by Donald Featherstone. (8 1/2" x 5 1/2"; 176p; 30PP line illustrations. David and Charles - £ 2.95P. Personally inscribed and autographed copies from Wargamer's Newsletter - £ 3.15P).
Before any review of a book it is desirable that the reviewer should state what he understands to be the intentions of the author so that the reader understands the basic assumptions on which the review is written. In this case Don Featherstone has spelt out his intentions in the introductory chapter. These are to provide sufficient information on selected battles which are small enough to be capable of being realistically represented on the wargame table without one figure representing a battalion.
The introductory chapter suggests ways of dealing with the 'imponderables' and surprise elements of every battle, the 'what if's', the flank marches and the sudden aberrations of previously sane commanders.
The fifteen battles described in separate chapters range from Pharsalus (48 BC Roman Civil War) to the battle for Pork Chop Hill in Korea (1953). A battle is selected from each military period between.* Each is described as it happened and each commander involved is assessed on his performance on the day. What might have happened if the fortunes of war had been different is considered and ways are suggested of representing these chance factors. The problems of each commander and any special behavioural characteristics of the two forces such as high morale, treachery or downright stupidity are outlined. Each chapter concludes with a description of the battlefield, a scale drawing of a table-top representation and suggestions for modelling the terrain features. The appendices contain sources for rules and figures and a useful bibliography for those wanting more information.
All-in-all a useful book, every wargames club should have a copy. However, more detailed orders of battle specifying, if possible, the units involved and their strengths rather then the simple totals of each troop type would have been much more useful.
NOTE:
The actual battles are of Pharsalus, 9 August 48 BC (Roman Civil War); the Battle of Poitiers, 19 September 1356 (Hundred Years War); the Battle of Barnet, 14 April 1471 (Wars of the Roses); the Battle of Cheriton, 29 March 1644 (English Civil War); the Battle of Wyendeel, 28 September 1708 (Marlburian Wars); the Battle of Prestonpans, 21 September 1745 (Jacobite Rebellion - the 145); the Battle of Guildford Courthouse, 15 March 1781 (American Revolution); the Battle of Maids, 4 July 1806 (Napoleonic Wars); the Battle of Aliwal, 28 January 1846 (First Sikh War); the Battle of the Little Big Horn, 25 June 1876 (American Indian Wars); the Battle of Modder River, 28 November 1899 (Second Boer War); the ANZAC Landing at Gallipoli, 25 April 1915 (World War I); the Raid on St. Nazeire, 24.27/26 March 1942 (World War II) and the attack* on Pork Chop Hill, 16-18 April 1953 (Korean War).
Book Reviews
Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter #141
To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues
To MagWeb Master Magazine List
© Copyright 1973 by Donald Featherstone.
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