The Wargaming Compendium (Book Review)

[Brother Tyler]

By Henry Hyde
Imprint: Pen & Sword Military
Pages: 520 (hardback)
File Size: 222.9 MB (.epub)
ISBN: 9781783830695
Published: 17 July, 2013

The Warhammer 40,000 hobby and all of its children such as Necromunda: Underhive and Warhammer 40,000: Kill Team are part of the larger tabletop wargaming hobby. While WH40K dominates the science fiction genre of tabletop wargaming, it shares much in common with the larger hobby. Many hobbyists such as myself started with other genres before finding the WH40K game and its setting (I started with WWII in the '70s and '80s, later moving to the American War for Independence and the American Civil War); and many hobbyists will expand their tabletop wargaming from the WH40K setting into other genres. The Wargaming Compendium by Henry Hyde is an indispensable guide for those that are interested in the overall tabletop miniatures wargaming hobby, covering the broad range of the hobby.

From the inside front cover/dust jacket:

Wargaming is a fascinating, engrossing and exciting pastime that encompasses a wide range of different talents. In the course of pursuing his hobby, the average wargamer uses the skills of artist, designer, sculptor, illustrator, historian, librarian, researcher, mathematician and creative writer, as well as the more obvious ones of general, admiral or air marshal for large games, or perhaps lieutenant, commodore or squadron leader for skirmishes.

Not only is wargaming a pursuit which calls upon many skills, but it also covers many aspects of combat, spanning the history of our planet. With science fiction gaming, we plunge into imagined worlds many thousands of years into the future and a fantasy gamer, of course, deals with eons of imagined history, as anyone who has read The Lord of the Rings will know.

A wargamer may find himself recreating an encounter between a handful of adversaries one day, or a massed battle involving perhaps hundreds of miniature troops the next. Moreover, it is possible to play wargames that recreate warfare on land, on sea, in the air or, in the case of science fiction, even in outer space.

This book aims to demonstrate the wonderfully varied hobby of wargaming with miniatures, looking at the broad scope of what it has to offer as well as detailed explanations of how to get involved, including comprehensive rules for gladiator combat, Wild West skirmishes and the horse and musket era, as well as lots of advice for anyone new to wargaming.

Whether you're a complete newcomer to the hobby, or a veteran of many years, you'll find plenty in The Wargaming Compendium to entertain and inspire you.

This is a great book about our hobby, primarily a textbook to help the hobbyist with all aspects of the hobby. Don't let the "textbook" description give you the wrong impression, though. This book is filled with hundreds of pictures, including technical aids such as step-by-step tutorials of painting miniatures as well as numerous examples of games to educate and inspire you. It's not quite as fun to look through as a coffee table book such as the Perry Brothers' Masters in Miniature (U.K./Europe/rest of the world), but it's much more informative.

The book has the following sections:

• BASIC CONCEPTS OF WARGAMING - Understanding how wargames work
• A HISTORY OF WARGAMING - A brief overview of how the hobby has evolved (includes a section on Warhammer/Games Workshop)
• CHOOSING A PERIOD - A gallop through military history and beyond
• SOMETHING TO FIGHT FOR - Creating battlefields for your miniature armies
• ASSEMBLING YOUR FORCES - Planning, purchasing, painting and organising your forces
• FROM SMALL TO LARGE - Duels, skirmishes, large battles and campaigns - with rules! (rules provided for a duel between gladiators, and a skirmish Wild West shootout)
• SHOT, STEEL & STONE - A complete set of horse and musket era rules
• LEARN BY PLAYING - A small battle explained, and how it links to a campaign
• OTHER ASPECTS OF WARGAMING - Naval games, air wargames, roleplaying and more
• ADVICE FOR THE DIGITAL AGE - Digital photography and blogging
• RESOURCES - Books, museums, manufacturers, wargame shows and more

Other books go into more depth about the various subjects covered above, but few cover the whole range of tabletop wargaming topics as completely or as well as this book. For those that are dedicated to the hobby of tabletop wargaming, or who want to know more, The Wargaming Compendium should be considered one of your "must have" books on the subject. No matter how much experience you have in the hobby, no matter how many times you read this book, you will always be able to pick it up and find something of interest (or even just pass the time looking at the eye candy). At 520 pages, this isn't a book that you'll finish in a single sitting or even one evening. There's plenty of meat in this book to take you a few days, at least, to read it; and you're likely to refer to it again and again through the years. There are multiple sets of rules included in the book. These are simple rules designed to whet your appetite for different kinds of gaming. The resources section includes information about myriad games and miniature manufacturers in diverse genres. While slightly out of date (since the book was printed in 2013), there is enough here to get any gamer pointed in the right direction.



Note that this review is based on the hardcover version of the book (

[RandyB]

Thanks for bringing attention to this book, and to the context of the larger hobby of wargaming. 40K is a big part, but still only a part.

[BadgersinHills]

Thanks for the detailed and wonderful review!