Military Model Scene

Title: Moscow's Game of Poker
Author: Tom Cooper
Publisher: Helion & Co
ISBN: 978-1-804510-90-2

A revised edition of number 47 in the Middle East @ War series from Helion & Co, with a well detailed look at the Russian Military Intervention in Syria, 2015-2017. An 84-page soft-cover book in the usual style for this fine series, with well detailed text, lots of colour archive images and a section of good quality profile artwork & maps.
This takes on the task of examining the issues involved in the civil war in Syria. When so much happened throughout the Middle East during the so-called 'Arab Spring', Russia came to the aid of the leader of Syria, President Assad. As the author explains at the start of the book, there are a number of different groups all involved in the conflict, not an easy problem for find a solution for. Religion and assorted national interests all come into play. ISIS was one, others include Iran, Israel, the Assad Government, the USA and more. The Russian intervention officially started in 2015, at the invitation of the Assad government. Iran was keen to have their support and there is an interesting section on the legalities of the Russian involvement and just why they chose to get directly involved. The bulk of the support came in the form of the deployment of aircraft from the Russian Air-Space Force (the VKS). Fighter Bombers-, helicopters, reconnaissance aircraft and drones were all involved. Some of it fields the most modern weapons, with these being widely promoted. As we see, much of it used older equipment and using older weaponry. Tables all add to the information on the aircraft, the units and the Ground Forces that were deployed, and accounts of just what they got involved with. Supported by a lot of archive photos, all in colour, there are many great images that will please military aviation fans and with detail I think modellers will really enjoy. Questions regarding Russian strategy and just what they wanted to get from the conflict makes for an interesting reading. According to President Putin, the Russian involvement ended in 2017 though in reality they are still there. A number of modern systems were tested, but relatively briefly, though much propaganda was made of them. The other element of the book is the set of pages in the centre of the book with excellent colour artwork that we expect in this series. Maps, uniforms, aircraft, ground equipment and the organisation charts of both S-300 and S-400 SAM systems.
I found this to have a good clear description of a complex series of problems, and just how the Russian Military got on during the period of 2015-2017. Some of their issues seem to have come up again in the more recent invasion of Ukraine. While they learnt some lessons, they clearly have had lots more to learn still. The references in here are excellent for modellers, but I can't help but continue to feel sad for the Syrian people, whose government still wages a civil war against its' own people and wrecks their own towns and cities. I can't help but wonder how the leader of a country can live happily knowing that he is bringing death and destruction to the very people he is supposed to be 'leading'. So many interested parties, each with their own agendas, no wonder it is such a difficult problem to try and solve.
Thanks to Helion & Co for the review copy.

Robin