The (almost) Finished 1859 Armies

With apologies for the lack of posting recently, I wanted to wait until I had finished painting my 6mm Risorgimento armies for Italy 1859, but that took a bit longer than expected - 'real life', and all that. However, I have finally painted my way through the 'MDF pile' of the semi-flat Commission Figurines* figures I acquired at the Warfare show in November, and these combined with some  Baccus figures I had previously completed have given me ( I hope ) useable Austrian and Piedmontese 'starter' armies.    And here they are - Piedmont first : 

These are based for Neil Thomas'  19th Century Europe rules, with most units having four bases - I decided on 24 figures per line infantry unit ( 2 bases of 8 in line, and 2 bases of 4 skirmishing) and 16 figures per cavalry unit, with 8 figures in a skirmisher unit ( 2 bases of 4 ) and a single base of one gun  and 4 crew for an artillery unit.  The Piedmont army currently has (front to back of picture)  5 Line and 2 Grenadier infantry units,  2 units of Bersaglieri skirmishers,  2 line and 1 heavy Cavalry unit, and 3 artillery units.  

And if you'll excuse the slightly poor photography ( late afternoon sun a bit strong ), here are the Austrian opposition :

 

The Emperor's force comprises (again, from back to front of picture)  6 units of Line infantry, 3 of Artillery and 3 of Cuirassier cavalry. This is where the 'almost' in the title of this post comes in - having lined them up for the camera, I realised that I have omitted to include any skirmishing infantry in the army. So I need a bit more painting, of a couple of units of Grenze or Croat skirmishers. Back to the painting desk, I suppose.. 

I'm quite pleased with these, and found the painting less challenging that I expected - essentially there's no need to worry about trying to paint tiny details on the figures, because even if you could, no-one could see them at tabletop distances!  If you really insist on seeing the full horror of what I think I can get away with, here is an extreme close-up of Austrian Cuirassiers: 

I will admit I think the 'flock' I have used on the bases is probably too coarse for this scale - but again, no-one is ever going to get that close to these figures, and in the previous pictures at more normal distances, I think the basing looks good enough. I will try to improve that in future units, though, using a finer flock if possible.  The figures here are from  Commission Figurines Napoleonic range - unsurprisingly enough, Austrian Cuirassiers  ( for examples of much better-painted figures from the same ranges, see Richard's My Wargaming Habit blog ). 

 For background reading I found Solferino: The Birth of a Nation by Patrick Turnbull (1985) 

 

This was a good read and an nice introduction to the Italian campaign  of 1859, culminating in the bloody battle of Solferino and covering the engagements at Montebello and Magenta too. One of my main impressions from reading the book is that frankly the standard of generalship exhibited by all three main protagonists ( Austria, France and Italy ) left a lot to be desired - the three armies more or less 'bumped into each other' at Solferino, having encamped the night before very close together but unaware of each other!   All three were commanded by their heads of state - Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria,  Emperor Napoleon III of France, and King Victor Emmanuel of Piedmont-Savoy, but none of the three were suited to command of large armies.  The author says that none of them lacked personal bravery, and would have made really good regimental commanders, but no more!    If anything, Louis Napoleon perhaps comes across as the most sympathetic and human character,  beginning his first war  with hopes of attaining 'glory' like his illustrious namesake, but being shocked and horrified by the scale of the bloodshed and suffering involved in a big battle.  Immediately after Solferino he determined to make peace, probably to his credit as a human being. Of course, we can discuss why he had not realised just what his ambition for power was getting him into during his rise to the throne, and how far out of his depth he was when later pitted against Bismarck's Prussia.

From a hobby point of view I rather like the ruritanian ineffciency of the armies, it probably puts them on a fairly level playing field and may well suit my own level of tactical and strategic skills! 

Now I just need to acquire some suitable terrain - starting from scratch rather, as this is my first essay with 6mm. There are some buildings coming to me from Timecast, I hope, next we are going to need roads, rivers, trees etc. I also need to get some Austrian skirmishers painted, as mentioned above - the Commission Figurines ACW Confederates in broad-brim hats may come in handy for those.  Once that is all in hand, we'll set 'em up and see how they do, using Neil Thomas' rules for the period.   In the meantime, there may be some gaming in other periods which haven't had a good run out for a while -watch this space.  Until then keep well, everyone. 

