There's still time for those last-minute holiday orders to go out… some are coming in hot in late December, while other items are heading in January 2012. Remember that the website onmilitarymatters.com holds all – order online, but keep an eye on the calendar because there's only a week and a couple days left.
LANDED…
Just in… Miniature Wargames 345 Features Ager Proelii – a 20-page, all-color set of complete rules for the Punic Wars! Also, show reports – Fiasco; To Bosworth And Beyond – Hail Caesar for War of the Roses; The High Ground – Out With The Old; Modelling Project – Building a Dark Age Dyke; Darker Horizons; and Hobby Resources – Wargames Club Directory 2012.
COMING IN HOT…
BATTLE GAMES MAGAZINE #27 Articles include: Visiting The Beast In Its Lair: A visit to Gripping Beast, including a game of Saga; The Race to St Leger: A game of I Ain't Been Shot Mum with a post-D-Day teaser, pitching the Royal Dragoon Guards and Green Howards against an outnumbered but expertly-handled German defense; Command Challenge: Malatitze - The Great Northern War battle of Malatitze. This has all the classic components of a dawn raid, set in this much-neglected corner of the horse-and-musket era – and of course, it's easy to convert to whatever period you prefer; and more. $10.00 USD
WARGAMES ILLUSTRATED: Issue #291 Includes: Cover theme: The Road to Revolution (American Revolution); The Soldiers of '75: Infantry of the American Revolution – dress and equipment; The Midnight Ride: Lexington and Concord; Breaking Out of Boston: Take and hold the Charlestown Peninsula; and How to Build a New England Farmhouse: Converted Perry Miniatures farmhouse kit into a two-story house.
Other articles include: The Great Train Robbery: FoW Polish trains in German service during WWII; Problus, 1866: Refight of the Battle for Problus, 3 July 1866; Napoleon of the West: Mexican-American War with the Black Powder rules; Grouchy's Blue: Waterloo demo table that focuses on the French right; Bank Heist: Two fun scenarios for WWII skirmishing based directly on that cinematic classic, Kelly's Heroes; and Death of an Army: The Khalsa (Sikh Army) is deliberately led into the teeth of a British trap. $8.50 USD
SHADOW COMMANDER: The Epic Story of Donald D. Blackburn U.S. Army Captain Donald D. Blackburn refused to lay down his arms when U.S. forces surrendered on Bataan, Philippines, in 1942. He escaped and ultimately raised a private army of over 22,000 men, known as 'Blackburn's Headhunters.' The 'unit' devastated the Japanese 14th Army within the western provinces of North Luzon, and destroyed the Japanese naval base at Aparri – the largest enemy anchorage in the Philippines.
After WWII, Blackburn remained on active duty and played a key role in initiating Special Forces operations in Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia in Southeast Asia from 1958 through the Vietnam War, including Operation Ivory Coast: the Son Tay Prison Raid – the largest POW rescue mission and Special Forces operation of the Vietnam War. $33.00 USD
TMP special offer. Save 15%! New price: $28.05 USD
SOLDATS NAPOLEONIENS: No. 3 (New Series): Au sommaire de ce troisieme numero de la nouvelle serie de Soldats Napoleoniens: Les aides de camp du marechal Berthier; Le 1er regiment d'eclaireurs de la Garde imperiale; Le regiment des lanciers de Berg; Le bonnet carre des troupes italiennes; Les armes de l'infanterie russe 1798-1815; La legion portugaise de 1808 a 1813; and Le chapeau du Lieutenant General Sir Thomas Picton. [French text] $34.00 USD
ON THE HORIZON…
PANZER VOR! 6: GERMAN ARMOUR AT WAR 1939-45 8.5x11, Armour at War series, 16 pages of color drawings and lots of b/w photos.
A successful tank design involves an optimal balance of mobility, protection and firepower, and this volume summarizes how German tank firepower and protection levels evolved over the course of WWII. In response to better enemy vehicles, initially lightweight designs grew into a formidable array of heavy tanks, as well as solutions such as additional armor plates and Schurzen side skirts. Panzer Vor! 6 focuses specifically on this 'gun versus armor' equation, and this is reflected in the text and captions.
The fascinating vista of photos shows vehicles in action, and the range of vehicles is extraordinary – it includes the Panzer I, Panzer II, Panzer III, StuG III, Panzer IV, Panther, and Tiger I. There are also artillery pieces (e.g. Hummel, Wespe) and a number of halftracks featured within the covers. This far-from-complete list indicates the wide range of vehicle types featured. Perhaps most useful of all to readers will be the highly detailed captions that accompany each picture. They highlight features of production variants and units.
In the center of the book are 16 color plates by the accomplished illustrator Laurent Lecocq. These plates provide sample camouflage schemes and markings in full color. This is a well-written and well-illustrated book that will provide modelers and enthusiasts with much inspiration and information respectively. It's a fine companion to the five previous volumes in the Panzer Vor! series. $22.00 USD
TMP special offer. Save 15%! New price: $18.70 USD
SOLDATS NAPOLEONIENS: No. 4 (New Series): Au sommaire de ce quatrieme numero de la nouvelle serie de Soldats Napoleoniens: les pupilles de la Garde imperiale, par Jerome Croyet; l'ambulance du 25e leger, le 6 juillet 1809 a Wagram, par Pierre-Yves Chauvin; l'infanterie de ligne francaise a la fin du premier Empire: exemple d'une piece du musee de l'Emperi, par Dimitri Gorchkoff; l'etat-major du royaume d'Italie 1805-1814 par Riccardo Papi; and
la garnison de Cadix de 1810 – 1812, par Rene Chartrand. [French text] $34.00 USD
SOLDATS NAPOLEONIENS SPECIAL ISSUE: No. 2 La campagne de 1809 vue par les peintres. [French text] $22.00 USD
THE GREAT WAR: Men, Uniforms and Materials The book contains 400+ color uniforms, weapons, and objects of the Great War photographs, over 170 historical and mostly unpublished photos, and over 180 explanatory drawings and prints and dioramas. Every aspect of the military organization of the WWI Austro-Hungarian army by reviewing equipment, uniforms and weapons through an iconography that includes over 700 fine illustrations. All materials, from uniforms to guns, are presented through professional color photos taken in museums and from private collectors.
