Vintage reading to go with my regressive wargaming ideals.

When I opted to revisit my early war gaming period, I somehow started to also revisit the books that had enthralled me when I was just starting on the war gamer's path.
 In the 1970's and early 1980's one had to really scratch around for fictional [ and non fictional ] books to feed the war gaming bug.
 Again, unlike today, there wasn't that many fictional books based around military history. Now there seems to be a new author turning out some latest trilogy about some Sharpe like character, not that I am complaining as I seem to buy quite a few.
 Anyway, in between building my Seven Years war armies, trying to complete my Wargamer's Newsletter collection I have been tracking and buying books that I read when I was a teenager.  
 I hope some of the titles that I mention will be of interest to any wargamer's out there.
 Firstly an old favourite of many dyed in the wool war gamers, is Alfred Duggan.

 Duggan was an interesting character and a very good historian. I was lucky enough to have a mother who collected his fictional books, and I have gradually been replacing the paperbacks with hardback copies. If you are interested in the Norman period I dont think there is anyone better, certainly around the period of the first crusade.
 Saying that, my favourites are,
FAMILY FAVOURITES, the story of the Emperor Elagabalus.
 FOUNDING FATHERS, the story of Romulus and Remus.
 ELEPHANTS AND CASTLES, the history of Demetrius, son of Antigonus One Eye.
LITTLE EMPERORS, the story of Britain after the Romans left.
HE DIED OLD, the story of Mithradates, King of Pontus.
 Duggan wrote in a lovely old fashioned style with a great sense of humour.
 You can still buy most of these books very cheaply in paperback.

Next was Cecelia Holland, who has written about some interesting personalities in history, including Atilla, William the Conqueror, Ireland in the 11th century and my favourite Genghis Khan.
 This book is titled  UNTIL THE SUN FALLS, and is a cracking read about the mongols.  
 These books tend to be a bit more expensive, but are worth a punt, especially the last one.

 One of my earliest memories of reading a fictional history book, was WARRIOR IN BRONZE by George Shipway, this is the story of Agamemnon and is still agreat read. He also wrote a great book called Knight in Anarchy which I would recommend.

 Another of my favourite authors [authoresses?] is Patricia Finney who wrote two books about Cuchulain, A SHADOW OF GULLS and THE CROW GODDESS, both are brilliant books about the struggles in early Ireland, and are quite remarkable as Finney was only 18 when she wrote the first one.  These are available but could prove expensive in hardback, still they are well recommended.

To coincide with my return to the renaissance period, I located and bought the three books in the Leonardo da Vinci series written by Martin Woodhouse, the first, and best is THE MEDICI GUNS.
 Woodhouse captured the period really well, and I enjoyed reading them again.

I think most older wargamers will have read EAGLE IN THE SNOW by Wallace Breen, which is a cracking read about the late roman army of the Rhine. This has now been reprinted.

 I have just located and purchased two books I read in the late 1970's by an author called Charles Underhill, which was the pseudonym of Reginald Hill.
 The two books, THE FORGING OF FANTOM and CAPTAIN FANTOM concern a Croatian mercenary officer in the English civil war. The books are based on a Croatian mentioned by John Aubry, who was allegedly a ' hardman' that is a man who was very hard to kill. Fantom is a blackguard and a rapist, and I must admit I do like him, which doesn't say much for my ethics.

Another series I have located and re read are the series by Nigel Tranter about Robert the Bruce, granted they are a bit romanticised but give a good grounding in the period.

One that I occasionally see mentioned by other war gamers is SEVEN MEN OF GASCONY by R.F. Delderfield, who was a real pro french author. I still enjoy re reading this book, especially concerning the 1809 campaign.

A real blast from the past is a GOAT SONG by Frank Yerby, about the Peloponnesian wars. It is a little bit dated in its style but the siege of Syracuse is well presented.

 I must mention an old favourite and that is the Flashman series, which was and still is one of the best historical fictional characters ever created. George MacDonald Fraser knew his history, and again I could empathise with Flashman. What I still love is the lack of political correctness, and the idea of an Englishman having a god given right to bestride the world, [ I wish.]

I can remember reading two books about a dragoon in the Malburian wars in the mid 1970's but can I hell remember the author of titles, I do remember they were a damned good read.Such is life.

 This list is by no means exhaustive, but is a taster of what I have been reading and collecting. I haven't completely regressed, and still avidly collect Bernard Cornwall and Conn Iggulden books.
However, these books hold a particular nostalgia for me, all are well written in my opinion, and seem well researched.
 Enjoy..................

Summer, the time for campaigning?

