By Mike Adams - ANCIENTS ITEMS - I recently bought THE ACHAEMENID PERSIAN ARMY($17.98) From ARTICLES OF WAR (Skokie, IL) by Duncan Head (Montvert Publications). I find that this book is a really great piece of work; the format is the same as OSPREY with color plates (by Richard Scollins) and plenty of b&w drawings. They provide you with the Persian orders of battle which is a great help to wargamers. Hopefully, more books will be following! WARGAMES FOUNDRY (see ad in this issue) has released 25mm Celtic Warriors for their ROME AND ITS ENEMIES line and I've seen RR104 through 109; these are cleanly cast and measure between 25-27mm from foot to eyebrow. More excellent Celtics for my collection. I really like RR1O8 striking with sword overhand w/shield By Hal Thinglum - WARGAMES FOUNDRY 25MM WARGAMES FIGURES - New from "The Foundry" (see address in their ads) include 25mm additions to their Napoleonics line in the form of Bavarian infantry (1808-15) consisting of 17 figures including 4 officers, standard, drummer, cornet, and 10 enlisted men poses. One of them (running at trail) has a separate musket. Outstanding work, as usual; variety of poses, no flash, nice animation. They've also added to their 25mm NORTHWEST FRONTIER line with a Havildar and Subedar for their Sikhs (1880-90's); four great British officers; seven really fine Highlanders, five Guide Infantry (including Havildar and Subedar); three Indian artillerymen kneeling, and a screw gun (2.30 pounds). Prices are .50 each. Hey, WF just keeps getting better & better. I love the Highlanders and Guide Infantry! To their 25mm PERSIAN & PELOPPONESIAN WARS they added PPE.1 The Death of Leonidas, King of Sparta, which contains 7 figures, 3 shields, and 2 spears. There is one dead figure, one apparently holding up the King by the shoulders, two figures with spears and one with a hatchet (4.50 pds). Outstanding stuff! Additional NAPOLEONICS, which I am highly impressed with, include 13 French mounted staff officers (Napoleon, Murat, Ney, Davout, Soult, Bessieres, Massena; 3 Generals & 3 ADC's), French Carabiniers for 1807-10 and 1811-1815, and seven horses. Very nice additions to this line. Two of the poses, NPCav3O7 & 312 (Carabinier trooper) are cast to the horse from their waist down; this allows for a larger variety of poses. Interesting concept. By Hal Thinglum - PRAIRIE PRODUCTS 25MM NAPOLEONIC FLAGS - Orv Banasik, 3165 26th Ave., Marion, Iowa, 52302 has added Napoleonic #2 French Infantry Line 1804-11 flags to his offerings. There are 24 color flags on this sheet ($4.50) and the flags are well done. You will not find better value for your money! Highly recommended! By David Barnes - THE LONGBOW: SOCIAL AND MILITARY HISTORY - By Robert Hardy, 248 pages, 150 illustrations, published by Patrick Stephens Ltd (20 pds). Robert Hardy is one of the best and most well-known TV actors in the UK. He played Winston Churchill in a mini-series of the great man's life and the Veterinary surgeon in several fringely popular series "All Creatures Great & Small". As Michael Caine says "Not many people know that..." Robert is also an expert on the longbow and how it is made. He's a member of the Royal Toxophilite Society. The book goes from the earliest beginnings of the longbow through the great years when it won the battles of Crecy, Poitiers and Agincourt to the present day as a sport and hunting weapon. I spent 18 years teaching people to shoot with rifles and if you think shooting the longbow is anything like rifle shooting, forget it. A mass of historic details on the weapon, the sort of men who carried it, what fletchings (feathers) the arrows had, what the various heads were used for and what damage it could inflict and how fast an expert could fire is all there. This edition has an extra chapter on the bows recovered from Henry VIII's "Mary Rose" warship - one fact, "an archer could fire 20 arrows in one minute, multiply that by 1,000" and you have some idea of the firepower of the archer corps of a British army. A book for medieval wargamers to savour and one that set me looking out my old bow - a poor thing in comparison to the great war bow. A valuable book and highly recommended. By Hal Thinglum - WALTHERS 1993 HO SCALE MODEL RAILROADER CATALOG - Years ago, I rain across this catalog, 20 years, I'm afraid, and I recently called their toll free number (1-800-347-1147) and ordered their newest catalog ($15.98) to see what they had to offer in the line of static grass. This is am 864 page(!) catalog, some in color, offering hundreds, perhaps thousands, of items we wargamers find handy. From NOCH static grass, which I purchased large quantities of ($2.49 for a small bag) and find that it makes an excellent replacement for KIDI static grass, which is no longer available, to