Book Author(s)
Richard Bodley Scott
Review Author
Pablo Bauleo
Published on
October 17, 2010
Company
Osprey Publishing
MSRP
$34.95

I’m not a war gamer, but I’ve been curious about it for a few years now so I jumped to the opportunity to review a war gaming book.

Fields of Glory is a series of war gaming books oriented to the ancient and medieval ages. This current book is the first of the series expanding into the renaissance era and as such is the rulebook.

The book has a historical introduction to the military doctrine of the renaissance era including pros and cons of different military formations of the time (tercios, keils, cavalry, etc).

Then the book moves into what is needed in order to be able to play, before diving into details of troops, battle groups and in general, the rules of the game, including movement rules and combat phases like impact, maneuvering, shooting and melee. Each rule is demonstrated with examples, which makes understanding and learning of the rule much simple.

Review Author
Chris Smith
Published on
October 17, 2010
Company
Cyber-Hobby
Scale
1/48
MSRP
$48.00

The Bf 110 was envisioned by Hermann Goering as a heavily armed fighter-destroyer escort for the Luftwaffe’s bombers. With its four machine gun and two cannon armament it was a deadly opponent as long one could position the aircraft to take advantage of it. Problem was, as so many other countries found out, the idea of a heavy twin engine fighter competing against smaller single engine fighters of equal or greater horsepower just didn’t pan out. Physics simply did not allow it. Early successes against inferior aircraft were soon reversed when the Bf 110s met their match in the Battle of Britain. In spite of being what many could argue was an obsolete design, the Bf 110 soldered on in various versions until the end of the war. It proved especially effective in the night fighter role which capitalized on its multi crew seating and ability to carry a lot of firepower. The Bf 110 D-3 in this kit was designed for long range escort/patrol.

Review Author
Stephen Bierce
Published on
October 17, 2010
Company
Master Model
Scale
1/72
MSRP
$4.99

I'll admit to being a little confused when I requested this assignment. I was expecting something else. Still, these are very welcome components as I have two 1/72nd scale Spitfire Mk.V’s in my “to-build” pile.

The Spitfire was among the earliest production fighter aircraft to adopt a 20mm cannon as armament; with the “B” arrangement for the cannon being introduced in the Mk.I and Mk.II models that fought the Battle of Britain. While the success of the armament was spotty at that time, it became the standard on the Mk.Vb [the same guns also found their way into the initial production Sea Fury]. The earliest Mk.Vc Spitfires also used this pattern of gun barrels before going to the “beefier” barrels as standard (parts that Master also offers separately). So these parts are not only compatible with the Spitfire Vb, as advertised.

Review Author
Ben Guenther
Published on
October 10, 2021
Company
MiniArt
Scale
1/35
MSRP
$17.00

MiniArt Models, your favorite Ukrainian diorama manufacturer, has come out with an accessory kit for their street dioramas, cleverly called Street Accessories, #35530. 44 injected plastic parts are provided on four sprues that will build into two benches, four manhole covers, four grates, a 5 inch section of metal fencing and support poles. In addition, there are four short pieces that look like chess pawns but may be hitching posts or barriers of some sort. The instructions are on the bottom of the box and the only color choice provided is on the box top, but truly you’ll use your imagination to paint and finish these parts to your liking anyway. One nice thing, these parts are not really dated by their design, so could be present from the turn of the 20th century till the mid-50 at least.

Review Author
Roger Carrano
Published on
October 17, 2010
Company
Kagero Publishing
MSRP
$26.25

Since the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain is upon us, many companies of interest to the modeling community will be coming out with all sorts of items. The company that this review will encompass is the Kagero Publishing Company. Among their many products are books, magazines, calendars and paintings.

This review is of the new series, “Battle of Britain Part 1”, which covers the Luftwaffe aircraft involved in the Battle. In the beginning of the book is a generalized three page article of the Battle of Britain and information on the Luftwaffe color schemes and how to translate what the color bars painted on the aircraft designate. This is in English text with captions next to each aircraft in English and Polish, explaining the details of each aircraft.