Its been a while, although I've managed to put one post on my sister blog.
 Why is it that in historical terms Summer was the time for campaigning, but in wargaming terms, Summer is a quiet time.
There are very few wargaming shows in July and August, and clearly judging by the blogs, a lot of wargamers have family commitments.
 I was no exception in June, but most of my absence was purely selfish, with the return of the Springsteen world tour.
 I still managed a bit of wargaming, and also a bit of painting.
I have been concentrating on my renaissance army, but I am still chipping away at my SYW project, which is really a long labour of love.

 I was fortunate enough to pick up three units of Hinchliffe painted units, and only had to add to them to make them into  36 figure units. This is the first that I have completed. The figures were beautifully painted and I feel very privileged to have been able to own them

You can see my handiwork in the back ranks, which I have tried to paint in a similar style.

  Rick Priestly in the latest WSS, wrote on an interesting point. Are we collectors or are we wargamers. I know I am both. In fact I know I've got a problem as I always feel the need to complete a collection, whether it is a magazine, series of books or an army.
 Hence I am still painting SYW units. I know I can never have all the units that fought, but I cant help painting units that have taken my fancy, ie The Royal Italians in the French Army to the Saxon Garde grenadiers.
 There is probably a name for it. I call it a beautiful obsession. It sounds better than a sad git with more money than sense. Still onwards and upwards. Anyway talking of obsessions, I'm off to Ireland to see Bruce again, sad yes, excited, you bet.

Two Units for the Ducal Contingent.

Several months ago, I recorded that I had completed my Seven Years War armies, and had decided that enough was enough. Then you realise, there is never enough. That there is always one more regiment that deserves painting, either because of its exploits, good or bad, or may be because it was just too pretty to ignore. Well I have tried to at least cut back on my SYW project,but somehow it just keeps on developing. Hence these two units painted for my imaginary! ducal army. The country I feel always tended towards the east of Europe and had a Russian/ German influence. The first unit completed is a repainted Hinchliffe unit, resplendent in pink facings. The colour is a favourite one of the dukes dwarfish companion. The flag is of course a Hesse based flag, with a little bit of tinkering.

 The second unit is the dukes White Regiment of Cossack neer do wells. In an effort to keep up with their neighbours, the dukedom has recruited a frei korps made up of redundant cossacks.

 In accordance with their background, they were allowed a Russian based standard, and allowed to continue in their blasphemous greek religion. Any excuse to add to my burgeoning Seven Years War units.

RSM Figures for sale.

In an effort to down size my SYW metal mountain, I think its time to sell some of my RSM bags.
I have the following bags to sell.

 2 Russian Horse Grenadiers.
 1 Ottoman Turks Cavalry.
 2 Cossack cavalry,
  I British Heavy Cavalry.
 4 Hanoverian Cavalry.
 1  Von Kleist Cavalry.
 1 Austrian Hussars. [Colpacks.]
 1 French Hussars. [Miltron]

I also have 2 Prussian Infantry bags,
4 Hanoverian Infantry bags,
 1 Hanoverian Grenadier bag,
 1 Hanoverian jager bag,
 1 Janissary infantry bag.

 The cavalry contain 12 figures, the infantry 36 figures.
The cavalry retail at $ 26.00 and the infantry at $29.00.
This equates to £16.79p  and 18.73p respectively.That is without the air postage and the usual risk of HMRC hitting you for another fee, usually of £9.00 for opening up the box.
Ideally I would like £14.00 for the cavalry and £16.00 for the infantry, which taking into the account of air postage etc, seems a fair deal.
 Postage would be extra, but I would attempt to find the best value way to send them.

 Thats what the infantry look like. If no one is one interested by Sunday of this week, I will put them on E bay.

Enough is enough.

Now this sounds like another rant, but honestly its not.
I have reluctantly realised that I have too much stuff, and in order to get more stuff, I need to get rid of something.
 The something, starts with some of my war game magazine collections, that is Miniature War games and War games illustrated.
 So if anyone would like several years worth for the cost of the postage,please feel free to contact me.
 Additionally, I have realised that I have no need to enlarge my Seven Years War armies any further.
 As a consequence I am going to sell some of my regiments of unpainted RSM figures.
 Again if anyone is interested before I put the figures on Ebay,then drop me a line.
 There are several bags of French, Austrian, Hanoverian  and Prussian,with some cavalry as well.
 It would save the buyer having to run the gauntlet of HMRC.
 

Afterthoughts About Salute 2013, and a bit of a rant.

I've probably done this show to death now, but I've been giving a lot of thought to my impressions of Salute and in particular the painting competition, and in particular the wargames unit part of the competition.
 Firstly I was wrong in my original post about who actually won the best wargames unit. The trouble is the Warlords don't seem to post the winners straight away on their site
I now understand that it wasn't the Teutonic Knights last seen in the Fire Forge advert that won.