HO metal, cars and trucks for the early 1900's (French Foreign Legion stuff!), there are buildings for many periods, ROCO military vehicles, TRIDENT modern military vehicles, and just much, much more. Highly recommended! By Hal Thinglum - FEUDAL CASTINGS 15MM DARK AGES 15MM FIGURES - DIVISION AFTER DIVISION (See ad in this issue) sent along 15mm samples for the Feudal Castings 15mm Dark Ages range. The listing includes Feudal Scots and Medieval Irish and there are a total of 30 packs of figures ($2.90 per pack of 8 foot, 4 cavalry, 6 command) including a wheeled battering ram w/crew ($4). Submitted for mention were Scottish spearman, Galloglaich javelin, Bonnacht w/two -handed axe, Wild Scot standard bearer, swordsman, and archer. These are nicely cast figures with weapons cast on and good animation and would appear to be standard 15mm figures as to their size. They report that most packs have at least two poses and some have as many as six. By Hal Thinglum - VILLAGE GREEN ADDITIONS - Village Green (see their ad in this issue) sent along a 25mm pavise (.70 pence) and facine (.85) in resin; as usual, they are very well done! Also included were 25mm SYW figures for their longboat; an oarsman, helmsman, standing British officer, and infantry seated with musket & tricorne. Figures are .50 each and would fit well with Front Rank SYW line. They now of fer the French longboat figures as well and have European sailors and colonial militia for the New World! Good stuff! BY Hal Thinglum - IRON BRIGADE 25MM FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION RELEASES - Years ago, Iron Brigade released a very extensive FFL line in 25mm, a line which still has some very good figures, both Arabs and Legion! Anyway, they've finally added the figures I've been waiting for - FFL with lewis guns. There are three poses: FFL standing firing with Lewis gun; kneeling firing w/lewis gun; and prone firing lewis gun. They sent me the standing and kneeling firing, but not the prone. These figures fit in very well with their own line, but also with the Frontier line of FFL. They are in greatcoats and paint up easily. See their ad in this issue for upcoming releases to their FFL line. Prices are $5 per pack of six. I've ordered a whole bunch as I want to have one Lewis gunner per half-section (10 figures) to hold off those nasty Arabs! I also ordered #8024 which consists of 6 25mm ladders for use in attacks on the French fort; they are very handy items to have around; can't remember price, but check out the Iron Brigade catalog. You may find some things you'll be surprised at. They also added FR9 Hotchkiss heavy MG and two crew; again the crew are in greatcoat. They report they'll be releasing pack teams for the hotchkiss and I'll be looking forward to this item. Also offered is a 1897 model 75mm French field gun and crew ($9). The crew members are a welcome addition for the FFL line. By Hal Thinglum - EAGLE 25MM NAPOLEONIC FIGURES - EAGLE MINIATURES (Available from Steven Phillips, 4761 Bear Canyon, Tucson, AZ 85749; 602-749-0703) has released 25mm Napoleonic Swedish infantry consisting of line advancing, officer, grenadiers, and guard grenadiers. They also added six 25mm infantry to their French line; one is a guardsman firing, while the others are gremadiers/voltigeurs. Cost is $1.25 each and they would fit in very well with Peter Guilder's fine line of Napoleonics as they are larger 25mm figures. Very nicely done! They also offer 25mm SYW figures and I'd really like to get a few battalions of these for my SYW project! By Howard Whitehouse - COLONIAL CONQUEST VOLUME 1. NUMBER 1 - COLONIAL CONQUEST is a new British magazine of the glossy colour persuasion, and quite impressive it is, too. Edited by Paul Darnell, the magazine has an ambitious plan to make each issue a "special" on a particular campaign. The first issue covers the Zulu War; the second will continue on the Zulus, with number 3 focusing on the Chitral Campaign of 1895. The appearance is quite exception, with a very handsome layout, and high quality paper. The maps and period photographs are well reproduced while the colour photos - four full pages plus front and back covers - are of a very high standard. These show battle scenes of nicely painted 25mm figures, with good terrain (I really like the tents!). The painted backdrops could be improved, and if I wanted to be pedantic I'd suggest that the terrain looks too dry for Isandhlwana (it had been raining for days, being the wet season 'n all) but really, I'm most impressed. The whole thing looks - expensive, which I mean as a compliment. As seems to be the way with first issues of anything, the editor is the primary writer. Dr. Darnell has focused on four actions - Isandhlwana, Rorke's Drift, Nyezane and Ntombe. For each, he