut down the chart consultation and give players a chance to use the correct nomenclature for manoeuvres and such like to help achieve good period ‘feel’. You’ll need a 6 by 4 table, an inch ruler and a good handful of d10 dice for an initiative based set-to (as opposed to an IGOUGO0 system). Bold Endeavour is another supplement for the popular Stargrave system by Joe McCullough. It’s set in the Crokoan Nebula:…

My brain is a chaotic place. If I’m not pondering food, sex or sleep, I’m probably thinking about wargaming. And lots of it. Right now, I’m pondering a multiplayer Second World War game that I’ve planned for the 30th September; a multipart Rangers of Shadowdeep adventure that I really should finish writing and playtesting, a Stalingrad project that I’ve wanted to get off the ground for years, to say nothing of my Abyssinians and my occasional Stargrave/40K distractions. Not all of these ideas deserve an article and some of them would make for pretty thin stuff if they were stretched over 2,500-3000 words (or closer to 3,500 words that I occasionally sneak in, if I think Treadaway is napping) of a full Send Three & Fourpence column. So this is…

◗ caliverbooks.com◗ £29.95 This is the easiest review I’ve ever had to write. If you are interested in gaming the Vietnam War in any scale (but focussing particularly on 20mm to 28mm) go and buy Vietnam Wargames by Michael Farnworth. Well that was simple… Oh you want to know more…? By Caliver Books, this is a 160 page, beautifully produced, full colour softback. It is copiously illustrated with shots of fantastic, inspirational models and period photos plus shots of camouflaged uniforms and kit (including even webbing) and markedly avoiding illustrators interpretations (pretty as those might be). It details different manufacturers’ figure ranges with comparative shots for ‘scale’ in both 20mm and 28mm (in plastic and metal) and yet it is bang up to date with the use of both 3d…

◗ ospreypublishing.com◗ £25 This book – by Osprey – carries the following warning near the start: “Players expecting an accurate simulation of First World War combat, or even those opposed to the occasional anachronism, will find themselves disappointed!” Fortunately that’s written in smallish white-out-of-brown text so it’s quite hard to read… So what exactly is this beautifully produced book The World Transformed◗ It’s a hard back rule set that both is and isn’t based in the WWI. Osprey’s says: The Great War meets the horrors of forgotten folklore in this occult skirmish wargame. In short, in 1916 – mid war – something catastrophic happened: spoiler alert the “Moon fell from its orbit. Seas shifted, uncovering new lands and revealing what tide and time had concealed.” Okay, leaving aside the astronomical…

Here’s a set of rules which I wanted you all to read but I only have a few shots of a Memoire 44 Napoleonics game by the Old Guard Wargames Club. So it will be accompanied by some other suitably pretty Napoleonics shots as well. Ed These Napoleonic rules were inspired by Bob Cordery’s Memoir of Battle, posted on his Wargaming Miscellany blog on 29th October 2010 which was itself inspired by Memoir ’44 by Richard Borg. They are designed for use with toy soldiers in any of the smaller wargame sizes – 6mm, 10mm or 15mm – on hexagons that are 100m across the flats, such as Kallistra’s Hexon II system. TURN SEQUENCE Each turn is divided into several distinct phases. These are: ◗ Both sides fire their Artillery, save for Horse Artillery,…

◗ Pritt Buttar ◗ Osprey (2023) ◗ £30 ◗ 464 pages (hardback) ◗ ISBN:9781472856555 ◗ ospreypublishing.com If you can read without tears the chapter on the first winter of starvation in Leningrad in 1941-42, with the heartrending accounts of children starving to death, then you’re a harder person than I am… This is another masterly account by this excellent Osprey author, covering the first year of the siege of Leningrad. He combines well the political, strategic, operational, tactical and human aspects of this cataclysmic struggle which saw around 1.2 million Russians (civilians and soldiers) die in an area about the size of an English county. Maps are adequate, albeit small-scale and hence generally only showing the main places and troop groupings; there are no orders of battle. As with his…

◗ Stephen M. Carter ◗ Helion & Company (2023) ◗ £29.95 ◗ 330 pages (softback) ◗ ISBN:9781804510025 ◗ helion.co.uk Number 96 in Helion’s Century of the Soldier 1618-1721 series this first volume contains a wealth of material on the art of war in the late seventeenth century, a period which – thanks to rules such as Beneath The Lily Banners – has become more popular with wargamers of late. It is a period that saw the increasing professionalism of the officer corps, and also offers an interesting transition from foot regiments armed with pikes and matchlock muskets in the Thirty Years’ War and the British Civil Wars to the flintlock musket and bayonet armed infantrymen of the War of Spanish Succession and the corresponding changes in battle tactics. The book…

◗ Jonathan North ◗ Amberley Publishing (2023) ◗ £22.99 ◗ 286 pages (hardback) ◗ ISBN:9781398110311 ◗ amberley-books.com In his Introduction Jonathan North considers the young Bonaparte to have been a dreamer, ‘devouring the chronicles of empires and tales of great deeds… In bleak Autun or dull Brienne, the exploits of Alexander the Great besieged his imagination and stories from the deserts of the Mamelukes… captivated the mind of this unhappy outsider.’ After his great successes in Italy, General Bonaparte presented a scheme for the conquest of Egypt to the Directory in 1797, concluding that ‘The time is not far off when we shall see that in order to destroy England we must seize Egypt.’ There had been French plans to do just that since the reign of Louis XIV and…

