Welcome to my blog!

News from a wargamer with a special interest in the military history of the Balkans. It mainly covers my current reading and wargaming projects. For more detail you can visit the web sites I edit - Balkan Military History and Glasgow & District Wargaming Society. Or follow me on Twitter @Balkan_Dave
or on Mastodon @balkandave@mastodon.scot, or Threads @davewatson1683

Wednesday, 2 August 2023

Peerless among Princes: The Life and Times of Sultan Süleyman

 This is Kaya Sahin's study of Sultan Süleyman, commonly described as The Magnificent in the West, or The Lawgiver in Türkiye. I have several biographies of arguably the best known Ottoman Sultan, but there is certainly room for a modern, scholarly and balanced look at Süleyman. Particularly for those of us reeling from the Turkish TV series, The Magnificent Century!


I found the chapters on his early life interesting. Fratricide may have given the Ottoman dynasty an  advantage in the fragmented political world of Anatolia and the Balkans, enabling its territories to be passed undivided from one generation to the other. However, it was a ruthless existence if you were a prince. While Süleyman reached the throne without having to compete with brothers, his father's route was bloody in the extreme, which must have impacted him. If he had failed, there would have been no Süleyman the Magnificent. Süleyman is the Turkicized Arabic form of Solomon, a point highlighted by him in his poetry.

He inherited his father Selim's considerable conquests, particularly in the Middle East. This is ably covered in Alan Mikhail's book on Selim. The Empire covered 2.5 million square miles and had 20 million subjects. Military conquest was an essential requirement for any Ottoman Sultan. His 1526 campaign and the Battle of Mohacs set the tone for his reign. 

Relationships with the other major powers are not ignored. It wasn't a period of continuous warfare; diplomacy was also important. The Ottomans understood the power structures in Western Europe and their main opponent to the east, Safavid Persia. Their enmity towards the Safavids was in some ways stronger than the European Christians. The Ottomans viewed them as heretics and believed that Safavid propaganda was behind the Anatolian rebellions.

It is difficult to fully understand the importance of personal relationships from historical sources. However, it seems clear that the relationship with his Grand Vizier Ibrahim was crucial to their vision for the Empire as well as his wife, Hürrem. Ibrahim's execution meant losing his closest associate. For the rest of his life, he refrained from making other close friends, becoming increasingly lonely at the top of the state. The death of his sons Bayezid and Mustafa and their families, while not unusual in late reign Ottoman power struggles, cannot have been easy.

Süleyman did his best to ensure that his legacy would be viewed as he wished, through his own history, the Sulaymannama and his charitable works. This partly explains why he is probably the best-known Sultan, along with his longevity on the throne for 46 years. He also lived at a time when there was an explosion in record-keeping, the expansion of the printing press in Europe, and a burgeoning manuscript culture in Ottoman territories. This positive image is propagated even today through the education system and the present government's promotion of Süleyman’s central role in Ottoman history.

Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul, built by Mimar Sinan, Suleiman's chief architect.

The author concludes, 'This is where we now find Süleyman, after centuries of mythmaking and scholarship. He lives on under various garbs, offering shelter with his buildings, keeping academics busy, boring school children, and enticing readers and viewers to dream through him of a world filled with sound and fury.'

There is nothing boring about this book, despite its length. It covers the highs and lows of his reign in a balanced way, setting him in the broader context of the period. Well worth a read.

28mm Sipahi of the Porte


Tuesday, 1 August 2023

The Men of Warre

 This is Jenn Scott's study of the clothes, weapons and accoutrements of the Scots at war between 1460 and 1600. This was period of battles against England at Pinkie and Flodden, as well as civil wars and clan warfare.


After an introduction to the period, the largest chapter is devoted to the weapons of war in the period. This was a period of transition, with gunpowder weapons becoming established. The earliest gun casting in Scotland was in 1470, although bombards and expertise were imported. The most famous is Mons Meg, given to James II as a wedding present. The traditional Scottish spear was still important, although getting longer than in medieval times. A law was passed forbidding the sale of spears shorter than 5.5 metres, which is a pike to most of us. This rather destroys the myth that the failure at Flodden was due to unfamiliarity with the pike.

