"Is the internet and army lists enough?" Topic

In these days of the Internet and published army lists, a library of old fashioned books (or even e books) is not a necessity for war gamers. That certainly saves the pennies and makes the game more accessible.

yet being a history nut I have over the past 12 months, courtesy of a range of second hand book dealers, built up a small collection, and I wondered if the great and knowledgeable TMP community has other thoughts whether the book is dead in wargaming, or if there are essential works that every gamer must have….I'm focused on the eastern front, but no need to restrict our thoughts to that theatre…

so to kick off… I don't have many books on weapons, as I get most of that off the web, so mostly focused on history, strategy and tactics, OOB and TO&E. I'm sire other will have ideas for weapons volumes.

Glantz for me is essential, I have his books on Barbarossa, Kharkov and two of the Stalingrad volumes. I also have the older works by John Erickson focused on the Soviet perspective (the road to Stalingrad and the Road to Berlin). I have Anthony Beevor's two popular history's of the battles of Stalingrad and Berlin as they are so well written, and Richard Overy's short history of the war from the Russian standpoint (Russia's war).From the German point of view I have Kershaw's War Without Garlands and Lloyd Clark's new book on Kursk.

On organisation and unit histories I have Sam Mitchell's the Panzer Legions, Bishop's Panzergrenadier Dirvisions 1939-45 Rosado and Bishop's German Wehrmacht Panzer Division's 1939-45, Zaloga and Ness's Red Army Handbook and Lucas's Grman Army Handbook. I've also recently acquired Marek's 9th Panzer Division.

On uniforms and painting I have four old Squdron Signal publications – Panzergrenadiers in Action and German Infantry in Action and Panzer Colors vols 1 and 2, also the new Histoire & Collections publication 'German Soldiers of WW2'. Ihave a few Osprey's too but won't get into that. And yes I have the FoW Eastern Front book and 2 books of scenarios and army lists for IABSM.

A small collection but useful for me.

What are the essentials for a good WW2 gaming library?

I can think of two essential sources for the WWII gamer, one in print and one on the intertubes.

First, "The Gamer's Guide to WWII Small Unit Organizations and TO&Es" by Bill Rutherford. I bought mine for $9 USD at a convention and it's an amazing value. Tons of company-level TO&Es down to individual weapon detail for all of the major combatants throughout the war.

Second, our own Gary Kennedy's "Bayonet Strength" website. Another incredibly useful source of WWII TO&Es up to battalion level.

bayonetstrength.150m.com

I would also recommend the Flames of War army books for TO&E information. There might be a few problems here and there and they are expensive but I still find them useful as a reference. I do wish they were more clear on the relationship between the companies and higher level assets as they seem to blur the lines at times. Sill, I'd recommend them.

Yes, I agree books about weapons are largely superfluous these days, however books about vehicles are quite handy as they usually have lost of photos you can base your models & paint schemes on.

The main things I have are books about:

Military History
Military Science
Organisation, tactics and operations.
Uniform and campaign guides.
Personal accounts etc
A moderate collection of manuals

The essentials are quite hard though. If forced to pick just five books from my collection.

1. WW2 Army Uniforms by Andrew Mollo. Had this for decades.
2. A decent and large general history of WW2. Eddy Bauers 'The Second World War' is as good as any.
3. 'WW2 Infantry Tactics' by Anthony-Farrar Hockley. Pretty basic but was a revelation at the time.
4. 'Spearhead of the Offensive, The Soviet Conduct of Tactical Manouvre' by David Glantz. As good a guide to the operational art as you are going to find.
5. 'WW2 Army Organisations' by Ian Shaw. Again fairly old and basic but covers every major and many minor participants for the entire war. If more interested in Grand Tactical, then substitute the Command Decision 2nd Ed 'Armies of WW2' book.

Three of those I've owned since the 1970s, and which coupled with Charles Grants 'Battle' & WRG 1925-50, got me going with WW2 wargaming.

Thanks these are great – I'm familiar with bayonet strength, but not the other sources.

I should add on war games books, I also have a small collection and can recommend in Addition to Battle, Dunn's Sea Battle Games for WW2. I think I have those old WRG rules somewhere too! Kevin Dallimore's painting and miniatures guide published by Foundry has been a great help too, as I have been using Foundry paints mostly.

on general WW2 history, I have my dad's first edition of Churchill's memoir which is great still, Charles Messenger's Art of Blitzkrieg – also old and simple but very helpful tactically – Liddle Hart's edited Rommel Papers and interviews with German generals (the other side of th hill). Reading my dads copy of the Rommel Papers was probably my first inspiration to war game I think…. I have some other t heater specific stuff for the Western Desert, early war France And Norway, Normandy and the Pacific (the latter mostly naval)' but mostly history – not focussed on gaming.

The internet is a valuable resource but it does not replace the ownership of books. I like books. I want to collect books. I do not read books off the internet however I will read articles off the internet. If I want to know the color of a Swabian grenadier colonel's button hole lace during the First War of Unification, I will come here (internet). If I want to read about the history of the Union Army of the Tennessee I will read a book that I can hold in my hands. While the internet is great, it lacks more information than it has.

Joe,

I feel the same way, especially with e-books. My son has a nook and is a complete tech geek but even at age 12 he still loves physical books like dear old dad does. E-books have the added disadvantage that you never own them. They've been pulled back from consumers for SUSPICION of unfair use and even remotely edited AFTER purchase…we're talking classics being edited.

I prefer paper – I find it easier to read.

Anyone with less than 100 Ospreys is a dilettante!

The internet is a valuable resource but it does not replace the ownership of books.

I could not agree more. Books are almost always best but, the internet is great for finding the books you need. Uniform guides on line are handy, I agree, but even then I would prefer a book most of the time.

If you're talking about the minimum books for submarine gaming in WW2, Shinano!, Iron Coffins, and Fluckey, Beach, O'Caine and the rest of the US captains.

Shifting to surface battles… not a clue.

For me wargaming and military history are totally integrated. And although I totally read fiction on my kindle, I still insist on good old fashioned paper for my history books, since I keep those for future reference and fondling. Plus I find it easier to "skim" through real books than soft copy documents.