Here are a few photos from the first gaming session (April 30) at the Huzzah! Wargaming Convention in Portland, Maine. This regional con promises to be quite popular for years to come! A lot of eye candy, some interesting dealers, friendly faces, and some good restaurants in the general area.
Osprey Publishing has just released three new books that might interest the wargamer, military modeler, and dioramist. They kindly sent me review copies of the new titles. Here are my quick takes on each.
Painting and Finishing Techniques: Typical of Osprey’s books for military miniature enthusiasts and wargaming hobbyists, this book offers several full color plates and illustrations, and is chock full of tips, advice, and lessons learned from some of the finest painters of military miniatures, model airplanes & tanks, vehicles, etc. It goes through set-up, tools, work spaces, painting tips, weathering, dry brushing, detailing, highlighting, shading and various other tips that are of great value to the novice painter, and even can help more experienced veteran painters and modelers. Well worth a look if you are into model military machines.
Casemate Publishing is the national distributor for my most popular book, Flames Beyond Gettysburg: The Gordon Expedition, June 1863. David Farnsworth and his crew are excellent to work with, and are a credit to the historical publishing community.
Casemate’s newest Civil War release comes out in May 2010, Strangling the Confederacy: Coastal Operations in the American Civil War. Written by Kevin Dougherty, this book is a sweeping overview of the U.S. Navy Board’s ambitious 1861 plan to systematically capture key ports and cities all along the Atlantic and Gulf coast of the breakaway Confederacy. A small group of leading scientists, engineers, and naval officers formulated a plan of operations that targeted Rebel-held coastal fortifications and towns, which was approved by the Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles as a vital step in the overall objective of strangling the Confederacy through a naval blockade and then picking off the cities one-by-one. The book is an admirable effort in giving the casual reader an excellent summary of the key operations within the plan, broken down by theater and target in roughly chronological order. A special focus is given to the three most difficult objectives – Charleston, Mobile, and Fort Fisher / Wilmington.
CHARGE! Civil War miniature wargaming and dioramas 