Wargamers Island Books
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Doug Melville is a veritable WWF character of a wargamer from the arse end of.., sorry, the other side of the world down under. Inveterate Yahoo Groups DBM list poster, defacto self elected ruler of Australia and a dynamic one man crusade against the heresey that is non DBx-based ancient gaming rulesets and only a cruel accidental slip of the tongue during his christening ceremony denied him the chance to inherit South Africa's top financial punditry firm, Doug is a well known figure on the Oz and international competition circuit
..somehow involving enormous numbers of plastic Napoleonics, a local library that had 'charge - practical wargaming , Charles Grant' and a shop in Edinburgh that I refused to let my aunt walk past at the age of 10..
An Airfix British Napoleonic army, I laboured mightily to paint kilts and white braid. It looked pretty good. Of course when I wanted Scots Greys (my fathers regiment) I bought hinchcliffe, and was astounded at the size variation.. then it was Jacobite Wurttemburgers in 15mm, coz I only had pocket money.
My Carthaginians, currently in a third 15mm incarnation, previously Essex (sold) and Donnington (sold) now Corvus Belli and gorgeous, just not very successful. (see Melbourne IWF Mr Melvilles favorite books are listed below. Lots of good hard core history, and a real sprinkling of other stuff that veers dangerously close to being real "literature". The links go directly to the UK or US Amazon pages where you can find out more about (or buy) each one.
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| Amazon UK | Amazon US | |
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The
Histories vol 5, Byzantines, Sasanian and Lakhmid - Al-Tabari.
The source for Sasanian information, writing with access to the Moslem and Middle Persian sources, you cannot pretend to any degree of historical information without Al- Tabari.
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The
Roman Eastern Frontier -, Dodgeon and Lieu
A
collection of sources for the early Sasanian period that covers Greek,
Armenian, Arabic and other material. If you are less than handy with Aramaic,
Middle Persian, Farsi etc.. this is the one English translation that has it
all.
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| All
the Worlds Fighting Ships 1860 - 1905 - Conways When ships looked like they were put together by committees consisting of Jules Verne and HG Wells. The bizarre, the successful and the less so..
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| The
Oxford Dictionary of World History.
It
has it all.. nuff said.
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| Flashman
- George MacDonald Fraser With
an acknowledged liar, serial philanderer and all round scoundrel as
the eponymous hero, MacDonald Fraser has managed to cover more than
most of Victorian Britain's military 'masterpieces' and managed
to throw in a few others as well. 'A Rollicking Good Yarn' |
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| The
Grass Crown - Colleen McCullough
. The only author who has succeeded for me in making the Roma Republic alive. Amazingly well researched, beautifully written and engrossing, the start of a whole series
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| Espresso
Tales - Alexander McCall-Smith.
A
writer who seems to love his characters.
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| Decline
& Fall of the Roman Empire - Gibbon
A classic, and despite the moralising it is intriguing to see how much the tale reveals of Gibbon's time, as well as the Rome he describes.
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| Indaba
My Children - Credo-Mutwa.
The
authoritative collection of African legends that astonishes and amazes
and gathered by a man who was himself a legend, even in apartheid
South Africa. |
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The
bitchiest diaries of them all? Perhaps and re-told with wit, affection
and warmth by Vickers who is a top bloke. Thanks for the inscription
Hugo... |
| Can't find a book (or a price you want to pay!) on your local Amazon? Try searching Abe Books - worldwide |
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If you wish to submit a book list and answer the Big Three Questions please feel free to submit them to me to be considered for inclusion via this link Maroon Me Now Please Mr Madaxeman! and I will try and publish as many as I can (although I do have a real job to do as well, so it may take some time!). back to the Wargamers Island Homepage
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