Brittany - Fougeres

I spent my summer holiday in Brittany. Not an area I know well, but one with a rich history.

Brittany gets its name from the settlement of Britons from Wales and the west country who established themselves in the area during two migrations during the 9th Century. They fought off the Franks and established an independent state. Brittany during the Middle Ages is the story of fending off attempts to incorporate the Duchy into France. The French eventually triumphed in 1488.

We stayed in the Breton Marches, the borderland with France. It has several well preserved castles. The best is Fougeres. Established in the 11th Century it was developed over the next four centuries into an impressive fortification that is largely intact today. Well worth a visit.

The Lion Awakes

First on my holiday reading list has been Robert Low's new book 'The Lion Awakes'. He is the author of the Oathsworn series of Viking novels. His new 'Kingdom' series covers Scotland at the end of the 13th Century, both the internal conflicts and external wars with England.

In the best tradition of the historical novel the main character is a fictitious minor noble who is close to the main events. This volume starts in 1297 with Edward ruling Scotland and Wallace leading the rebellion, together with the internal Bruce - Balliol civil war. The Battle of Stirling Bridge is central to the book that ends with the Battle of Falkirk in July 1298. 

Anyone covering this period is bound to be compared with Nigel Tranter and his treatment of both Wallace and Bruce. Tranter had a more romantic style that generally portrayed his heroes in a positive light. Low goes for a more gritty, warts and all presentation that has ruffled a few feathers. The reality is that our sources for the period are limited and therefore the historical novelist has plenty of interpretative scope. 

I declare an interest in that the author is a member of our wargames society and I am a big fan of his style. He is a journalist by profession and that shines through. He loves to tell the story and one of his Viking novels lacked pace by getting distracted with too much saga story telling. But that isn't a problem here. You get a real feel for the period and what it was like to live and fight in those difficult times. The internal politics of Scotland in this period is fully brought out, so for those who view the period as a nationalist England v Scotland issue will be sorely disappointed. Braveheart this isn't. Highly recommended.

  

Outpost Turks in 28mm

In December I posted pictures of the Bulgarian Legion in 28mm from a new range by Outpost Miniatures. These are for the Russo-Turkish War of 1877.

As I said then I first saw them at the Claymore show last summer, when their stall was next to our display game. There is a mouthwatering vignette with their display. I resisted them most of the day because I have this army in 15mm. However, one my my pals, in the finest tradition of the drug dealer, sucked me in by buying me a couple of packs.

I also said I wasn't going to buy full size armies. So far so good as the project is limited to the Shipka Pass battle between the Advanced Guard and the Turks. The next stage is therefore some opponents for the Bulgars in the shape of these very nice Turkish figures. Russians next.....

Armies of the Balkan Wars

The latest Osprey (MAA 466) covers the Armies of the Balkan Wars 1912-13.

This book does what it says on the cover. Just a short potted history of the campaign and then a description of the armies and their equipment. As usual with this series the strength is in the colour plates and the photos. Both are excellent.


This is a big subject to cover in one book. There are a number of countries involved and the armies were large and diverse. But for those simply looking for a short introduction and a painting guide, this is the publication for you.

If you want a history of the campaigns, I would recommend Richard Hall The Balkan Wars and for the Ottomans, Defeat in Detail by Edward Erickson. For more detail on the armies consult Alexander Vachkov, The Balkan War 1912-13  that has more colour plates and detail on the equipment deployed.

On His Majesty's Service

I picked up a copy of Alan Mallinson's latest book On His Majesty's Service, primarily because it appeared to cover the 1829 Russo-Turkish War in the Balkans.

After struggling through the first 100 pages, I remembered why I hadn't bought his books recently. This is an author who has a very detailed understanding of cavalry regiments and the society they operated in during the period. The problem is that he feels the need to share that detail with the reader. So the first hundred pages takes us through a fairly tedious round of social engagements typical of a upper class officer of the time. This is supposed to be historical fiction and as such should have action and a fast paced narrative. Sadly this book has neither.

The book improves when we eventually get to the Balkans, although the research is a little less detailed here. In fairness, this is not a well covered conflict in any language. In the best traditions of historical fiction our hero manages to be everywhere that matters and it does give a reasonable flavour of the conflict and in particular the problems faced by an Ottoman army in transition.

Overall, not my favourite author and not recommended.

Warriors

This is the second in Jack Ludlow's trilogy covering the great story of the Normans in the South.

