Santa was good to me.

In the spirit of nostaga I thought an image of my refight of the Battle of Blenheim featuring the great Charles Wesencraft commanding the Austrians. A very young Neil Reidy probably laughing hysterically at some of the banter I would have been throwing at Charlie.

 Well felicitations and a Happy Christmas to one and all. One hopes that Santa was good to you and provided the necessary figures/paint/books etc,etc to carry on with this wonderful hobby.

Without attempting to sound like the rich kid when he is given a new Raleigh Chopper bike, I am very happy with the presents I received from my family. Even the oversized slippers are perfect for my poor feet. But the four wonderful books I have received from the overweight, rosy faced itinerant are perfect. Granted I did drop ridiculous hints via my Santa's list, but it seemed to work.

And the common theme, well in the main its nostalga. I have the original War Game Companion which was published originally in soft back so when it was announced it had been updated, I simply had to have the book.Like many of a certain age The War Game was the start of everything. Until I found this book I was lost and really struggling to understand what I was attempting to get into. But this book set me straight and was also a wonderful read. 

Next we have Charles Stewart Grant's Wargames Retrospective which was a great surprise. I cant wait to read this book and hopefully sink into a miasma of nostalga. Charles is a cracking bloke and writes in a form very similar to his father. Simply a no nonsense and readible form.

Then we have Tony Bath's Ancient Wargaming which contains chapters regarding his Hyboria campaign and who actually won. I have always been envious of this campaign which ran for several years and I dont think was ever bettered. I am lucky enough to own the original Campaign book and also one regarding the wargaming armies of Hyboria. The whole concept has always fascinated me.

Finaly I have a new book, yes I do like new stuff. An updated Hail Caesar supplement regarding the Romans. It should be up to the usual high standard and I cant wait to read it.

I was lucky enough to locate more early Slingshot magazines just before Christmas that have gone a little way to completing my collection, although I still need? the very early years and also the elusive 1970 booklets. Anyway included in one of the magazines was a small article about recommended fictional ancient historical novels. As a consequence I bought these two books from ABE UK. The novels were written by Rex Warner, a professor specialising in Greek and Roman history. I liked both books. They arent Alfred Duggan quality but do offer up another viewpoint regarding Caesar.Definately worth a punt if one likes ancient fiction.