 * It seems that Commission Figurines website is no longer available - I am wondering if this is bad news for them and their customers?  Is anyone aware of any news about them? 

 

Fnurban #31 Mr. Spectator and Mystifying Military Jargon

Many years ago I discovered  the works of Joseph Addison and Richard Steele, in particular The Spectator, the daily paper which they jointly produced in London in 1711-1712.  Having started from a Penguin Classics edition with a small selection of their pieces, eventually I found a complete 'pocket edition' ( published around 1900) in six volumes containing all 555 numbers - but this has sat on my bookshelf mostly unread for well over 20 years!  Recently I made a resolution to actually read them, and have tried to do so as a typical reader would have done in 1711 - one issue per day, with my morning coffee.  I have been enjoying them and will keep up with my daily habit - it's like a small daily trip back in time to the London of 1711. The premise is that the paper is written by the titular gentleman ( who is never actually named ), who rarely speaks, but appears in many settings in London society and pays careful attention to what is being talked of. He has a 'club' of friends who meet at a coffee-house, as gentlemen of the time would, and who are a convenient mix of different sorts, allowing him to report from different sections of society - the most famous being 'Sir Roger de Coverley', an old-fashioned and mildly eccentric country squire. In a rather nice series of papers, Mr Spectator spent the month of July 1711 reporting from an extended visit to Sir Roger's country estate, before returning to the bustle of  'town'. 

Joseph Addison (1672-1719)

The Spectator is in effect the ancestor of all newspaper opinion columns ( and possibly internet blogs, too? ). Each issue consisted of a short essay on a topic of current interest, and it aimed to enlighten a rising middle-class readership,  and promote politeness, good manners  and civility, perhaps as a response to what was seen as the rather loose morals of  English society in the 'Restoration' period of the past few decades.  In this they were  highly successful, the paper was very popular from the start,  and no eighteenth or nineteeth century gentleman's ( or gentlewoman's, since the authors  made a particular effort to interest women readers )  library would be complete without an edition of the collected issues.  If you visit stately homes even today, where the library has been preserved you may still see them.  It spawned many an imitator in Britain and abroad in the following years, and of course the title was revived in the following century for a political magazine which still runs - albeit with an outlook that the original authors would perhaps not have agreed with..   

Sir Richard Steele (1671-1729)

Addison and Steele were literary men, but also  political 'insiders' who supported (and held government jobs in ) the Whig administration which had been in power for the past several years, and which had prosecuted the War of Spanish Succession and  appointed the Duke of Marlborough as commander of the British army in Flanders, during his period of great battles  at Blenheim, Ramilles, Oudenarde and Malplaquet.  As a result, the ongoing war does get some attention in the papers, often looking at the powerful influence of French fashions and manners, despite the ongoing hostilities. Recently I was interested by Spectator no. 165, published Saturday, 8th September 1711, in which Mr. Spectator protests at the number of French phrases being adopted in English:   'the present war has so adulterated our tongue with strange words, that it would be impossible for one of our great-grandfathers to know what his posterity have been doing, were he to read their exploits in a modern newspaper. Our warriors are very industrious in propagating the French language, at the same time that they are so gloriously successful in beating down their power'....  For my part, by that time a siege is carried on two or three days, I am altogether lost and bewildered in it, and meet with so many inexplicable difficulties, that I scarce know which side has the better of it.. 

He goes on to publish a letter which he says he had a copy of, from the year of  Blenheim, written by a young gentleman in the army to his father, a man of good estate and plain sense :     

SIR, upon the junction of the French and Bavarian armies they took post behind a great morass which they thought impracticable. Our general the next day sent a party of horse to reconnoitre them from a little hauteur, at about a quarter-of-an-hour's distance from the army who returned again to the camp unobserved through several defiles, in one of which they met with a party of French that had been marauding, and made them all prisoners at discretion. The day after a drum arrived at our camp, with a message which he would communicate to none but the general; he was followed by a trumpet, who they say behaved himself very saucily, with a message from the Duke of Bavaria. The next morning our army being divided into two corps, made a movement towards the enemy; you will hear in the public prints how we treated them, with the other circumstances of that glorious day. I had the good fortune to be in the regiment that pushed the gens d'armes. Several French battalions, who some say were a corps de reserve, made a show of resistance; but it only proved a gasconade, for upon our preparing to fill up a little fosse, in order to attack them, they beat the chamade, and sent us Carte Blanche. Their commandant, with a great many other general officers, and troops without number, are made prisoners of war, and will I believe give you a visit in England, the cartel not yet being settled. Not questioning but these particulars will be very welcome to you, I congratulate you upon them, and am Your most dutiful son, &c. 

