Kindle bargains!

Amazon have a summer sale on... 

Bolt Action WWII rules [clicky] - £1.89 (I bought this one purely to have a read and see what all the fuss is about)

Bolt Action: Armies of Germany [clicky]

£1.09 (got this too..!)

Bolt Action: Armies of the Soviet Union [clicky] £1.19

Also..

Max Hastings Armageddon the Battle for Germany 1944-5 [clicky] £1.09 (excellent - I have this in hardback)


If you're of that ilk - and I'm not - these are also about a pound each

In Her Majesty's Name: Steampunk Skirmish Wargaming Rules (Osprey Wargames 3)

Heroes, Villains and Fiends: A Companion for In Her Majesty's Name (Osprey Wargames)

Lots of other bargains here [clicky]... fill yer boots..

Kindle D Day Anniversary bargains - one day only!!

On this so very important anniversary, Amazon have made available twenty WW2/D-Day themed books they are only available today, so get in there quick chaps...  

This link should work [clicky] otherwise go to Amazon, Kindle books section and lookfor the link to the Daily Deal

Examples as follows - the Ospreys in particular are on my shopping list:

"Rifles: Six Years with Wellington's Legendary Sharpshooters..... another bargain!

...I'm not on commission for Amazon, honest, but no self respecting wargamer with an interest in black powder warfare should be without the following...  and at 99p it beggars belief that anyone would not snap it up immediately...  I have! 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/ref=pe_151291_46454101_pe_row1_b3/?ASIN=B002RI91LC
 

"Sedgemoor 1685 : Marlborough's First Victory".. bargain!

I managed to get a hard copy of this just before I visited the battlefield [clicky] seven (yee gods!!) years ago, and it was without a doubt hugely helpful in setting the background of the campaign, and also depicting the battle... John Tincey is also very readable, he has an excellent writing style, and is particularly knowledgeable on Marlborough...

So... very much recommended and at this price for your Kindle - unmissable! 👍

... bargain!

Amazon daily deal [clicky]....  today (26th) only, 99p for Kindle version

Even more Kindle freebies and a new Sudan book...

Just in time for Christmas I came across this web site the other week...  

Site: http://www.booksshouldbefree.com/

It's a little different to the norm being a site dedicated not only to free ebooks (multiple formats), but also free audio books...ideal for aural entertainment while at the painting table.

Details added to the Kindle Library page (up the top)...

=============================================

Separately, courtesy of the wargame news and terrain blog [clicky] (which I recommend mightily as a handy source for what's new in the hobby) I found out this week that Mike Snook (he of "Go Strong Into the Desert" [clicky] fame - which I also recommend highly) has just released a new book on the failed Gordon Relief Expedition...

Quite excited about this as its a favourite period for me (as you probably know) and books about it are not exactly pouring forth, but was a little worried that it might feature re-chewed content from the Go Strong book.

Taking keyboard in hand I dashed off a quick email to the publishers to ask that very question, when blow me down I don't get a response from Mike Snook himself!

Suffice to say that based on his email I have immediately hot footed it to order a copy...  a personal Christmas present!

Reviews will of course be provided once it is read...

More Kindle freebies...

Couple of sites for you Kindle readers... 😏

I've recommended this one before, but it's well worth visiting purely because of its search facilities..

http://uk.freereadfeed.com/

This one is a new one though:

http://www.dailyfreebooks.co.uk/free_ebooks/latest/

...and has already yielded some interesting choices, for the track heads among us the following may be worth a read..?? All these are free by the way, and I've not read them (yet) so I have no view on whether the SS one's will turn out to be some hideous apologist essay...  from the reviews the first one appears to be a very in depth divisional history with a lot of detail on all their engagements in Normandy and sounds quite interesting...

12th SS: Vol. 1, The History of the Hitler Youth Panzer Division (Stackpole Military History Series) [clicky]

by Hubert Meyer

The defining work on Hitler's elite fanatical boy soldiers written by the division's former chief of staff Volume one details all aspects of the division's history with a balanced mix of both tactical and strategic accounts, including the creation and training of these teenage warriors and their baptism of fire in the Normandy campaign in World War II...

