John Curry

Richard Brooks

Medieval warfare is part of our culture. Each generation has taken inspiration from the medieval era for its own purposes. The problem is there are severe limits to our current understanding of the conduct of military campaigns culminating in sieges and pitch battles during the medieval era. We are peering back through the mists of time from a very different cultural perspective. This book is an attempt to develop further understanding of some aspects of the medieval military reality, in particular around the operational and tactical scale.Warfare changed considerably over this era, but this book attempted to draw out the themes that were predominate over the whole period. The divides into four sections. First it looks at the medieval operation art of war. It explores topics such as the numbers involved, scouting, logistics, march rates and the length of the campaign season. The second section looks at the medieval battle; how armies deployed, advanced, fought, won and lost. The many topics include dressing the ranks, the advance to contact, battle cries, pre-battle speeches. It aims to integrate close reading of the original sources, with other sources such as experimental archaeology, the experience of living history re-enactors, UK riot police and insights from research into modern combat phycology. The third section explores medieval sieges and street fighting. It includes details about the lengths of sieges and success rates. Then it discusses the practical details involved in storming a castle.The fourth section of the book includes five sets of rules for different aspects of medieval warfare. From pitch battles, to skirmishes, raids and retreats, the games allow the reader to create interactive models of medieval warfare on the tabletop for them to explore. This book is written from the perspective that there was a medieval art of war. War took time, effort, planning, logistics and skill to initiate, conduct and win. We assume that the medieval warrior largely knew what they were doing and if we do not comprehend the decisions they took when waging war, this reflects our lack of understanding, not theirs. This book aims to fill some of the gaps in our mental models of the medieval warfare.

Exploring History Through Wargaming

A Practical Guide to Medieval Warfare

America's in the throes of the Great Recession, and Tim's dreams of flipping a house have collapsed along with the housing market. After abandoning his new home as a lost cause, he's caught up in the poker craze and moves to Atlantic City with a new dream of "playing poker for a living", but soon finds himself stuck in a dizzying spell of bad luck at the card tables. Or maybe he just sucks at poker, like everybody else. His money all gone, and finding that it's actually difficult to drink oneself to death at 1am, he's suddenly offered a chance to make his money back, and then some, by running an underground poker game in New York City. Once in New York, Tim finds himself on the road to recovery and making real money for the first time-but at what cost?We Run Bad offers an authentic and darkly comic look at underground poker culture, while serving up an indictment of post-recession America. Here, every game is rigged, and the only way to come out ahead is to be the one doing the rigging.

We Run Bad

Chris Engle

Peter Perla

Matrix Games are an established way of running seminar type narrative games in the professional environment. This handbook is the most comprehensive set of papers to date on their use in education, training, research and innovation. The book starts by exploring the origins of Matrix Games, with contributions on the development of the method. It includes a sample game about NATO and Russian posturing on the Baltic Sea. Many wargames explore war in this contested area of sea, but a Matrix Game is used to explore a conflict short of kinetic. In the theory section, some of the underpinning philosophy of Matrix Games is outlined by Chris Engle, the inventor of the method. Education has applied Matrix Games in teaching. This section includes examples from around the world from language training to military education. The final section outlines operational analysis problems, innovation and using a Matrix Game to explore contemporary conflict by Professor Rex Brynen.

Professional Applications from Education to Analysis and Wargaming

The Matrix Games Handbook

Erik Ohlander

In recent years, many historians of Islamic mysticism have been grappling in sophisticated ways with the difficulties of essentialism. Reconceptualising the study of Islamic mysticism during an under-researched period of its history, this book examines the relationship between Sufism and society in the Muslim world, from the fall of the Abbasid caliphate to the heyday of the great Ottoman, Mughal and Safavid empires. Treating a heretofore under-researched period in the history of Sufism, this work establishes previously unimagined trajectories for the study of mystical movements as social actors of real historical consequence. Thematically organized, the book includes case studies drawn from the Middle Eastern, Turkic, Persian and South Asian regions by a group of scholars whose collective expertise ranges widely across different historical, geographical, and linguistic landscapes. Chapters theorise why, how, and to what ends we might reconceptualise some of the basic methodologies, assumptions, categories of thought, and interpretative paradigms which have heretofore shaped treatments of Islamic mysticism and its role in the social, cultural and political history of pre-modern Muslim societies. Proposing novel and revisionist treatments of the subject based on the examination of many under-utilized sources, the book draws on a number of disciplinary perspectives and methodological approaches, from art history to religious studies. As such, it will appeal to students and scholars of Middle East studies, religious history, Islamic studies and Sufism.

