Macdonald & Jane's, London, 1979. Colonel T. N. Dupuy, as well as being the author of more than a score of books on military history, is executive director of the Historical Evaluation and Research Organization, HERO in the consulting trade. HERO specializes in the military field and counts several Western defence establishments among its clientele. His book presents in detail the tool of HERO's trade, the Quantified Judgement Model (QJM), from its conception through its final confirmation as an accurate method for evaluating the lessons of military history and for predicting the future of warfare. However adamant the claims of classical authorities that war is an art modern operations research has made great strides in reducing the confusion and complexities of battle to orderly mathematics. The OJM is essentially a mathematical equation of battle. Researchers have determined numerical values for weapons lethality, terrain and weather, combat effectiveness of troops air power, surprise, morale, and a myriad of other factors which can influence the result of a battle. When the necessary values are put into the equation, it will yield a numerical prediction of the victor. The QJM equation and combat factor values are the result of a decade's study of a massive body of historical data; the system boasts an accuracy quotient of 95 percent. The amount of information contained between the covers of this book make it worth an examination by any serious wargamer. In spite of the fact that the QJM was derived exclusively from World War Two data, the author convincingly demonstrates that it can be applied to any period of history. Austerlitz, Waterloo, Antietam, the Somme Offensive, the October War, and NATO/Warsaw Pact scenarios are all treated through the QJM method. Of further interest are the final chapter and appendices. Here the complete workings of the QJM are laid bare for the reader. All the formulae for calculating combat factors are provided. The author then presents a step by step demonstration of how the QJ M is applied to a particular battle, using Waterloo as a subject. Additionally the appendices include all the data used by HERO in their construction of the QJM. While this book is more attractive to wargamers more deeply immersed in their hobby, I wish to emphasize that the presentation of the subject matter has been tailored to the layman's level. The reader will not find himself lost and confused in a jungle of professional jargon, nor will he deal with any mathematics more complex than an occasional square root. The only confusing aspect of the entire book is the large array of abbreviations and acronyms. Although the author provides a glossary, I found my constant referrals to it an annoyance. In any case, it is a minor fault to find with a book which you will draw from your bookcase many times after the first reading. More Reviews Hinchcliffe 7 Years War, Napoleonic, Western Gunfighters Mike's Models 15mm Byzantines, Han Dynasty Chinese Book: Numbers, Predictions, & War Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. 1 #3 To Courier List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1979 by The Courier Publishing Company. 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