In the Fire of the Eastern Front: The Experiences of a Dutch Waffen-SS Volunteer, 1941-45 (Stackpole Military... [clicky]

by Hendrick C. Verton

Extraordinary story of a Dutch volunteer in the Waffen-SS Vivid details on SS training and combat on the Eastern Front Account of the little-known siege of Breslau in early 1945 Dutch SS accounts are very rare, particularly ones that describe recruiting, training, and frontline service as completely and colourfully as In the Fire of the Eastern Front. Hendrick C. Verton volunteered for the Waffen-SS in early 1941 and fought on the Eastern Front until the end of the war as a member of the 5th SS Panzer Division and SS Regiment Besslein....

Tanks for the Memories: An Oral History of the 712th Tank Battalion in World War II [clicky]

by Aaron Elson

Aaron Elson attended a reunion of the 712th Tank Battalion, with which his father served in World War II, a few years after his father's death. He returned two reunions later, in 1989, with a tape recorder, and has been preserving the stories of World War II veterans ever since. When he arrived at that first reunion, one of the first things he saw was a bumper sticker on a car outside the hotel. It said "Tanks for the Memories." What he quickly realized was that the memories the veterans shared in the hospitality room, they rarely shared with their families. Aaron Elson's work as an oral historian has been used as source material in more than two dozen book in the U.S. and "across the pond," as well is in about a dozen documentaries including "The Color of War" and "Patton 360." "Tanks for...

Books for your Kindle... #5

Time for another update for you Kindle readers out there .... 

I've recently downloaded the following - they were all free when I got them but the prices change often!

The Boston Massacre,March 5, 1770, Its Causes and Its Results by Frederic Kidder

Only 32 pages, as this is a synopsis of Kidders book of the same name, first published in 1870.If ever there was a good précis of the events in Boston that kick started the War of Independence this is it... 

The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the World: from Marathon to Waterloo by Sir Edward Shepherd Creasy

Published in 1851 the book covers the following and is quite interesting for what it misses rather than what it covers.....  not read it yet, and I suspect I will dip into specific battles rather than reading it cover to cover, but it looked interesting..

1. The Battle of Marathon, 490 BC
2. Defeat of the Athenians at Syracuse, 413 BC
3. The Battle of Gaugamela, 331 BC
4. The Battle of the Metaurus, 207 BC
5. Victory of Arminius over the Roman Legions under Varus, AD 9
6. The Battle of Châlons, AD 451
7. The Battle of Tours, AD 732
8. The Battle of Hastings, AD 1066
9. Joan of Arc's Victory over the English at Orléans, AD 1429 (no Agincourt/Crecy??)
10. Defeat of the Spanish Armada, AD 1588
11. The Battle of Blenheim, AD 1704
12. The Battle of Pultava, AD 1709
13. Saratoga, AD 1777(not Yorktown??)
14. The Battle of Valmy, AD 1792
15. The Battle of Waterloo, AD 1815 (really? I would have thought Salamanca, Borodino, or any of the bigger battles, but I guess that in terms of outcome, this battle had the more profound after effects..)

Sparta's Shame: The Battle of Sphacteria and Pylos by Charles R. King

Only 15 pages - an analysis of one of the pivotal battles in the Peleponnesian War....  following the Battle of Pylos and the failure of subsequent peace negotiations, a Spartan army was stranded on the island of Sphacteria. An Athenian force attacked and forced them to surrender.....  this took in Navarrino Bay just around the coast from where I was on holiday a couple of years ago...

Last of all - one of my fellow bloggers posted a link to these two by the historian J B Bury - these links are for the US Amazon, but they're also available on the UK Amazon (and free on both at the moment)..  I've always had an interest in the Punic Wars so have downloaded the first one to read at a later date...   reviews I've seen say his writing is "scholarly and accessible to the layman"

A History of the Roman Empire from Its Foundation to the Death of Marcus Aurelius (27 B.C. - 180 A.D.)