Mr Spectator continues The father of the young gentleman upon the perusal of the letter found it contained great news, but could not guess what it was.. ' he talks of a saucy trumpet, and a drum that carries messages: then who is this Carte Blanche?'...   'when he writes for money he knows how to speak intelligibly enough: there is no man in England can express himself clearer, when he wants a new furniture for his horse'.            

I thought this was all rather interesting - many wargamers with an interest in the 'horse and musket' period will be quite familiar with the military slang that confounds the soldiers' father, but it's fascinating to see how much of that language rather suddenly came into English, and mostly from the French, in quite a short period once the British got involved in wars on the continent in the 1690s and 1700s.  This sudden explosion of  martial jargon clearly raised eyebrows back in 'blighty', and it's easy to see parallels with the mass of new phrases and usages that came into the language  during the 1914-18 and 1939-45 wars  ( and who can forget 'Yomping' and 'Exocet' etc, from 1982? ). 

The use of letters is a speciality of the Spectator; often an issue would be based around correspondence received from 'readers', though equally often it's presumed that the letters were actually contrived by the authors themselves to add a little literary colour. But judging from a footnote in my edition, this example may well  be a real letter that had been passed on to Addison, who wrote this number of the paper. 

Well, it all amused me, and I hope it's of some interest to you, in turn. If you are interested, you can see the whole paper  on-line at Project Gutenberg. 

I will admit that not much time has been available for hobby activities recently, as we were away on holiday - but I did have the privilege of joining one one Jon Freitag's remote games last night, commanding a force of Sumerians and getting a 'driving lesson' on their  powerful, but somewhat unpredictable 'battle carts' . Great fun was had by all, and I'm sure Jon will put up his usual excellent battle report, In the meantime he passed on a picture from the heat of battle, as my cart unit crashed into their opposite number : 

when battle carts collide...

 

Many thanks to Jon, and the other players, for a great game!  I think I need to get back into a painting routine now, and also run a solo game or two, and I hope, report on them in the near future. In the meantime keep well, everyone. 

p.s. can't resist a little nudge at the General Election here in the UK tomorow: 

 

(only a joke, I thought it quite witty - let's not get into serious discussions. I hope all sides can take a little gentle ribbing - that should be part of a healthy democracy, after all..)   

Broadside Show, and Churchills in the Car Park

On Saturday I was able to get to Medway Park Sports Centre, Gillingham, for Broadside 2024, organised excellently as ever by Milton Hundred Wargames Club  ( a fine bunch of guys clearly, and they hail from my childhood home town ). It's always a good show, not one of the larger events but in a good spacious venue, which means it's always easy to see the games, and there are not too many games,  so you are not rushing around to catch them all, can take your time with each one.  A decent selection of traders,  and a nice feature is that a number of tables are available for a sort of wargaming 'flea market', of which more later.

Admittedly several of the games had been at SELWG, Cavalier or Salute so I had seen them before, but they were all good so worth seeing again! I took a few pictures, so here are some of them: 

Postie's Rejects: Ray's Haiti 1792 game

 

Postie's Rejects were there, of course - this is their local show - with a game organised by Ray Roussell,  The Battle of Croix-du-Bouquets 1792, from the Haitian slave revolution against the French (who of course were themselves 'Revolutionaries' - something of an irony there! ). A great-looking game, see Ray's Don't Throw a One blog for much more on this. 

Ray directing operations -  note 'pencil behind the ear' symbol of office 

 

Shepway wargamers' brought their 'Dornier Down'  game, set in a thankfully imaginary Nazi invasion of UK, 1940, and I think it won best in show. 

Shepway - 'Dornier Down'

 Medway Wargames Club put on a Mythical Greek period game, I think the rules were Dragon Rampant. A nice idea - use your Greek hoplite armies wih just a few additions of various gods, heroes and mythical beasts. Very colourful!