The scene is 11th Century Italy, with Norman mercenaries arriving to be hired by Lombard and Byzantine lords. Too many young knights in Normandy to be supported on too little land, so the younger sons seek their fortune in a divided Italy. 

The story is built around the de Hautevilles. Tancred in Normandy trying to do his best for his many sons. William goes south and becomes first a Captain in an established band before striking out on his own. Eventually he rises to his own fiefdom in Apulia, supporting a rebellion against the weakening power of the Byzantine Empire. This book ends with the Battle of Civitate where the Normans defeat the Pope who is trying to curb their growing power. Yet cleverly they ally themselves with the Pope and set the scene for the next stage of the Norman expansion in the South. The leader then will be Robert de Hauteville, known as Guiscard.

For a factual history you can do no better than J.J.Norwich's 'Normans in the South'. The actual history reads like a novel because it is the most amazing story. But Jack Ludlow is a great writer of historical fiction. This book has it all, intrigue, treachery, action and passion. Historical fiction at its very best. Highly recommended.

 

Three Elegies for Kosovo

The 28 June was the anniversary of the first Battle of Kosovo in 1389. On the Field of Blackbirds the Christian army of Serbs, Albanians, Bosnian and Walachian troops were defeated by the Ottoman army of Sultan Murad.

There are few reliable contemporary records of the battle and this has been compounded by the religious and nationalistic significance the battle has been given by the Serbs. The Ottoman forces were split into the usual three sections. The centre commanded by Murad himself with the foot; the right by his son Bayezit with the European Sipahi cavalry; the left by his other son Yakub with the Anatolian cavalry. The core of the Ottoman army consisted of Turkish troops although there would have been contributions from Greek, Bulgarian and Serbian vassals.


Prince Lazar's army included a core of Serbian troops including his son-in-law Vuk Brankovich together with the Bosnian leader Ban Tvrtko and other contingents including Croats, Wallachians and Albanians. The Serbs occupied the right wing and the allies on the left with Vukovic commanding the reserves.
 The conduct of the battle is clouded by contrary claims. Ottoman historians claim the Serbian charge on the centre was disrupted by baggage camels while Bayezit's right wing broke the flank and rolled up the Serbian forces. Serbian historians claim Vuk Brankovich abandoned the field at a critical moment exposing Lazar's flank, leading to the Prince's capture. Sultan Murad died in or after the battle in any one of several claims including by another Serbian hero Milos Obilic who stabbed him whilst kneeling in submission. Lazar was beheaded along with other Serbian leaders.

What is certain that although the battle was an Ottoman victory the Sultan's elder son Yakub also died in the battle and therefore Bayezit had to establish the succession by returning to Anatolia. Serbia lost more ground, most leaders becoming Ottoman vassals (including Lazar's son and Brankovich), but did not finally lose its independence until 1459.

My reading for the anniversary was Ismail Kadare's Three Elegies for Kosovo. Three short stories about the battle and events that surrounded it. Kadare is a great writer and he offers a different take on this symbolic battle.

The Serbian army is my current FoG army in our club competition. I fear I am no more successful in using it than Prince Lazar. However, at least I get to keep my head!



Gusar light cavalry



Balkans in the journals

Lots of Balkan interest in the wargame and military society journals this month.



The latest edition of the New Mosquito has several excellent articles on the WW1 Salonika campaign including a description of the actions involving the Derbyshire Yeomanry on the Struma front. Another on the actions of a RHA battery plus the work of the Kossovo Day Committee in the UK during WW1. The anniversary of this battle is later this month.


The lead article in this month's Slingshot covers the reign and Balkan campaigns of the Roman Emperor Decius AD249-251. He fought the Goths, fairly incompetently, including the defeat at Abrittus in AD251. He squandered the first real elite Roman cavalry army.


Arquebusier has a piece on the Olaschin campaign of 1696. Friedrich Augustus, Elector of Saxony commanding the Imperial army was defeated by the Ottomans. Another of his less than successful encounters. 


Finally The Foreign Correspondent has a translation by Richard Brooks of a visit to the battlefield of Grivitza 1877. The author accompanied the Russian army on this campaign.

Bumper editions for the Balkan historian and many thanks to those authors who contributed articles to these non-commercial publications.

Dobro Pole 1918

My latest reading has been Balkan Breakthrough: The Battle of Dobro Pole 1918 by Richard Hall.

Dobro Pole is not likely to be on many WW1 battle lists. However, it should be as it was arguably one of the most decisive Entente victories of the war.

