Book Review

The Campaigns in India
During the Seven Years War 1756 - 1764 (?)
A Guide for Wargamers by Mike Kirby

Reviewed by Phil Mackie


Published by Pireme Publishing - Miniature Wargames Suite 10 Wessex House, St Leonard's Road, Bournemouth, Dorset, England BH8 8QS Price £9.95 including P&P (within UK) Overseas please add 20% P&P

It is not often that I am asked to review a book where I know both the author and the publisher - in fact it has never happened before - so I had better be careful with what I write as both know where I live!

With the intention of writing an article for the Seven Years War Association Journal a few years ago, that got longer and longer, Mike Kirby has thrown himself into his subject matter with a dedication and attention to detail that puts most of us would be authors to shame. The result is 'The Campaigns in India During the Seven Years War'. To big to run as an article, the work has been published an A4 sized magazine-style publication of 44 pages (including the cover) crammed full of information to stimulate the mind of wargamers young and old.

From a personal point of view I found that this publication helped to rekindle some of the enthusiasm that I had when I first started wargaming; perhaps because the subject matter is new to me - my SYW interests have, until reading this book, been elsewhere.

The book is written in three distinct parts:

    1 the fighting men covering both the native troops and the European forces
    2 accounts of the battles fought complete with detailed orders of battles
    3 a section on availability of figures, building armies, painting and basing the figures plus some suggestions for inclusion in army lists.

The writing style is clear and concise, made possible by the dedicated research that I know to be behind the production. In fact there are few bad things I can say about the content except that my only regret is that Mike had included line illustrations of different troop types in the draft he sent to me last year, and these have not appeared in the final publication. Nevertheless, this is an exceptionally good book by a wargamer for wargamers, covering a much neglected theatre of the Seven Years War and it should be a useful addition to the library of anyone with an interest in the Seven Years War.

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© Copyright 2000 by James J. Mitchell

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