The time has come, the gamer said, To talk of many things; Of lead, and paint and reference books And how a paintbrush sings. -- With due apologies to Lewis Carroll I received the latest batch of new releases from Osprey, courtesy of the ever-helpful Dennis Shorthouse, and they present a mixed bag. Received were two Men-at-Arms books, two in the Warrior series, and one each in the Elite and New Vanguard line. The MAA books are Number 361: 'Axis Cavalry in World War II,' and Number 364, 'The Russian Army 1914-18.' Both of these books nicely fill historical slots in Osprey's present line. Although 'Axis Cavalry,' by Dr. Jeffrey Fowler, will be of limited use to World War II gamers who don't tend to put a lot of horses on the table, the book is quite interesting and offers insight into a little-known arm of the Wermacht and its allies. The plates are by the talented Mike Chappell who seems to have a natural flair for portraying modern-era soldiers. The uniform plates not only include German forces, but Cossacks, Kalmyks, and Italian, Romanian, and Hungarian cavalry as well. If you are into World War II gaming, and Axis forces in particular, this book needs to find a place on your shelf. The second MAA book also fills a niche in the Osprey library. 'The Russian Army 1914-18' by Nic Cornish fits in well with Osprey's previous two offerings on the Russian Civil War, as well as their general series covering World War I forces. Perhaps most interesting is the fact that the illustrator is Russian. Andrei Karachtchouk also illustrated Osprey's two books on the Russian Civil War, and it is obvious that he is able to draw upon primary sources for inspiration. The plates are clean, well-detailed, and not only include illustrations of line and guard infantry, but Cossacks, Special Troops, and Line Cavalry as well. For variety, he even includes in one of the plates an illustration of a Russian Orthodox Priest. The text is well-laid out and very readable, and includes information on organization, tactics, uniforms and equipment, and several short campaign histories. On a side note, historians and gamers alike are now being treated to an amazing number of books coming out of the old Soviet Union. Books on Russian uniforms, tactics, and equipment, drawn from primary sources, are finally available to the gaming community, and at surprisingly low prices. Unfortunately, most of the books I have acquired are in Cyrillic, but the number and quality of the illustrations makes up for this problem. If you play Russians, regardless of the period, give Dennis Shorthouse a call and see what he has available. I am finally able to fill in some gaps in my Russian Great Northern War army. The lone Vanguard offering is 'British Napoleonic Ship-of-the-Line.' The book is by noted maritime historian Angus Konstam, and the illustrations are by Tony Bryan. As is expected from a Konstam-authored book, a wealth of concise information included. Everything from recruiting (watch out for the press gangs, mate) to life aboard ship, to the experience of battle is nicely covered. Konstarn discusses what makes up a 'ship of the line' and how the various classes were delineated, how many and what type of guns each class carried, and the role of each class in battle. The plates by Bryan are up to his usual high standards, and the cutaway view of a First Class Ship of the Line is simply incredible. Buy the book (especially if you are into Age of Sail na- val wargaming or are thinking of rigging up one of those beautiful Dixon pirate ships). The last three Osprey releases constitute a Hook family art project. Elite Number 81, 'British Colours & Standards 1747-1881 (2) Infantry' by Ian Sumner breaks little new ground in a well-documented subject. However, if you want a bit of help in painting British standards (does anyone actually paint flags anymore?) then you might be interested in this book. The illustrations are by Richard Hook, the head of the painting Hook clan. I will tell you up front that I am not a fan of Richard Hook's art. To me, his illustrations have a murky and somewhat undefined look, and he occasionally loses perspective, but Osprey must like him, because half of the new releases are illustrated by him or one of his children. Which leads me to the two new Warrior releases. Warrior Number 40, 'Conquistador 1492-1550' by John Pohl is illustrated by Adam Hook, Richard's son. The text is adequate, and is more or less a history of the initial Spanish incursion into the New World with some weaponry and organizational details thrown in. The illustrations are the book's greatest weakness. Very few conquistadors are shown, and those that are, are rendered in the murky Hook manner. Some of the subjects, including a plate of a Spanish war-dog, blend into the background so thoroughly that at first glance the subjects are almost indefinable. I would imagine that Foundry must be disappointed in this effort, as it is certainly not going to motivate many people to buy and paint up a band or two of its new El Dorado range for the tabletop. If you are not into the Spanish Conquest of the New World, you should probably leave this book alone. However, Osprey has provided good information on this period in one of its previous books. Men-at-Arms Number 101, also entitled 'The Conquistadors,' is written by Terrence Wise and illustrated by Angus McBride. Be aware though, that the title of the book is somewhat misleading, as it also includes large sections on the Native Americans the conquistadors encountered. As a matter of fact, only two of the eight plates cover European subjects, the remaining six covering Native Americans. Finally, we come to Warrior Number 41, 'Knight Hospitaller (2) 1306-1565', the companion volume to 'Knight Hospitaller (1) 1100- 1306.' Both books are written by David Nicolle and illustrated by Richard's daughter and Adam's sister, Christa Hook. As is common with Nicolle's text, it is informative in an academic way. There is no doubt that Nicolle is an authority with few equals in ancient and medieval military history. However, I have always found his writing to be somewhat dry, as you might expect from a scholarly ex-university professor. But please don't interpret this as a weakness. If information is what you seek, Nicolle certainly provides it on every page. Christa Hook's illustrations, in my opinion, are better than those of her father and brother in that they are more defined. The exceptions to this being the battle scenes, which bear the trademark 'Hook murkiness.' But moving on to miniatures It appears that The Foundry will be redefining itself, to some