The naval chapter reminds us of the importance of shipping routes in the period and the retention of Birlinns (small Viking-style galleys) on the West Highland coast. They were not much use as fighting ships by this period but were excellent for raiding. I imagined that Birlinns were quite cheap, but the total cost of just one ship cost around one-third of the annual income of one Campbell laird from his estate. The Earl of Argyle could move 3,000 men in his fleet, and the last uprising to restore the Lordship of the isles involved 180 galleys and 4,100 men. The King had large ships that could fight at sea, supplemented by armed merchant ships. These did not come cheap. The Michael (250ft long) took five years to build and cost 30,000 pounds, an amount equal to the Kings annual income. 

This was also the period of the border reivers. This chapter will be of particular interest to those of us playing Border Wars (from Flags of War). Scottish mounted troops were recruited from the Borders and sought after by the French as well. Border reivers used firearms but retained light crossbows, which were more reliable than pistols.  


The chapter on Highland warfare tackles some more myths. We tend to paint up our Highland units ready for a mass charge. However, Scott points to the bows carried by these troops as providing the greatest clue to their battlefield tactics. Sadly, it also appears that bagpipes only appeared on the battlefield in the 16th century. And the earliest mention of tartan is in 1532; whatever Mel Gibson thought!

This is a thoroughly well-researched book on a subject that needed a detailed look to address the many myths. And some lovely colour plates.

Lets have some 28mm Lord of the Isles troops anyway!


Saturday, 29 July 2023

The Young Alexander

This book is Alex Rowson's examination of the early life of Alexander the Great, from his birth to the invasion of the Persian Empire. Most studies of Alexander focus on the great events in the East, so it was interesting to read about his formative years.


Alexander was born around 20 July 356 BC in Pella, which became the new centre of Macedon towards the end of the fifth century BC. I have visited the excavated site, which is a fair way from the coast, so it's hard to imagine the waterfront city it once was. The mosaics are impressive though.

The book is a narrative history, although the author discusses the sources and the archaeology as he goes. I thought this might irritate me, but it doesn't. He goes off on a few other tangents, but again they all add to the story. There is a lot about Macedonian religious rites as they applied to Alexander, remembering that infant mortality was shockingly high by modern standards.

It is impossible to understand Alexander's early years without discussing his father, Phillip. I have always thought he didn't get enough credit for creating the Macedonian army that he used to dominate Greece and much of the Balkans. Alexander reminds me of Napoleon, who didn't create the French military system, but he did develop and use it brilliantly. This book is, in some ways, a history of Phillip as much as Alexander, and none the worse for that. However, Nicholas Hammond's, Phillip of Macedon, is my go-to study of Phillip. Alexander was also tutored by Aristotle, so his intellectual development was not ignored.

There are a few fascinating stories about the relationship between father and son. How Alexander tamed his famous horse, Boukephalas is particularly good. He noticed what others had missed. The horse was spooked by his shadow, so he turned the horse to face the sun. After dismounting to the cheers of the court, Phillip said, 'My boy, you must find a kingdom which is your equal. Macedonia is too small for you.' They later fell out before Phillip's death, forcing Alexander and his mother into self-imposed exile. She was another important influence on him, and fascinating character in her own right. However, they were later reconciled before Phillip's assassination.

Alexander's early campaigns are interesting, particularly those in the Balkans. This was where he honed his military skills under the guidance of his father and other experienced generals. The Thracians were a particularly tough opponent and became an important part of his later armies.

He was at some of the later battles that cemented Macedonian control of Greece, commanding the cavalry wing at Chaironeia. He also had to deal with a rebellion when he took the throne, led by Thebes with Athenian encouragement. He also had to return to the Balkans before he was ready to cross the Hellespont for the campaign against Persia.

While this is not a quick read, it is well-written. It covers the latest archaeology and discusses conflicting sources without a heavy academic style. Well worth a read.

Got to have a picture of the Macedonian phalanx


Sunday, 23 July 2023

The Frontier Sea

 I am delighted that my new book, The Frontier Sea: The Napoleonic Wars in the Adriatic, is now on sale. It can be ordered through your local bookshop, Amazon in paperback or Kindle editions, or the Balkan Military History website. There are links to these on the website, along with extracts from the book. 


I have presented the book on the BMH YouTube channel, which explains what the book covers and picks out some of the personalities that add colour to the story.

The book examines the campaigns, armies, navies and personalities that fought in the region between 1797 and 1815. Campaigns rarely mentioned in the history of the period. Austrian, French, Russian, British, and their foreign regiments fought up and down the coast. Sometimes with or against local leaders like Peter I of Montenegro and Ali Pasha of Ioannina. Many commanders were far from home, with orders taking weeks to reach them. This meant even junior officers could take military and diplomatic decisions usually reserved for more senior officers. 

