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The Armchair General: Wargames with Historical Miniatures |  | Author: K Mike Hill
Publisher: iUniverse, Inc.
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $19.04
as of 9/3/2010 15:07 MDT details
You Save: $6.91 (27%)
New (8) Used (4) from $19.03
Seller: pbshop
Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 2010444
Media: Paperback
Edition: 0
Reading Level: Ages 4-8
Pages: 222
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 10.8 x 8.2 x 0.6
ISBN: 0595448976
Dewey Decimal Number: 371
EAN: 9780595448975
ASIN: 0595448976
Publication Date: June 13, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Armchair Generals sit with their morning newspapers evaluating their country's military actions; past, present and proposed. It is Monday morning quarterbacking from the safe distance of the 21st century. The Armchair General includes seven sets of simplified rules from ancient armies to mechanized and insurgent wars; even campaign supplements for extended play. The historical simulation rules cover: · Ancient Warfare by Land & Sea · Dark Age & Medieval Warfare · Flintlock & Bow · Musket & Cannon · The Age of Sail · Colonialism · Mechanized & Insurgent Warfare This book allows even a novice to testing various strategies and tactics. There is something satisfying; tangible; three dimensional about battles with miniatures. Moving through real space and time; recreating scenarios from Hannibal, Caesar and the Vikings to American 3rd World Wars; from individual warriors to armies. The rules are guided by the "Paperless Principle". The generaling lies in the deployment of the miniature forces and the contest, not in note-taking and paper-shuffling.
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| Customer Reviews:
 Good source of scenarioes October 14, 2008
D. Allen (Rochester, MN USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book spends very little time on rules but provides a very good short overview of a wide range of historical conflicts. It is admittedly incomplete as an introduction to wargaming, but does contain a wealth of historical data. I recommend using the rules described in John Bobek's Games of War and use The Armchair General as a source of data for armies and battles.
 Beginner's Guide September 14, 2008
Robert L. Piepenbrink
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
ARMCHAIR GENERAL is a brief discussion of various periods and types of warfare interspersed with short--generally two page--rule sets for wargaming those periods, and set-ups of particular battles. The idea seems to be that this book and a few bags of appropriate plastic soldiers would get a 10 or 12-year old interested in wargaming, and provide him with the necessary material to get started. It is an excellent concept.
Sadly, the execution is flawed. Instead of describing a few wars and battles at an interesting level of detail, Hill tosses off hundreds at one paragraph each. The rules--and I LIKE one and two-page rules--are largely of the same "family" and not adequately explained. What exactly is a "Range Fire Point?" It's nowhere explained, and you can't play the rules without inventing an answer. Setting that aside, rules which give a smoothbore musket a range of 1,200 yards and a modern rifle a range of 4,800 yards have a bit of explaining to do.
The concept remains good. If the author publishes a second edition more tightly focused and with rules better explained, I'll be happy to buy it--but not until someone else gives it a favorable review.
In the meantime, the book to buy on this subject is John Bobek, THE GAMES OF WAR, which is intended for readers already familiar with miniature warfare, but which is crammed with adquately thought out rules.
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