Henry Hyde’s Magnum Opus: Wargaming Campaigns

At long last (but ahead of schedule!) Henry Hyde’s WARGAMING CAMPAIGNS has been published.

I had pre-ordered mine from Amazon, but when I realised that it has just been published by Pen & Sword and was on sale directly from them for less than Amazon’s discounted price, I cancelled my order with Amazon and bought a copy from the publisher. It arrived a couple of days later, and since then I’ve been dipping in and out of it.

The book a forward by Brigadier (Ret’d) Charles S Grant OBE, a preface, and fourteen chapters. The latter are:

1. An Introduction to Campaigns: Starting at the Beginning
2. Campaign Generalship: Mastering strategy
3. March to Glory: Campaign Rules for All Ages
4. Where Are We Going?: Creating maps for your forces to fight over
5. With or Without Umpires – or Opponents: The Role of the Umpire and Solo Campaigns
6. We the People: Personality Driven Campaigns
7. Skirmish and Roleplaying Campaigns: You don’t need thousands of troops to play campaigns
8. Whether the Weather May Be Wet or Fine … : Considerations of climate in wargame campaigns
9. War at Sea: Naval aspects of campaigns
10. Air Power: Adding aerial warfare to campaigns
11. Digital Campaigns: Making use of modern technology
12. Making Campaigns Work: The Wars of the Faltenian Succession
13. Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: Learning from well-known wargame campaigns
14. All Roads lead to Rome: The sheer variety of ideas for campaigns

Since it arrived, I have spent many hours reading this book, and I have come to the conclusion that as far as wargame campaigns are concerned, this is the 'go to' book ... and will probably remain so for many years to come! As even a brief glance at the contents shows, it pretty well covers everything that a wargamer needs to know about running a wargame campaign, from the small solo effort to the massive club one. There are numerous examples and suggestions for structures and rules, as well as some of Henry's wonderful maps ... which he explains how he created.

I thoroughly recommend this book to my regular blog readers and think that it deserves a place of the bookshelves of anyone and everyone who thinks of themselves as a hobby wargamer.

My only regret is that Henry was unable to include the Snakes & Ladders Campaign System in his book, but I suspect that it emerged at a stage in the book's production where including it would have required a considerable amount of re-writing and re-editing. (Unless one is a self-publisher, an author has to work with a publisher, and to conform to their deadlines. The latter included getting the text, illustrations etc., ready at a specific time so that it can fit into the publishers printing, publication, and distribution schedules. These are often measured in months or even years rather than days or weeks. Late changes are therefore something that can only be done with great difficulty and cost.)

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WARGAMING CAMPAIGNS was written by Henry Hyde and published in 2022 by Pen & Sword Military (ISBN 978 1 4738 5591 5).