Most of the great powers contested the lands around the Adriatic Sea during the Napoleonic wars. While never a major theatre of operations, it was part of the overall strategy of most of the combatants. It had an essential role in the conflict, influencing alliances and diverting troops and ships, which all contributed to the defeat of Napoleon. It was also a period of significant change, with the French and British intervening in a region that had long been a battleground reserved for the Austrian, Russian and Ottoman empires.

For wargamers, the book has a chapter on the armies and navies that fought in the Adriatic and a wargaming appendix. There are a couple of outline scenarios in the book to get you started, and there is more material on the dedicated page on this blog. 

Locally raised French troops facing Ali Pasha


Several folks have commented on what appears to be my prolific output, with two books in almost as many months. This is deceptive as it has more to do with publishing time and schedules. I wrote the first draft of Chasing the Soft Underbelly in 2021 and this book in 2022. This year's output should be published later this year. No AI is involved!

I still have more painting to finish all the armies. The last army is the Austrians, which are a bit of a nuisance as they changed their uniforms over the period more than most. However, I have made a start this week with the first batch of Jagers off the painting bench. They are from the Perry range.



Wednesday, 19 July 2023

Hellfire

 Hellfire is the latest in my bedtime reading of James Holland's Jack Tanner series. After Crete, Jack ends up Cairo, and the Yorks Rangers find themselves withdrawing to the El Alamein position. They are then sent back to the Pyramids to retrain as a motorised battalion with significant anti-tank elements.


Jack is wounded and takes up with a military nurse. At the same time, he bumps into Major Vaughan, one of the Crete story characters working for SIME, MI5's unit in the Middle East. Jack gets temporarily seconded to them in the hunt for a German spy ring linked to Egyptian Nationalists. This builds on the story told in Ken Follett's, The Key to Rebecca, and Samuel Marquis's, Lions of the Desert, which I reviewed last year. I won't spoil the plot, but this also extends to a couple of SBS-style raids behind enemy lines. Our Jack is a busy boy!

The story ends at the battle of El Alamein when the newly commissioned Jack Tanner is involved in holding back Rommel's counterattack. As usual, the battle scenes are brilliantly described. You can taste the sand, smoke and confusion.

One of the interesting intelligence stories picked up in the story is the shooting down by the Luftwaffe of the newly appointed 8th Army commander General Gott. Was it just a coincidence, or was the interception based on intelligence. The pilot flying the Bombay transport aircraft subsequently met one of the German pilots Herr Claude, who told him that when they touched down again a short while later, they were met by a senior officer who said, ‘Congratulations. You have just killed the new commander of the British Eighth Army.’ There are some possible explanations, but my money is on intelligence. It is an intriguing 'what-if' of history if Gott had survived and led the 8th Army instead of Montgomery.

This is the sort of historical fiction I enjoy the most. It sticks closely to historical facts, includes several sub-plots, and plenty of action. It also has some interesting social commentary on the British officer class. Attitudes that had primarily stayed the same since Sharpe's time. Overall highly recommended.

Some of my 10mm British for the Western Desert campaigns.



Tuesday, 18 July 2023

North Korean's onto the tabletop

 The second part of my Korean War project has made progress with the painting of my North Korean and Chinese forces. Or at least enough to get some tabletop action. I was drawn into this project after researching the Turkish Brigade, and I wasn't looking forward to painting large numbers of similar figures. However, in 10mm, it wasn't too bad.

The North Korean armed forces had a fair amount of combat experience before the Korean War. Korean communists, including their leader, Kim Il-Sung, fought against the Japanese invasion of China in 1932. He returned with the Soviets in 1945 and took power backed by his 150,000-strong People's Militia. North Korean troops also assisted the Chinese communists in their struggle with the Nationalists. By 1950, the Korean People's Army was 223,000 strong organised into ten infantry divisions. They also had an armoured brigade equipped with T34/85 tanks.  

The figures are from the Pendraken range. As with the Turks, I struggled a bit with the uniform shade. It apparently developed a yellowish hue with wear and tear. I started with a desert yellow primer for depth and a light wash mix of pale sand and yellow. There aren't too many details to pick out, thank goodness, in 10mm! The exception is the distinct shoulder boards that retained their original olive green colour. I finished with a brown wash that sinks well into the fantastic detail that Pendraken achieves with these diminutive warriors.