Medway - Greek Myths

South East Essex (SEEMS) always do a good setup, this was the  imaginary ACW Action at Bryson’s Crossroad - I think the location might have been inspired by the 1965 James Stewart film Shenandoah. Rules were Rebels and Patriots, I think.  Some really nicely-painted figures, as you can see in the second picture.

SEEMS : ACW 'Bryson's Crossroad'

 

Central London Wargames promoted the Emperor of the Battlefield Napoleonic rules produced by their member Ian Godwin :

Central London Wargamers: Emperor of the Battlefield

These chaps are always very friendly and happy to talk you through the rules, but I always have to admit that I don't do Napoleonics! However,  I gather the rules were developed from an earlier set for the Seven Years War, and those are hopefully going to be re-issued soon in an updated edition. I shall be interested to see them! 
 

Skirmish Wargames group brought their Boxer Rebellion game - complete with gunboat! the game used 54mm figures, beautifully and colorfully painted. 

 

Maidstone Wargames Society showed their 'Summer of 77'  Battle of Britain game, which I had seen at the Cavalier show - based on a free boardgame published in a Warlord comic in 1977.  

Hailsham Wargames club brought their '(Evading) The Devil’s Paintbrush' WW1game - and appropriate headwear. Sadly I didn't get a picture of the players in 'Picklehaube' helmets! 

Hailsham club: WW1

A nice 'Cold War Gone Hot'  (1980s) game - not in the program, but I think it was by the Milton Hundred club? 

 

Deal Wargamers showed their 1936 Palestine rebellion game : sadly, somewhat topical,  of course, But nice to see  'early war' British kit, including Gloster Gladiatiors

 

I liked this Peninsular War village setting for a skirmish participation game by  Big on Strategy - 'A Whiff of Grape'

 

And finally I spent some time with Retired Wargamers Reloaded and their splendid 'Hold Until Relieved' D-Day Pegasus Bridge game

 I had a good chat over coffee with my old buddy Tony who is a member of the 'RWR' group, and with luck some face-to-face gaming may result, in the near future! Great to meet Tony again and have a good talk, and of course get a close look at this amazing layout  ( I also thought it especially realistic as, look where you might, Prime Minister Sunak was nowhere to be seen...must have gone home early).

 

**UPDATE**: for even more, and  better, pictures, and of more games than I captured, see Ray's 'Don't Throw a 1' blog for his report on the show.   

There was a little shopping done, naturally - the 'flea market' stalls had lots of interesting stuff. I bought some books from one, which turned out to be run by the Whitehall Warlords Group, of which I was  once a member, for a few months in about 1988. I thought  those chaps looked familiar..

Issue 19, from 1966

The copy of 'Tradition' includes part of a series on 18th Century wargaming by Charles Grant, which five years later would be published in book form as - of course - 'The War Game'.  
 

I've been interested to see these rules in use recently by Postie's Rejects for FPW games - I have a bit of a yen for the '19th Century Europe' period, so these may be interesting.  

A couple of slim volumes of Colonel Horace St Paul's journals of life in the 7YW Austrian army - good to be able to try them before possibly buying the big, glossy (and expensive) recent Helion editions...  

And finally this vintage 1970s  'Knights Battles for Wargamers' book on Dettingen. This has some heritage, as it has an inscription inside from its previous owner  Seamus Bradley,  who was  chair of the Whitehall Warlords when I was a member. I remember him as a really nice, friendly and enocouraging chap;  sadly it seems he is in a care home now, suffering from dementia. I think more than one of the above came from his collection. I am quite pleased to become a custodian of them, and hopefully get some enjoyment and use out of them, in a sort of small tribute - thanks, Seamus.

One slight 'downside' of the venue is that parking there was  a nightmare - especially as there was also a large athletics event going on there!  But I had realised that just over the road is the Royal Engineers Museum,  where the car park was (a) nice and quiet and (b)  contained quite a few vintage armoured vehicles! In the week of D-Day, it was interesting to park next to a couple of Churchills: 

Churchill AVRE (post-war Mk VIII version)

  

.. and AVLB Bridge-Layer

I had time enough to spend an hour or so in the museum - luckily the ticket lasts a year, and I hope to be able to return for the 'Replay' gaming show there in October, at least.  One notable treasure they have is the 'Waterloo Map' , which it seems was used by Wellington during the 1815 campaign, and bears pencil marks made by the Duke when planning to take up his position at Mont St Jean. Quite a piece of history! 