extent, with the departure of the Perry Twins and Mark Copplestone, three of the hobby's best sculptors. The Perry's, who have been associated with The Foundry since its beginning, have left to form their own company, Perry Miniatures. Their initial offerings are 28mm Napoleonic Brunswickers (gorgeous) and English Civil War infantry. From their website, it appears that they are going to continue with the range of American War of Independence figures that they began at The Foundry. My introduction to the Perry's ability was a call one afternoon in the early 1980's from David Raybin who inquired if I would like to come over to his office and see the new Franco-Prussian figures he just received from England. I came, I saw, I bought. Thanks, David. My wife still hasn't forgiven you. Mark Copplestone has also left to form his own company, Copplestone Castings, and is continuing his Future Wars and Darkest Africa ranges. It is interesting to see the difference in prices that the two new companies are setting for their figu res . Perry Miniatures offers 6 figures for 5 pounds which I calculate to be $1.40 per casting based on current exchange rates. Copplestone is pricing his figures (at least his Darkest Africa range) at 5 figures for 5.50 pounds, or about $1.82 a figure. This is somewhat less than his range sold for at The Foundry, where you could purchase 8 figures for $18.00, or $2.25 per figure. So what does this leave at The Foundry? Well, you have the talented Steve Saleh who sculpted the 'World of the Greeks,' Mark Sims who is responsible for the rather caricaturish Viking range, and the very strange and multi-pierced Kevin Adams, who was with Bryan Ansell at Games Workshop. As most of you know, The Foundry is quickly moving into fantasy figures, and Kevin Adams, who sculpted the original Orc figures for Games Workshop, is repeating this process at The Foundry. There is also Shane Hoyle, a talented sculptor, who is still working on Foundry's 'Street Violence' range. Speaking of Street Violence, does it bother anyone else that Wargames Illustrated devoted eight pages in its December, 2001 issue to a set of rules for this range? Complete with White Dwarf-style pencil illustrations? Come on, Duncan! You are just reinforcing the belief that WI is quickly becoming the Foundry's house magazine. Leave the fantasy at home, and dance with the girl you brought to the party. But returning to The Foundry and its growing similarities to Games Workshop, I was interested to see that a new line of Foundry paints is being planned. It appears that a full set of 108 colors is being offered for $260.00 which comes out to roughly $1.90 per pot (bottle? tin?). However, I could not find on Foundry's website any information that stated whether the new paint line was going to be enamels or acrylics, but given the similarities to Games Workshop, I would imagine that they will be acrylics. The most interesting aspect of the new paints is that they will be issued in sets of three pots consisting one each of a base color, a color one shade darker than the base, and a color one shade lighter. Although this is novel. and should assist in shading figures, I am not sure that I will buy into the idea that I must purchase three pots of paint if I only want one. In the December issue of WI there appeared an advertisement from an English company I have not heard of before. Renegade Miniatures has released a set of English Civil War figures in the popular 28mm range that appear stunning. There are fourteen packs in the initial release, each pack consisting of 8 variants of the same figure. Quite frankly, they look so much like Perry-sculpted figures, I had to check the advertisement several times to make sure that was not the case. I have never gamed this period, but the apparent quality of these figures makes a purchase appear imminent. An e-mail address was given, but not a website. For those wanting to make inquiry, the e-mail address is info@renegademiniatures.co.uk Old Glory has released its first sets of 28mm World War One figures, and it will be interesting to see just how well they sell. I think it will depend on how well folks can come up with scenarios that don't consist of seeing all of your lovingly painted stormtroopers being machinegunned on the first turn as you attempt to dash across no man's land. However, the recent A & E movie, 'The Lost Battalion' should get some creative juices flowing. Finally, there appeared in the last two issues of 'The Courier' several letters that seem to indicate that there are serious problems within the HMGS Board of Directors. The first, written by Bill Frye to explain his reasons from resigning from the Board, appeared in Issue 82. Quite frankly, the letter was not very well written and in all fairness, much of his thought process was lost on me, but the main issues were, I believe, that some on the HMGS Board were driven by their egos rather than for the good of the organization. I don't know if he is sincere in his desire to make HMGS a better organization or simply has an axe to grind. But apparently a nerve was hit, because in Issue 83, two readers respond to that letter with the observations that the airing of such 'dirty laundry' should not have been given a venue by 'The Courier.' To that issue, I cannot comment. However, we must never forget that whatever drove Mr. Frye to write his letter, the main thing is this: WE PLAY WITH TOY SOLDIERS. We paint, we convert, and we happily play with toy soldiers as our hobby. Let us never forget that. We take pride in well-painted miniatures, we are thrilled when our well-planned strategy actually works (in spite of those blasted dice), and we laugh along with others when our knights are send packing by a rabble of peasants (all because of those blasted dice), and happily recount those events weeks, months, and even years later. (Yes Rhea, I still remember how you wouldn't charge my Marines of the Guard because 'they were just too pretty'). And that's what the whole thing is about. So have fun, enjoy the hobby, but leave the egos at home. They don't add a single thing to what we are all about. Nobody flamed me (so far) regarding the last article, but once again, please accept my apologies if I have offended anybody. Bill: Please be careful in that each Region of HMGS has ifs own BoD and that the BoD referred to in the Courier is EAST's, not us. Also there is NO National BoD any more. MB Back to Dispatch January 2002 Table of Contents Back to Dispatch List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by HMGS Mid-South 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