The Chinese had a slightly different uniform shade. For these, I primed with a light sand rattle can I picked up at an art shop. Then painted the details and gave them a brown wash. I finished these in a few hours, although they needed the hairdryer treatment to dry the bases for Sunday's game. 

Armour and artillery came from my WW2 Soviets, a big time saver.

For the first tabletop outing at the club, I adapted Scenario 3 from the Blitzkrieg Commander, Korean War supplement. The Battle of Wawon, 27-29th November 1950. This was fought over very hilly terrain, so I dusted down my old Spearhead hills that define height well without the bases sliding down the hills.

The Turkish Brigade is on the right, hastily dug in around the village of Wawon, which covered a vital road junction. The North Korean and Chinese forces had to capture the village. They sent their tank regiment down the centre, pushing infantry attacks on both flanks. The historical battle didn't include armour, but I gave the Turks a supporting US tank company to balance the game. 

The special rules in the supplement make North Korean infantry pretty devastating if they get into hand-to-hand combat. They bounce back if knocked out rather than being destroyed. A bit like fighting zombies! Balanced in this scenario by the Turks getting the 'tough' rule. Correctly in my view, given their historical performance. However, on the left, the North Koreans were destroyed by gunfire. They did better on the right, only stopped by the Turkish reserve, plugging the gap. Always keep a reserve!

By this stage, both forces had lost half their points, and although the North Korean armour had reached the village, they needed infantry to take the handful of Turkish units left inside. Technically a Turkish victory, but I conceded it was probably a draw.

An excellent game, which has whetted my appetite for more Korean War action. My WW2 British can go straight onto the table. I'll just need to paint up some more Chinese.

Thursday, 13 July 2023

Dracula's Wars

 This is James Waterson's take on Vlad the Impaler and the wars in the Balkans during and after his lifetime. I must have missed this when it was published in 2016 and only noticed it when he was one of the experts in the recent Netflix series. 


The author gives us a broad history of the period, with Vlad popping into the story regularly. I'm unsure if that is deliberate or just because he thought the sources are a bit thin for an entire book. He starts with a lengthy overview of the period dominated by Ottoman expansion into the Balkans. Vlad's father, Vlad II Dracul, who ruled between 1408 and 1418, starts the story properly, and that is on page 78. Hunyadi was the primary opponent of the Ottomans during this period, and his wars are also covered.

Vlad spent his early years as a hostage in the Ottoman court and was released on his father's death. Alliances during this period were flexible and local lords focused on protecting their own interests. As Waterson puts it, 'Higher politics and ideologies were largely forgotten'. Vlad's first reign maintained good relations with the Ottomans, who had lent him an army. The second battle of Kosovo strengthened Ottoman rule, but Hunyadi still had the resources to support Vladislav II's power grab when Vlad refused to meet him. 

It was back to Edirne for Vlad, but he quickly found his way back to the region via Moldavia. The death of Hunyadi and his son Matthias coming to the Hungarian throne gave Vlad another opportunity. However, he didn't always pick the winning side in internal strife. Even family ties were not sacrosanct, with Vlad fighting against his half-brother, the wonderfully named Vlad the Monk.

His second reign came in 1456 with Hungarian backing. He violently put down Saxon revolts in Transylvania and then fought his most famous war against the Ottomans. Afterwards, the Boyars abandoned him, and the Hungarians betrayed him despite taking papal cash for the war. This allowed his brother Radu to grab the throne. The 15th-century Balkans was a rollercoaster ride! He was back with another army but probably died in a skirmish in 1477.

Waterson is not a big fan of Vlad's. He doesn't buy the nationalist revisionism, which was popular in the 19th century and even under communism. He favourably quotes the poet Ion Bogdan's view that 'he was a man with a diseased mind who killed and tortured for sadistic pleasure.' Even the softer defence that he was a man of his time is dismissed. The book ends with the usual look at how he is remembered, Bram Stoker and all.

Given that ruling anywhere in the 15th-century Balkans was a tough gig, I have always taken a somewhat more sympathetic view. However, you have to accept that even by the standards of the period, Vlad was more ruthless than most. It is a great period for wargamers, and there was an excellent WAB supplement on these wars written by John Bianchi in 2006. I helped a bit with this, and we provided some figures for the eye candy. The 2004 GDWS display game The Real Dracula was based on Vlad's most famous battle, the Night Attack.


This probably won't be my go-to book on Vlad the Impaler. There are more focused studies. However, it is a decent overview of the Balkans in the 15th century.


Every Vlad army has to have a camp impalement! 15mm from Essex, if I remember correctly.