Helion is a UK based company that produces books on many aspects of Military History from the Late Medieval period through to the present day. Helion was established in 1996, and since then they have published almost 1,200 books, with 100 or more new titles coming out every year, for readers around the world.

A native Texan, Linda was born in Del Rio. Linda retired from the U. S. Government in 1997, after being employed in various occupations during her 33 years Civil Service career, in which she worked in various locations, including the Laughlin AFB, Charleston Naval Base, USAF HQ Europe, Wiesbaden, Germany, NASA, and the Internal Revenue Service in Houston. She has previously written Flight of the Dragon, detailing the story of Chang-di ‘Robin’ Yeh, a Taiwanese U-2 pilot, and Remembering the Dragon Lady, first-person memoirs of many of the pilots, specialists and family members who supported the early US spy-plane projects.

Tamiya has had lacquer paints in their catalogue for a long time, but until recently, at least in the U.S, they were only available in spray cans, which limited how they could be used and incurred a rather steep price. However, Tamiya has now made their lacquer paints available in .33 fl.oz. bottles in the United States. The color range is limited at the moment, and we can only hope that more colors become available in the future. In addition to this, many products from companies in Asia are in short supply for various reasons, so it may take a while.

“The Erawan War, The CIA Paramilitary Campaign in Laos, 1961-1969” is volume one of a two volume set. The second volume covers the years 1969 through 1974. The book starts out by setting the stage in 1960 where Laos was a neutral buffer zone between communist and western nations. With a near bloodless coup in Laos, the need of an intervention by the CIA to aid rebels was needed. This book covers the timeline and details of the CIA in Laos for most of the Vietnam conflict. Participants or groups are listed in the text and in an abbreviations section which include the anti-Communist “Royalist Armed Forces” (FAR), Peoples Army of Vietnam (PAVN), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and “Air America”.

Wargames Terrain and Buildings: WWI Trench Systems is one of Casemate Publishers latest offerings. Douglas Hardy, an avid war gamer, has delivered a wonderful soft cover tome on all things related to WWI trenches. After a brief introduction Mister Hardy discusses the trench system employed by Britain, France, and Germany during the Great War.

After some introduction the author goes on to discuss, in some detail, the ins and outs of designing and building your own table top trench warfare gaming area. The focus of this volume is on war gaming but the techniques he discusses are just as applicable to any diorama or vignette builder. [Fun Fact: British philosophy toward trench warfare was to use them as an offense starting point whereas the German focus viewed trenches from a defensive perspective.]

The book is divided into six chapters that focus on the specifics of those areas germane to fashioning a tabletop wargaming landscape. Those chapters are:

Value Gear has produced a complete line of stowage items that are useful for adding those finishing touches to armor projects or dioramas of all types. This set contains 25 cast resin stowage items for armored vehicles, although some of these items could also be useful in aircraft, sci-fi, or automotive dioramas.

There is a lot of variety here. This assortment includes backpacks, bedrolls, duffle bags, toolboxes, cardboard boxes, equipment bags, and sleeping cots. The vendor’s website claims that all 25 items are unique. That may indeed be true, but the six backpacks supplied seem to be of two types, with only subtle differences among them. The resin is a neutral, medium-dark gray color. The surfaces are slightly textured, again with variability. The sculpting of these parts is excellent, with the appropriate creases, straps, buckles, and in some cases, a little wear and tear.