lets the eyewitnesses tell us what happened, using complete accounts, from previously published sources. Although I already have many of the books used for these, I'm very much taken with this approach - far better than the usual wargamers ' "canned history". For Isandhlwana he adds an hour-by-hour chronology. Each battle is given a brief analysis, referred to as "Battle Profile", which are thoughtful and not dogmatic - a relief in view of some of the contentious approaches to the British disasters like Isandhlwana especially. Lastly there is a section on wargaming each of the actions. As a bonus, we get a concise chart of Zulu regiments with numbers and shield colours, a reprint of Lord Chemlsford's 1878 pamphlet on the Zulu Army - which I've never seem before in its entirety, though it isn't long, and a "Dispatch Column" of small items. Vol 1 No 1 has 47 pages, standard British format (like WI, MW) while we are told 32 will be usual, for a cover price of 1.95 Sterling. There is no advertising in this issue, so it's all meat (but can it survive without advertising income?). US Subs are $36 for six issues from ON MILITARY MATTERS, 55 Taylor Terrace, Hopewell, NJ 08525 (609-466-2807). Highly recommended - I plan on subscribing myself. By Hal Thinglum - THE ACHAEMENID PERSIAN ARMY - ON MILITARY MATTERS (see address right above) sent along THE ACHAEMENID PERSIAN ARMY, by Duncan Head with color plates by Richard Scollims published by Montvert Publications. This is a 72 page booklet (price unknown) along the same lines as the OSPREY publications. It consists of and historical background, military organization, uniforms, info re the Iranian and foreign troops, the army on campaign and battle, orders of battle for eight battles, and information re the color plates. I found this book to be well done; perhaps a step above the OSPREY offerings. By Hal Thinglum - NEW BOOK RELEASES FROM STERLING - STERLING PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC., 387 Park Ave. South, New York, NY 10016-8810 continues to add to their historical book releases. I am most impressed with the number and quality of books they have been releasing; very high value to wargamers! Sent along for mention within this column: THE BATTLE BOOK: Crucial Conflicts in History from 1469 BC to the Present By Bryan Perrett; $24.95, 320 pages, hardbound. This is an excellent book for wargamers; it offers information for 565 battles in history encompassing the date, location, war/campaign, object of the conflict, opposing sides, forces involved, casualties, results, and a brief overview. Excellent stuff for us wargamers! CUSTER'S 7TH CAVALRY From Fort Riley to the Little Big Horn by E. Lisle Reedstrom; $14.95 paperback, 176 pages, 150 b/w illustrations. This is the second "western" book published by Sterling and I've read each cover to cover even though I don't have a huge interest in the period. If you are into the "Wild West", or even have a passing interest in Custer - and what red-blooded American boy (now in his 40's) doesn't - you'll really enjoy this book. This book is very descriptive as to the campaigns and what the period was really like. Highly recommended! LAST STAND Famous Battles Against the Odds by Bryan Perrett; $14.95 paperback, 240 pages, 46 b/w illustrations. You'll love this book; 13 of the most fascinating last stands of military history including the Little Big Horn, Alamo, Wake Atoll, Arnhem Bridge, Old Guard at Waterloo, Camerone, Isandhlwana, Rorke's Drift, Nery, Flesquiers, Bois des Buttes, Outpost Snipe, Sidi Nsir, Betio & Tarawa, The Admin Box, and Imjin. Outstanding book to inspire you into doing new periods! VICTORIAN COLONIAL WARFARE: AFRICAby our good friend, Donald Featherstone, $24.95 hardcover, 192. pages, 130 b/w illustrations. Covers nine African campaigns; Abyssinian, Ashantis, Basutos, Boer Wars, Kaffir Wars, Matabele and Mashonas, Zulu, and Campaigns in Central, East & West Africa. Donald uses quotes from period publications to tell the stories of these interesting campaigns and inf lames our desire to wargame them. You'll be running off to your file of catalogs to locate colonial manufacturers of figures for the periods! VICTORIAN COLONIAL WARFARE: INDIA, again by Donald Featherstone; $24.95 hardcover, 160 pages. This volume covers the Conquest of Sind, Gwalior War, First and Second Sikh War, and the Indian Mutiny. I must admit that I was especially interested in the Sikh Wars, as I've long been interested in them, but never took the time to do much reading about the period. Donald again utilizes period quotes to tell the story and I found this approach interesting and of use. Back to MWAN #63 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1993 Hal Thinglum 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