Wargamers Island Books
Ex president of the Pike & Shot Society, Tim Myall shares with us an erudite and distinctly Renaissance-Swedish-flavored selection of books.
I do hope he keeps them all in a bookcase from Ikea!
I have been playing informal wargames as long as I can remember. I started making Airfix kits (very badly) and progressed to Airfix plastic figures. The games had no real rules until on day my father brought home a copy of Charge!. I was hooked and have been ever since.
As you will see from the book list below, the Vasa Swedes have long been a fascination of mine. My favourite current army is my Thirty Years War Swedes as commanded by Gustavus Adolphus (a hero of mine). They figures are the old style Mike's Models sold by Essex, painted in tremendous detail by a company called E-Z-Eye (from Hull if I remember). Under Tercio 5th Edition, they would give any opponent a good game. Now days DBR is king so I have rebased them. I have played 4 lost 4 but they remain my favorite army My favourite set of figures are some beautifully painted 25mm Trojans. They look like nothing else I have ever seen and one day I hope to use them for more than skirmish gaming. Tim's 10 favorite books are listed below. The links go directly to the UK or US Amazon pages where you can find out more about each one.
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Gustavus Adolphus, a History
of Sweden, 1611-1632 (2 vols), by Michael Roberts:
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The Military Revolution, by
Geoffrey Parker
Geoffrey Parker's much-admired illustrated account of how the West, so small and so deficient in natural resources in 1500, had by 1800 come to control over one-third of the world.
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| The
Campaigns of Napoleon, By David Chandler
An epic study of Napoleon as military commander, following his emergence at Toulon to his final defeat in the Waterloo Campaign. Essential reference material for anyone interested in the military history of the era. However, it is also a very readable account, and stands judgement as a quality piece of biography in its own right.
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| The
Early Vasas, A History of Sweden, 1523-1611, by Michael Roberts
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| Armies
on the Danube 1809, by Scott Bowden and Charles Tarbox
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| The
Life of Charles XII, King of Sweden 1697-1718, by Frans G Bengtsson
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| A
history of the Swedish People, Volume II, by Vilhelm Moberg
Translation of a work first published in Swedish in 1971. King Gustav Vasa made short work of his opponents, a group of peasants fighting to retain their rights and Moberg describes a king who could be both the best friend and worst enemy of his subjects.
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| A
History of the Art of War in the 16th Century, by Sir Charles Oman
Not the "new rules" but an account of sixteenth century warfare in which military strategy, tactics and organization are all considered, with detailed accounts of battles, sieges and campaigns, with maps as well.
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| The Thirty
Years' War, by Geoffrey Parker
The Thirty Years' War (1618-48) is a central episode in early
modern history. This revised edition of Geoffrey Parker's text
incorporates recent research whilst retaining the range and depth of
coverage of the first edition. It continues to provide a narrative and
analytical account of the war.
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| CAMRA's
Good Cider Guide and Achtung Schweinhund,
A Boy's Own Story of Imaginary Combat, by Harry Pearson OK- we will allow 2 for joint 10th! Both of these are UK only publications - as of 14/3/07
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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!). |
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