This week I take a look at Henry Hyde’s “Martinstaat 1744 – A Detailed Wargame Campaign Set in a Fictitious World”. Writing what is in part a brief review of the book has been a little harder than I thought. Not because it is poorly written, far from it in fact, but rather due to it having a different focus than your typical wargames publication. It is, as stated by the author as being “A Wars of the Faltenian Succession Imagi-Nations Diary”. The emphasis being that it is a diary.

To those unfamiliar with Henry Hyde’s work he is well known for being something of a champion of campaigns. This is perhaps best illustrated in his tome “Wargaming Campaigns”. However, unlike this previous work “Martinstaat 1744” focusses very much on a campaign Henry has played. Further, unlike many campaigns we read of on various blogs, this campaign diary is painstakingly assembled from notes taken back in 1990. Testament to his ability to take and retain notes!

The campaign is relatively brief and deals with some fifteen weeks of campaigning between two imagi-nations. For those unfamiliar with the term imagi-nations they are simply fictional nations which are often, but not always set in the 18th century. For this campaign the nations are Prunkland and Faltenland along with their invasion of the neutral state of Martinstaat. What I found interesting here is that it deals with only one campaign in a restricted area. This to me an immensely sensible restriction and is certainly more manageable than a sweeping campaign involving multiple armies lasting several campaign years.

As regular readers know I am drawn to the concept of campaigns. Yet I am nervous of both the complexity and scale of such ventures. That said, I feel campaigns add significant substance to battles on the table. However, for me this is tempered by the fact that a well executed campaign does not always result in balanced table top encounters. Of course given I am tempted by the alure of a campaign it is hardly surprising that I acquired a copy.

The book starts with the expected background and introduction, before describing campaign events in some depth. This includes both illustrations of the original handwritten plans, notes and the author’s observations which are also duplicated in a modern printed format. This text is well supported by images of detailed hand drawn maps. Together they provide a glimpse of a campaign run 35 years ago while providing something that is up to date with current production expectations.

The author’s notes can only be described as detailed. Given that the nations are fictional he undertook to create detailed uniform and flag notes for his own armies, with more limited ones for his opponent. He then went on to document all this information. To bring these historic notes to life he illustrates these uniforms with modern water colour illustrations. They certainly add some colour to the diary and bring the armies to life.

What is missing are pictures of the actual historical armies deployed on the table. Yet here the author is honest and states that the miniatures he had at the time, in 6mm, were not well painted. The same limitations extended to the terrain. Instead he has used photos of more modern 18th century games to provide additional aesthetics at various points in the volume. I can certainly identify with this as my own armies have come a long way since first gracing my underwhelming wargames table several decades ago. Today Henry uses 30mm Spencer Smith figures and these armies capture the toy soldier feel that he enjoys. Interestingly however he mentions his 6mm collection which was used in the actual campaign and which I suspect holds significant nostalgia to him. I for one would enjoy seeing some of his 6mm collection on the table, even if some refurbishment was required.

Perhaps my only disappointment is that a few photos were of unrelated armies. I would have preferred only armies of the period in question. That however is a minor point.

Running to some 104 pages it is presented in an A4 format. My copy was hardbound though soft cover and electronic copies are available. I am pleased I purchased the hardbound version which, though more expensive, was not prohibitively so.

In all a most interesting read and for me a useful taste of another wargamer’s campaign. The book is not suited to readers that only wish to refight a campaign. However, if you enjoy reading of someone else’s campaign, while being provided with some inspiration, it certainly hits the mark. A most pleasing purchase.