It was actually the Perry Wars of the Roses unit that won. The figures that one of the organisers told me would win, as they placed them in the display unit. Long before the judging was done.
  Again I may be wrong, but I also understand that the WoR entry was from Darren Linnington, who I understand paints full time for Warlord Games. So I think that means two full time painters entering the competition. Both working for large wargames companies.

I think you can see where I am going with this post. Having checked, Darren, a very talented painter has now won Salute three years in a row, 2011, 2012, 2013. Nothing wrong with that one could say, but being the awkward sod I can be, I disagree. I was very disappointed when I saw the painting competition at Salute as to how few entries there were for the wargaming section. I now think its obvious as to why that is.

I have entered many painting competitions over the years. I have actually won a fair few as well, Northern  Militaire, Claymore, Stockton, etc, etc. Before a lot of shows stopped holding this event, I thought they were pretty well attended, with quite a number of entries.

I always got the impression that Salute was the premier painting competition, almost on a par with the White Dwarf competition, but not as good. Clearly this is not the case. Lets be right there is no way, any wargamer no matter how talented is going to cart their figures down to Salute, knowing that they will be up against a full time professional painter, who has won the show three years on the trot, and paints for one of the major wargaming companies. It would perhaps make more sense to have a separate section for people who could be termed 'professional', and then whoever wins that would have at least the kudos of beating their fellow professionals, leaving us mere mortals to slug it out on our standards. The whole idea of a painting competition originally was to encourage wargamers to give it their best shot, and be inspired to improve their painting techniques. Not now I fear.

So there we have it, a total professionalisation of the hobby. [If there is such a word] 

Very professionally produced magazines, [ nothing wrong with that], 

              showing very professionally made terrain with professionally painted figures on them, which then turn up at the big shows,ie Salute, showcasing the very professional but expensive rule books. All in all a very professional hobby one would think if seeing it for the first time. Perhaps that is good, but somehow I get the nagging feeling that it sort of missed the point of the wargaming hobby, or am I just being a bit paranoid. Check out the latest Wargames Illustrated to see what I am burbling about. Anyway I will not pick over Salute again. Sorry for the rant, Robbie................  

Salute.... the conclusion.

I can only apologise for running into four! posts, giving my account of Salute.
 Salute is just so damn big, its like being given a glass of really fine wine and then having to swig it off. There is just too much to take in,  in the short time you are there.

 It was noticeable  that there was a wargamers 'drift about 1.30pm, which I found amazing, I dont think Salute is like any normal wargames show, but I suppose if you lived locally in London.............

 Well whats my overall view. Salute can only be described as like no other British show simply because of its size. Only a wargames club based in London could pull it off successfully, simply from the number of members you would need to run it. South London Warlords have been doing this show for a lot of years now and they are getting very good at it. I was very impressed with the organisation, and how they coped with the sheer number of people. They are obviously a very rich club, and there is nothing wrong with that, the club deserves to flourish.

Catering was fine, although bringing ones own sandwiches is probably better, just to save time queuing.
 The guide was good, although I struggled with the size of the text, but that's just a very minor quibble.
The bring and buy, like so many others was just mobbed, and I gave up on the morning even just trying to look. By early afternoon it was no problem. That's a problem at most big shows.

Do I have any criticisms. Well only very minor ones, and not really under the control of the SELWG group. The toilets were pretty bad, but hey ho, we are used to that.
 The personal hygiene of a lot of wargamers is really a worry, especially on a hot show day. Soap is cheap you know, get a bath.
 The sheer size of the show is clearly becoming a problem, as one attempts to take it all in.
In some ways it just shows how healthy the hobby is. There were lots of family groups which was great, and also a lot of teenagers, which is even better. I also noticed some very fine looking women circulating in the crowds giving out freebies, are you reading this Durham, and chance of Cheryl Cole?

My only real gripe was the painting competition.
Either make it a showcase event or scrap it. Make the prizes be for the first three competitors and push the importance of winning it a given.
Games Workshop have this as their big finale and winning is a prestigious thing.  Salute should go the same way.
 I would also publicise who the judges are, because I do wonder who does judge the event.
 I understand there were a few grumbles of the judging being a fix, after I had gone, but I cant really comment on that. So name the judges.
 Having now seen the standard of painting, I am glad I didnt embarrass myself by entering, plus my style of painting would now be viewed as old fashioned, but hey ho.

 The final test is, would I go again? Yes I would, but the logistics and cost would make it difficult.
 I would recommend that every wargamer goes at least once, and when they return to their groups, bring back some ideas to use at their respective shows.