Lead Adventure Forum
Other Stuff => Workbench => Topic started by: joroas on August 28, 2008, 05:26:52 PM
-
A set of these arrived from EBay today:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Touching-History-issues-1-to-4_W0QQitemZ300252197880QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item300252197880&_trkparms=72%3A1090%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14
Only £24.99 inc Postage.
A lovely set of magazine style booklets.
-
I have number four. You got quite a bargain there! They are great inspiration.
-
They still have 3 sets...............
-
I have a couple of these books.
I have mixed feelings about them to be honest.
At first glance they are very attractive and inspirational, but then when you read it a bit more carefully, you see that some of the techniques are not terribly insightful, and a lot more material is repeated from issue to issue...
Sorry. It's very easy to knock - and you really have to hand it to Paul Darnell for trying something different and ambitious. And his mega-big layouts always do look utterly fantastic.
But there are a couple of things that irritate me about these books...
One, why oh why does he always paint his rivers pale blue? Have you ever actually seen a sky blue river?
And two - why does he airbrush out the bases of the figures in all the pics? It's just wrong! We all know they're wargames figures. It's a book about making wargames terrain for wargames figures to fight on. And then the bases are taken out in photo-shop! Just feels a bit inauthentic somehow... :(
Anyway, enjoy reading them, and never mind me. At that price for the set, you can't really go wrong... As mentioned in another thread on this topic, had Paul adopted a slightly different pricing model to start with (i.e. more volume at a lower price) I think Touching History would have stood more chance of succeeding. But I've no way of proving it! ;)
-
I take what you say as a fair opinion, but there is a lot of nice eye candy there for when I retire and have more time and less money to have a go at. At that price I was happy.
-
I take what you say as a fair opinion, but there is a lot of nice eye candy there for when I retire and have more time and less money to have a go at. At that price I was happy.
And you get a photo of Matakishi in the Sudan one as well.
-
Cap'n Blood, had I bought all four I would probably feel a bit cheated also. I leafed through them at a show and it did seem like there was a lot of repeated material. I could have also wished for a bit more in-depth "how to" material. on the whole though I picked up volume four because I like the F&I / AWI period and I have enough terrain experience to get by with what is presented.
To be totally honest, I probably didn't "need" it at all as I have a ton or reference for period buildings already, but the eye candy was too good to pass up!
-
Oh don't get me wrong, I don't hate and detest them - there's plenty to admire in them.
I suppose I really feel they were a great idea, and just could have been a bit, well... better really.
I wish they'd been more successful, I really do - but at the original cover price (for what is basically a souped-up magazine) they were never going to fly... :(
Shame.
-
Understood and I agree completely. I apologize, my use of the word "cheated" was unfortunate.
-
Well, I suppose I pay £3-4 each for my 3 monthly mags and I rarely find anything I really want to read.............
-
Yep, I completely agree with you there, which is why I don't buy WI etc any more.
I can't remember now, but I'm pretty sure when Touching History started out, weren't they asking £15 per issue? (Certainly £10, but I have a feeling the cover price may have started out at £15)
Anyway, 'tis all turned to dust now. Nuff said. I wish you many happy hours reading them :)
-
So, I got a bargain, then. They are nice, they remind me of WI in its heyday..........