Hordes of the Things is a fast-play heroic fantasy wargame rule set for miniature figures. Using the successful DB rule system, but based on classical fantasy fiction rather than strict history, the rules have been used since 1991 and enjoy an international player base.

Stories about dragons, serpents, and their slayers make up a rich and varied tradition within ancient mythology and folklore. In this sourcebook, Daniel Ogden presents a comprehensive and easily accessible collection of dragon myths from Greek, Roman, and early Christian sources. Some of the dragons featured are well known: the Hydra, slain by Heracles; the Dragon of Colchis, the guardian of the golden fleece overcome by Jason and Medea; and the great sea-serpent from which Perseus rescues Andromeda. But the less well known dragons are often equally enthralling, like the Dragon of Thespiae, which Menestratus slays by feeding himself to it in armor covered in fish-hooks, or the lamias of Libya, who entice young men into their striking-range by wiggling their tails, shaped like beautiful women, at them. The texts are arranged in such a way as to allow readers to witness the continuity of and evolution in dragon stories between the Classical and Christian worlds, and to understand the genesis of saintly dragon-slaying stories of the sort now characteristically associated with St George, whose earliest dragon-fight concludes the volume. All texts, a considerable number of which have not previously been available in English, are offered in new translations and accompanied by lucid commentaries that place the source-passages into their mythical, folkloric, literary, and cultural contexts. A sampling of the ancient iconography of dragons and an appendix on dragon slaying myths from the ancient Near East and India, particularly those with a bearing upon the Greco-Roman material, are also included. This volume promises to be the most authoritative sourcebook on this perennially fascinating and influential body of ancient myth.

Tells the story of the men and woman of Air Education and Training Command (AETC) who rushed to the aid of their wingmen at Kessler Air Force Base and to their countrymen in need.

Game of Thrones has changed the landscape of television during an era hailed as the Golden Age of TV. An adaptation of George R.R. Martin's epic fantasy A Song of Fire and Ice, the HBO series has taken on a life of its own with original plotlines that advance past those of Martin's books. The death of protagonist Ned Stark at the end of Season One launched a killing spree in television--major characters now die on popular shows weekly. While many shows kill off characters for pure shock value, death on Game of Thrones produces seismic shifts in power dynamics--and resurrected bodies that continue to fight. This collection of new essays explores how power, death, gender, and performance intertwine in the series.

"CD-ROM containing these and 34 other such documents"--Introd.

The J-20 fifth generation stealth fighter program has epitomised China’s rise from a laggard in combat aviation into a potential world leader. J-20 Mighty Dragon: Asia’s First Stealth Fighter in the Era of China’s Military Rise details the J-20’s technologies, capabilities, production timeline, design priorities, roles, evolution, and the formations and locations where it has been deployed, the ways other countries have responded to it, and how the last 30 years of China’s industrial and technology sector's modernisation positioned the country to produce what may well now be the world’s top air superiority fighter. The J-20 program is the most high-profile indicator of a turning point in the balance of power between China and the United States, and has produced by far the most capable fighter that America or its allies could face in a potential conflict. An assessment of the history of Chinese air superiority capabilities, and how the Korean War in particular has influenced the country to place a very strong emphasis on the need to field a leading fighter for air-to-air combat, thus provides an important deeper understanding of the program. Important context to understanding the J-20’s significance and its current global standing is provided by brief assessments of the positions of the Russian and American fighter industries. The parallel development of supporting assets from aerial tankers to electronic warfare planes is also explored for a better understanding of the much-transformed Chinese fleet which J-20s are being inducted into. The program is also shown to have had a particularly significant influence in the United States, ranging from placing discourse on the F-35’s modernisation and on sixth generation fighter development in an entirely new context, to stimulating the formation of new counter-stealth aggressor training units, development of new air-to-air missiles, and the acquisition of E-7 ‘flying radar’ aircraft among many other responses to the new challenge. J-20 Mighty Dragon: Asia’s First Stealth Fighter in the Era of China’s Military Rise is the fi rst volume in the new Technology@War series and is extensively illustrated with colour photographs throughout and specially commissioned colour artworks.

For the Belgian Paracommando Regiment, the Congo was a familiar, though often hostile, environment. For most of the officers and sergeants of the regiment, the fields, buildings, and river below were as familiar as the Belgian landscape. But for most of the 340 enlisted men drifting in the sky over the airfield, the Congo was an unknown menace outside their military experience. Most of these paras were young draftees to whom the Congo represented a closed chapter in Belgium's colonial history. Yet even with the experience of its senior leadership, the Belgian Paracommandos faced a severe test on this early spring morning. The young paras and their seasoned leaders were conducting the first international hostage rescue in the post-World War II era. The challenge was enormous, the risks staggering; the Paracommandos were jumping into a perilous den of uncertainty. Stanleyville was at the heart of the Simba Rebellion and the scene of the growing desperation. Faced with a government ground assault, the Simba leaders had taken several thousand non-Congolese hostages to guard against what appeared to be imminent defeat. Keywords: Military operations.

This book provides a framework for assessing China's extensive cyber espionage efforts and multi-decade modernization of its military, not only identifying the "what" but also addressing the "why" behind China's focus on establishing information dominance as a key component of its military efforts. China combines financial firepower—currently the world's second largest economy—with a clear intent of fielding a modern military capable of competing not only in the physical environments of land, sea, air, and outer space, but especially in the electromagnetic and cyber domains. This book makes extensive use of Chinese-language sources to provide policy-relevant insight into how the Chinese view the evolving relationship between information and future warfare as well as issues such as computer network warfare and electronic warfare. Written by an expert on Chinese military and security developments, this work taps materials the Chinese military uses to educate its own officers to explain the bigger-picture thinking that motivates Chinese cyber warfare. Readers will be able to place the key role of Chinese cyber operations in the overall context of how the Chinese military thinks future wars will be fought and grasp how Chinese computer network operations, including various hacking incidents, are part of a larger, different approach to warfare. The book's explanations of how the Chinese view information's growing role in warfare will benefit U.S. policymakers, while students in cyber security and Chinese studies will better understand how cyber and information threats work and the seriousness of the threat posed by China specifically.

This book is a comprehensive study of the development of China’s nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs). It offers insights into the secretive world of nuclear submarines and ballistic missiles of the Chinese (PLA) Navy and studies how these are likely to grow in the next two decades. The volume examines the technological origins of the design and development of Chinese nuclear submarines, ballistic missiles, and their naval construction capabilities. It provides an analysis of the underlying Chinese nuclear doctrine, China’s maritime geographical constraints for submarine operations, and the credibility of its sea-based deterrence. It draws upon strategy, nuclear policy, technology, geography, and operational considerations to holistically predict the likely SSBN force levels of the PLA Navy for various scenarios. The book also assesses the spectrum of threats likely from the undersea domain for India and other nations in the Indo-Pacific region. A key text on an obscure but vital facet of Chinese defence studies, this book will be useful for scholars and researchers of strategic affairs, international relations and disarmament studies, peace and conflict studies, geopolitics, foreign policy, Indo-Pacific studies, and diplomacy.