Saturday 7 January 2012

War of 1812 "Guide Books" review


War of 1812 Guide Books review
I purchased these War of 1812 Wargamer Guide books from On Military Matters recently. They are published by them (c.1997) ISBN 1-900688-30-1

Two books in the series : The King's Army by Charles Glenn and Stephen Manley; and The American Army by Richard V. Barbuto.

Both are about 30 pages long, printed in an old photocopy style. I did not get much additional information from these than what I have achieved from other sources (notably from Chartrand's excellent book on the American forces recently republished and amended with some new color plates)
The British army is that of the Napoleonic wars with the same uniforms and regulations (with only some special units which were local or brought in only for the American campaign (the West Indies regiments at New Orleans, for example) So if you study the British and have the Osprey books on the topic or access the Company of Military Historians, you pretty well have all the necessary information to have it correct. 


I noticed some notes on several units which I found interesting or did not know of, but would like to confirm with other sources. But with the vulgarities of supply during that era, the collector has much “wiggle room” to justify use of older uniforms, unique costumes or mixture thereof. The authors also seem to use this concept in many of their assumptions. True enough.

At $12 per (with shipping extra) I don't know if they are good value. Good to have on the shelve perhaps; if you loan it out it is not invaluable, however. Found it interesting that each book would have a full page index for only <30 pages!

If you need any specific unit uniform information please feel free to contact me.