Moldavia

 I am in Romania this week for my annual Balkan-related tour. I hadn't been for 20 years when I focused on Transylvania. So, to tie in with research for my current book project, I decided to go east into Moldavia. 

I flew from London and hired a car at the airport. The first stop was the Battle of Rymnik, fought on 22 September 1789, during the Russo-Ottoman War of 1787-92. The Russian general Alexander Suvorov and the Habsburg general Prince Josias of Coburg attacked the main Ottoman army under Grand Vizier Cenaze Hasan Pasha. I'll be writing more about this battle soon, but let's just say it is complicated for now. 

Finding the key actions on the ground is challenging when working off an 18th-century map with no orientation and a limited idea of scale. Then the terrain changed enormously, with the marshes drained, the woods gone, and the rivers almost waterless. However, it has one redeeming feature, a magnificent statue of Suvorov gazing down on the battlefield. The statue was initially close to his river crossing, but that is a bit out of the way, as I discovered, so they moved it. The plinth is still on the high ground above the Rymna River; although guarded by a pack of dogs. I showed less than Suvorov-type courage. 

The next stop was the Battle of Foscani, fought on 1 August 1789. Different Grand Vizier, they came and went at speed in this period! but Suvorov again. My map was somewhat better, but all the same challenges, plus urban sprawl all over the Ottoman trenches. It is also dead flat farmland terrain, so there is nothing to see. 

The area is known as the Foscani Gap, defending Romania from the Carpathians to the Danube. It was fortified in the late 19th century when they expected Russia to invade. However, it had to be reversed in WW1. There were battles with the Germans and Austrians, but with Russian help, Romania held on. This is all remembered in a fine mausoleum and museum at Mărășești. The museum is small but has some rare exhibits

53mm Gruson Cannon

Russian Maxim

Russian, Nevsky trench mortar

My final stop was the Battle of Târgu Frumos. In 1944, the Germans and Romanians fought the Soviets in several battles. In particular, Hasso von Manteuffel's Großdeutschland Panzergrenadier division fought a model mobile defence still taught in military academies today. Unsurprisingly, there is nothing to mark the battle.

I stayed overnight in Iasi to have dinner with a production company that wanted historical advice on a potential TV series about Western Europeans who have influenced the Balkans. These things often don't get far, but we will see. Later, I was pitching again for Auguste Marmont in the Napoleonic Wars podcast's Battle of the Marshals. He would certainly get on the Balkan shortlist.

Salute 2025

 I was at Salute today, the biggest wargame show in the UK, by some distance. Some moaning around me about the time it took to get in. These people forget that this is a football-sized event with just one entrance rather than 30-plus turnstiles. I joined the queue just before 10am, and it took 20 minutes to get into the hall, which is pretty good. The Excel Centre has good train links and a free cloakroom.

Just the centre section of the queue

The hall from the far end. Gives an idea of the scale of this event

I am flying out to Romania from Heathrow this evening, so I was restrained on the buying front. Cabin baggage scanners are not keen on sharp bits of metal! I did pick up a few bits and pieces I won't find at other shows.

I mostly come for the games, and there was an excellent selection, large and small. Here are a few of my favourites.

Berlin 1945. A 12-month project for these guys, and it shows.

Lust for Glory is Simon's latest variant of To the Strongest. Looking forward to these in 2026.

Cricket with the odd hand grenade thrown in. that's just not cricket! 

 

Soldiers of Napoleon are not my favourite rules, but I like a busy Napoleonic table.

Lord of the Rings siege with very big toys.

Iran-Iraq War 1986. 

Battle of Trangen 1808

At last, a Balkan battle! Gurguljat - Serbo-Bulgarian War 1885. Excellent display as well from the Continental Wars Society. 

This is a take-off from the 1971 film Zepplin for those of a certain age.

A really good use of the smaller scales. The crossing of Dura, Riga, 1701. Swedes v Russians and Saxons.

Yarkshire Gamer with his Garibaldi project

What a Tanker in the Lard Zone. Caen 1944.

Beneventum 275BC. Strength and Honour. And Mark's new town.

Salute is definitely worth the effort, particularly when linked to other stuff. That is usually football, but now off to the Romanian battlefields. Expect pictures of fields!

Mukden 1905

 Since I saw it on the Osprey release list, I have been looking forward to John Valitutto's new look at the Battle of Mukden. I first became interested in the Russo-Japanese War when I was given Tide at Sunrise by Dennis and Peggy Warner as a present in the 1970s and then the brilliant TV series Reilly Ace of Spies.

The Battle of Mukden (now Shenyang, China) was a major land battle of the Russo-Japanese War, fought between 20 February and 10 March 1905. It was one of the largest land battles fought before the First World War. 

Japan had already secured key victories, including at the Battle of Port Arthur and Liaoyang. The Russian army had been pushed back but regrouped at Mukden, which was a major rail hub. Japan fielded 270,000 troops under General Iwao Oyama, and Russia had 340,000 troops under General Alexei Kuropatkin. Oyama launched a multi-pronged attack to envelop Russian forces, which the Russians were slow to react to. The Japanese troops then executed a large-scale flanking movement to the west, cutting off Russian escape routes. Russian casualties totalled 90,000, and Japanese casualties were 75,000. It effectively ended the war for Russia, which signed a peace treaty later that year, and the defeat contributed to the 1905 revolution. 

Opening dispositions. 

The book opens with a more detailed background chapter than usual in this series because the war will likely be less familiar to Western readers. One of the more interesting actions was the war's largest and most significant cavalry operation. To disrupt Japanese concentrations south of Mukden, Kuropatkin dispatched General of Cavalry Pavel Mishchenko, with approximately 7,500 cavalrymen, divided into three ‘columns’: the western, centre and eastern. However, they moved too slowly and achieved little other than damaging some railway lines.

The rest of the book is in the usual format. A chapter on the main commanders, including Kuropatkin, an experienced commander and probably the best the Russians had. The author argues, 'While it can be argued that he was frequently overly cautious, at Mukden, Kuropatkin was simply less cunning, less wilful and less confident in driving the pace of events, and incapable of correctly assessing his enemy’s course of action.' Oyama was confident after his string of successful battles in the war. He set his five armies into motion to reproduce the 1870 Prussian victory at Sedan on a larger scale.

The chapter on the opposing armies indicates the sheer scale of the battle. An Osprey Men-at-Arms title on the war provides all the organisational and uniform details the wargamer needs. The ORBATS are here, along with the opposing plans. The battle is broken down into several phases, well illustrated with excellent maps. This was a battle of manoeuvre on a grand scale, so good maps are essential. The colour plates are great, and the Cossack one is especially good. Oyama managed the scale of the battle better, recognising that an attacking army must attack at all points along the front and aggressively to preoccupy front-line units, artillery, and especially reserves across the whole front. Under these conditions, a defending army cannot risk transferring units every time a local breakthrough occurs, at least without causing chaos to its task organisation and rear areas. While successful at Mukden, Oyama’s aggressive approach also guaranteed enormous casualties for even a victorious army.

This is an excellent addition to my library on this conflict. I have both armies in 15mm and use Bloody Big Battles rules. They work really well for battles on this scale. Some of the units are below.