Wellington's Waterloo Map

..with positions marked by himself !

So all in all, a pretty good day - I enjoyed it very much, and I hope you have enjoyed seeing my impressions of  it. Many thanks, of course, to all who organised the show, put on games etc. 

This week I have been painting - but mainly '1:1 scale', interior and exterior of my house! But I hope to get some more hobby time soon, time for my 'D-Day Dodgers' to test out the  Rapid Fire Reloaded rules, so hopeully that will be the subject of my next post. Until then  keep well, everyone.

Fnurban #27 Postively Proustian Pocket Publications

A couple of enjoyable recent charity shop finds:  from quite a large batch of 'Ladybird' books, I couldn't resist picking up  Robert The Bruce  and The Story of Napoleon. 

Ladybirds were an extensive series ( over 300 titles ) of small hardback books for children, produced from the about the 1950s onwards, and made a deep impression on several generations of British children, me included. These two are from their 'Adventure from History' series,  and give a (surprisingly unpatronising, non-childish) biography of the subject in 24 pages of text, with 24 pages of often rather  beautiful illustrations. As a child I had a well-thumbed copy of  Robert the Bruce, and when looking through that book yesterday I was amazed by how deeply all of the pictures ( by one John Kenney) had imprinted themselves on my memory! 

'by swift campaigns Bruce beat them in the field and captured their strongholds'

 

'The army which Edward II gathered to relieve Stirling Castle must have been a fine sight'

 

'his foot-soldiers were strong and sturdy, and each was armed with a long pike'

 

'At once the English trumpets sounded for the attack'

 

'Bruce swerved aside, and as de Bohun swept past, struck him to the ground with one blow'

 The narrative is concise and clear, and seems to pull few punches - quite early on it tells of Bruce stabbing to death his rival John Comyn, who Bruce accused of betraying him to the English King.('Comyn had deserved to die for his treachery towards Bruce', says the text), and shows an illustration of Bruce sheathing his dagger while standing over the (partially concealed)  body of  Comyn. Quite strong stuff for 7-year-olds!  Looking through the book was one of those interesting moments where one wonders at the workings of the human memory - I would not have seen these pictures for probably  over 50 years, and yet I knew every one of them.  For that reason alone, I'm glad to have found this little book. I suppose I should by rights be thinking about raising colourful Scots and English armies to refight Bannockburn - but I don't think I could paint all those beautiful coats of arms!

 

I didn't have the Napoleon book as a kid, but couldn't resist it - and I reckon it will be better, at least  from a historical accuracy point of view, than Ridley Scott's recent essay on the subject(!).  Interesting that there are, however, not many battle scenes in the book, the pictures ( also by John Kenney) seem to focus much more on the man himself.  Rather an effective 'Retreat from Moscow' picture, though.  

The text is interesting in that it concentrates on Napoleon's rise to mastery of Europe, and rather hurries through his decline - the invasion of Russia and subsequent distastrous  retreat, the campaigns of 1813/14 and the 'hundred days' and Waterloo are covered by only four ( out of 25 )  pages of text. The very first page sets out its stall boldly, as perhaps he himself would have : Napoleon Bonaparte was one of the two greatest soldiers the world has ever known...   Napoleon had more energy, more intelligence and a better brain than any other man in Europe ..  Discuss?

There has not been a vast amount of hobby activity over the recent holiday period, but a pleasant time was had, and the Covid infection that I reported on last time turned out to be about the mildest possible case, I'm glad to say; I was fine again within a few days. I have been spending a little time in the world of WW2 aerial combat, which I may report on next time (Tally Ho, chaps!), and another remote gaming opportunity has been kindly offered by Jon Freitag, and gladly accepted.   I hope you all had a pleasant holiday period - it's been interesting to see many bloggers' reviews of the year just passed and plans for the year to come. I'll report on some proper gaming soon,  in the meantime keep well, and a Happy New Year to everyone.

