Battle Games Books

I thought this was a neat book. This book explains how to handle hand to hand combat for each and every square. I would reccomend this book to all beginers.

This book is for beginners. Just for beginners. It has lots of "nice" positions but it's _too_ easy and obvious. I didn't like the comments on each problem - sometimes Bruce is very ironic and looses the _real point_

Bruce Pandolfini shows his true abilities as a chess coach and player by writing this introductory/continuation of the ancient game chess. The book covers every square of the board, going over such battle tactics as the more obvious skewer, fork, basic trapping, to the subtler pin and Zugswang. He shows and teaches the player how to recognize the piece to be exploited, and how to do it quickly and visciously, leaving your opponent floundering in your mighty wake. I highly recommend it as a starting point for anyone wanting to beat their opponent.

I would like give this book 4.5 stars.

It has 200+ puzzles, basically. Majority of them are good
for 1000-1500. 1500-1700 rated people will benefit b/c
of the practice, b/c there are definitely some tough ones.

negative point:

this idea of "target" really does not work evry well
in real life. These should have been presented in
different context. e.g. What is white's best move?
Then, each could have been explained in terms what
should have tipped off the reader to the break
through tactics.

It still deserves 4.5 stars b/c they are so many
to practice with and they are all good ones (some
are easy, sure, but not all).

If you are over 1700, most likely you will not benefit
from this.

This book is just too basic to be of any real use... The comments that Bruce makes are also a bit annoying on a few problems etc... Also I think they fail to capture the real point sometimes as well. If your rated about 800 and wanna make it to maybe 1000. Thats about as far as this book can take you at best to be honest. Try a book like The Mammoth book of Chess, or Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess. Just to name to starter books that would help you more. If you wanna be another stepping stone for someone. Then by all means invest and waste your money in this book.

I wish there were more books like this: books behind famous games, or famous series' of games. Lots of detail, gives us a flavor of what it was like in 1971, what kind of social context during which the game was played. There have be a gazillion "Games of the Century," but this one truly was. I remember how big it was when I was a kid, and when I've seen clips, I can see why it was given that distinction. I don't think I've ever seen a game with fewer mistakes. And it's a fun trip back to the "old days" of "the new college football...Astroturf was new, there was a thing called "tear-away jerseys" (which was like wearing a Kleenex with your number on it), and there was NO dancing or whooping it up after a good play. If the publishers are listening, I'd tell them we need more books about classic old teams, games, and series'.

PW said fans of college football would enjoy this. I guess I'm not that big a fan. :-) On a scale of 1 to 10, I'm probably a 6; and I think you'd have to be about a 15 to enjoy the level of detail in this book!

I was wary when I picked up this little book, and I was right. I am an avid Huskers fan and I treasure this game as a great game and a proud moment in Husker history. The team always will have a place in my heart. This tiny book didn't tell me much I didn't know. I guess they thought Huskers fans and others would just snap it up and not question it. Maybe they're right. I bought it. There's nothing wrong with what's here. What's wrong is what isn't here. I wanted to know so much more about everything and everyone connected to this game.

Being a kid in Kansas in the early 70s, I was sandwiched between the two great football powers on either side of my state that this book focuses on. Believe me, the influence of both programs was incredible. Corcoran does a terrific job of recreating what college football could mean, when - get this kids- there was only ONE game a week on TV! Today, given all the explosive media growth and abundance of 'big' games, a term like 'game of the century' would sound trite, but in the early 70s such a description was fully accurate when # 1 and # 2 managed to meet on the field.

In the end, this an example of the perfect sports book, really. The writing is clear and concise and the author manages to keeps a great narrative going behind a constant historical background of a game that actually lived up to its hype.

I was 14 year old boy in 1971, living in Lincoln, Nebraska, we would ride our bikes to the stadium and sneak in games by crawling under and over fences. That season has always held a special place in my youth and this book brings back all of the memories and gives a deeper insight into that game.

Any fan of football will enjoy this wonderful book, even Sooners. It goes into history of the game and both programs and interviews members of both teams, giving a background of the game I never had.

and of course the best part is that the Huskers still win.

Now if only I can get a DVD of the game for Christmas...

Atlantyx is an awesome book! Lots of action and suspense. It had me up all night from 12:00am to 7:00am reading the entire thing. I just couldn't put it down, and I'm not even much of a reader! Everything was described well for mental pictures, and yet it didn't drag on, explaining details. It was fastpaced and enjoyable to the end.

