This book by Helion Wargames written by Barry Hilton bills itself as A Guide to Wargaming the Late 17th Century. It may be the most complete primer on the subject available to purchase at this time. I have a number of books from Helion Publishing from their Century of the Soldier’s Series, which are useful for this time. As in those books, Barry Hilton mentions the articles by Mark Allen in Wargames Illustrated Magazine also where I first was inspired to the period. As well as publications by Dan Schorr, Alan Sapherson and Pat Condray which I have had for many years. This book really is more than I had hoped for.
It provides you a real run down of both the history of 1660-1697 but also every conflict on land and sea during this period. The various conflicts in Europe both east and west, carribean and the North American Colonies are presented. Further, this book really is for the gamer addressing each country and their land and naval forces involved. Each country is discusses and what it would take to build an army for that country for the period.
The chapter on gaming goes into detail on battles on various levels both on land and at sea. Detail what is necessary and possible to game on the skirmish, small battle and large battle size. A nice part to the book totally giving a feel for the possible gaming levels. In this section, the author addresses ratio to figures on the table and that is very useful and helpful. One of the aspects I like the best is the photographs displaying what it looks like on a table to have the figures based out at 1:1 scale and 1:5 and what this looks like in different formations. A useful feature as you don’t have to imagine the figures in your mind the image is given to you so you can get a feel how your armies would like depending on the various scales and help you figure out what you want to do.
Also in this section is a nice section on bases with again photographs of various base size for cavalry, infantry and ships. The author also discusses possible fixes for warped bases a subject I had not ever seen addressed in a book before. This book does not stop there as it also provides a number of scenarios for you to try out and get you started which is nice addition. Though the author does mention his own rules sets, it is stated the scenarios can be used with any rules set. Provided is a naval scenario, infantry skirmish scenario and medium sized land battle.
One thing you do not get in guides to period is painting examples. This book provides painting samples including colors used for the gamer by two separate painters on similar figures. This is a nice thing to see and the photographs with them are a plus. A demonstration for painting ships of the period is also provided making this section very complete.
A plus for me is the Troubleshooting Guide chapter that addresses flags, uniforms, bases, unit spelling and speeds among other things. Perhaps the biggest plus and gain for the wargamer is the extensive list of resources in the back of the book. This includes resources for miniatures all scales, Flags, Pikes, Bases, Basing material, Terrain, Rules, Scenarios, Ships and Reference Books. A truly nice list for a person interested gaming any of the period to look at.
This is really a useful book for the person starting out or a person already into the period. The information expanded on what I already knew and the list of resources might make it by itself worth the price. I mention it as it is a little pricy but with uniform info, painting instruction scenarios and demonstration photographs would make it worth it in my opinion. You through in the resource guide you really get a treat.
This is an excellent book and I am very glad I decided to get a copy even though I already have lots on the subject. Now I will mention the only thing that stuck out to me and is not something to stop anyone from buying this handsome and well laid out book. I noticed the Pike & Shot Society is not listed in the resources nor are any of their land or naval rules sets. This book is about the Pike & Shot era all over the world and it is filled with information but the Pike & Shot Society that is source for some of the publications listed is not referenced. Further rules by the Pike & Shot Society are not mentioned though many other free and for pay rules are listed. I do not want to hazard a guess on why this is but just thought I would mention this omission to a still excellent book.
morale roll 
Sounds like an interesting read.–TheGM