Sep 232020
 

In the seven years since The Wargaming Compendium was published, a lot has happened, and I have had a great many visitors to the site complain that, for some reason, entering what was clearly the correct password led to some kind of error.

After responding to dozens of emails of this kind and sending out a work-around, I realised that the best thing to do was simply to make the downloads area public!

So, if this is your first time at the site, enjoy what you find here and I am hoping that I shall be able to add more content over the coming months.

The Wargaming Compendium hits #1 spot

The Wargaming Compendium hit the #1 bestseller spot in the UK, US, Australia and Canada in March 2019.

But I also want to add my thanks to the thousands of you who have purchased the book in one format or another – hardback, paperback or ebook: with your tremendous support, the Compendium hit the best-seller lists last year and I am still astonished at the fact that a book that I started writing more than a decade ago is still selling and has a huge cadre of loyal supporters.

Henry

Jun 022014
 

Thanks to reader Richard Biggs who left a comment, pointing out that on page 393 I promised to provide a couple more lists for my  Shot, Steel and Stone rules, drawn up by AWI expert Brendan Morrissey!

After a bit of frantic searching,I have managed to uncover the misplaced document, which has supplements to the British and American lists that appear in the book, detailing Loyalist and German additions for the British, and French for the Americans.

Both lists are for six units each, which could be seen as supplements to the existing lists for larger 18-unit games, or replacements for units in the existing British and American lists.

I’d be interested to hear how those of you actually using the Shot, Steel and Stone rules have been getting on. Do let me know if you have any queries: if I can find the time, I’d like to do a series of explanatory diagrams, or even short videos, to help readers to get to grips with the rules, so do tell me if that’s something you’d like to see.

To download the list (PDF) go to the “Free Downloads” page as usual, using the password. I have styled the page in the same format as the book, so using a knife and ruler you could cut out the page using the crop marks indicated and slip it inside your copy of the book as page “393-extra”.

Feb 182014
 

I’m delighted to report that the revised and much improved digital version of The Wargaming Compendium is now available again. It is already available via the Pen & Sword website in both ePub and Kindle formats and will now doubt be appearing on Amazon and elsewhere before long.

My thanks to Kariss Ainsworh of P&S for ensuring that the changes I recommended (and there were many!) have been carried out and that the book is back on sale at a fair price (£9) that more accurately reflects the huge amount of work that has gone into its production, whilst still representing a massive discount on the £35 cover price of the hardback. The corrected and updated version is the most attractive Kindle book I’ve ever seen and whether you’ve seen the hardback or not, I think you’ll be impressed with the production values.

Jan 242014
 

For those of you who have bought the eBook version of The Wargaming Compendium (that’s Kindle, iBook, Nook etc.), the revised version with formatting problems eliminated should be released within the next week or so. You’ll also be pleased to hear that I have altered the password hint to enable you to download the free goodies from this site. This now takes into account the fact that the digital versions completely mess up the page numbering!

You might also be interested to hear that I have had confirmation from Pen & Sword that they will be doing a reprint of the hardback, which has now almost entirely sold out, and they are also planning to release a paperback version by the end of 2014.

Thanks to you all for your tremendous support which has made this possible!

Sep 272013
 

I met Wayne Bollands briefly at Colours in Newbury a couple of weeks ago. I thought he was a nice chap and he mentioned that WI Editor Dan Faulconbridge has asked himn to review my book. He said that he liked it and would write a good review — but I had no idea he meant anything quite as good as this!

Many thanks to Wayne for his glowing review and to Dan for giving space for it on what is, after all, the website of a ‘rival’ publication.

Sep 182013
 

Steve Severino, one of the guys who supports my Facebook page for Miniature Wargames with Battlegames, found this witty and enthusiastic review of the Compendium online. The whole video is worth a watch, with its highly entertaining presenters, but if you like you can skip to the relevant bit which begins at 12:35.

Many thanks to E14 and Claymore Division, with presenters Brad Harmer and Ömer Ibrahim. I am very chuffed indeed to be the recipient of their first ever 10/10!

Sep 162013
 

It’s always nice to hear that the rules are being given a thorough workout, and some of the folks from the WD3 forum have just spent a weekend in Scotland playing a game based in the deep south of Byzarbia, where the weather is hot and the animals are sometimes more dangerous than the enemy…

You’ll be reading more about this epic encounter in Miniature Wargames with Battlegames, but organiser Paul Bright wanted to let me know about a house rule he introduced to give some specific flavour to the weekend, concerning ferocious tribal charges. He says:

I made one ‘house rule’ which I think I have alluded to in the past. This was to give tribal types who have a ferocious charge an advantage in the first round of melee, but a disadvantage in subsequent rounds (due to lack of command and training, general confusion and so on). This took the form of a Disruption Point for receivers of ferocious charges at impact, and then one for the chargers themselves in all subsequent rounds. It seemed to work well and not be overbearing, whilst giving a ‘flavour’ to foot troops who seek to break the enemy at first contact.

Many thanks to Paul — that’s such a good idea that I’ll make that an ‘official’ rules update and when I get a moment, I’ll include it on the playsheets.

Sep 112013
 

I have just uploaded the playsheets for Shot, Steel & Stone to the secure area of the site. Please note that the password has changed and is case-sensitive, so check the “How to access…” page first.

As mentioned in the notes, this is really just a highly compressed version of the rules, reduced to five A4 pages. I would like to have cut further, say to four pages or less – but this is where I suffer typical author’s disease, and find it extremely difficult to edit my own work! (If you use US Letter size paper, just select “Scale to fit” or a similar option in your printer software.)

One of the problems is that I am simply too close to the rules, and my own playtesting involved all sorts of odd situations that you may never, or only very occasionally, encounter, so you will probably be a better judge of what should stay and what could happily be left off the QRSs. By all means send me feedback and suggestions if you find that a much slimmer version works for you.

My thanks to Iain Burt: during a recent visit, he was kind enough to point out a handful of things that I had left off the playsheet and, indeed, needed to make clearer in the rules, so in fact, the playsheets represent the most up-to-date version.

Have fun!

Aug 262013
 

Radio Reverb 97.2fmThis afternoon, I’m going to be interviewed on Brighton’s Radio Reverb by Paul Stones on his In Brighton Monday show. The programme lasts an hour, starting at 17.00 and ending at 18.00.

I have no idea what he’s going to ask me, but no doubt the subject matter will revolve around the hobby of wargaming and, naturally, the book!

If you follow the link to the website, you’ll see the link to listen to the show live. It will also be repeated tomorrow.

Aug 192013
 

It’s amazing how, after all that proofreading and playing, I’m still uncovering little things in the Shot, Steel & Stone rules that I could have sworn were there already, but clearly aren’t! A game with Iain Burt over the weekend uncovered a few little things that had me scratching my head, so I’m grateful to him for giving me the opportunity to sort them out.

If you’re interested, you can see the game photos in a Flickr album – we played “Bridge Demolition”, the very first of Charles S Grant’s Table Top Teasers which appeared first in Battle for Wargamers, and which I then reprinted in the Battlegames Table Top Teasers special edition. If you don’t know the scenario, you can download it for free from the ‘Fridge’ section of the shop on my blog.

Bridge demolition teaser