Meanwhile, for those of us who live 'south of the River' Rochester Games, Models and Railways are themselves holding a Sea Lion Book Signing, with me signing the books.
Tori has done a deal with Warlord Games so they will be offering a free Churchill model with each book sold.
I will be there from around 11.30 on Saturday morning. So do come to get your book signed or just to have a chat.
See you there, people.....
Congratulations John and I cant wait to get my copy. When are you doing a book signing in Sydney? :-)
ReplyDeleteI quite enjoyed your recent interview on "The Brit the Yank and the Hobby" too.
Ah, I was in full drivel mode for that interview...
DeleteCongratulations - How specific would you say the book is to BA? I'm a Chain of Command guy myself.
ReplyDeleteVery specific, although there is quite a bit of background info.
DeleteThanks John
DeleteNo problem
DeleteIt's a great shop, very pleased they are doing this.
ReplyDeleteHope to see you there, Lee.
DeleteWorking on getting a day pass ;-)
DeleteGreat stuff!
DeleteCongrat's. Looking forward to getting my hands on a copy too. Alas, like Paul, I'm a bit far away to pop in for a signed copy!
ReplyDeleteFrom your flag, I would guess you dwell o'er the pond, Rodger. That is a long way to come.
DeleteBolt Action Campaign: Sealion (miniatures Campaign rules published by Osprey)
ReplyDeletehttps://ospreypublishing.com/bolt-action-campaign-sea-lion
This is a book worth reading even if, like me, you don't play the Bolt Action game. It is written with humour and a lot of imagination, and is lavishly illustrated, with paintings from Osprey books and photographs of miniatures. However it follows the usual biased account of possible Sealion invasion. The Home Guard is allowed to use weapons that weren't issued until 1941 or 1942 but the Germans don't get the same benefit. The author states that the invasion was impossible due to the overwhelming superiority of the Royal Navy and includes a timeline for a September 1940 invasion that has the French fleet helping the German and Italian navies during the invasion. (the timeline is rubbish as it involves Petain forming government with the French communists). The British get 14" coastal guns but the Germans don't get the option to use any of the Channel Guns. There appears to be no provision for air attacks. The book seems intent on minimising the German threat, with the Panzer 1 being the most commonly shown German tank, even though few Panzer 1's would have been used in an invasion. Well I suppose there's nothing to stop players from altering the rules to fill in such gaps.
However there are some fun elements included that I have not seen anywhere else. The British player gets all sorts of Home Guard units, including the "Womens Federation Toxophilite Club Patrol" which is a fictional unit of women from an an archery club, armed with bows and arrows, which can be upgraded to anti-tank arrows with plastic explosive attached! The British player can also equip his troops with the Great Panjandrum, in honor of a Dad's Army episode (even though it's an anachronism). You can also use a Boy Scout Patrol. A more serious suggestion is the use of Royal Navy landing parties - troops formed from the ship crews. The German player gets gangs of criminals or BUF (British Union of Fascists) thugs/Action Groups and other Fifth Column elements. This is in addition to Brandenburger Commandos and the option to equip the paratroops with shaped charges to blow up fortifications.
It is as a campaign, though, that the book fails. The scenarios are quite imaginative and would be fun to play. However, only 14 out of 124 pages in the book are used to describe the ten scenarios. They are not linked except by counting total points scored at the end - in a real campaign, the results of one fight should affect the following ones. Al in all, though, the book is a fine effort and well worth getting. There are some factual errors but as it is a work of fiction they can be forgiven.
What is the reason The Germans don't get the Flammpanzer II or 47mm/50mm AT guns, nebelwerfers, the Pz Jgr 1 or the Sturmpanzer 1, are they included in another book?
DeleteAlso the Germans had a few battalions of marines and many types of engineer vehicles that would be useful such as the remote controlled mine clearers (Borgward 1-IV) or the explosive charge dropping tanks (Ladungsleger I-II) - though the latter were with the panzer divisions and therefore not in the first wave.
DeleteAlso there aren't any German mountain troops or mountain guns or the option for extra German transport (captured transport and bicycles were substituted for horses in the first wave units) or Renault UE Chenillette and it's wrong to say there wasn't any artillery, there was an artillery piece on each barge or ship in some areas, plus 30 converted gunboats; mountain guns were substituted for normal artillery in the first waves
Delete