"MEGA WARGAMES" Topic

MEGA WARGAMES

I'm very pleased to announce the forthcoming publication of Mega Wargames. This book showcases ten historical battles on a truly grand scale that will delight and, hopefully, inspire you. All of the layouts, figures, buildings and terrain are part of an incredible 28mm wargames collection belonging to Ron Ringrose.

I first met Ron in 2008, and eBay should be thanked for this happy association. I won a fishing trawler that Ron put up for auction. It was ideal for a WW2 scenario I was planning at the time. Rather than chance it to the vagaries of the UK postal service, I decided to go to Ron's house and collect it in person. When he invited me in to view his collection I was totally amazed and inspired by what I saw. Here was every wargamer's dream collection and yet it was tucked away out of sight. It deserved to be seen and I was determined to bring it to the wargaming world stage. I hope you will enjoy Ron's collection for yourselves… and be as inspired as was I when I first set eyes on it!

It's been a year in the making, and with the collaboration of author Jon Sutherland, and the enthusiastic support of Wargames Illustrated, it's now ready to release at last!

Beyond the aesthetics, Mega Wargames also has Orders of Battle, construction details, plus historical and gaming information on the ten featured battles, namely:

Narbonne 436
Benfleet 894
Stillwater 1777
Talavera 1809
Quatre Bras 1815
Gettysburg 1863
Ciorlano 1943
Falaise 1944
Tet Offensive 1968
Mogadishu 1993

Wargames Illustrated are publishing Mega Wargames as a limited edition of 1,000 hardcover books. It has 180, A4, full-colour pages, and features over 200 of my highly-detailed photographs. Price: GBP 30, USD 50, EUR 40, AUD 60, NZD 75
Release date: 3rd November.

Here's a link to some sample photos:

link

Wargames Illustrated are now taking pre-orders on their web store:

link

All comments welcomed

Sounds great.

Great pics. Is there a flow of pictures for each battle to tell the story of it?

Like the flock of geese.

What is the battle with the picture number 9. Is that Somali armor in Mogadishu?

Very impressive – sets the bar high for "wargame porn".

Here's the cover:

Bobgnar – Joe took photos the various stages of the game, so there is a "narrative" in the flow of the photographs. The action should pretty much match the brief description of the battle. I've organised the text to be as useful as possible to recreate what we've done – so the OOBs, objectives, terrain pointers, victory points and other material can be pared down to allow you to refight the battle.

I looked at the website and ordered a copy.

Thanks Tulsatime, much appreciated, I'm sure you will be delighted with your purchase.

Looks great!
I ordered a copy.

Thanks for the heads up!

While of a high standard and an epic scale ,
IMHO it does not get near the quality of the
true masters such as Gaskin and Ray.
Still a great effort.

Thanks Doug, appreciated.

Crap, I wish I could buy that.

Looks interesting, but the photos are quite "small scale" – is the book better with more panaoramic "big game" photos?

Marc – yes, the book has many more panoramic 'big game' photos than are shown in the dozen or so samples I've linked to. I'm sure you'll be impressed when you look at the whole book in context.

Wow Sidney, way to on his chips, why don't
You tell him his wife and kids are ugly too.
Good luck with it, hope it sells loads.
John

Hi John,
I am saying its very good and have seen some of amazing games
close up But I comparing it to the pinnacle of the hobby.
I am sure his wife and children are very beautiful .
I wish them luck and I hope it sells as you said very
well.
This just one person's opinion many others will not agree
which is fair enough .

Sid

@Joe Dever
Looks lovely and have ordered as a(nother) Christmas present to myself.

Henry

Henry: Quid pro Quo! I've just bought your Wargaming Compendium. My compliments on a first class piece of work.
Cheers, Joe.

I'm not sure who Gaskin and Ray are (Harryhausen ??), but if their wargamne tables look better then they must be ****ing awesome !

By comparison my table looks like a piece of **** – fortunately that's the look I go for through choice, I like it to be "symbolic" rather than "a moving diorama" – it's my boat, and that's how she floats. But complete respect to the setups in the new book. Very, very pretty.

Agreed!

Thanks for all the kind comments and pre-orders, much appreciated. As an extra thank you, here's a link to a few more photos from the book:

link

Gaskin is Bill Gaskin, I'm sure, and Ray (maybe John Ray but not sure). The two of them have created some of the most spectacular collections of figures I've ever seen – and I've only seen them in magazine photographs. I believe they may be sculptors and they certainly are artists if the painted figures are their own work.

As to the work of Ron Ringrose – less familiar but certainly looks outstanding just from the cover artwork above. I'll take a closer look at the balance soon enough. If his work is only 80% as good as Gaskin and Ray then it is spectacular in and of its own right.

Here is a link to some of Gaskin's work (WI312 extras – and, no, I have no affiliation with the magazine). Spectacular – and I'm jealous of the table. But palm trees aside Lauzan's Dragoons in 1700s Virginia? Doubtful, very doubtful. Of course, it could be meant for Caribbean setting and then not so doubtful. But still great work.

And I did take a look at the Ringrose work through the link. Very nice.