Tuesday 18 August 2009

SIC VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM


I mentioned on the previous post that I would detail the latest additions to the Rayleigh Factorium Library during the recent visit to our preferred boot sale i.e. the 'Lazybones' boot sale at Rettenden in Essex, about ten minutes in the car from my house. The above three cost the princely sum of 50p each and are satisfying additions for the reasons listed. The Vietnam title is a single volume history of the conflict with lots of maps, photos, diagrams and details of tactics and hardware in use. It is an excellent primer to the conflict and from a gaming perspective the war can be tackled on a modest budget. There is a plethora of books kicking around on the war and so having this volume is, for me, a good starting point should I wish to pursue gaming it. Great potential for a credit crunch wargame!


The second title - Celt and Saxon - covers the so called Dark Ages in Britain and the ongoing struggles between the various tribes and invaders over the years of 410 to 937AD. I must confess that the study of this period of our nations history has grown on me over the years and it has much to offer from a campaign perspective and again, at quite a low level as the armies can be well catered for even using a DBA type of system. A couple of 15mm Dark Age DBA warband type armies for the period would not be beyond even my limited painting ability!


The final title is a potted overview of ancient warfare from Sumeria up to the fall of the Roman Empire. In a book of 250 pages it is certainly not by any means an encyclopedia of the period - more like an overview and primer and as such would be good for the newcomer dabbling in the period. I have a number of titles covering the ancient period and so this is a little on the lightweight side for me but I will read it and will probably then offload it - either at the club or on ebay. It did however, provide the heading for this post which translates as....................................."If you want peace, prepare for war."

A truism consistently forgotten down the centuries!

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