Recent Book and Rule Purchases

Maybe I mentioned this in a recent post, but one of my big resolutions is to hold the line on hobby purchases, other than glue or new paintbrushes, for the new year. Its not helping that Heroics & Ros keeps putting out new and improved infantry, GHQ has added some new vehicles that I could use, and who knows what O8 will be putting out for 1/600! At least, I think I'm OK on my 15mm fantasy barbarian project. The only thing outstanding is a tactical modern armor boardgame coming down the pike that I pre-ordered.

Just after Christmas, several books that I had ordered finally showed up.

South American Battleships 1908-59

I preordered this Osprey book way back in the summer. The release date kept getting pushed back. In fact, I didn't even know what was in the package when it arrived. 

A fairly quick read. It has a very interesting discussion on the naval arms race among the big three South American nations. I think the book could have included a few more larger color profile illustrations of the various battleships. Instead, there are some painting recreating some of the battleships in action. These don't really add much to the discussion in my opinion. Nonetheless, its a pretty good book for the price. It would be very useful for recreating what-if naval battles among the three nations.

Before the Battlecrusier: the Big Cruiser in the World's Navies 1865-1910

This came out about a week or two before Christmas. I was weak, so I ordered it off of Amazon. It came while I was out of town at my daughter's tennis tournament. It's still in my office and I have been thumbing though it while I take numerous breaks from working on class syllabi (which has to be one of the most soul-sucking aspects of being a college prof) for the upcoming semester. Yes, I should be working on them even now rather than writing this post. 

It covers pretty much everyone in the time period listed. The ship plans are a little small and leave off things like ship's boats, but they are detailed enough that you can use them to build models off of. A nice addition is that it has an addition side few showing the extent and thicknesses of armor. The only thing that puzzles me is that the book excludes the US cruisers of the Spanish-American War. The infamous USS Maine is listed, but those cruisers that took part in the Battle of Manila Bay, the USS Olympia for example, are left out.  I can't comment on cruisers of other nations if there are similar omissions. 

Panzer Korps 2nd Edition & OPFOR 1985 to 2020

I saw a couple of reviews and some AARs using these rules. Even though they are supposed to be at the divisional level, I thought I'd check them out. I've read through them a few times, but this is not meant to be a review. I will save that when I have my test battle using them.  The mechanics look interesting particularly the activation system. My only initial criticism is that have a whole bunch of unnecessary, somewhat random pictures that actually make it a little hard to read the text. Also, it says that you need main rule set to play the OPFOR module, but it seems like the basic rules are in the module. I figure if I like these rules enough, I can use them for WWII games, too. 

Not What I Expected

Once again, I am compelled to say why I have not posted in awhile. Believe it or not, I have had a little more time to work on hobby stuff, but taking pictures and posting for me takes longer than I think it will. I'm this close (putting two fingers together) to starting the campaign between Bovatopia and Lavonia. The armies are build and I am finishing up slapping together terrain.

The main topic of this post is to briefly mention my latest purchases. I've hit a few duds recently. I am so disappointed that the first two don't even get a photo included in this post. I suppose the phrase, "buyer beware" applies, but I still think that I am not 100% to blame.

1. British Battleships of the Victorian Era by Norman Friedman
You may or may not be familiar with Mr. Friedman's work on various warships. The ones I have are really good references, and for folks like me who are crazy about deck plans and line drawings of warship and are incredibly useful for building models of them, they are chocked full of them. Photos just don't do it compared to a good side view and top view of a ship. I bought his British Cruisers of the Victorian Era and was pretty happy with it. So, I expected this to be the same with this one...WRONG! There are just two line drawings in the whole book. There are lots of the original deck plans included, many are fold outs, but to me, these are a pain in the ass to figure out what is going with them. Plus, these are photos of the originals....time is never kind to illustrations like these. Was Friedman in a rush to publish this book? Was A. D. Baker not available (is he still alive)? If not, there are a now a gazillion illustrators who could have done the work for pennies. He just had to go onto something like Deviantart.com to find someone. I do have Baker's British Battleships, 1889-1904, so I have a good reference of illustrations.

2. Bug Hunts: Surviving and Combating the Alien Menace (Dark Osprey) by Mark Latham
OK, I guess this one is my fault for not carefully reading description of this book. For some reason, I thought this was a rulebook with a lot of background fluff. The reviews of it seem to point that way. Nope. I am not sure what its supposed to be exactly. It rips off the Aliens and Starship Trooper franchises to describe a future history of various alien bugs and the human fight against them. Its nicely illustrated being an Osprey book. Had I known that it wasn't a set of rules, I wouldn't have gotten it. To this day, I still kick myself for not getting 2-Hour Wargames' Bug Hunt back in the day. It was cheap and probably worth the price.

3. Hail Caesar by Rick Priestley
This one is probably the best of the three. I kept hearing about how great these rules were, so I thought I'd get them and see if I can modify them for fantasy.  Being that I grew up on WRG ancient rules, I am all OK about stats being somewhat generic. If Greek hoplites want to fight dark age Vikings, I'm OK with that.

The rules aren't bad, just sort of "meh," particularly for the price. There wasn't anything in the mechanics that really stood out as new or interesting. Give me good rules over pretty pictures anytime. I also ordered the army list supplement for late antiquity to early medieval. That made up for it a little. I'm not sure if I will keep them or put them up for sale on Facebook.