◗ George McCafferty and Robert Cameron ◗ Amberley Publishing (2023) ◗ £22.99 ◗ 320 pages (hardback) ◗ ISBN:9781398114036 ◗ amberley-books.com This book is based on a diary kept by Sergeant George McCafferty, 12 Platoon, Delta Company, 5 SCOTS, during his first tour of duty in Helmand Province, Afghanistan in the summer of 2008. He kept a diary as ‘a record of my first real combat tour as an infantry soldier’ and was later persuaded that it should be published. He has ‘tried to be as accurate as possible; however, some conversations have had to be manufactured for contextual reasons and may not have gone quite as written.’ The book is comprised of accounts of individual days of his tour of duty, in chronological order, beginning with Day 1: Thursday 10th…

Well it’s been seven years and that really is a long time in wargaming. It has incredibly enough been seven years since I took on the task of editing this, the most prestigious – and the longest lived – wargames magazine in the UK: Miniature Wargames. I am now, it seems, the editor with the second longest tenure: I took over from my good mate Henry Hyde, who had asked me to start writing a column for him a couple of years before hand, and (to get the ‘history’ right) he had taken over from Andrew Hubbak. Andrew I knew as – apart from anything else – he published my Hammer’s Slammers: The Crucible set of SF rules (based on David Drake’s range of military SF books). Andrew had bought…

In Issue 484 we reviewed a replaying system called Elfking – The Immortal by Lucid Eye. They have recently released a trio of supplements for that system. First up is Lords of Eas, a collection of characters, artefacts, treasure and monsters (A4 60+ pages, £20). This is followed by two A5, full colour Adventure Modules: The Lair of the Crimson God (80 pages, £16) and Ruhe of the Rose Tower (40 pages, £12.50). All are nicely produced with a very distinct artistic flair. If you’re keen on the original rules or just want something to jump start your gaming imagination, go to lucideyepublications.com and either buy the pdfs or print on demand books at the price quoted.…

The first major battle between U.S. and Vietnamese forces would be claimed as a victory by both sides. Located in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam, the crucial AVN supply route became a test bed for tactical helicopter “air mobility” by American forces. On November 14, the U.S. First Calvary Division established landing zones in the valley and immediately came under fire. Continual reinforcements via helicopter and sustained aerial bombardment decimated the Vietnamese positions. By the end of fighting, 305 Americans had been killed compared to at least 1,000 plus AVN troops. General Westmoreland and much of the American leadership viewed the casualty statistics as a vindication of the combination of air mobility and heavy bombardment. Ia Drang set the course for the war to come, and would serve as…

◗ caliverbooks.com◗ £25 Our very own columnist Jon Sutherland has released another book in his Mad Dogs & Englishmen series. This one is called Far Flung Conflicts 1 (suggesting that there may be more to come!): The Maori Wars 1843 – 1869. In A4 full colour softback, this 92 pagebook is well illustrated with some nice maps (mostly in colour but with the odd original period mono-illustration), excellent and inspirational photographs of 28mm models and lots more. This supplement (and the underlying rules) are aimed at large scale skirmish games and there are 39 scenarios all written in – as fans of Command Decision will appreciate – Jon’s engaging style. These run in chronological order from Wairau Affray on the North Island in 1843 (Brits versus Ngata Toa Iwi); through…

Paul recently showed us his approaches to painting different sizes of ECW figures. This cover the painting of horses and is applicable for that period but it should also work for most others. Ed. INTRODUCTION Okay a bit of a click bait title perhaps I hear you ask. However what I will hopefully offer is a fairly quick method involving basic techniques that will make your cavalry units more interesting on the tabletop with a variety of colours other than just brown. Certainly, ‘I hate painting horses’ is a common cry I hear on social media, hopefully this article will remedy matters a little. PAINT Although I will use a variety of different paints and inks in this article most of the base colours come from the Colour Party range. Their…

◗ Erik Schmidt ◗ Casemate (First published 2020 this edition 2023) ◗ £17.95 ◗ 212 pages (softback) ◗ ISBN:9781636243030 ◗ casematepublishing.co.uk This is not just a linear, chronological narrative of the life and times of the fighter ace but a look at the core of the man and the cultural, philosophical and intellectual influences within Germany as a whole, which affected the man and his outlook. It tries to dig deeper into Hartmann’s character by examining the context in which he was raised, the times in which he lived and the cultural background to his upbringing. All of which involves reaching back into Germany’s history, so we have mention of both Bismarck and Baron Manfred von Richthofen. There is an examination of the development of the Luftwaffe, glider training and…

◗ Heinz Greiner translated by Linden Lyons ◗ Casemate (2023)(First published in Germany in 1968) ◗ £40.00 ◗ 198 pages (hardback) ◗ ISBN: 9781636242286 ◗ www.casematepublishing.co.uk This book is about the German 362nd Infantry Division fighting in Italy from January 1944 to the end of the war. It is a unit history and has several hand drawn maps with scales from metres to kilometres which complements the narrative well and, incidentally, are helpful for developing scenarios. The book is written by the division commander, so has a personal insight into the tactical fighting and the operational and strategic context in which the division was operating. While such accounts are often self-serving this book does not give that impression but plays up the courage and endurance of the German infantry, the…

◗ Warwick Louth ◗ Helion (2023) ◗ £29.95 ◗ 276 pages (softback) ◗ ISBN:9781804512005 ◗ helion.co.uk It is the author’s contention that the Scottish Covenanter Risings of 1660-85 have received too little coverage as military events, as distinct from civil/religious affairs. This volume sets out to rectify this, focusing on the few actions plus the overall concept of ‘insurgency and counter-insurgency’. This is a noble aim, and I loathe criticising someone’s writing style, but you rapidly find the heart sinking at the prospect of reading another 250-odd pages. Sentences are often convoluted, with multiple loosely-connected points; language is sometimes obscure and littered with large unhelpful chunks of arcane period missives. The table showing Covenanter strengths at company and regimental levels look impressive, until you realise that the figures don’t add…