Arrangements of the Mystical in the Muslim World, 1200–1800

Sufism and Society

Donald Featherstone

This book gives potential admirals advice on how to fight their table-top naval battles. No space is too small, nor area too large to accomodate a naval wargame with two contestants or twenty. This book contains rules that allow every sea battle in history to be refought with some of the classic rules of naval wargaming. It includes rules by Fletcher Pratt, Fred Jane, Tony Bath, Jack Scruby etc... This edition includes a new set of rules about Coastal Warfare 1939-45 by David Manley of the Naval Wargames Society

Donald Featherstone's Naval War Games Wargaming with Model Ships

From the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, to the Settlement Under King William. With the State of the Irish Catholics, from that Settlement to the Relaxation of the Popery Laws, in the Year 1778. Extracted from Parliamentary Records, State Acts, and Other Authentic Materials

An Historical and Critical Review of the Civil Wars in Ireland

Phil Dunn

Paddy Griffith

Phil Dunn, author of the classic naval wargaming book, Sea Battles, has written a new book on rapid naval wargames. Chapters include fast play rules that allow even the largest battles to be fought to a satisfying conclusion in a single session. In 1916, Jutland was a 'no-hoper' for the Germans. This was not true earlier in the war. The scenario is for a classic war-deciding encounter set in 1915. During the late 1920's, the USA made plans for war with Britain. The rules and scenario allow this classic 'what if' scenario of the Royal Navy to be set against the United States Navy. The outcome would have changed the political map of the world and the course of the 20th century. Also included are memories of a lifetime of naval wargaming, The book is supplemented by Paddy Griffith's One-eyed Napoleonic Naval Rules as used by the Royal Military Academy's Wargaming Club. Also included is an example of Paddy Griffith's naval wargaming scenario for the Battle of the Nile in 1798.

Phil Dunn's Fury at Sea Rapid Naval Wargaming Including Paddy Griffith's One-Eyed Napoleonic Naval Rules

Tim Price

"In Matrix Games, knowledge, imagination, and persuasiveness dominate. Matrix Games boil down the art of gaming to its essence". Peter Perla Since the book Matrix Games for Modern Wargaming was first published in 2014, they have made a massive impact on professional military education, operational analysis and training. This book was written in response to requests for a more comprehensive account of the methodology, plus more examples of such games from the active edge of their professional application in the UK. Included are 6 scenarios to demonstrate different aspects of the method: NATO/Russian Posturing in the Baltic Sea Russian/NATO Posturing in the Black Sea and Eastern Mediterranean Incidents in the South China Sea An election game Conflict on the Korean Peninsula De Valera's War: Irish Neutrality in WW2 This book is published by the History of Wargaming Project as part of its ongoing work to document current practise in wargaming.

Modern Crises Scenarios for Matrix Wargames

An historical and critical review of the civil wars in Ireland, from the reign of queen Elizabeth to the settlement under ki ng William. With the state of the Irish Catholics from that settlement to 1778

Coverage Evaluation of the 1994 Federal Libraries and Information Centers Survey

The crime fiction novelist presents his third anthology of short stories with Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue, a mixed collection bound to please. "Something Old" refers to his first western "The Utica Kid" among others; "Something New" to his well-received crime fiction short stories such as "Anything you Can Do," "A Lapse of Memory," "An Afternoon in Boston." The "Something Borrowed" includes "Cold Turkey and a Bottle," a tribute to the old Alfred Hitchcock films, and "Something Blue" to his remembrances of times gone by with "The Playground," in particular. The anthology also allows the author to comment on the human condition in stories such as "The Double Date," and on the important issue of teacher tenure via "A Lifetime Appointment." In addition, essays include his "Encounters with Famous People" such as Bill Clinton, Barbara Bush, Muhammad Ali, and Lauren Bacall. In "Was 'the Greatest' Really the Greatest?" he pays tribute to the greatest heavyweight of all time, and in "Inspirational People" he provided a valentine to a leader.