Xmas Gifts to Self - and one Unwanted Present

I hope everyone had a good Xmas, if you have been celebrating it.  Several bloggers  have been showing off  their 'hauls' of gifts, and I thought I might join in. I do make a rule of not asking my partner to buy me hobby-related gifts, however -  so any such items are purely 'gifts to self'.  Thanks to the inevitable 'Xmas sale' at the Naval and Military Press, I acquired a couple of interesting books. The first one was definately on the 'wants list', so it was great to see it come up as a special offer at a very good price : 

 

For anyone with an interest in the Seven Years War,  Christopher Duffy's books are a must-have, and this will join an expanding collection.  Prussia's Glory focusses on one month in 1757, during which Frederick of Prussia scored his tremendous victories at Rossbach and Leuthen. Duffy's writing style is eminently readable while also highly authoritative, and the book has a very manageable 190 pages. I am very glad to have it! 

And then I thought, might as well buy something else, as the postage (for UK buyers) is a fixed fee. Had a browse around, and this caught my eye: 

Battles and Battlefields of Ancient Greece by C. Jacob Butera and Matthew A. Sears looks pretty interesting.  Sub-titled A Guide to Their History, Topography and Archaeology , the authors (professors of Classics at US and Canadian universities) introduce it as a book designed for the traveller in Greece, whether the member of a tour group, the independent adventurer, or the curious scholar.  

Twenty battles are covered, ranging from  Marathon in 490BCE to Actium 31BCE, For each battle you get a historical outline section and one describing the battlefield today, diagrammatic map superimposed on satellite image, and suggestions for further reading. It's a truly 'weighty tome',  bieng of about 380 pages which are in heavy gloss paper - maybe not quite so handy when packing luggage! 

Having made a few holiday visits over the years to the Peloponnese, Crete, Pelion and Mani regions, I have liked Greece very much, and hope to get back there now that travel is normalising again. So this looks like it might be a pretty useful book which may influence choice of destinations.. I liked a comment in the introduction : Jenny Denault, Matthew Sears's wife and travelling companion, was with us at the American School, and has visited site after site with us since. Though we frequnetly tested her patience with our enthusiasm for dusty plains, she always kept us grounded and reminded us that beaches and seaside tavernas are a vital part of visiting Greece too,  I couldn't agree more!

Overall, I am very pleased with my 'Xmas gifts to self' -  not so much with an unwanted gift that was passed to me sometime in the past few days... 

After 3 years 9 months of avoiding it, it seems I have finally lost the viral equivalent the 'Whamageddon' game, and the the dreaded lurgi has caught up with me. Oh dear, bang goes our plan to host friends on NYE, among other things. I don't actually feel too bad so far, just like a common cold, runny nose etc but it has stuck around a few days. Hopefully it won't get any worse, and will pass soon enough.  At least I have plenty of interesting books to be getting on with in the meantime. As Jon Freitag  has said,  #IntrovertsDream.. 

Have a very Happy New Year, all,  and keep well, everyone. 

 

 

Book Bargains - If You Hurry

There's been a lot of 'real life' recently and not much time for hobbies, though the painting of Persians continues (very slowly). I hope to make a bit more progress this week - in the meantime, my attention has been drawn to a couple of book bargains that might interest some of you out there.. 

Many will no doubt be aware of the Naval and Military Press - they are currently doing a 'Black Friday' promotion  ( I do so hate the whole Black Friday thing, I have to admit, but hopefully a bargain is a bargain), and a couple of their offers caught my eye: 

Firstly for the 'Toy Soldier' enthusiasts,  this : 

 

The History of Toy Soldiers, by Luigi Toiati.  I'll spare you the seller's hype but it seems it is 600+ pages with hundreds of colour photos, many of the author's own collection. Originally priced at £45, now on offer at £6.99 - N&MP can do some pretty good prices!   I'll add a couple of their  example page images: 

And a much more daunting prospect, but presumably a huge bargain for those interested in the subject, this :  British Warship Recognition - the Richard Perkins Warship Identification Albums. 

 

Seven volumes :  to quote the N&MP,  Richard Perkins tirelessly compiled and diligently drew an epic collection of hand-drawn profile recognition illustrations; he organised and categorised just about every single ship afloat within the Royal Navy between 1860 and 1939 as well as keeping track of their alterations and documenting them along the way.

Theses are on offer for £9.99,  each their original price being £70 each, it seems. So if you are very keen, you can have the lot for about £70 + P&P,  as opposed to £490!  For the real Naval enthusiast, this may be something of a treasure trove.. 

