The Wargamers' Annual 2020 Has Arrived

The new Wargamers' Annual 2020 by Charles S. Grant and a host of other wargamers .

My copy of the Wargamers' Annual 2020 ("Annual") arrived in the mail today. Charles S. Grant organizes and edits the Annual each year and it is published by Partizan Press. I am a regular contributor the Annuals so I get to have a brief moment of fame when one of my articles is published therein.

This year's Annual is a full-color 72-page publication with articles by 12 wargamers from around the world. While it is an eclectic collection of articles on various subjects, I am particularly pleased and honored to see that Minden Miniatures and Crann Tara Miniatures are prominently featured throughout the book:

Invasion 1744 (Part 2) by Graham Cummings. The article continues Graham's account of a  hypothetical French invasion of Britain during the War of Austrian Succession. As you can imagine, there are lots of lovely Crann Tara figures on display.

Let's Get...Small by Jim Purky. My article talks about skirmish level wargames for the Seven Year War in Europe. Again, what a coincidence, there are lots of pictures of Minden Miniatures throughout the article.

My Summer Painting Challenge Diary by Stokes Schwartz.  Stokes recounts his painting challenge to paint a large battalion of Minden Prussian grenadiers - the challenge being to finish all of the figures within one month.

The variety of articles covers historical eras such as Alexander the Great, the ECW, WW1 air battles, the Meiji Restoration in Japan, British Colonial Sudan adventures, the Spanish Civil War, Romans vs. Gauls, and how to build your own dice tray.

A quick perusal and thumb through of the book indicates that there are a lot quality, well-written pieces and I plan to employ my usual strategy of reading it cover to cover, starting with the very first article and working my way in exact page order until I reach the end. Thus my first read is Dale Smith's "Chaeronea 338BC" article. The game played out historically with the Macedonians defeating the Greeks, however, Alexander was not so great this day.

At the end of the book, there is more eye candy with the "Vignette Challenge" in which authors and/or readers submit the historical vignettes that they have painted and based. And finally, Charles mentions how walking historical battlefields contributes greatly to his understanding of the battle and he has issued a challenge for someone to write a piece about visiting a battlefield today.  Hmm, I just might take up that challenge for my article in the 2021 Annual.