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

This book covered straightforward methods of setting up and running such campaigns. It deals with topics ranging from map making, attrition and the issue of smaller forces delaying larger ones. Included are twenty-one examples of wargaming campaigns through the ages. Covering periods from the Dark Ages to World War II, each campaign was specially chosen by Don to illustrate different aspects of such games and options for the wargamer to consider. Each game was based around sketch maps and straightforward rules to allow groups of wargamers to experience command at the operational level. This book was originally published under the title of 'War Game Campaigns'. The History of Wargaming Project is edited by John Curry and aims to bring classic wargaming books and rules to a modern audience.

Donald Featherstone's Wargaming Campaigns

Following the same format as the others in the series (on the Western Desert, Russian and D-Day campaigns) the book includes an introduction to recreating tank battles in miniature; in particular, for simulating the conditions of the rugged Tunisian and Italian countrysides. The author actually served with the 51st Royal Tank Regiment in Italy and so draws heavily on his own experience of what armoured warfare was like. He includes detailed accounts of individual engagements which are ideal scenarios for wargamers. These really give the feel for what it was like to be the commander, driver or gunner of a tank in action. For any wargamer who wishes to pursue an interest in the Western Desert Theatre and continue his campaign into Tunisia and Italy, this book is ideal. The History of Wargaming Project is edited by John Curry. It aims to present the very best wargaming books and rules to a modern audience. Further details can be found at: ww.wargaming.co

Donald Featherstone's Tank Battles in Miniature Vol 4 a Wargaming Guide to the Mediterranean Campaigns 1943-1945

David Wayne Thomas

A solo game for 1 to 6 players about the experience of flying bombing missions over Germany 1942-44. The RAF and the USAAF dropped 1.6 billion tons of bombs on Germany between 1939 and 1945. The impact on the German war machine was huge, but so was the cost. 55,573 Bomber Command crew lost their lives during this campaign. Each morning the weather and moon state were suitable, target(s) were selected by Bomber Command. A complex series of steps were then initiated to ensure the bombers were in the air, over the target at the appointed hour to deliver their bombs. The game allows the player to assemble their crew, select their target and go through the stages of the mission. From take-off, over the enemy coast, through the flak zones and onto the target. The rules are embedded in historical research and includes period material, such as briefings, aide-memories and maps. Playing the game aims to help the player(s) understand the experience of the crews of Bomber Command a little better.

Wargaming Lancaster Bomber Raids Against Germany 1942-1944

Target for Tonight

Barry Carter

First published in 1975, this book deals with the most popular period for fighting sea battles in miniature- the First and Second World Wars. It brings together all the information that the naval wargamer needs when tackling the 20th century era. This edition includes three new chapters not included in the previous editions. The author takes the reader through his own rules, which aim above all at practical playability and they are illustrated by numerous diagrams. Based on a simplified Fletcher Pratt damage system, they cover movement, gunnery, torpedoes, as well as submarines and air craft. The rules are shown in action in the defence of a convoy in the Adriatic Sea in 1915 and the hunt for a Japanese raiding cruiser in 1942. Naval campaigns are also discussed, with the example of a semi historical-naval campaign around Korea in 1918. China and Korea are facing Russia and Japan. The campaign rules describe practical ways to manage fuel, combat at sea, allocating ships, use of troops etc.

Barry Carter's Naval War Games: World War I and World War II Naval Wargaming

Donald Featherstone's Tank Battles in Miniature provides an authoritative guide to the momentous battles between Rommel's Afrika Korps and the 8th Army, together with numerous suggestions as to how these events can be reproduced realistically on the table top as wargames. The Western Desert campaign contained many unique features which render it especially suitable for wargaming. A war of movement and material, with infantry playing a secondary role to the tanks which roamed at will over the empty wastes. Contents include: a summary of the actual campaign, technical specifications for vehicles, tanks, guns and aircraft, terrain, communications, visibility and navigation, firing tank and anti-tank guns, 'brewing-up', air operations, the Long Range Desert Group, minefields and supply The History of Wargaming Project is edited by John Curry. It aims to present the very best wargaming books and rules to a modern audience.

John Curry

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