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Saturday 4 April 2020

The Portable Colonial Wargame book has been published!

The printed proof copies of the book have arrived from Lulu.com and been checked ... and it has now been released for publication!


It is now available in four different editions:
  • As a PDF (only available here from Lulu.com) costing £2.49
  • As a A5-sized black and white paperback (available here from Lulu.com at present, and from Amazon, and other online book retailers in due course) costing £9.49
  • As a US Trade-sized black and white dust jacket hardback (available here from Lulu.com at present, and from Amazon, and other online book retailers in due course) costing £19.49
  • As a US Trade-sized full colour casewrap hardback (only available here from Lulu.com) costing £24.99

Mike Taber has pointed out an error in the book’s dedication. It should be dedicated to Larry Brom, and not to his daughter Lori. Lori has done much to keep her father’s legacy alive, and certainly deserves to have her work recognised.

I will be amending the text as soon as I can, and I hope that this error will not dissuade potential purchasers from buying the book.

40 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Tradgardmastare,

      Cheers! I hope that you enjoy reading it and using the rules.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  2. That's my imminent birthday present identified.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jim Duncan,

      I couldn’t think of a better present!

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  3. Surely it could be dedicated to them both?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. David Manley,

      I did think about it, but decided in the end just to change Lori to Larry.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  4. Replies
    1. Simon,

      I hope that you enjoy reading it and using the rules when it arrives.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  5. Great news in these depressing times. Colour hardback version just ordered!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Andy Hussey,

      I hope that you enjoy reading the book and using the rules when they arrive.

      My biggest critic - my wife - was actually impressed by the full colour edition and said that it looked like a real book! Praise indeed!

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  6. Hi Bob, what wonderful news in these apocalyptic times! Hardback ordered! Take care and best wishes, Anthony.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anthony Morton,

      I assume that you are working from home ... and if not, why not!

      I hope that the new book gives you some ideas for future games ... and possible even a campaign!

      Keep safe and keep well,

      Bob

      Delete
  7. Replies
    1. PatG,

      I hope that you spend many enjoyable hours reading it and using the rules therein.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  8. PDF downloaded

    Simon (another one!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Simon (the other one!),

      I hope that you get a lot of fun and satisfaction from the book and the rules.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  9. At my first glance the pdf looks very tidy Bob - the colour images are really nice. Looking forward to getting a book version when the current crisis is behind us. What dimensions are a US Trade-size book?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maudlin Jack Tar,

      Cheers! Having experimented with colour photographs in A WINTER-ISH WAR and TROUBLE IN ZUBIA, I decided to use them in this book because the quality seemed to be better, even when reproduced in black & white.

      US Trade-size is slightly larger than A5, being 6” x 9” (15cm x 23cm) as opposed to 14.8cm x 21cm (A5).

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  10. Congrats Bob- will get myself a copy.

    Cheers,

    Pete.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pete.,

      Cheers! Judging by the number of people who plan to buy copies of my latest book, it may well out-sell some of my other books by a considerable margin.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  11. Replies
    1. Ross Mac,

      Cheers! It seems to be selling quite well ...

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  12. Duly ordered downloaded and skimmed through in anticipation. Corrected dedication noted. Well done once again!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mike C,

      Great! I hope that you enjoy using the rules.

      All the best,

      Bob

      PS. It’s good to know that the change to the dedication has taken effect, Thanks for letting me know.

      Delete
  13. Excellent news Bob and Father's Day present sorted!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Steve J.,

      Cheers! I hope that someone buys you a copy!

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  14. Ciao Bob is it going to be published also for Kindle?
    How the book does differentiate with When the empires clash one?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Marfac70,

      I’ve tried creating a Kindle edition, but I’m still experiencing problems with the conversion software, which is why I’ve produced an edition in PDF format.

      I like to think of WHEN EMPIRES CLASH! was a step along the way to THE PORTABLE COLONIAL WARGAME. They are some similarities, and the WEC Army Lists can be used with PCW, but they are not the same as PCW builds upon my experience writing the other PW rules.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  15. Replies
    1. Marfac70,

      I hope that you are enjoying them!

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  16. Just downloaded and read the book. I recently got interested into wargaming and i already bought The portable Wargame and Developing the portable wargame and i fell in love with the rules.

    I did a mix of ancients rules and colonial rules to get a fantasy kind of setting and got instantly hooked by the terrain generator for my upcoming imagi-nation(s) they are really great guidelines. Just wondering how it would be handled on a larger board.

    I am in the process of teaching my friends the rules i got and wanted to know if i could present the rules i got on my YouTube Channel as i don't know how it would work for Copyright and all (i don't a single thing on those).

    Really great read couldn't find anything more useful in these times of quarantine !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Zafele,

      I’m very pleased to read that you’ve enjoyed reading my books and using my rules, and that you’ve developed your own version of the rules.

      The terrain generator will work with larger grids. I’ve tried it with a 12 x 12 squared grid (which is about twice the size of the 8 x 8 squared grid featured in the book) and adjusted the D6 die scores used for generating the number hills etc., accordingly.

      I have no objection to you creating anything about the rules for YouTube as long as the origins of the rules are properly acknowledged, hopefully with a link to this blog or my author’s page on a Lulu.com. I’d also appreciate a brief message from you when it goes live on YouTube.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
    2. Hello,

      Just tried my hand of the terrain generator on a larger board and i got quite a sparse terrain. How did you do it ?Did you just double the results obtained ?
      For me i used one category higher (if i had to use 1D6 for hills i actually rolled 1D6+2) and my terrain didn't seem right.

      Delete
    3. Zafele,

      I tried two different approaches. One was to just double the modified D6 dice scores and the other was to add 4 to the modified D6 dice scores. The former seemed to be easier to use, and the terrain it generated worked quite well. The second seemed to produce much less variation.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
    4. Thanks for the advice can't wait to test it out now ^^

      Just thinking of something. There's a rule which come often in the game which i can't get to understand : "Units can shoot out of woods, built-up areas, and fortifications if they are in a grid area that is on the edge of the woods, build-up areas, or fortifications (i.e the adjacent grid area in the direction they are shooting does not contain woods, built-up areas or fortifications)."
      I don't quite understand this rule because i thought that if such grid area was in front of a unit it would block line-of-sight.

      Cheers and thank you for the help

      Delete
    5. Zafele,

      The unit that is in the wood, built-up area, and fortification is deemed to be on the edge of that terrain and firing OUT of it, therefore the terrain is not in the unit’s line-of-sight.

      I hope that explains the rule.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
    6. Yeah it helped a lot thanks.

      So i had my first game with a friend, everything went really well. We just had one problem with the rules : how does retreat work exactly. We tried a few rules but it felt awkward at some times. Just wanted to know how did you intended retreat in your rules ?

      Delete
    7. Zafele,

      Units should retreat into a grid area that is in the direction of their baseline or entry point onto the battlefield and which doesn’t bring them into contact with an enemy unit, If their path is blocked, they must lose 1 SP.

      I hope that explains how it works,

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
    8. Ok so if a unit have to retreat but the square is adjacent to an enemy unit, she can't retreat and must lose 1 SP ?

      Delete
    9. Zafele,

      Yes, that’s how it works.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete

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