Four Books on Midway

Stemming from an interest that was cultivated from an early exposure to XTR's (Command Magazine) Victory at Midway, I have been fascinated by this battle (see below, and still my most favourite wargame - that is a game plus an excellent reference magazine): 

Since then I have been collecting books about the battle. My four specific reference books being.

Book 1: Midway The Battle That Doomed Japan, the Japanese Navy Story. Albeit acquired and read late in the day (of my interests) but early in the literature review (1954), it is a classic - but suffers from deep political motivations (written for a post war Japanese and Western audience). Extremely interesting as it gave an insight into the Japanese view, from a surviving protagonist, but projected myths about the battle that are still persistent today.   

Book 2: Midway - Incredible Victory. A somewhat popularist follow on from the above, but from an American perspective, that is dramatic in its recounting of the battle. It seems to set the pace and scene for most wargames of the battle. A fight against incredible odds and patriotic American sacrifice, There was great patriotism but the actual combatants were more evenly matched than portrayed. Nevertheless it does convey the tension of the times,

Book 3: The Battle of Midway - The Battle that Turned the Tide of the Pacific War. To my mind not much separates this from Incredible Victory - but it is a different recount of the same battle, again from the US perspective, which fleshes the narrative and lists all the moving parts (essential for a wargamer). 

(The) Book 4: Shattered Sword - The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway. Quite frankly this book blew away the "I already know the story" cobwebs right out of my mind. "Myth busting" and with access to IJN archive material it gives a definitive account from both sides, explaining the who, what, how and why. It places Midway in the context of what it was, an USN "ambush" that the IJN sleep walked into. It also places the nature of the IJN wargaming into its correct context, a tick box exercise. The IJN set themselves up to fail because they expected the USN not to interfere with their (overly) complex plan. Amazing detail, surfacing truths that had already been exposed for years in Japan's academic world.  

Read it. The description above in no way diminishes the US heroism but frames the Japanese operations (because you cannot forget about the Aleutians). With the IJN so focused on Midway they gave the USN a "first strike" opportunity it so gratefully took. The relatively inexperienced USN pilots pulled it off, not in a prefect fashion, but the end results speak for themselves. Japan lost the strategic initiative - but there was much gruelling fighting still to be done.     

PS: Yes I also have the Osprey Midway book, and yes there are hundreds of other "good" books on Midway (it is a very popular battle), but these are the four on myselves. Please read Shattered Sword, it is far ad away the BEST and the most DEFINITIVE account of the battle - but this is only my humble opinion (as well as many better souls). Enjoy!

Early Birthday Present to Me: XTR Command Magazine Games #1, #2, #3 and #4 from the 1980's!

The rationale behind this seemingly crazy purchase of (very, very) old and perhaps "superseded" games being .. that it completes a collection and when it is done, it is done and it is also a source of delight to me. I first discovered XTR Command Magazine in the early 1990's, after buying a few editions I then took the plunge and subscribed to it. This allowed me to bag a continuous run from Issue #15 (I Am Spartacus) through to its final edition (sniff) of Issue #54 (When Dragons Fight) as XTR as a company went "pop" (apparently they made a mistake by relocating their print  operation to a Canadian company and suffered from quality issues - that broke them).  Since that time be it through conventions or watching back issue magazine sites [such as Board Game Geek and Second Chance Games]. I managed to get back to Issue #5 (Hamburger Hill). Although I have not (yet) played them all, I have always enjoyed the production quality and replay value, certainly of the ones  I have played. So when the opportunity cane to get them all and 'close the gate' - I thought, "If not now then when?" (see below, the final four compatriots to complete the merry band of fifty two, three of which are magazine and game, one Issue #4 (Lion of Ethiopia) game only): 

Nostalgia: I think my all time favourite XTR Command game is Issue #14 (Victory at Midway), it still makes me sweat - closely followed by Issue #10 Alexandros ;) 

Most innovative - well I think Issue #20 (Cortes: Conquest of the Aztecs).

One of my brother's favourites being Issue #30 (Across the Potomac) when he crushed me in an old school PBM game.

Corona Virus - Loose yourself in some books

There are always "books" ...