Dobro Pole was a key Bulgarian defensive position in Macedonia. By September 1918 the Macedonian front was largely held by Bulgarian forces following the withdrawal of German units to the Western Front. The Bulgarian army was poorly supplied and morale was low. The Entente forces saw an opportunity to achieve a breakthrough and launched an attack with Mainly French and Serbian troops. The attack was successful and the Bulgarian retreat turned into a rout with large numbers of troops heading for home. There were insufficient competent troops to mount a counter attack and reinforcing Austrian and German troops arrived too late. The defeat quickly led to the collapse of the entire front and Bulgaria's withdrawal from the war.

This book covers the background to the war in the Balkans and the campaign in the run up to the battle. The actual battle is covered in just a couple of chapters. The real value of this study is that it views the conflict from a Bulgarian perspective. This is a well written study of the battle that that led to the collapse of the Central Powers in the Balkans and hastened the end of the war.   

  

Spies of the Balkans

Long drive down to Devon and back was an opportunity to listen to the unabridged version (9.5hrs) of Alan Furst's book Spies of the Balkans.

This is an historical spy novel based in Salonika in 1940. The lead character is a special police officer who handles sensitive cases. As war grows nearer he becomes involved in the events that will lead to the Italian invasion and then the German occupation of Greece. In between he helps run an escape route for Jews fleeing Germany and his travels take him all over the Balkans.

The author weaves the history of the period into the story like an historical novel and puts elements of the detective thriller in as well. It was a great listen and really made the miles fly past. Recommended. 

Wargame Magazines

Caught up with my growing pile of wargame magazines this weekend. I hope the great choice we now have reflects a healthy and viable hobby rather than the economics of publishing. Perhaps it is both.

Wargames Illustrated has long been my favourite. Good use of photies and a good balance between historical and gaming articles. It has come in for a fair degree of criticism since being taken over by Flames of War. However, in fairness there is plenty of non FoW material in every issue.

I gave up on Miniature Wargames some years ago. It started to look very dated and tired and I found little of interest. Under new direction it has certainly improved. Not sure if they are not trying to reach too wide an audience with the computer and fantasy sections. A risk that they appeal to no one enough.

Very pleased to see Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy back with an English language version. I like the themed issue format and they have a strong historical focus that appeals to me. Strong presentation has always been a feature of this magazine.

At the risk of contradicting myself I still enjoy the Battlegames format. It may not have the presentational strength of the others but it is strong on content. Maybe I am just nostalgic about my early wargame experiences.

Not sure about Recon but I have persevered. I want to see plenty of reviews in my wargame magazines but I am not convinced that it justifies this as the main content. Some of the reviews are also a bit eclectic for my taste.

Let's also not forget the wide range of society publications. I take Slingshot, Arquebusier, Hobilar and the Foreign Correspondent to name just a few. These don't tend to be up to the presentational standard of the commercial offerings, but often have great content.

Overall, I think we are well served as historical gamers by our magazines. I hope they all flourish.

FoG R - new army lists

I have just taken delivery of two new army lists for FoG Renaissance.

The first is Colonies and Conquest. This covers the spread of gunpowder weapons in Asia, both in the states and the European colonists. Not my normal territory, but I bought it for the Mughals and their opponents. An opportunity to dust down my army again as the list ties in well with those I developed for WAB.

The second is Duty and Glory. This covers the period from the end of the Thirty Years War to the end of the 17th Century. A period dominated by the Sun King, Louis XIV. My interests are more in Eastern Europe during this period. Venetian, Austrian, Polish and Hungarian lists attract me.

No one can doubt that FoG is properly supported with these quality offerings.

  

Silver Eagle

Just finished the latest in the Forgotten Legion series - The Silver Eagle by Ben Kane.

The story covers Roman troops captured at Carrhae who are enlisted by the Parthians as border troops. There is a parallel story covering the sister of one of the leading characters back in Rome. The backdrop is Caesar and the Roman civil war.

This is well researched historical fiction with lots of detail about Roman life and the legions. A storyline that is both interesting and credible - just. Recommended.

Carronade

At the Carronade show in Falkirk last Saturday. As usual, it was well organised by the Falkirk lads with a good range of games and traders. The venue is excellent, just a pity it wasn't as well supported by the public. I suspect a sign of the straightened times we live in.  

