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All the King’s Men is a 128-page sourcebook devoted to the role the British played in the second World War. This was my first foray into the WWII series of GURPS releases, having always had enough historical books, veterans, and armchair historians to consult when I wished to run any RPG set during the war. Because of that I felt it a waste of money to purchase any RPG books on the matter. Having finished All the King’s Men I find that I might have to revise that opinion, as the book is a well-written, informative volume well worth the cover price.
The first chapter of the book, entitled “Britain at War,” starts with looking at the events that preceded World War II. Following this comes coverage of Britain’s involvement in the war, with the land, air, and sea operations it undertook each getting their own section. Each section is subdivided into different areas in which action was taken by military forces, with important battles highlighted. Rounding out the chapter are a few pages on life in Britain during the war and afterward, along with a timeline of major events.
I was very impressed with this chapter from beginning to end, but especially with the look at events preceding the war. All too often I’ve seen authors use the topic of backstory to pad out a work and attempt to use it to hide a lack of knowledge on the central topic of their book. In Underhill’s case all the backstory is pertinent and well-explained, showing the reader the reason Britain was in the state it was when the war began. It was also a pleasure to see that the coverage of the three areas of war was about equal, with excellent attention to detail throughout.
The second chapter is entitled “The British Army,” and as can be surmised by the title covers the nuts and bolts of the British military forces during the war. It begins with a look at the forces of the United Kingdom and the nations that worked in concert with them, followed by a look at their military organization. The book says that this information expands upon that found in GURPS WWII, but the information is so detailed and self-contained that those lacking the book will not feel as though they are missing anything.
As with the previous chapter the author has done his homework, and it shows. A large amount of information is packed in here, with everything from the way forces were organized to notable accomplishments of the soldiers that served in or with the British forces. Even things such as medals and decorations awarded are covered, and the stats for them (and everything else which is described in GURPS mechanics) make sense and are easy enough to use in play.
“Characters” is the next chapter of the book, and after a brief description of modifiers to various Advantages and Disadvantages (though not skills, despite that descriptor appearing in the section) goes into a quartet of character templates: the Spiv (wartime black marketeer), Intelligence Agent, Gurkha soldier, and Long Range Desert Group Trooper. Finally we get descriptions of many people who played a role in the war, from Winston Churchill and Arthur Neville Chamberlain to Field Marshal Lord John Gort. Suggestions are made for stats for each of these personalities, though we are told to seek out a volume of GURPS Who’s Who if we wish to see one author’s vision of a fully statted Churchill.
I also enjoyed this chapter, my favorite part of it was the way the character templates were dealt with. Rather than referring the reader to the earlier descriptions of the occupations that make up the templates the author adds additional information. Admittedly it’s a small amount of information, but it adds to what was covered in previous chapters and to the playability of the templates.
Chapter four is entitled the “British Armory,” and covers the personal gear the troops used, along with vehicles and artillery. The descriptions are nice, and the stats for the equipment seem balanced to me. Again showing his attention for detail the author lists several variants that were in use for the stated planes, ships, and land vehicles.
The fifth chapter goes into detail on the African campaigns. A lot of detail. Operation Torch, Rommel, Electric Whiskers, Iraq, Iran; I found myself nearly overwhelmed by the amount of data here. Please note that’s not “Overwhelmed because it’s a lot of information thrown together hodge podge,” but “Overwhelmed because there’s so much great background data that I can’t decide what I want to introduce into my game first.” This is without a doubt the best portion of the book, and I imagine I’ll have to reread it a few times to totally absorb it.
Rounding out the book is a chapter with advice on how to run a campaign. Frankly, after reading the rest of the book this section is a bit of a disappointment, adding only a bit of new information, and providing scenario ideas that most readers would be able to come up with on their own.
The problems found in All the King’s Men are not limited to the final chapter. As can be expected, there are several references to other books in the GURPS World War II line for more information. However, repeatedly in the first two chapters mention is made of people or events with no real detail (or references to other books) given, causing the reader confusion.
I like to think I have a fair knowledge of the war, but even so I found myself scratching my head every so often. For example, on page 11 it says the French Foreign Minister Edouard Daladier received the No Confidence vote, with no explanation of why that occurred. On page 12 mention is made of the Polish submarine Orzel sinking a German freighter in 1940, but nothing is said about the state of Poland’s navy after Hitler invaded, which may make some readers wonder why a German-conquered nation’s navy would be attacking German ships. For those who care, check out this site.
I have to admit becoming somewhat annoyed at having to make little annotations as I read; by the time I was finished I had eighteen subjects I had to look up on my own to understand what was being discussed. Given the large amount of data covered in the book that’s a small amount, but I still found it problematic. I should note that this may have been an editing problem, as on two pages there are paragraphs which simply parrot the information found in the paragraphs preceding them, so much so that I thought I’d lost my place in reading at first. It may have been that there was too much information in the original draft of the book, and that in cutting it down to size some relevant text was lost.
Another problem that pops up is the reference to characters that have yet to be explained in detail in the text, forcing the reader to jump to the index to try and find out more information about the individual. I know the point of the index is to look up information you don’t know, but the multiple flips back and forth became annoying. Again, this is a problem that shows up only in the first two chapters of the book.
My main gripe with the book, however, is the photographs/artwork that appear in it. When I reviewed GURPS Covert Ops I commented on how many of the pictures seemed to be photographs which were run through a filter on a computer. In this volume all the pictures are photographs which have been run through a filter program. While sometimes only a minor annoyance, in many pictures a fair amount of detail has been lost with the filtering. My father actually recognized several pictures from the book, having volumes with the original, unaltered photos, and the amount of detail lost in this volume again makes me question the decision to use this format for pictures.
As I said in the previous paragraph I showed All the King’s Men to my father, wanting to get his opinion on the volume. He’s a hard man to please when it comes to anything involving the second World War. His father died in the war, a few months after my dad turned ten years old. As can be expected it affected him deeply, no doubt responsible both for his enlistment years later and his working for the military as a civilian contractor after being discharged due to injury. Studying the war is his main past time, having filled up several rooms in his home with books on the matter, much to my mother’s regret. He’s a stickler for facts, ripping into anything with the most minor of errors with a vigor of a man a quarter his age. With that in mind I gave him All the King’s Men, waiting to see what his reaction would be.
He looked at the book for about twenty minutes. I saw him flipping from the index to various sections, looking for those things he felt “had” to be in a book covering Britain during the war. I waited for the usual outburst when he found a mistake, but found that none came.
When he was done looking at the book he returned it to me and said to me something I’ve never heard him say about any book on the war I’ve shown him, namely “Can I look at this again later?” That’s really the best compliment that I can give to this book.
I recommend All the King’s Men for anyone interested in Britain’s role in the war, whether they actually intend to use it for gaming, or just to brush up on their knowledge of the war.
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