A GAMER

A GAMER'S ESSENTIAL MILITARY LIBRARY

Playing a military wargame is an exercise in thought and reflection. While time is a constraint, lack of knowledge should be minimized whenever possible. Familiarity with history has a dual benefit in game terms:

(1) it allows the user the foresight to avoid his historical counterpart's errors;

(2) it gives the user the ability to determine what worked in certain situations and choose the best alternative in a more optimal fashion.

The military bibliography herein is not the last word in historical treatise but rather more of a starting point.

GENERAL

R. Ernest and Trevor N. Dupuy, THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MILITARY HISTORY, Harper & Row (1970). The starting point for all inquiries...

Bryan Perrett, THE BATTLE BOOK, Arms and Armour (1992). A wargamer's "quick reference" to major battles (1469 BC to the present) in thumbnail sketches.

Montgomery of Alamein, A HISTORY OF WARFARE, Morrow & Co. (1968). An excellent survey of military history for its first two-thirds, but beware of the Field Marshal's slant from 1860 onwards.

J.F.C. Fuller, A MILITARY HISTORY OF THE WESTERN WORLD, Minerva Press (1956). A three volume treatise, it has the same flaw as Montgomery -- beware of the author's personal agenda from the American Civil War forward.

John M. Collins, MILITARY GEOGRAPHY FOR PROFESSIONALS AND THE PUBLIC, Brassey's (1998). "Take the high ground and hold it" -- the how's and why's of military geography.

William Seymour, DECISION IN BATTLE, Da Capo Press (1982). Wargaming in book form, this offers ten battles and queries the reader as to the major decision points.

John Keegan, THE FACE OF BATTLE, Viking Press (1976). A military classic, this book examined the history of warfare through three separate battles (Agincourt, Waterloo and the Somme).

Peter Perla, THE ART OF WARGAMING, Naval Institute Press (1990). Although mainly limited to non-computer wargames, this remains the classic text on contemporary simulation gaming.

ANCIENT

Chaim Herzog and Mordechai Gichon, BATTLES OF THE BIBLE, Greenhill Books (1978). An analysis of Biblical battles in terms that a contemporary military officer can understand. Both authors were eminent archeologists and military leaders, and it shows.

Victor Davis Hanson, The Western Way of War, Alfred A. Knopf (1989). The standard text on hoplite warfare.

Hans Delbruck, Warfare in Antiquity, University of Nebraska Press (1975). Almost a century old, this history of ancient warfare still stands out as a classic treatise. The footnotes sometimes overwhelm the text, but the author is careful to explain his analysis of the battles.

Sir John Hackett, WARFARE IN THE ANCIENT WORLD, Facts on File (1989). An excellent survey of ancient warfare from Assyria to Rome.

Peter Connolly, GREECE AND ROME AT WAR, Greenhill Books (1981). Excellent illustrations and text explain Greek and Roman warfare in an entertaining and accurate fashion.

MEDIEVAL

Overall, medieval warfare offers relatively few classics which can assist the gamer. They didn't call it the "Dark Ages" for nothing; maps are generally substandard, and the best appreciation for this period can be gleaned from the general histories, infra.

Hans Delbruck, MEDIEVAL Warfare, University of Nebraska Press (1982). Again, Delbruck provides the best analysis of this period of warfare.

NAPOLEONIC

David Chandler, CAMPAIGNS OF NAPOLEON, Macmillan Press (1966). With the thousands of books written on Napoleon, Chandler remains the first choice.

Vincent Esposito and John Elting, A MILITARY HISTORY AND ATLAS OF THE NAPOLEONIC WARS, Praeger Press (1964). Superb maps coupled with spartan but succinct text of the major battles of the period.

AMERICAN CIVIL WAR

Vincent Esposito, The West Point Atlas of American Wars, Praeger Press (1959). Again, the maps make this a mandatory acquisition.

Shelby Foote, THE CIVIL WAR: A NARRATIVE, Random House (1974). More than history, this three-volume set is eminently readable. While the bias is slightly pro-Southern, it remains a superb read.

MODERN

Vincent Esposito, The West Point Atlas of American Wars, Praeger Press (1959). Coverage includes both World Wars even before American entry.

Peter Young, ATLAS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR, Berkley Publishing (1974). Another fine map and text as an overview of World War II.

John Erickson, THE ROAD TO STALINGRAD, Weidenfeld and Nicolson (1973).
-- THE ROAD TO BERLIN, Westview Press (1983). Possibly the best treatments of the Eastern Front.

Geoffrey Perret, THERE'S A WAR TO BE WON, Random House (1991). The American perspective of World War II in Europe.

Robert Leckie, STRONG MEN ARMED, Random House (1962). An older, but still interesting history of the U.S. Marine Corps in the Pacific during World War II.

Ronald Spector, EAGLE AGAINST THE SUN, Vintage Books (1985). The best one-volume history of World War II in the Pacific.

Samuel Eliot Morison, THE TWO OCEAN WAR, Little, Brown & Co. (1963). A classic account of American naval operations during World War II.

J.E. Johnson, FULL CIRCLE: TACTICS OF AIR FIGHTING 1914-1964, Ballantine Books (1964). An update would be nice, but this is still the best history of aerial tactics and combat.

Clay Blair, Jr., SILENT VICTORY: THE U.S. SUBMARINE WAR AGAINST JAPAN, J.B. Lippincott Co. (1975).
-- HITLER'S U-BOAT WAR: THE HUNTERS 1939-1942, Random House (1996).
-- HITLER'S U-BOAT WAR: THE HUNTED, 1942-1945, Random House (1998). Blair's texts on submarine warfare say it all; any one of these is worth acquiring, depending on one's personal interest.

Wayne P. Hughes, Jr., FLEET TACTICS, Naval Institute Press (1986). Recently reprinted (now including coastal defenses), this is the one and only only book to have on its subject matter.

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