Sharp's Red Army Series At Cold Wars '94 George Nafziger provided us with copies of four new publications. The first three are part of a series written by Charles C. Sharp. The entire series is composed of ten volumes. The volumes are The Deadly Beginning, School of Battle, Red Storm, Red Guards, Red Sabers, Red Thunder, Red Death, Red Tide, Red Swarm, and Red Volunteers. Each book contains a short history of the development of units during the period covered, an organizational and operational history of each unit, a more detailed organizational listing, and a listing of where each formation was deployed. Volume I, The Deadly Beginning, covers Soviet tank, mechanized, and motorized divisions, and tank brigades of 1940 to 1942. The book begins by looking at the doctrine and philosophy that controlled the development of tactics, vehicles, and units. Mr. Sharp examines the influence of the Civil War on Russian military thinking and how that was applied to armored warfare. He follows the changes through the purges and the war with Finland, and details what the Russians had on hand when the Germans invaded in June. The book then provides a short history of every mechanized unit that existed in 1941. Included also are more detail organizations of the units down to the company level. The listings, include equipment, vehicles, and sometimes the total number of men. Equipment listings include machine guns, mortars, and anti-tank weapons. Volume II, School of Battle, follows Soviet tank corps and tank brigades from January 1942 to 1945. The book discusses the effects of combat in 1941 on Russian forces, Soviet doctrine, and tank production. Like Volume I it provides a history of every tank corps and independent brigade. The TO&Es provide information in varying degrees of detail. The listings provide good information on basic weapons, but little information on the numbers of troops at the battalion, company, and platoon levels. Volume III, Red Storm, covers Soviet mechanized corps and guards armored units from 1942 to 1945. Red Storm follows the same format as the first two volumes. Some of the TO&Es provide more information on manpower totals at the company and platoon levels. The fourth book is titled French Order of Battle, World War II by George F. Nafziger. The book has five main sections, 1) Organization of the French cavalry, motorized, mechanized, and armored divisions for 1939- 1940; 2) Organization of French infantry divisions, 1939-1940; 3) Organization of French foreign, colonial, and light infantry divisions, 1939- 1940; 4) The Vichy French Army; and 5) The rebuilt French Army of 1943-1945. This book jumps right into the TO&Es of the units along with short histories. Other than a brief introduction, there is no information on French military doctrine or philosophy, or how the French forces came to be organized as they were at the start of the German campaign in France in May 1940. On the subject of the rebuilding of the French Army in 1943, there are four pages discussing the agreements and limitations that governed what would be the make up of the new French forces. This book provides an excellent source of unit composition and a fair amount of TO&E information at a lower level. All four volumes contain much useful information for both the historian and the gamer. It should be clear, however, that these volumes are written with the idea of providing useful information and are not meant for a casual read. Volumes 4 and 5 are scheduled to be available in March, volume 6 and 7 in May, and 8, 9, and 10 in the summer of 1995. Each volume is softbound with a plastic spiral binding. The back is a stiffer paper, and the front has a clear, stiff plastic cover. Except for the front cover, there are no illustrations or drawings. The books all have 100 plus pages. Fonts are clear and easy to read. The price for each book is $19.95, and shipping and handling is $2.50 per volume. For more information, or to order, contact: G. F. Nafziger, PO Box 1522, West Chester, OH 45069-1522. Scenarios for Wargamers We received in the mail a sample copy of Scenarios for Wargamers, Vol. I No. 4. This magazine takes a historical battle, gives a short review of the situation, and then provides data for scenarios. The first article discussed the Allied landings at Anzio and Nettuno. It then provided organizations for Command Decision players, setups for Advanced Squad Leader, and five nicely done and detailed maps that anyone could use to organize and run scenarios. Other articles addressed the Seven Years War and Royalist Armies in the English Civil War, 1642-46. The article on the English included a listing of major individuals, and units and their strengths for the Royalist Army at Edgehill and Newbury. I guess readers will have to wait for the next issue to get organizations for the Roundheads. This issue also contained a review of the computer game Patton Strikes Back and reviews of magazines including several ASL Fanzines. The magazine is printed on plain white 8 1/2" by 11" size paper with a staple in the comer. The printing was clear and easy to read, and the graphics were easy to identify. Several reproductions of photographs were included. They were a bit grainy, probably the result of using a laser printer with less than 600 dpi. This is a good magazine for those who have neither the time or resources to research scenarios. SCENARIOS for Wargamers is published quarterly in November, February, May, and August. Subscriptions are $22.00 for 4 issues, or $40.00 for 8 issues. To order, send check or money order in US funds only to: SCENARIOS for Wargamers, P.O. Box 15172, Chevy Chase, MD 20825-5172. BP Cast Rubbled Cottage On the recommendation of some other gamers, we ordered from BP Cast their resin models Rubbled Cottage and Rubbled Cottage Fortified. Before going any farther, we must alert you to the fact that we sell these models, so this review may be biased. Both buildings are designed to be used with 20 min figures. The models have a number of rooms with the required fallen beams and general rubble expected in a building with the roof blown off and multiple holes in the wall. Of the two models, our favorite is the fortified cottage. In this instance, fortified means what ordinary troops may do to increase the defensive level of the cover they are occupying. The best touch is the sand bags in the window sill. The sand bags even have a groove in the center where a soldier would lay a light machine gun or BAR when firing. Either of these buildings would work fine as the r,emains of a lone farm house or to add variety to other buildings in a village or town setting. BP Cast also makes several vehicle models. Currently, the selection is weighted towards trucks, which we never have enough of, but the range of combat vehicles is growing. The latest additions are a JS II Russian heavy tank--a must for those 1944 scenarios on the Russian Front, a late model Russian T-26 S for those 1941 battles, a late German Tiger I E, and a Russian BM-13N Katyusha rocket launcher. The prices for the cottages are $9.50 and $11.50 respectively. The Tiger, JS II, and Katyusha are $8.50 each, and the T-26 is $7.50. Prices do not include shipping and handling. All models can be ordered from Phoenix Military Simulations, 12633 Carrington Hill Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20878. Back to Table of Contents -- Combat Simulation Vol 1 No. 4 Back to Combat Simulation List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1995 by Mike Vogell and Phoenix Military Simulations. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com