My last post was in March, which is rubbish. Painting commissions have left me with little downtime, and in truth, I've had nothing of interest to say. I am, however, attempting to make more time for the blog and I've even created a Midnight Studio Facebook page.
A friend of mine recently recommended the Union Series of novels by Phillip Richards to get an idea of what 'hard' sci-fi combat may look life, and I've just finished 'C.R.O.W', the first of the four book series.
The author was/is an infantryman in the British Army, so he knows a thing or two about front-line action. His experience really shows. The main character is a recently recruited grunt in the dropship infantry and in C.R.O.W we follow him on his first campaign, against the Chinese on the planet New Earth. The novel scores big with its accounts of combat, which are both visceral and terrifying. Forget about soldiers safe in their bunkers and spaceships as they remotely activate drones and other crew-less killing-machines. Here the focus is on the infantrymen engaged in nasty and very bloody in your face close combat with other infantrymen.
I would recommend C.R.O.W to anyone who wargames sci-fi. Lots of gaming potential in the novel. I've just started reading 'Lancejack', the second novel in the Union Series.
