Tag: Wars and Conflicts
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Book Review – To Reason Why, by Denis Forman
This is more than just an infantry officer’s memoir. Denis Forman was closely involved in the Battle School movement that transformed the British Army’s infantry training during the second world war. He then went on to serve alongside Lionel Wigram (the primary proponent and intellectual leader of the Battle School movement) in Italy. The story…
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Defeat Into Victory
A friend sent me a copy of Field Marshal Bill Slim‘s Defeat Into Victory. It has always been on my list of books I’d like to read, but somehow I’d never quite got round to acquiring a copy. The version I have is a reading copy of the original edition, with fold out maps all through it. The reading…
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What you missed at CLWG in September 2011
Three interesting games and a load of cake! We started with Peter Merritt’s 1814 political game which looked at how Napoleon’s Marshals dealt with the oncoming defeat of France and the transfer of power. Following that Andrew Hadley brought out his game about the Athenian invasion of Sicily. We then finished with Rob Cooper’s game about…
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Condor Blues – British soldiers at war
A very interesting book about the British Army experience from the point of view of two platoons embedded in training the Iraqi Civil Defence Corps (ICDC) in the aftermath of the invasion (so the first half of 2004 approximately). Both platoons belonged to the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, but one was on secondment from the…
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The Defense of Jisr Al-Doreaa
This is an excellent update of an old classic. Two books in one, the author’s have brought Swinton’s Duffer’s Drift and re-written it for the modern conflicts (which bear more than a passing resemblance to the Boer War). Swinton’s book is in the second half of the volume. Â The basis for Duffer”s Drift (if you…
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Book Review – Blitzkrieg Legend
A book review of Bltzkrieg Legend, the German Army official history of the 1940 Campaign in the West
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Book Review – Field of Fire: Diary of a Gunner Officer by Jack Swaab
Field of Fire: Diary of a Gunner Officer by Jack Swaab My rating: 5 of 5 stars I read the hardback version very shortly after it came out. I collect first hand accounts of the WW2 and unit histories of the 51st Highland Division in particular, so this one was a must buy. That said…
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Charlie Company, Peter Cochrane
This is a history of C Company 2nd Bn Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders in the western desert, Sudan & Eritrea, Keren and then in Italy. They were part of 4th Indian Division. The author was an officer who did all his active service with the same infantry company and this covers his experiences and those of his company. Synopsis…
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CLWG Games Weekend 2007 Reports
Offside reports from the 2007 CLWG Games weekend, including – Jim’s Breeding Idea – Siege of Yendor tryout – Religion in Brian Cameron’s ‘Hapsburg Ascendant’ – Onside report of my ‘Orange & Lemon’ – Jim’s ‘Blitz Firefighting’
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Hot Blood & Cold Steel – onside Report
This was a design session on how to do a WW1 skirmish game, focusing mainly delivering a participation game for Jerry Elsmore’s 50th Birthday con. I’d already done a first darft of the rules but wanted to talk through some of the principles about what I wanted to achieve. I found the discussion particularly useful…