Currently Reading

[Colonel Kilgore]

I recently read Osprey's "Japanese Conquest of Burma 1942: The Advance to the Gates of India".

It gives an overview of the disastrous (from a British perspective) campaign and has some nice coloured illustrations. However I got annoyed by the repetitive text (poor editing?) and the repeating theme of reeling off lots of place names without appropriate maps to situate them.

I have the recently-published partner book on the British reconquest, and so far the latter is a better book for me.

Simon

[Colonel Kilgore]

I'm working through "The Death of Hitler" as some light holiday reading.

Given that we all know the ending, it's so far a surprisingly engaging book of exploring the Russian archives to get to the bottom of precisely what happened and how.

Simon

[John Watson]

Simon, I can recommend The Longest Retreat by Tim Carew. An old paperback (1972), very readable and adequate maps. It gave a good overview of the first part of the Burma campaign up to the point that the front line was consolidated around the Indian frontier. Available on eBay 2nd hand for less than £10.
I would also recommend James Holland's Burma 44. I haven't read it yet but everything of his that I have read has been excellent.
John

[Leman (Andy)]

Having another look through the old WRG Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars - my hardback copy from the 80s.

[Sean Clark]

Just made a start on this. It's a weighty tome. I'll see how far I get with it. Not exactly a book you can snuggle up in bed with 

The post Civil War era is incredibly fascinating with decisions made then that impact modern America now, most notably for me their penal system.

[Colonel Kilgore]

Simon, I can recommend The Longest Retreat by Tim Carew. An old paperback (1972), very readable and adequate maps. It gave a good overview of the first part of the Burma campaign up to the point that the front line was consolidated around the Indian frontier. Available on eBay 2nd hand for less than £10.
I would also recommend James Holland's Burma 44. I haven't read it yet but everything of his that I have read has been excellent.
John

Thanks for the tip, John - I do love a good map!

I have read the James Holland book, and very much enjoyed it.

Simon

[Colonel Kilgore]

Having another look through the old WRG Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars - my hardback copy from the 80s.

Ooh, you were spoiled with a hardback, Andy! I have a softback (second edition?) from the same era, and these WRG books were at the cutting edge of wargaming research at the time!

Simon

[Leman (Andy)]

Indeed, and this particular book inspired my original Successors and Republican Rome 15mm collection - much of it some remarkable Donnington figures. Unfortunately many never got painted and I sold them to a club member before moveing.

[Colonel Kilgore]

Indeed, and this particular book inspired my original Successors and Republican Rome 15mm collection - much of it some remarkable Donnington figures. Unfortunately many never got painted and I sold them to a club member before moveing.

I think a lot of figure sculpts of the time were themselves inspired/closely modelled on those WRG line drawings!

Simon

[Colonel Kilgore]

I'm working through "The Death of Hitler" as some light holiday reading.

Given that we all know the ending, it's so far a surprisingly engaging book of exploring the Russian archives to get to the bottom of precisely what happened and how.

Simon

I've now finished the book, which is actually a fascinating historical detective story, with factual narrative woven in between the author's trials and tribulations over a period of more than 2 years in dealing with the bureaucracy of various Russian archives and how some, but not all, of that resistance was overcome.

The book is itself translated from the French original. This is hardly noticeable other than when the translator appears to have insufficient military knowledge e.g. all hanguns are "revolvers", even when they're clearly automatics, and the army rank of Major is usually rendered as Commander (seemingly from 'Commandant').

These niggles aside, a fascinating read with some useful identification of the Soviet units that closed in on Berlin in April 1945.

Simon

[sukhe_bator (Neil)]

Given the news about the sad passing of Mike Sadler, it seems only fitting that I'm currently reading Gavin Mortimer's 'The Men who made the SAS'...

Neil

[Colonel Kilgore]

I've just finished "The Traitor of Colditz", by Robert Verkaik (an impulse buy, as I got it half-price at the airport).

It's actually a fascinating (real-life) story, tracking both a serial traitor and a very brave double-agent throughout the book.

A good read - and free to anyone going to the Berlin PBI day on Saturday!

Simon

[Leman (Andy)]

Although not directly related to any current PP ranges, I am reading through War game scenarios: The Italian wars battles 1494-1559, by Rodolfo Maria Verginella. The battles range from small (Ebola 1495 9 units) through medium, large and huge (Ravenna 1512 41 units, including artillery).

Cons - the price. Available from Amazon but currently about 35+ pounds (I paid just over 40 euros from amazon.nl). There are a couple of minor errors, such as battle number 3 listed as battle number 1 in the table of figures needed. The same table lists stands for some units and figures for others (skirmishers). The OOBs do the same, listing units for all except pike blocks, where number of stands is given. Imagine my consternation when I thought I needed 16 pike blocks for a small battle. One OOB has a sub commander in the wrong place. The translator has chosen to leave some familiar names in Italian, such as Luigi XII of France.  The actual paper used is a bit rough, reminding me of inexpensive western novel paperbacks. The whole thing comes to 99 pages.

Pros - there are some of the lesser known battles included, such as Sanguetta 1497, Giovanni Borgia v Florence (Cesare still a cardinal at this point). Each battle features 2 clear colour maps - a terrain map for laying out the battlefield, and a second map showing troop or command deployment areas superimposed, with a clear key at the front of the book. The OOBs are well laid out in three separate columns for Furioso, Pike and Shotte and Impetus (the separate base info for pikes now makes sense as in Furioso they can be 8,12 or 16 bases strong). There are some additional rules/information included on most of the OOBs to allow for adjustments in the three different rulebooks. The chart at the end of the book is actually very useful for planning figure purchase. There is a further table at the back which rates the commanders poor, average, good and superior by nationality and by battle (although only one example), eg Gaston de Foix rated superior, but only Fornovo given, even though his most successful battle was Ravenna.This chart renders the names of the commanders in their more reccognisable form, thus Luigi XII is back to being Louis XII (and out of his green cap and overalls). Each battle is accompanied by a full description.Finally, despite the rough paper, the cover is sturdy card and has some sort of clear application enabling it to be wiped clean.

For those interested in historically gaming the Italian Wars I think the pros outweigh the cons and will provide the basis for many enjoyable games.

[martin goddard]

These "specific" type  books are usually worth the money as they are full of good information.
Also has good resale value and probably a short print run?



martin

[Leman (Andy)]

You are absolutely right about the information contained Martin.