Contents as follows: backpack and the bundling; trenches; spade, knives, and brass knuckles; bludgeon; bayonets; flame thrower; machineguns; grenades; cannons; rifles; Cecchini, telescopes, and periscopes; guns; enemy troops; Alpine; Austro-Hungarian mountain troops; gas war; war of mines; war of the strong; War in Heaven; war at sea; chaplains; special vehicles; rations. $75.00 USD [Italian text]
UNIFORMS AND INSIGNIA OF ITALIAN COLONIAL TROOPS VOL.1: ERITREA AND SOMALIA, 1885-1934: 283 pictures, mostly unreleased, 92 figures in color, 160 color drawings of decorations, badges and flags. Important work dedicated to the uniforms of the native troops of the Italian army during the colonial campaigns. Accompanied by detailed color plates and a large quantity of photographs (mostly unpublished) presents and describes the uniforms and insignia of departments, but is also the clothing, regular or not, all the local staff employed by the Italian Government.
Through careful archival research are detailed the events of individual departments or bodies, from the Battalions Squadrons, Companies from the Autonomous Battery of Artillery, from services to smaller units in order to provide for each of them a comprehensive historical framework, useful the collector as to the researcher. $115.00 USD [Italian text]
SHATTERED GENIUS: The Decline and Fall of the German General Staff in World War II This work describes the turbulent existence of the German general staff from its resurrection by Hitler in 1935 to the end of World War II. It highlights the increasingly fractured relationship between general staff officers and Hitler during this period. The crisis of conscience that many officers faced is also highlighted, as the articles of the Soldier's Oath - a personal vow of loyalty to Hitler himself - seemed increasingly irreconcilable with the actions of an ideologically obsessed and dangerous leader.
The book dispels many prevalent myths that surround the general staff, such as its perceived infallibility, the belief that it unquestioningly supported Hitler's policies, and the convention that it was primarily the general staff which persuaded Hitler to declare war in 1939. At the same time, it identifies failings of the general staff as a whole that meant serious errors of judgment were made in dealings with the Nazis both before and after the party's rise to power. Yet the general staff was still able to prosecute the war effectively up to late 1941 and to prolong the conflict to 1945, despite overwhelming odds and diminished resources. $35.00 USD
TMP special offer. Save 15%! New price: $29.75 USD
WEHRPAS & SOLDBUCH Fully illustrated in color with 350+ photos, the book brings together every kind of detail and Wehrpass Soldbuch used by the Wehrmacht and the Waffen-SS during World War II. The analysis is carried out carefully, page by page, with important insights that provide data are hard to find even for the more experienced collectors. $75.00 USD [Italian text]
B-29 SUPERFORTRESS IN ACTION: This all-new edition of B-29 Superfortress in Action uses 248 vintage photographs, 90 of them in full color, to chronicle the history of this famed heavy bomber. Photos and detailed captions chart the development, production, use, and disposition of not only the XB-29, YB-29, B-29, B-29A, B-29B, and, of course, the famed 'Silverplate' atomic bombers, but also notable variants such as the F-13, F-13A, SB-29, KB-29, EB-29, WB-29, P2B and the history-making X-1 carrier. Also included is coverage of the experimental XB-39 and XB-44 variants. Individual sections of the book explore the interior and armament of these bombers, as well as their production by Boeing, Martin, and Bell. $19.00 USD
TMP special offer. Save 15%! New price: $16.15 USD
TRADITION #259 January-February 2012 En couverture: Les Carabiniers en Russie (1812). Egalement au sommaire: le service de sante de la Garde imperiale (1804- 1815); les aigles en Espagne: le 1er regiment leger; les Brunswick-Oels au service britannique; Glaive d'artillerie a pied bavaroise (1806-1825); and la guerre des Zoulous de 1879. [French text] $15.00 USD
GLOIRE & EMPIRE #40: Napoleon in Russia in 1812 Napoleon in Russia in 1812: The Battle of the Moscow River (Borodino). [French text] $28.00 USD
PRETORIEN #21 Issue includes articles covering from the second century BC with the destruction of Carthage to the end of the Hospitallers in the Holy Land in 1291. [French text] $18.00 USD
TANK & MILITARY VEHICLES: #3 Vincy Manoeuvre 2011; Nerrant: rencontre avec un passionne; Le Chevrolet 'Maple Leaf' 15 cwt. GS van; La motorisation manquee de l'armee britannique (5e partie); La restauration de la chenillette Lorraine; La 6e fete de l'AMV 74; La 2nd Armored en Bretagne; Les tracteurs M425 et M426, 5 ton. 4x2; l'Escadron de l'Histoire 2011; Douzy 2011; L'Atlantikwall du domaine Raversijde/Ostende; and La liberation de la ville de Noyon. [French text] $14.00 USD