History of the Later Roman Empire: From the Death of Theodosius I to the Death of Justinian


Trust you find something to enjoy there.. either way you can't argue with the prices!

Random new year resolutions ... #1

I will read "War and Peace" this year....  

Books for your Kindle... #4

Just a very quick post to give you Kindle readers (as in people who read books on their Kindles as opposed to me talking to an electronic device.....which clearly wouldn't make any sense... 😏) a heads up to an amazing web site/resource for free books to feed the gaping maw of your device....
The site is here [clicky]

New books are added daily, you can filter on specific genres, and all the books are free - mostly from Amazon from what I can tell....

Recommended!

Books for your Kindle... #3

My thanks to the Miniature Wargames site [clicky] as I had no idea you could do this and it's brilliant! 

This will allow you to create your own books from Wikipedia content and then download them to your Kindle as a stand alone reading file....  inspired...

• Start by going the Wiki page you're interested in and then find the "print/Export"option in the menu to the left..

• Click “Create a Book” and in the next web age click "Start Book Creator" (the green button).


• Then just navigate to the pages you're interested in and at the top of the page there is an option to add the age to your book..


• You can click on “Show Book” at any time and in the box bottom left it will allow you to delete any pages you no longer want, or even re-order the ages (just click on the page and move it up or down with a drag of the mouse)


• When you've finished you simply select the download file type (the default is PDF for your Kindle as they don't support ePUB, but I use Calibre - see the Kindle library page at the top for where to get this - which has a facility to convert file types as part of the file transfer to the Kindle - very handy..), give it a title (in the two blank boxes to the left), and then click "download" - jobs a good' un..

Now with the proviso that Wikipedia articles are not the last word in historical veracity, I think that' a brilliant way of getting content to allow you to do basic research on a project whilst being away from the internet... nifty idea...

Books for your Kindle... #2

Been a while but I was browsing at lunchtime......  

This one (left) was from here:

http://archive.org/details/rulesforconducto00grearich

Not particularly my cup of tea, but this is one for Bob Cordery :

http://archive.org/details/gameofwar00maxi

More to my taste - similar to the previous:

http://archive.org/details/warchessorgameof00rich

Books for your Kindle... #1

...prompted by the post from Bob Cordery mentioning that he's just bought a Kindle (wise man .. ) it struck me that if everyone who owns one occasionally puts up a post giving links to books that might appeal to their follow war-gamers, the world would indeed be a better place.....  so in the first of what will be a fairly occasional series I offer the following possibilities....

First; I recommend Calibre [click here] for managing your Kindle library - I find it very easy to use - you can manage the device files through the normal Windows Explorer type display, but Calibre allows you to handle multiple files, from multiple sources, and liberates you from the Amazon "benign tyranny"...

So - a few suggestions to get the series started.....

• All About War Games by Jack Scruby [click here] "One of the first ever published sets of wargame rules, from the 1950s. An early work by Jack Scruby, a classic for wargamers. Covers rules, how to paint miniatures and more". This is a free download, in PDF format but still readable on your Kindle...
• The WRG "Armies and Enemies" series are also available as PDF's [click here] - I've not downloaded them so I have no idea how these would display on a Kindle, but given the originals were all black and white they should display - if not - download them to your main device (PC/iPAd or whatever) as these are a superb resource for an Ancient gamer! They're free....
• "Floor Games; a companion volume to 'Little Wars'" [click here] - HG Wells classic - (currently) free from Amazon (it's also available in multiple formats from Gutenberg [click here] for the same price)
• "Little Wars" [click here] - the HG Wells classic - is available from Gutenberg free, but for a price on Amazon
•  Khartoum Campaign, 1898 or the Re-Conquest of the Soudan by Bennet Burleigh [click here] first person account...  free from Amazon
• Shed loads of books by the likes of Henty, Dumas, Stevenson, etc are all free on Amazon/Project Gutenberg....

...so what else have people found.....??