Surprisingly well-written Christian fiction! The premise - computer gaming addiction and designer drug abuse snaring college students into virtual reality - is an unexpected and intriguing juxtaposition.

The characters are two-dimensional; no one truly goes through any major changes. We don't even see any of the characters go through the obligatory conversion/salvation experience. Nevertheless, it is Christian fiction, albeit NON-preachy.

I heartily recommend this book to all audiences, not just Christian parents. I just wish it had been longer! I would have liked to see more of the backstory for the main characters (Valerie, Garland, Maddux, LaCroix, Teddy, Troy) and the development of Mainline, the game, and the drug. I would also have liked to see more of the psychological testing going on in Valerie's project as well as more of the addiction process/issues relating to the students, the game, the drug.

With some of these additional details added to a screenplay, this novel could be adapted into a *fantastic* movie.

ATLANTYX is a book that deals with some very complex issues, mainly drug and video game addictions. Also, though the book is a "Christian" novel, it doesn't read like the typical, watered-down "Christian" novel. Instead, the characters are presented with all their faults and redeeming qualities. The book explores the nature of reality and whether of not there is an ultimate reality where everything makes sense.

I found the novel to be a page turner and read it within two days (I could have completed it in one if I didn't have to work). The book reads like a movie and is full or great visual images. My only complaint is that the ending is rather hurried. The book's ending happens rather suddenly and there is no real closure to all that occurs. Neither is there any truly "final battle". The premise that the novel is based is so promising and there is so much more that could have been done with it. It's a little disappointing to see that the very talented and promising writer, Chase Dalton, take the easy road out.

Overall, a wonderful book recommended for anyone looking for some great Christian fiction or for anyone addicted to video games.

This is probably one of the better books I have read recently that tries to capture the addiction that is possible with computer games. It does so well without coming off with too much of the typical stereo types. The story moves along quickly and the characters are written so as to be very believable.

I would recommend this Christian book to anyone who is looking for a good novel to read, or anyone who wants to point out to some of the gaming generation out there, about the dangers of video game addictions.

Conceptually the game of Go has fascinated me for years. The rules and game play are simple - you can learn them in an hour or less. The strategy is so complex that it can obviously take a lifetime to master. Enter the "Learn to Play Go" series. It is a good idea to follow the Red Queen's advice, and "Begin at the beginning and continue on until you reach the end." Start with Volume One and continue from there. You will learn elementary strategies and techniques and continue to more advanced concepts. Excellent!
I have to add a plug - on of the things that was waiting for was a competent Go program, since you can't find opponents on a park bench. "iGo Sensei" for the Mac does just that, and it has a lot of teaching elements. If you use Windows you've got a problem.

As a beginner, I am grateful for the wonderfully clear graphic design of this series, the warmth & wit of the author, and the clarity of her ideas. But a certain minimum amount of information is required to get a handle on any topic, and, most of the time, I'm not finding that forthcoming in this series. Instead of being shown a few examples of games where one player reduces or invades another's territory, for example, I'd have found it much more useful to get a basic overview of how to imagine territorial boundaries, which to pick as targets of attack, when to attack, where to play, how to respond, etc. I found the discussion of capturing races and the viability of eye space to be outstanding, but these were exceptions rather than the rule. By contrast, Bruce Wilcox has a two part computer tutorial ("Contact Fights" & "Sector Fights") that's amazingly practical and meaty; I can't recommend it highly enough; my advice to fellow beginners is to start with Janice Kim's volumes I & II, but then switch to Wilcox's "Sector Fights" followed by his "Contact Fights." In parallel, I'm finding it very helpful to work through books of problems; a great first book is Kano Yohinori's "Graded Go Problems for Beginners."

The most attractive quality of this book is its ease of understanding. It introduces important strategic concepts of go such as reducing Vs. invading in a way even the most recent beginner can understand.

The pitfall is limited depth. In contrast to books from the Elementary Go Series (In the Beginning, Tesuji, Life and Death, etc.), Kim's Vol. IV - Battle Strategies gives the reader markedly less learning potential.

In my case, after the first reading the ideas had been acquired and there was little worth referring back to. I haven't picked it up since I read it. Whereas, books from the Elementary Go Series continue to challenge me and improve my game even after the 3rd\4th readings, and I expect they will continue to for months to come.

I might recommend Kim's book to the recent beginner looking for a light read. It's also well suited for young players who would have difficulty concentrating on the more dense books of the Elementary Go Series.

