Anyone bought this? Is it worth buying?

Chad

Wierd !   I am actually half way through reading this.   

If you do have an interest in the Nine Years War, I would suggest that this is
indispensible.   It gives an excellent overview of campaigning at the time (you
really get a sense of how restricted the area of campaign was, how carefully
a General had to manage the movement of his forces within this area and,
most crucially, how difficult it was to gain any lasting advantage).   

The book then goes on to examine each year of the war, explaining the decisions
taken and detailling troop movements.   As part of this, the author also tracks the
contribution (or lack of) by the British army.

While reading this book, however, you will need to make continued reference to
a map of the area.   I've found a decent map of the Low Countries in 1700 and
am always referring to it.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Low_Countries_1700.png

My understanding is that this book was very difficult to get hold of until recently
reprinted by the Manchester University Press :

http://www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9780719089961


So, waffle over, yes it is worth getting !

I'll shut up now....

Phil

Phil

Thanks. How useful would it be from a wargamimg
standpoint?

Chad

Chad,

Thats quite an open question.   

If you are interested in setting up a campaign based on the 9YW, then this would be invaluable.   Outlines
most aspects you would need to consider (particularly consideration of fodder for horses which was a huge
focal point - armies would deliberately target regions to use up the fodder, thus denying a route of passage
to the enemy).

If, however, you expect to see details of organisation, uniform etc you will be disappointed.   In addition,
although the book does cover the major battles (Walcourt, Namur, Steenkirke, Landen etc), they are not given
much space (perhaps 2-3 pages).

IMHO, this is a 300 page top-down view of the war which still includes much detail of what it would be like for
the average soldier.   However, it has no Orders of Battle and is not something you could use to directly transfer
battles to the tabletop.   For this, you would need more detail of the armies involved (Wikipedia is your friend !).

Without wishing to sound like a sock puppet for the author John Childs (who I have also extolled in another post !),
if you are interested in the period, I would recommend investing in this as a primer.

Cheers,


Phil

(John - can I have my fiver now ?)