Zitadelle Posted January 22, 2003 Share Posted January 22, 2003 I am considering purchasing several of the battle tactics books from the Nafziger Collection offered by BFC. Does anyone have any quick reviews/impressions that they would like to provide on these volumes; including: Quality of printing (limited number of typos, good binding, etc...) Quality of material Usability Valuable source references or bibliography Thanks for any thoughts- especially on the volumes that I will be buying (German and Soviet). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruno Weiss Posted January 22, 2003 Share Posted January 22, 2003 I have several of the Soviet TOE booklets from the Nafziger Collection and they are excellant. Nothing fancy mind you, just the facts. Mine are several years old, and were bound with the office binding machine plastic ringlets. If there were typos, I didn't notice them which means they were not too pronounced. Not sure of the current price, but the information was well worth what I paid for it. Oh, as far as reference materials go, I'm simply not certain where else one might find such detailed information. [ January 21, 2003, 06:30 PM: Message edited by: Bruno Weiss ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commissar Posted January 22, 2003 Share Posted January 22, 2003 If you are already familiar with Soviet tactics, the books that BFC offers may not be all that helpful. They really didn't tell me anything that I didn't already know and I can't honestly say there were any amazing revelations or surprises. However, I am probably not a good example since I am pretty familiar with Soviet strategy and tactics to begin with. If you are new to the Soviet way of war, this will probably be a good enough start. I have found the book on German Squad Tactics to be much more interesting since it contains a lot of the little details most other books simply skip over or don't really go into detail with. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreas Posted January 22, 2003 Share Posted January 22, 2003 Zitadelle, I own the manuals on Soviet Armour and Soviet Infantry, and German Panzer tactics. Quality of printing (limited number of typos, good binding, etc...) Soft-bound, seems to be good quality (i.e. will survive constant reading); have not noted any typos; dense lay-out which makes it a bit difficult to read at times; some pictures could be clearer, especially the ones scanned from Soviet manuals. Quality of material Very good, highly informative look at small unit combat tactics. Usability In CMBB? Not sure, I have just had a quick read through them, not studied them with a view to apply the lessons in CMBB. Especially the platoon tactics, and formations, should be applicable though. Valuable source references or bibliography There are TO&E listings in the back, and the soviet ones have a good number of STAVKA instructions on how to use tanks etc, putting the manual nicely into context. Overall I think they are well worth the money. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RSColonel_131st Posted January 22, 2003 Share Posted January 22, 2003 Just ordered the German Squad Tactics Book. For Panzer's I think I prefer Guderians Books. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zitadelle Posted January 22, 2003 Author Share Posted January 22, 2003 Originally posted by Andreas: Zitadelle, I own the manuals on Soviet Armour and Soviet Infantry, and German Panzer tactics. Quality of printing (limited number of typos, good binding, etc...) Soft-bound, seems to be good quality (i.e. will survive constant reading); have not noted any typos; dense lay-out which makes it a bit difficult to read at times; some pictures could be clearer, especially the ones scanned from Soviet manuals. Quality of material Very good, highly informative look at small unit combat tactics. Usability In CMBB? Not sure, I have just had a quick read through them, not studied them with a view to apply the lessons in CMBB. Especially the platoon tactics, and formations, should be applicable though. Valuable source references or bibliography There are TO&E listings in the back, and the soviet ones have a good number of STAVKA instructions on how to use tanks etc, putting the manual nicely into context. Overall I think they are well worth the money.Thanks for your impressions Andreas. Based upon your answer they seem to be good references, and as for the usability, I was not particularly looking for an answer within the realm of CMBB. Still, your answer seems to indicate that the volumes have valuable information which makes them quite useful. Thanks to everyone else as well- and now to bump it to the top to see if anyone else has any opinions (although I really don't expect this crowd to voice any strong opinions on anything...). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apache Posted January 22, 2003 Share Posted January 22, 2003 I have the armour and infantry tactics books for both Soviet and german forces and find them good value for money. Particularly useful if you wish to play each side in accordance with their respective doctrines. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zitadelle Posted January 28, 2003 Author Share Posted January 28, 2003 One more bump to the top to see if anyone else has opinions/impressions with the Battle Tactics Books. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B.B.Toys Posted January 28, 2003 Share Posted January 28, 2003 I already own Wolfgang Schneider's Panzertaktik: German Small-Unit Armor Tactics and wonder whether there would be any reason for me to want to also get the Nafziger vol. on German armor tactics. Can someone comment on the amount of overlap? TIA, Richard 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grisha Posted January 28, 2003 Share Posted January 28, 2003 I have both the Soviet books from Nafziger as well as Armstrong's Red Armor Combat Orders and the US Army's TM 30-430. The Nafziger books are worth the price in my opinion. Look closely at what the Nafziger books are saying and you can learn a lot. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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