I will admit that I am neither a 'classic toy soldier' nor a naval history buff, so of course I can't vouch for either of these publications, but they do look interesting, and for those that are keen, well, Xmas is coming up.. I can say that I have bought quite a few books from Naval and Military Press, and their service has always been prompt and efficient, I have no complaints about them.  

For these and all the other 'special offers' from N&MP,  this link will take you to the relevant page of their website.  The Black Friday ( ugh!) event runs until the end of November, so a couple of days left at the time of writing ( if you miss the deadline, I have a feeling they will still be available, at only slightly increased prices.. ).   Happy hunting!

I hope to be back soon with some more 'active' hobby stuff,  meanwhile keep well ( and warm, as winter seems to be arriving here in UK ) everyone. 

 

The Latest Research, 47 Years on

I have been looking around for sources of information on the armies of Alexander the Great and his Persian opponents, so I was quite pleased to find a copy of this book on ebay, at a very reasonable price: 

 

Published by the Wargames Research Group in 1976 ( 47 years ago! ) this is a softback with  60 pages of 'organisation, tactics, dress and weapons. 72 illustrations'.  Phil Barker's introduction states that 'there has to now been a complete lack of specialist publications dealing with ancient armies. This booklet is the first of a series intended to end this situation' - I think it was quite a leap forward at the time. The chapters are Major Battles of the Period,  Tactical Methods,  Composition of Armies, Organisation and Formations, and  Dress and Equipment.  In fact the last of these takes up 3/4 of the book, and that is fine by me. I have very few sources to inspire the painting of my Macedonians and (especially) Persians, so this is may be a help. 

The content is, how shall I say -  brief and to the point. The illustrations are, well, 'basic' springs to mind, and Phil Barker states 'we have not gone in for glossy coloured illustrations for the sake of of prestige, when a black and white sketch with colour notes fulfills the purpose adequately',,, because  'This cuts down on the space required and reduces the expense to the reader'.    

keeping it simple..

What a contrast with the 'eye candy' dominated rulebooks and expansions of today,  they'd never dream of such a philosophy, and you can't charge £30 a pop for that!  ( and this must in effect be the first 'expansion module' , mustn't it?  Readers almost certainly had the WRG Ancients rules, this gave them the details  needed to recruit forces for ths particular period, which Phil terms 'Pike and Elephant' - now why didn't that stick, it's quite  a good label! ).  Thinking around this, it's worth noting that publication date of 1976 - the inflation rate that year was nearly 17%,  having hit 25% the year before!  I can well understand the emphasis on reducing 'the expense to the reader',  publishing anything in that climate must have been a nightmare. Of course it was a success, and it spawned a whole series of related publications, still well-regarded today. Is it possible that today's 'cost of living crisis' may generate a back-to-basics approach and an emphasis on simplicity and low cost? I suppose  Rapid Fire Reloaded springs to mind.. 

I need to think about how to paint my Persians, and this book ( along with the same author's Alexander the Great's Campaigns )  has helped with a few ideas, in particular regarding the lower status Persian troops, who he thinks would be likely to wear costumes made from natural/undyed fabrics. The idea of plainer colours for lower status troops, while the higher status units sport  more colourful finery, works well for me, and may tone down some of the more psychadelic tendencies that can be tempting for Persian armies.. 

Being only 60 pages, I read this in one sitting and am suitably inspired - and of course it features not just Alexandrian and Persian but Indians, Macedonian/Hellenistic Successors, Carthaginians, Republican Romans,  Gallic, Spanish and Numidians, all very tempting for the future. So all in all, I am pleased with my purchase, and also enjoyed opening a little window on wargaming times gone by.  That nostalgic aspect was boosted when I spotted a small label on the back of the book, clearly from a previous seller: 

 

Athena books was of course run by the late great Terry Wise - it's nice to think my copy was probably once in the master's hands.  And it looks like he only wanted £1.50 for it - that must have been quite a long time ago! If books could talk, what tales would this one tell, how many other hands has this been through, and how many armies has it helped to inspire? 

So now with this inspiration,  I need to get the brushes and paints out and raise that Persian army! With luck, some painting progress to report next time. Meanwhile keep well, everyone.