Overall, an enjoyable read, a breeze to understand, but lacking in depth when compared to other books available with the same price and topic. In my case, it left something to be desired.

This is currently the last of four books written by Janice Kim and Jeong Soo-hyun. The first two volumes are designed to take a newcomer to the game of Go and help them achieve a modest but significant level of competence. The third volume is best suited to the player who has achieved some comfort with hand-to-hand combat and is ready to approach the more complex tactical and strategic levels of the game. This volume focuses on the middle game, where territory is truly lost or gained. A player must walk a tightrope between strategy and tactics in this phase while balancing attack and defense.

There is so much going on the board during the middle game that it is genuinely difficult to write a book that teaches more than a single facet of playing the middle game. This can make studying frustrating. What Kim and Soo-hyun have done is written an introduction to the middle game that, while it does not dig deep into the layers of complexity, provides a framework whereby the student can determine where best to focus. In doing so, they have achieved something unique.

The first half of the book focuses on the middle game itself. It opens with a section on invasion and reduction, followed by further material on battle strategies, attack, and defense. The second half discusses life and death. This includes the making of living shapes, the art of killing groups of stones, and handling capturing races. There is also a very good discussion on Ko fighting which goes into surprising detail. As is true of the entire series, the discussion is easy to understand, and examples are plentiful.

I should point out that the apparent organization of the book is a bit deceptive. The nature of the material is such that some serendipity is inevitable. Discussion of principles is mixed in with a lesson about a particular attack or tesuji. As such, this book needs to be read several times to get all of its contents fixed in one's mind. Some might consider this a fault, but I know of almost no other book that sets out to cover what this one does without falling victim to the same problem. For the player who understands that most improvement comes from hard work, this book is a real blessing. Highly recommended.

This book is very humorous & very serious look at "The World of Warcraft", packed with short articles & essays about nearly every facet of the king of all MMORPG's. Entertaining & informative, I'm happy I took a chance on this book.
As most players of WoW know, this game can really be addicting! If you want to give up other vices, say smoking, you can by playing WoW, you won't have time for a cigarette, or you can loose weight! You won't have time to fix a proper meal!
The contributors to this book address all of this, and other such subjects as the unique economy of "Azeroth", hacking, cheating, & even where our history & legends have been adapted into WoW.
This is a fun book for any WoW player. Enjoy!

This is a collection of essays on WoW. I found the first 7 essays very informative and enjoyable. The last 5 essays seemed to be more complaints of people who live with WoW players and not so interesting accounts of addictive behavior.

Part 2 of the book gives background and historical examples for each of the classes available to WoW players. This was very interesting provides insight into the way the classes were designed by Blizzard.

Think of this book as more of a collection of random blog posts related around World of Warcraft. There was no real cohesion among the authors. I did really enjoy some of the early chapters, but the end of the book felt like a publisher looking for filler. This information could have been a single series on a website blog somewhere.

This Digimon book should start with the episode of Meramon. Not have the story after "The Birth Of Greymon". But then again, somebody did a wicked design when they thought of two stories, instead of three, like three episodes on a Digimon volume. Besides, they leave out a lot on the book, like when Izzy said, "If I'm not mistaken, that noise precedes an eruption." On the video, is was an exclamation point, or his voice seemed like the sentence needed an exclamation point. This book wasn't the best, but still read it.

This book was super-cool. It reminded me of a couple of the shows I watched way back, which was totally oosome. I can't wait for more books, g!

Werner

It's a good book for young fans of the Digimon TV series. This book roughly follows episodes 3 and 4, although it hints at the events in the first two episodes. It's also full of screen captures from the series as well as some new art and a color section in the middle.

Terry's 'Medieval Warfare' and 'Ancient Warfare' have been out for a while, and both benefit from years of playtesting, as well as suffer from certain gaming positions and assumption that have cropped up over the last 10-20 years or so.
An interesting set of rules that do give you a taste for the period. They are a little less abstracted than some (DBM/A), but more simplistic than others(WRG/Warrior, the superior Field of Glory, etc). Background is minimal, and armies are bland/flavourless.
Not a bad intro into the miniature wargames hobby, EXCEPT FOR THE PRICE. The author (the late Mr Gore) used to sell an unaesthetic but cheaper version of these rules. The SRP of this version/edition is simply OUTRAGEOUS!