Active April to Slow May

Not much as been happening hobby-wise since the Nerd Fest convention. Between finishing school and home life, I've very little other than prime some figures. Most of what I've been doing is cleaning. I've probably mentioned this before, but my wife ordered a major cleaning frenzy. We have too much junk. Of course, when I tell her I am taking this or that to the Salvation Army, I get from her, "No-no-no! We need to keep that!" Ugh! Most of the stuff is either junk she bought at a garage sale, or clothes (her's, my daughter's, or my son's). One moment its get rid of it all, the next is must not part it. We have a big community next Saturday and I hope we can sell of a bunch of stuff.

I was pretty good about spending up to about the last two, or three weeks ago. Here's a few things I got. I apologize for the crappy pictures. Adobe Photoshop spoiled me. MS Paint is worthless.

First up, Battle Cry board game.

I've read so many things through other blogs about this system. My gaming buddy Will, was going to hold a nano-convention at this house this weekend, and I thought that would be a good excuse to buy it. A friend of his had some old SPI games that I was itching to play again, but it fell through for this weekend. At least this gives me time to learn how to play it.

Next, The Kaiser's Battlefleet: German Capital Ships 1871-1918 by Aidan Dodson.

I've always like ship drawings and lately, I've been building up a library of these various sorts of books. I had a lot of Amazon.com points on my credit card, so I thought, why not? The drawings are a little small, so they lack a lot of the detail such as ship's boats. For ship making purposes, that is a help, What it has is fewer of are the top views. Otherwise, it looks like a good book.

Third, is The Fred Jane Naval War Game (1906) including the Royal Navy's Wargaming Rules (1921).

This is one of John Curry's History of Wargaming Project books. This might be another "fun" sort of game to play at Nerd Fest, or Will's gaming convention (if or when he has it). After reading Curry's chapter in the book below, I might also get his reprinting of Fletcher Pratt's rules. I have a copy, but there is some expanded material based on Pratt's and others' unpublished notes concerning the game.

Last is Zones of Control: Perspectives on Wargaming edited by Pat Harrigan and Matthew Kirschenbaum.

From what I've read so far, its pretty interesting. Being a history buff, the chapters on gaming history are very enlightening. The sections of the book are divided up into specific topics, but its not always clear why a particular chapter is in a particular section. Some of the chapters read a little more like promotions of an author's game. I also noticed that a number of the authors are seem a little condescending when it comes to miniature gaming. Its a little hypocritical to look down on miniature gaming but then essentially confess that Advanced Squad Leader and some others are basically miniature games!  Nonetheless, its a good book and worth the read. Its a scholarly publication, but its not as dense as Phillip Sabin's Simulating War, which is a good book but a tougher read.

A Month of Spending Foolishly

I could not resist spending this month. Most of my spending was on rules or game related books.

First off, I ordered the Kindle version of The Wargaming Compendium by Henry Hyde. It think it is about $40 hard cover. I didn't really feel like paying that much, so I got the Kindle version. It is well worth the money. It is an excellent book, particularly if you are starting out. I really enjoyed his style of writing. It was relaxed, almost conversational. If I were starting out, I would seriously invest in the paper version. Only two criticisms. His history of wargames is good, but based on other other history of wargames articles, I think there were some things he left out. Second, the book just ends abruptly. I might have missed it, but I would have liked a conclusion.

Second set of purchases were some modern air rules. The first one is Bandits! 2 by David Redpath.

Bandits! 2 by David Redpath

My interest in them came out of several interesting AARs that he wrote in SOTCW's journal, The Journal. I am always on the lookout for air combat rules that are not too complex and these sounded like they were. Ordering them was sort of a pain in the you-know-where. They are only sold on Ebay, which not my favorite place to shop. They are published by Vandering Publications, the same company that put out Shipwreck! I had to do several emailings in order to finally get them; the issues had more to do with the publisher than the author. This is definitely a don't judge a book by its cover sort of rule set. It comes bound in one of those plastic binder things that students use for book report covers. I have yet to use them (big shocker there!) but they have some interesting ideas, particularly what the author calls "situational awareness." Its what allows each side to perform various actions. The author has a blog, but has yet to post on it.

The other rule set is Flames Above the Falklands, which is part of the Wings At War series produced by Tumbling Dice miniatures.

Flames Above the Falklands.

 I thought I had ordered the Vietnam rules, but I got these. They come with a bunch of Tumbling Dice's Vapor Trails 1/600 scale aircraft, which is a nice touch. Again, I have not tried them. There are some aspects of the rules that are not clear to me, but I will refrain from any more judgement until I give them a try. There is a website for the rule series, but it lacks a FAQ section.

Are you still with me? I'm not done yet!

Next, I ordered two pdf rules. First, Modern Naval Conflicts by Naval Warfare Simulations.

I had never heard of this company/organization, but they were having a sale on these rules, so I couldn't pass it up. I got the main rules along with the 1980s expansion, which covers the Falklands War. I have not had a chance to read them in detail, but they seem on the order of Harpoon in complexity.

Next, is 5150: Star Navy by 2 Hour Games.

I have not time to even read them, but the reviews of them sound good. I wanted something to go with my 15mm sci-fi stuff.

The last book I got was The Solo Wargaming Guide by William Silvester.

Its a small book, but it has a lot of good ideas. I especially liked his ideas on how to transfer your campaign map onto the gaming table.

Last, but not least, some fire power for LEGO minifigures:

 

An assortment of weaponry as well as some stands from BrickArms. I'm thinking of having a free for all battle royale sometime in the future, provided my daughter lets me use her minifigures.