caught a pistol bolt from a building being cleared that had a line of sight to where he had been standing on a balcony. (After all, no one is good enough to make a head shot with a pistol using iron sights from a mile away, and the powerguns used by the Regiment do not have telescopic sights. Right?) Colonel Hammer becomes President Hammer, and secures his position by marrying into one of the oldest noble families, the Tromps, that has been running the planet. Although the older Tromps are appalled by the marriage, his new bride sees Hammer as the man who can put Friesland to rights, and he is accepted by the citizens of Friesland as their new ruler. The Slammers go out of existence, being subsumed into the Friesland Defense Forces as the First Friesland Armored Regiment. Reception Dave Langford reviewed Hammer's Slammers for White Dwarf #67, and stated that "Such are the lauded military virtues of the Slammers that (fearful that chicken-heartedness will prejudice their future contracts) they nobly disobey their own horrified employers''' orders to stop slaughtering people and detonating irreplaceable shrines. If you like chainsaw massacres you'll love this." Lynn Bryant reviewed Hammer's Slammers in Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer No. 83. Bryant commented that "All in all there is a gritty feel to these novels that make you feel they show how life really would be if there ever are interstellar mercenaries." Reviews Review by Charles Platt (1979) in New Worlds, #216 September 1979 Review by Ray Thompson (1979) in Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Review, October 1979 Review by Richard E. Geis (1979) in Science Fiction Review, November 1979 Review by Gary Gygax [as by E. Gary Gygax] (1980) in The Dragon Magazine, February 1980 Review by Andy Sawyer (1985) in Paperback Inferno'', #55 References External links Hammer's Slammers: The Crucible - Official Website (A Hammer's Slammers game) Baen's "The Hammer's Slammers Handbook" 1979 short story collections Military science fiction Science fiction short story collections Ace Books books