I started wargaming many years ago with the WRG rules, then tried DBA, DBM and many others. None of them have the "tactical" feel of the spear & bow battlefield as realistic as these rules, i.e., Medieval Warfare. The ebb and flow of horse and foot is dramatic, and a heck of a lot of fun, which is what wargaming is all about. After all the time put in on making a colorful medieval army (I've built Khazars, Alans & Ghaznavids), you want a game that is equally colorful in action. These rules make for a fast, fun-filled game. My only criticism of this edition, which has great sketches and photos, is that the accompanying army lists focus mainly on British and northwestern European types, and leave out the really colorful and more exotic armies of Eastern Europe and Asia. I mean, really now, how can grubby Picts and Scots mucking about in bogs compare with the drama of swirling horse-archers and charging elephants?!

This is a great new version of the late great Terry Gores original set by the same name. These are a 200% improvement over an already fine set of wargame rules (Now if Foundry would just puplish the Ancient Wargame rules as well). I had the original set and just had to get these when I saw them listed here on Amazon, they are very well written and the Hard cover is awesome over the old generic paperback set, nice army lists starting from Late Roman era all the way up through the early 16th century. These rules will work with any size figures as well, though they are written for 25+mm. Compared to Fields of Glory, I have to say these are better written and by far better mechanics and more fun to play, as you can do skirmish battles, midsized battles or full blown large scale battles, unlike FoG which is more of a large scale battles game requiring the player to go whole hog on a large new army to start play, were MW the minimum you will need is from say 30-80 figures at most to do a small battle even less if you like as they give you the army builder point system in the book (oh and you dont need all the stupid list books either to play, unlike FoG).

CAN YOU HELP ME FIND THIS BOOK

This book was actually disappointing when compared to other Prima books. The maps were low quality black and white, the author did not tell you where all the secrets were, and near the middle of teh book, he stopped giving some of the important information altogether. Not at all what I expected from Prima.

Having this guide is a lot better than having nothing at all, but still, I suggest you don't buy it if any of the following details annoy you:*** -Low quality black&white screenshots -The guy doesn't tell where most of the items are, he just re-wrote what was on the map that you get with the game, which doesn't tell much -Halfway through the guide, the guy stops giving some interesting information, like Neutral monster type/location.*** Otherwise, this guide is complete and helps a lot to find everything in the game.

The ships look great... really great in some cases. Thats why I went and picked up this set and a couple boosters from a local comic store. If you are a star wars fan and want some miniature ships, or if you are a scifi wargamer and need more space fodder, then go ahead and buy the boosters over this -- although the inclusion of the two large capitol ships could be useful too.

However, as a game, this product falls a little flat. The rules are fairly simple (too simple in my estimation), and offers few interesting tactical options. I'd recommend buying this game to play only if you want to introduce a younger person into miniatures wargaming.

Reviewer's note: I wrote a similar review for the booster set, so please excuse me if you see it twice. However, since I didn't know where most buyers would start, I figured it was best to provide the review under both the boosters and the starters to be safe. That said...

I'm a big fan of Star Wars minis (especially Rebel Storm), and I couldn't wait to get my starter and boosters for the new Star Wars Starship Battles minis game. The game/set includes 60 different ships (30 "light side" and 30 "dark side" -- approximately 1/2 are from the original trilogy, and the other half are from the prequel). I have to admit, the ships look pretty cool (especially the smaller ones like the Millennium Falcon, Salve 1, TIE Fighters, TIE Interceptor, TIE Bomber, B-Wings, X-Wings, Y-Wings, etc.), and as I first read the instructions and looked at the ship stats cards, I was looking very forward to playing. In the end (after playing several games with a friend), however, I was largely disappointed with the game itself. Though there are a few interesting twists (like the command effects),the game is pretty basic, and unfortunately does not allow much room for strategy and/or creativity.

The best advice I can give you is to begin with the starter set, which comes with everything you'll need to play (including two exclusive rare ships -- the big guns in the set, eight randomized common and uncommon ships, map, instructions, command cards, damage counters, D20, etc.). You MIGHT also want to buy a couple of boosters (each booster includes seven randomized ships -- one rare, two uncommon, and four common). This way your buy-in isn't too bad; otherwise, it can get very expensive very quickly. You'll definitely get at least a few good games out of it, and if you like the game more than I did, you can easily buy more boosters (that is much better than the alternative of buying a ton of boosters and not being very happy with the game). Also, if you are interested the minis themselves (i.e., to collect them, for use with the D20 role playing game, or to use with some other Star Wars game/scenario), you'll probably be mostly happy with what Wizards of the Coast came up with.

