New book out – Small Wars
February 13, 2018 4 Comments
Released today, from John Curry’s History of Wargaming Project: Small Wars, New Perspectives on Wargaming Counterinsurgency on the Tabletop.
The book contains six sets of rules for playing out situations from 20th and 21st century irregular wars. It’s a bit unusual in that all but one of them are written to portray the action at the operational/ campaign level, where each stand of figures on the tabletop represents a large combined-arms unit. Using card-based systems, these games are particularly suitable for the solo wargamer.
- Boots on the Ground: Company Level Actions in the early 21st Century
- An Isolated Outpost: Six Months in the Sahara
- Eight Years in a Distant Country: Soviet involvement in Afghanistan
- Ovambo: Counter- insurgency in South West Africa
- Good Morning Vietnam: LBJ’s War 1965-68
- Flying Column: The Irish Troubles 1920-21
Oh, and I wrote the foreword, and supplied a list of readings and games on counterinsurgency! Look in the front and the back, when you are done having fun with these rules.
Buy your copy now at:
http://www.wargaming.co/recreation/details/dwtcoin.htm
Prices are quite reasonable and are printed by print-on-demand arrangement with lulu.com, so your copy doesn’t take very long to reach you.
About brtrain
It is a very welcome addition to the range of wargame rules that are currently available. It is very suitable for use by solo wargamers as well as in more traditional face-to-face games. I particularly like the game set during the ‘Troubles’, which I had the opportunity to take part in some years ago.
All the best,
Bob
I didn’t know you were a Troubled soul, Bob!
I find operational-scale tabletop games interesting; I’m not much of a tactical-scale fan and find the campaign-planning level the most absorbing… for example, some of the sets that Martin Rapier has put together, which incorporate some logistical factors and other things that don’t emerge in tactical games.
The book has made an impact as the card based systems allow the player to get some further insights into some difficult concept.
Used properly, cards can be an ingenious way to sidestep a lot of the dilemmas hex-and-counter games (and their designer) can get locked into.