This is a book that should be on every Colonial Wargamers’ bookshelf. It is a brilliant study of the conflicts and personalities involved in a continuous series of wars for the British Empire between 1837 and 1901. It is by no means an exhaustive study of the period, but offers the reader a good slice of the times. If you don’t already play colonial miniature wargames, this book will make you want to.
Books
Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose
In this classic oral history, Stephen Ambrose follows Easy Company of the 506th Airborne from their training to the end of World War II. It’s an easy-to-read, compelling account of men at war. I came away from this book greatly admiring the men of Easy Company. This book was the basis of the hit HBO Television series “Band of Brothers.” In many ways, this book reminded me of the classic Cornelius Ryan works like A Bridge Too Far and The Longest Day. Ambrose has taken criticism for some factual errors in his work, but the reader must remember that this is an ORAL history, and the memories of the men involved may have dimmed with time.
Band of Brothers : E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest
Angel In The Whirlwind By Benson Bobrick
Angel In The Whirlwind is a good, one volume account of the American Revolution. Beginning with the war’s proximate causes in the French and Indian War, and continuing on to 1782 and Washington’s retirement, this book is full of the colorful personalities that make this period so interesting. This was the first book I read when beginning my research into the Ameican Revolution. It’s a good place to start — or, if you are a Revolution aficionado, a good read to remind you why the Revolution caught your imagination in the first place.
Angel in the Whirlwind : The Triumph of the American Revolution
Battles of the Revolutionary War by W.J. Wood
In Battles of the Revolutionary War, author W.J. Wood contends that — contrary to popular belief — the war was won by American skill on the battlefield. To prove this contention, he examines in ten chapters, ten major battles of the war: Bunker Hill, Quebec, Trenton and Princeton, Brandywine, Oriskany, Saratoga, King’s Mountain, Cowpens, Guilford Courthouse, and the Chesapeake Capes. Each chapter features a detailed narrative of the battle, some useful maps and battle plans, and an analysis of the action. There also are some good organizational charts, and intellience reports. It was well worth the price.
Battles of the Revolutionary War: 1775-1781 (Major Battles and Campaigns Series)
Painting Wargaming Figures: WWII In The Desert – Book Review
Painting Wargaming Figures: WWII In The Desert
by Andy Singleton
Publisher’s Site
Buy It On Amazon
As the title suggests, Painting Wargaming Figures: WWII In The Desert is a guide to painting the armies of British and Commonwealth, Italian, United States and German Armies of the North Africa Campaigns in World War II. Author Andy Singleton is a full time, professional figure painter.
Painting Wargaming Figures: WWII In the Desert is published in a perfect bound 17cm x 24.5 cm format with 158 glossy pages. the book has some 200 color illustrations. Nearly all of these are of figures in various stages of their “paint jobs.”
Singleton begins his volume with a brief discussion of the various “tools of the trade”: hobby knives, side cutters, files, glue, brushes and the like. A discussion on painting techniques, such as drybrushing, washes and glazing follows. I suspect that most experienced miniature wargamers will just skim past this.
The meat of the book is in the step-by-step painting guides. For each nationality, Singleton offers step-by-step instructions for producing figures at “conscript”, “regular” and “elite” levels. The ratings refer not the quality of the troops, but to the level of painting detail and skill required. Novice painters can start at the “conscript” level to quickly start fielding an army. As confidence and skill grows, a painter can step up to the higher levels.
In each step, Singleton includes a chart of suggested colors, describes which parts of the figure to paint and which colors to use on which areas of the figure. He also suggests brush sizes and painting techniques (dry brushing, for example).
If I were a beginning painter, I think this volume would serve very nicely to help me get started. As it stands, though, I’ve been at it for nearly fifty years and have probably painted some ten thousand figures. Still, I still gleaned some good information from the “Elite” instructions, particularly some aspects of using washes that I had not considered.