Arrived at Last.

Well they did arrive more or less on time - 200 shiny new copies. Will get the pre-orders off in the next day or two. If anyone would like a copy, please let me know. See the previous post for details of how to order.

Nations In Arms: The Seelow Heights: Preview Copies. (steve-nationsinarms.blogspot.com)

For those readers Down Under, Simon (of Simon's Soldiers), will be stocking the book and able to send it to you far more cheaply and easily than I can. I will hopefully be getting them off to him shortly. Thanks to those who have supported this little venture by buying the book; I hope you enjoy it.

Well What A Surprise!!

 

The printer's assured me I would have the 200 copies on Thursday, which slipped to Friday (no problem). It now appears that due to Christmas or Covid or Brexit, or possibly a combination of all 3, they will now arrive on Tuesday afternoon. Sorry about that. For those of you who have pre-ordered it shouldn't matter as sending by 1st Class signed for seems to get them through to people (in the UK at least) in a couple of days, so you should have them well before Christmas - another hostage to fortune? Let's hope not. 

Should you wish to pre-order, I will get it in the post within 1 day of the books arriving.

Thank you to all those of you that have bought a copy - it is much appreciated. I will post again once the books have arrived.

Best wishes

Steve

The Seelow Heights: Preview Copies.

Well here it is (at last!) It has been a long haul, but worth it, now it is finally done. Never having used this particular printer before, I ordered 20 pre-production copies just in case. I needn't have worried, they have done a good job. I have now ordered another 200, which should be here by Friday 10 December. This means that I can get them out in time for Christmas (a few people have asked). If you would like a copy delivered by Santa, I can take advanced orders now; that way, I can write up the envelopes and, as soon as they arrive, pop them in the post. Otherwise, I will post again when the reinforcements arrive.

Cost is £18.50 + £4.00 1st Class (Signed For) Postage and Packing for inland customers. Payment can be made via PAYPAL to my email address:

                                      steveshann@blueyonder.co.uk

I am hopeful that I will soon have a distributor for customers "Down Under", which will save on the horrendous postage costs involved!!

To anyone who buys a copy, thank you for your support and I hope you enjoy it. 

The Seelow Heights: A Sample Page

Here is a sample page from the forthcoming book. Hopefully it gives a clearer idea of the format and general look of the thing. I must admit that the experts I got in to help with the technical stuff have really come up trumps and I am very pleased with the finished article. For the eagle-eyed among you, the captions are still the Latin "blanks" as this page was produced before the actual captions were inserted, although this has now (just) been done.

This is scenario number 10: "Breakthrough at Diedersdorf" and is my favourite. It is one of the two "large" games in the book and represents the fighting on the penultimate day as the Soviet 8th Guards and 1st Guards Tank Armies try and force the pace along Reichstrasse 1 - the most direct route to Berlin.

This last weekend has been taken up with proof reading; my wife, who is both meticulous with detail and an expert at pointing out my faults, has spotted a few little inconsistencies of style and one or two grammatical bloopers. I will give it one final read through and then I think I have done all I can. Hopefully we should be off to the printers in a couple of weeks. If all goes well, Santa should have time to deliver! It has been a long haul, but nearly there now and I must admit, it does look nice. Will post again when the book is available.

The Seelow Heights: A Taster.

Final photoshoot is done and managed to get some nice ones I think.

Just got this back from my sister-in-law who is doing the design work for me. It is definitely starting to come together.

She has unfortunately suffered from a terminally ill computer, which needs replacing. This might hold things up for a week or two. Other than that, things are progressing nicely. Just need to drop in the photos, design the inside  rear cover and insert the captions. After that, more proof reading!!

Here is another photo that didn't make the final cut.

The Seelow Heights: A Progress Report.

Proof reading is continuing. This is perhaps the hardest bit as after a while you start to see what you expect to see, rather than what is there. Hopefully nothing of importance will slip through. About two-thirds of the photos are done and I must admit, I am pretty pleased with them. Old wargaming friend John Smith, of Leeds Wargames Club (of FIASCO fame) has done a lovely job and his professional advice has been invaluable. Here is another of his efforts which will probably not make the final book, at least not in this form.

I am pretty pleased with the scenarios too. I think they should provide interesting and playable games, giving the Germans a realistic chance. One of the main premises is that whilst the Germans are clearly going to lose the war, the urgency for the Soviets comes not from the final result, but whether they can win quickly; Marshal Zhukov was terrified that his old rival, Marshal Koniev, would beat him to Berlin. As a result he imposed a punishing and highly optimistic timetable on his troops and subordinate commanders, leading to some serious reverses and horrific casualties. This, as much as the German opposition and awkward terrain give the Soviet players plenty to think about.

Still looking good for a November release so fingers crossed!

The Seelow Heights 16-19 April 1945. A Wargamer's Guide

This is the first post for an exciting project that I have been working at on and off for the last 3 years or so. As readers of this blog may remember, I did a demo game on this subject at Partizan some while back (see under labels) and have retained a real interest in this final Soviet offensive on the Eastern Front. As I read more about it, I started to think that it would make a really interesting wargaming guide, in the style of the popular and lovely campaign books produced by Colin and Richard of Rapid Fire fame. Over the last few months I have started to push the project along and it is now within sight of the finishing post.

So what will it be like. Well I have enlisted the help of technical people who know what they are doing to help with the layout and photography - from the early drafts that I have, it should look lovely. It will be a glossy A4 production with fully illustrated front and rear covers (inside and out) and 56 internal pages. There are 12 scenarios, between 3 and 6 pages each, plus plenty of hopefully interesting background information. Each scenario will be supported by specially commissioned maps and full colour photos. There are also lots of additional rules and amendments to the basic Rapid Fire set, which hopefully capture some of the characteristics of the operation.

Although the orders of battle are expressed in Rapid Fire terms (we have used these rules ever since they first came out), they can easily be amended for other rule sets. A couple of the games are quite large and would suit a day long club game, the majority though are suitable for a typical 3-4 hour evening bash.

Here are three of the photos that didn't make the team (at least in this form).

Well I think that is about it for now. As the project nears completion (I am hoping to publish in November), I will put more information on the blog. Keep popping back to check or "Follow" the blog if you aren't doing so already. Hopefully you will find it of interest. If you have any questions, you can contact me at steveshann@blueyonder.co.uk