In sum, the game/rules gets 3 stars, and the minis get 4-5 stars (rounded up to a 4 star rating overall). Hope this helps!

I first bought this game so that I could use the ships for the roleplaying game, which is no doubt part of why the game was released in the first place. In terms of their use in that respect, they are fantastic but I *wish* there were more ships. Luckily, I hear that a new product may be on the way in 2008.

At any rate, I started playing the game because I was kind of curious what I could do with these ships that I'd bought. I started playing with a few of my friends at my college, and we agreed that the game is fantastic. The rules are pretty simple, as other reviewers have noted, but this helps to avoid ambiguity and prevent loopholes that could lead to game-breaking situations. Instead, the way that you deploy your fleet, choose to order and target your attacks, and how you use your command options really determines the flow of a game. After every game, I can usually point to the critical moment when my strategy either succeeded or failed because of a set of lynchpin moves. That's how a game should be. Simple enough to keep itself from crashing down around you when a weird combo is made, complex enough to keep it interesting. I think this game is a lot of fun, especially once you've explored the finer points of its rules.

This book describe ancient warfare very well. WIth an Intersting plot and well developed characters I give ths book a 4. I give it a 4 because in the middle there is a gapse of action. Other than this the book was great.

Classical Hack Ancient Warfare 600 B.C. to 600 A.D. is a 38 page interpretive study of classical warfare that has unique style and a handsome presentation. Unlike most books that examines ancient warfare through the manipulation of miniatures, this book captures the flavor of classical warfare like no other such study. For those not familiar with ancient warfare and historical gaming they will find this work a doorway to making history, no matter how ancient, interesting and fun. Maybe all that D & D stuff we did as kids did have some merit. Taking myth and legends of our culture and making them fun as a game. Well Classical Hack does exactly the same thing for ancient history.

Here's why I think this book is worth owning. It has a neat color picture of Alexander the Great on the cover-done by Peter Connolly now of A & E fame (you can find him on Amazon too). Hey the picture itself is worth $24.00 U.S., just to frame and hang. For miniature collectors of ancient figures or gamers the price of this book is less than it would cost you to buy a bag of figures! What good are miniatures if you do not know the proper way to use them.

Each of the 38 pages has diagrams and art work from the last century with all manner of ancient warriors. These are cleverly used to explain how the book is used as a set of rules. Rules for playing miniature war games.

Not being familiar with a lot of other such rule books (except HG. Wells Little Wars and Young's Charge, D & D, and the slow moving if not boring tournament stuff from England) I think this is an exceptional book. Not for its size but for its interesting approach and general content. Obviously the authors have spent a lot of dry research time. That's a plus for the reader. It saves the reader (especially this reader) endless hours of their own research on a usually uninteresting subject. I suppose that if you were a die hard ancient wargame buff it would inspire you to do more.

Other things about it include a well organized table of contents and what I especially like a fine working index! Not sure I have seen much of this in similar rule books.

The book follows a pattern that is clear and gets relatively to the point. I do not like to read a lot of long winded narrative explaining how to do something. First off the book tells you everything you need to have to start gaming. Then it explains how to build the armies you will require in order to entertain yourself via the thoroughly modern manipulation of military miniatures of the ancient period.

Each section follows the game outline as you go. You easily learn all that manipulation stuff. It is not in the King's English. It is written in plain old American. Common yes. Inspiring perhaps. Clear? Yes it is.

Attempting to see if the ideas for the basic manipulation of miniatures actually worked as explained, to my surprise it did work. I did cheat a little. I used pieces of paper cut to recommended unit sizes instead of actually painting up all the miniatures. I am sure we did some things wrong but we were pretty sure we got things right. Well we knew we were having a lot of fun doing it.

This book can be a source of great interaction with others too. The more we played the more we got into the period stuff on our own. In a way the book became a tool. I used all that boring basic statics stuff I studied in high school and later college. It took a bit of time to figure out that a matrix is not just a movie thing. It can also be a chart with numbers used in a very fast play game system. We were confident enough after 5 or more games (using the book) to stick just with the end page which has a quick reference sheet. Friends that have started joining the games we put on were doing fine by turn 2 or 3 without any previous experience.

When purchasing the book I looked long and hard at the back cover. It lists all the things the book does. I did laugh a little. Sure enough after getting the book it does indeed do the things it says it does and in record time. Perhaps you can tell a lot about a book by its cover after all.