Thursday 19 April 2012

A Tale of Two Books


"The Book's afoot Watson....!"

Like many wargames enthusiasts I am very fond of the works of Conan Doyle and indeed, I own a number of his titles through Professor Challenger, Brigadier Gerard and of course, Sherlock Holmes. I have all the Holmes stories in hardback, paperback and electronically on my reader and so I was very pleased to see the title above  in, of all places, our local branch of Homebase - the DIY store. Our local branch of this retail chain has a small bookcase of donated books for 30p each with the proceeds going to a local charity. I had a quick look at what was available and this was the only title that caught my eye and what a little goldmine it is. Aside from overviews of all the stories there is also a full listing of all the characters and the stories in which they appear as well as much other background material. The author, Michael Hardwick, has also collaborated on various similar guides including such TV series as Upstairs, Downstairs (the original with the late and great Gordon Jackson), the Pallisers and a number of other Holmes derived stories. A nice addition to the library for 30p!


"Row, row, row your boat, gently down the strait....!"

The second title is one that I have really enjoyed reading and it will come as no surprise that I am already thinking about the gaming possibilities. Salamis by Barry Strauss has had me enthralled from the first page to the last and takes as its subject matter the great naval battle between the Greeks and the Persians in 480 BC. The descriptions of the principal characters and the technology involved in operating an ancient warship is first class and the narrative is positively gripping. The author has also written a book about the Spartacus Slave War which is equally good (I own a copy of this) and one that I have my eye on covers the Trojan War. I have no idea how best to game ancient naval warfare although my recent acquisition of the hex based WRG Ancient Fleet action rules (circa 1973!) may have the answer. I also happen to know that Tumbling Dice have just launched a range of 1/2400th scale ancient warships although I plan to make some models using the Universal Warship principle in due course.

Will it be sooner than I think? I don't know, and that is the truth!

8 comments:

Conrad Kinch said...

Doyle is a constant delight. I field a unit of the Hussars of Conflans in my French army.

David Crook said...

Hi CK,

If I were to ever field a French Napoleonic Army it would simply have to have such a unit - complete with a Gerard personality figure!

All the best,

DC

Geordie an Exiled FoG said...

Nice spot with "Salamis"

I've often mused about this in 1/3000 with Navwar using David Manley's (Greek) Fire & (Roman) Fury variant rule set

David Crook said...

Hi Geordie,

I believe that you can also get 1/3600th scale galleys as well for that true taste of Salamis. I have an electronic copy of the old Avalon Hill game Trireme which has some very handy counter sheets that maybe pressed into service.

All the best,

DC

PS DMs Renaissance version of the same rules variant is also very good.

Geordie an Exiled FoG said...

I have looked at the Outpost wargaming ships (1/3600) but I am only half convinced

David Crook said...

Hi Geordie,

Same here - if, and it is a big if, I went for anything I would probably consider Tumbling Dice 1/2400th for big actions.

All the best,

DC

Anonymous said...

hi

I also liked the Salamis book, although I prefer peter greens, year of Salamis, recently rereleased as greek persian wars.
The WRG ancient warfleets rules are good large fleet set but the trireme or LWS Dieplus are very good for a few ships a side.

If you want to hunt an old book that was very good on ancient navies hnt about for the old wrg Warfleets of antiquaties.

David Crook said...

Hi Anonymous,

I will look out for the Green title and a friend of mine has Warfleets of Antiquity which I borrow in due course. I am uncertain how best to play this out - either fleet level or lower down the scale.

We shall see.

All the best,

DC