Thanks for reviewing the book, much appreciated.

Great review, looking forward to seeing some of these ideas in action.

Whether or not I have read some of the ideas before, I do have hundreds of 40mm 18th century home cast figures ready to be back on the table in a campaign instead of a one off battle, so I’ll be glad for the inspiration.

Great review. Pricey.

Excellent video!

A very good review. I too have his first book . I may wait and purchase this one second hand in a few years time.

Ah, another wonderful publication from the land of milk and honey that is Barnsley! I like the look, because I love snippets of inspiration, but as a terrible skinflint, champion of free rules and wargaming on a budget, I'm not sure I can afford.

Thanks for the review. I also pre-ordered the book back in June of 2018, but through Amazon. Unfortunately, the Amazon ones will not shipping until the end of July. I can wait, but didn't realized that it would be a month later when I did my order. I do have Hyde's, "Wargaming Compendium". I would suggest trying to find a used copy of it. I enjoyed it, but don't remember picking up any real gems that I have since used. But then again, I read it over five years ago and that was back when I was not very active in gaming. I know there are three rules sets in it (gladiatorial, Wild West, and a horse & musket). I think I remember the H&M set being interesting, but I haven't looked back at it since.

Looks like a worthy addition for the engaged wargamer. In 7/2023 this tome can be had for under $50 USD.

This book seems to be made for someone new like me, but I can't justify getting it at such a price; even the $20 PDF seems steep. Sure topographical maps and using those are fine, but what if I want to generate my own campaign map? I'm sure other methods of generations described there exist somewhere for free, even though I'm too new to know where to look. The officer rules seem great, but something tells me it is the same situation. I'm considering it, but the only reason is that I am too new to know where to look. Maybe Ancient Wargaming would be better at half the asking price of this?

I don't do much wargaming, but just started getting back into it via Tabletop Simulator. This actually seems like exactly what I've been looking for, which is a ruleset (or guide) on how to do a campaign that can guide the tactical battles with some meaning. Beats trying to make it up myself anyway haha

Very nicely done overview. As another person 'on the distant edges' of the hobby geographically, I've found your book reviews very helpful. I also think you are spot on about the cultural aspect of the hobby. Wargaming in Britain is a very different culture than in the US. Perhaps because it is more mainstream there. I think that leads it to be a little more on the 'game' side. American wargamers don't get as many chances to play, so I think we tend towards the more 'simulation' side, as that lets us spend the time between games focusing on mastering the game systems and researching various aspects. That's just my take on things.

Thanks for the review. Quite coincidentally, I just got notification that my pre-order shipped this morning, so the question is whether it is worth the money is moot for me. But I'm quite sure it is, as I really liked his Compendium. Did it teach me anything? No, not really. I just like reading about Wargaming. I have a stupidly large collection of the classics that I will reread from time to time, just for the pleasure of it. And I suspect from your review that Campaigns will actually be a bit more useful to me. Had to laugh at your one comment Jon; it will look really damn good on my bookshelf beside the red volume too!

Extremely good opinion review, thank you on behalf of all those that did not pre order and are considering if the investment is worth. I always felt that all these books on campaigns are excellent for inspiration on how to regulate certain aspects of a campaign rather that 'design a campaign start to end and regulate it with the rules given - which I find more pleasant. From several reviews I must agree that the crutch of new media is ever present but then good examples are worth sharing - but new media references becomes obsolete and extinct as websites vanish for various reasons.

I will buy it! However I have a feeling that it is suggestions and some how to. I have 4 books on campaigns and none of them have a set of rules for playing a campaign in any period. This book I would have expected how to play a fictitious campaign in the era of the Austrian succession but have a feeling that it won’t be that specific. What he should have done is have a selection of pdf. files to provide A4 map sections for a complete map showing roads cities, (as dots on the map,) rivers and topography.

Great fun, and very helpful. Power to your elbow for namechecking the great Don several times - to me the father of it all (prodigious, then!)

Is what he has to say about Skirmish and RPG's worth anything? I'm primarily interested in wargaming as a domain level activity in a multi-tier RPG campaign. Is the info he has in 30 odd pages worth checking out or available from other less expensive resources?

So what do you find more useful this or the solo wargaming guide?

I really agree about Wikipedia! Book looks good as well.

Great video as always boss. book looks really nice but I just can't afford it. I have already overspent this month on minis n 2 Osprey books. And I want to get new acrylic/plexiglass for my gaming table, for my hex and counter games that have paper maps.

This was a very informative review and I enjoyed your opinions and impressions. I was already looking forward to receiving my copy, but now, I'm looking forward to its arrival EVEN more! (And if something falls short... I'm going to go ahead, bite the bullet... and blame the Jesuits!)

As someone who got out of the hobby, I appreciate your review.

Please, do not use infogalactic, but also, don't cite directly from Wikipedia, especially not without a timestamp! It's not good as an academic to see an author fail to cite the actual source for the citation and instead cites something that may and probably will change. Also, gotta say, two of the best wargamers I ever met were a pair of women with the RAND corporation at Historicon. We played a series of modern(ish for the Cold War one) naval wargames as REDFOR together. Once as the Soviets, then as the Chinese, and won both games decisively. The amount of embitterment from the men on the other side because they lost to "girls[and myself but I'm a guy so it's more OK to lose to me]" was pretty sickening and I don't understand a desire to limit our fun and our field to men. Additionally, gender neutral pronouns are just incredibly simple to use, or even stuff like "we".

i don't mean to sound petty toward this author, but citing wikipedia in your footnotes is a kind of amateur mistake. In professional historical works, encyclopedia information like that doesn't need to be cited at all because it's considered common knowledge more or less. A good editor should have caught that. It just makes me cringe involuntarily, otherwise it looks like thoughtful book.