In the professional wargame category I have plenty of books to skim, read and re-read (see below, Sabin's [Lost Battles and Simulating War], GLB [Successful Professional Wargames], Dunnigan, Perla [The Art of Wargaming] are old classics long read, but I have plenty of other stuff with interesting idea in abundance, mainly it seems from the History of Wargaming Project):

Then there are the books from the historical category and there are plenty of them on the bookshelves (see below, the Pacific War is my current theme which ties in with the 1/3000 Navwar models, so this is a small section of my dusty books):

Or a general scientific interest (see below, Blink if a good lite-read):

Slightly heavier but packed full of thought provoking ideas (see below, I particularly like Newton's "apple" on the front cover):

And let's not forget the rules which I have bought and should have really read by now. This is a large category. Carrier and Tokyo Express are specifically solitaire games so ideal for the current circumstances(see blow, XTR Victory at Midway is a personal favourite of mine that I am playing via email to an independent umpire against an unseen third party):

Hopefully chances are by the time you read "one or more" book and played "one or more" games then the Corona Virus thing will have all blown over! Famous last words. Anything not done by the end of the lock-down needs seriously to be put on the "never happening" project shelf!

XTR Command Magazine

As a late Xmas treat to myself I completed the damage recovery to my XTR Command Magazine Collection, a loan that was not returned or stuff lost in transit/misplaced - I remember being very keen on doing Sea Lion at some point so I may be in a special box file somewhere, perhaps it is tie for a spring clean. This meant Issue #45 which was missing the Sea Lion Game (annoying as I had the Yarmuk Game and Magazine part) plus I took the opportunity to extend the collection the Issue #9 Inchon too (see below, waiting to be punched - the Sea Lion Game looks good - well the counters do, I cannot comment on the rules yet):

Sea Lion Issue #45:

Inchon Issue #9:

I have the intention of playing quite a few Command Ziplock games this year. Watch this space for AARs.

Command Magazine Issue 34: Death and Destruction and Issue 10: Alexandros

I was doing a lot of rummaging around in the loft and garage and came across my boxes of zip-lock games from XTR Corporation, aka Command Magazine. In their heyday they rivalled and IMHO surpasses Strategy and Tactics. I started looking through them in more detail and ruminating. I (for some reason now lost to me) had separated the magazines from the games in different boxes. Hence I naturally spent a whole afternoon "pairing" them back up. Alas there was a missing copy. I remember having a copy of issue # 34 "Death and Destruction/Gazala" but I had that sinking feeling Ihad leant it out (and although I later asked the person in question) it was never returned - I distinctly remember the Western Desert, Rommel and Gazala being the reason for the request. I had hoped that I had merely misplaced it but alas, by the end of the evening I could see no other place it could be (the "box search" had extended to 'all other corners' of the house. Sharing the burden with my friends is the closing sessions of Ramillies, they commiserated and advised wargames shows and online searches .. so I Googled and end up visiting SecondChanceGames (see below, and came up trumps with Issue#34):

Making a "good" out of a bad I also spotted what I think is arguably Command Magazine's best game "Alexandros" from Issue #10 (it runs neck and neck with Issue #14 Midway [double blind game of the classic battle]). This was one Command Magazine missing from my collection, although I had played with a friends copy and remember the bitter taste of Persian arrows felling my attempt at being Alexander (but it was a great game). As well as a (Macadonian biased) campaign system it had an innovative little tactical battle system which I plan to use with my collection of DBA armies (see below, it seems to be a fore-runner of Phil Sabin's, Lost Battles in gridding the battlefield area - one definitely to play again, whereas Death and Destruction is the "monster game" addition to Proud Monster, aka Barbarossa 1941):

Note: Although I cannot say that I would play "all" of the Command Magazine games, there are quite a few pearls in amongst them. They were heavily criticised towards the end re: play-testing but still retained great insights into the periods they covered. I am left with one remaining "mystery" in that I have the Command Magazine and one game from Issue #44 but the Sealion game is "missing". I have the awful feeling I have put this one "somewhere safe" as part of a project - but where? The searcj parties are still out looking ;)