Achtung Schweinehund!: A Boy's Own Story of Imaginary Combat [Paperback]

Harry Pearson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2007

This is a book about men and war. Not real conflict but war as it has filtered down to generations of boys and men through toys, comics, games, and movies. Harry Pearson belongs to the great battalion of men who grew up playing with toy soldiers—refighting World War II—and then stopped growing up. Inspired by the photos of the gallant pilot uncles that decorated the wall above his father's model-making table, by toys such as Action Man (according to Pearson—not a doll) and board games such as Escape from Colditz, dressed in Clarks' commando shoes and with the Airfix Army in support, he battled in the fields and on the beaches, in his head and on the living room floor, and across his bedroom ceiling. And 30 years later he still is. This hilariously self-deprecating memoir is a celebration of those glory days, a boy's own story of the urge to play, to conquer, and to adopt very bad German accents, shouting "Donner und Blitzen!" at every opportunity. This is a tale of obsession, glue, and plastic kits. It is the story of one boy's imaginary war and where it led him.

Editorial Reviews

Review

His war-obsessed childhood is so warm and funny and true you might be tempted to hug yourself with delight SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'Funny, perceptive ... Pearson has you laughing throughout with guilty recognition. You learn a lot of quirky facts and a fair bit of military history from this endearing memoir SUNDAY TIMES He has a very good line in comedy DAILY MAIL A funny, perceptive book about men and their ineradicable love of war ... Harry Pearson has you laughing throughout with guilty recognition Christopher Hart, SUNDAY TIMES --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Harry Pearson is a journalist who contributes regularly to The Guardian and GQ, and the author of Around the World by Mouse, Racing Pigs and Giant Marrows, and A Tall Man in a Low Land.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group (January 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316861367
• ISBN-13: 978-0316861366
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,179,024 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars War toy nostalgia, January 19, 2009

By 

James O'connell (Australia) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Achtung Schweinehund!: A Boy's Own Story of Imaginary Combat (Paperback)

I bought this book expecting a book about wargame rules but I was not disappointed by the entertainment value. It is a hilarious autobiography of a wargamer combined with a potted history of wargaming. The author is obviously highly knowledgeable of many kinds of literature as well as the more obscure history of toy soldier collecting individuals from as early as the sixteenth century. However, it is the tales of his childhood that make me laugh. Asking for 'trifles' when he meant rifles, abandoning a GI Joe in a barrel of water to be eaten by man-eating tadpoles were among the stories. His observations about war comics were also funny. The eccentric collectors and wargamers he met provide many laughs. One that stays in my mind is the wargamer who stored his metal armies in his attic until a regiment fell through, narrowly missing his sleeping wife. As a life long collector of toy soldiers I appreciate his enjoyment and absorption in his hobby.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Toy Soldier Story, April 22, 2010

By 

Doc Watson (Southern California) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Achtung Schweinehund!: A Boy's Own Story of Imaginary Combat (Paperback)

Mr Pearson's book is a witty and entertaining look at a decidedly niche hobby - collecting, painting and gaming tabletop battles with miniature soldiers. Along the way he touches on related topics, such as re-enactors, boardgaming and role-playing games, but at the heart this is exploration of a hobby and its often quirky practitioners, as well as a personal confession of sorts from a man who both enjoys the activity, but is also acutely aware of how it appears to those on the outside. It's this ability to see things from both sides, as the avid and meticulous army builder looking for just the right figures for a 25mm Napoleonic unit to be painted in the precise regimental colors, and the observer who recognizes many wargamers as obsessive collectors, mired in military minutiae and often a bit on the anti-social side, that makes the book interesting.

Pearson is a Brit, and at least in my impression, wargaming in the UK is mainly with miniatures, small model soldiers and vehicles, usually cast on metal or plastic and coming in a variety of scales, with 10 - 28mm figures being the most popular sizes. These are organized into units appropriate for the period and used to fight battles on the tabletop using dice, yardsticks to measure range and movement, and detailed (often very detailed) rules. Done right, with well-crafted miniature terrain and exquisitely painted figures, these battles can be quite the spectacle. But the battles themselves are just the fruition of long process of finding and purchasing the right figures and the many hours spent painting and fitting them out. For many, the meat of the hobby, is in the preparation of their armies rather than actually using them in a game, and this is well borne out in the book.

Along with anecdotes both personal and about his gaming friends and aquaintances (most of whom are more idiosyncratic and amusing than Pearson himself), the author gives a nice history of the role of toy soldiers have played in the past and the astonishing list of individuals who have collected soldiers and used them for games. Perhaps it's not surprising to find kings and statesmen here, but figures such as Robert Louis Stevenson and the Brontes (the Brontes?!) are unexpected.

In the US, wargaming takes on more of a boardgame nature, with maps and cardboard chits for units, and again often very detailed rules. Pearson touches a little on board wargames, such as popular titles like Risk, Stratego and Escape from Colditz, but the military simulation games of companies like Avalon Hill and Simulations Publications Inc from the '60s and '70s that defined wargaming for many. This is no failing on the book's part, since presumably such games were not that important in the author's experience, but it certainly renders the book less useful as a history of wargaming.

But that's not what this book is about. The subtitle tells all: this is a personal account of one boy's (and the boy lives on in the main who writes the book) experience. And by that measure, this is a fine book indeed.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A trip down memory lane . . ., April 17, 2008

By 

M. Hawash (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Achtung Schweinehund!: A Boy's Own Story of Imaginary Combat (Paperback)

The worst thing about this book is that it ends!

Harry Pearson's autobiographical musings about growing up in Northern England during the 60s and 70s are hysterical and insightful. Although some of the references will be lost on American audiences, anyone who grew up in England between 1965-1980 will instantly recognize the comics, books, TV shows, toy soldiers and wargames that Pearson refers to.

The book was an absolute delight to read, particularly for those of us who lived through the 60s and 70s alongside the author. If you ever read Commando comics or Leo Kessler novels or played with Airfix toy soldiers or model airplanes, this book is a warm and wonderful trip down memory lane.