Military Modelling - July 2013

BooksStuart Asquith’s round up ofsome of the recent releasesfrom Osprey.www.ospreypublishing.comBolt Action: Armies of theSoviet Union (Bolt 4)by Andy Chambers.ISBN 978-1-78096-090-6.Price £14.99.With this nicely producedand colourfully illustratedsupplement for Bolt Action - thefourth in the series - players cannow build a WW2 army for theSoviet Union. The book containsall the background, rules andarmy list information needed tofield a Soviet army in the BoltAction wargame. Details areprovided of the organisation andequipment covering the RedArmy forces from the beginningof what came to be called theGreat Patriotic War (June 1941)to the end of the war in Europe(May 1945). The main armylist includes all the necessarygaming details for all the trooptypes, vehicles and equipmentfielded by the Soviets in WW2,then there are 18 specific‘theatre selectors’ coveringdifferent phases of the conflictin more detail.Note that Bolt Action: WorldWar II Wargames Rules (£25)is needed to use the armiesproduced via these lists.The Naval Battles forGuadalcanal 1942: Clashfor supremacy in the Pacific(Campaign 255) by Mark Stille.ISBN 978-1-78096-154-5.Price £14.99.The battle for Guadalcanal thatlasted from August 1942 toFebruary 1943 was the firstAmerican counter-offensiveagainst the Japanese in thePacific. In the waters offGuadalcanal US and Japanesenaval forces fought a series ofengagements that resulted inheavy losses for both sides,but which eventually forced theJapanese to withdraw from theisland. The six months of battlesincluded seven major encounters,two of which were foughtbetween aircraft carriers, butthe remaining five, all of whichtook place at night, pitted thesurface forces of the two naviesagainst each other in a series ofengagements. This book looks atthe contrasting fortunes of bothnavies during a series of actionsthat turned the tide of the navalwar in the Pacific.The War of Horus and Set(Myths and Legends 3)by David McIntee.ISBN 978-1-78096-902-2.Price £10.99.Long ago, the brother gods Osirisand Set ruled peacefully over thelands of Upper and Lower Egypt,each with his own kingdom. Overtime however, Set came to covethis brother’s crown and lands andtemptation eventually overcamehim. Usurping Osiris’s throne, Setstarted a blood feud that spreadwar, death and chaos throughoutthe heavens and the earth. Godsand men chose sides and took uparms on behalf of Set and Horusthe heirs of Osiris. This book retellsthe mythic struggle betweenHorus and Set, exploring thevariations to the tale and examiningthe earthly realities that inspiredor reflected the actions andallegiances of the gods, such asthe political rivalries between thetwo kingdoms and the invasion ofEgypt by Cambyses II.The Martini-Henry Rifle(Weapon 26) by Angus Konstam.ISBN 978-1-78096-506-2.Price £12.99.Introduced into service in the mid1870s, the Martini-Henry rifle wasthe British army’s first purposedesigned breechloader, thereplacement for the Snider-Enfieldconversion. More accurate and‘flatter shooting’ than the Snider-Enfield, as well as being simpler toreload with its falling block action,the Martini-Henry was arguablythe ultimate evolution of the singleshot British military long arm.The weapon found fame in thehands of British infantryman fromAfghanistan to Zululand.Sino-French Naval War1884-1885 by PiotrOlender (Maritime SeriesNo.3104). Mushroom ModelPublications, 3 GloucesterClose, Petersfield, HampshireGU32 3AX.ISBN 978-83-61421-53-5.Price £19.99.www.roger@mmpbooks.bizThis is a short but fascinating bookabout the late 19th century militarystruggle for supremacy betweenFrance and China for control ofVietnam. This is a conflict that doesnot feature highly in any Anglocentricview of colonial history andis certainly not a subject matterI was hitherto familiar with. It is,nevertheless, of great importancein itself and one I enjoyed learningabout in this publication in whichthe author, not only relates theevents of the conflict itself, but alsosets them clearly in their overallstrategic context.In its 15 chapters the authortakes the reader sequentiallythrough the often-complexsequence of military actionsthat left France in control, notonly of Vietnam, but much ofSouth East Asia by the end ofthe period in question. Chapter1 outlines the origins of theFrench colonial expansioninto Vietnam which began inthe 1850s. As events unfoldsubsequent chapters describehow France becomes master ofthe southern half of the country,but with China retaining hugeinfluence in the northern half ofVietnam which borders its ownterritory. The rivalry betweenthe expansionist Europeanpower and the sick colossus ofthe region finally sparks militaryaction. Some of this takes placeon land, where the Chineseenjoy some success, mainlythanks to their vastly superiornumbers of soldiers. However, itis French naval power, employedto blockade Chinese ports asfar away as Taiwan, whicheventually enables her to prevailas the supreme colonial powerin that part of the world – knownas French Indochina - until afterWorld War Two. In an interestingand informative Aftermath theauthor highlights the almostcomplacent response by theChinese authorities to theirmilitary and political setback atthe hands of France and pointsout that it is only when laterdefeated by their eternal – anddisrespected – rival Japan, thatthe seriousness of the country’soverall decline at that time reallyhits home.Each chapter contains highlyinformative maps, drawings andblack & white photos, which mostusefully supplement the text.The book concludes withtwo Appendices - itemising theFrench and Chinese navy listsand their respective artilleryduring the period in question –followed by 23 excellent fine linedrawings of the vessels involvedin the conflict on both sides.Fred Leddenwww.militarymodelling.com65