At GDWS we brough a 28mm display game Somerled's Last Stand 1164. Somerled, King of Argyll and Lord of the Isles died at the Battle of Bargarran (sometimes called Knock or Inchinnan) in 1164. The battle was fought somewhere close to the site of the current Glasgow Airport. His Islesmen, Manx and Irish allies were defeated by a Norman/Scots army led by the High Steward, Walter Fitz-Alan. We actually know very little about the battle or the forces involved, so this wargame is somewhat conjectural.

None the less a good excuse to put large numbers of our Norman and Viking collections on the tabletop, supplemented by some Scots spearmen and various hairy types to make up the numbers. I see that pictures of the figures are making there way around the web and it was good to talk about them with fellow gamers and visitors.

There were a range of other excellent games including a fine Viking raid participation game from the Kirriemuir club. Plenty of Very British Civil War including the dockside game I first saw at Dumfries. Inspired me to buy a few trucks from Simon at Solway Miniatures for my own VBCW project and some evil fascists from Reiver Miniatures. Good day out all round.

Scots Spearmen

Despite best laid plans it was still the night before the Carronade show when I finished off the last units.

Last two Scots spearmen units are published below. They did rather well in the game, holding off hordes of Irish and Viking troops on the left flank.

Engines of War

Unlike my last review of The Berlin-Baghdad Express my latest read Engines of War by Christian Wolmar is a proper blend of railways and military history. The author is a prolific writer and broadcaster on railways and that is his real focus with this study.

He shows how railways transformed the nature of war in the 19th Century with chapters covering the main conflicts of the period. The railways enabled large armies to be transported considerable distances and equally importantly, suppliedthem to the level modern weaponry required.

For a period of about 100 years from the Crimean War to the Korean War, trains and railways were inseparable from war. Whilst railways have generally been a force for good, we also have to remember that without them industrial scale carnage would equally have been impossible.

I had previously read John Westwood's Railways at War and this author pays tribute to that book. However, this is a better organised and more readable study of an aspect of military history that has received little attention. Recommended. 

Scots skirmishers

A few skirmishers for the early feudal Scots. I know the early tartan is unproven, but the odd figure makes it look like a Scots army.

These lads are from the Gripping Beast range.

Berlin to Baghdad Express

Just finished Sean McMeekin's book The Berlin-Baghdad Express - The Ottoman Empire and Germany's Bid for World Power, 1898-1918.

If a railway enthusiast picked this up he or she would be sorely disappointed. There is actually very little about how this amazing line was constructed. It is still the backbone of the railway system across large swathes of the Middle East.

Instead this is a book about Imperial Germany's attempts to harness the power of Islam against the British Empire. It catalogues the many schemes dreamt up in Berlin, at huge cost, with very little success. Spies, guns and gold tried to stir up Jihad across the Middle East, Persia and Afghanistan.

It's a great story, told fairly well, with more than a few topical references that also shed more than a little light on the current challenges in the region.

The Scots are coming

Very busy at work and starting to panic as Carronade beckons and our Lord of the Isles display still needs plenty of Scots. Can't let the Norman's steal the limelight.

Finished some really nice Characters today. Love the guy with his hands in the air - no idea why, but who cares!

Plus some solid looking Thanes.

The skirmishers are nearly done. Then the spearmen. Oh and those nice, but fiddly banners.

Fields of Death

Just finished reading 'Fields of Death' the last installment of Simon Scarrow's Napoleonic quartet. This series takes the lives of Napoleon and Wellington and run through the Napoleonic wars as viewed by them.

Perhaps a strange choice of personalities to pick as they never met in battle until Waterloo. Although in this fictional series they meet twice. None the less two very different personalities are explored fully.

This final installment covers a long period. From the Danube campaign of 1809 to Waterloo. I was expecting two volumes to cover this period. Scarrow is of course an excellent writer of historical fiction. I just felt that he attempted too much with this volume.

Russo-Japanese War

A new member at the club expressed an interest in playing 19th Century Principles of War today. This was a good opportunity to dust down my armies for the Russo-Japanese War 1904/05.

For those not familiar with this conflict it was the first major war of the 20th century. The main cause was the rival ambitions of Russia and Japan over Manchuria and Korea. The major theatres of operations were Southern Manchuria, together with naval action in the seas around Korea and Japan. The Russians sought a warm water port on the Pacific as Vladivostok was only operational during the summer and Port Arthur would be operational all year. The surprise Japanese victory transformed the balance of power in East Asia, resulting in a reassessment of Japan's recent entry onto the world stage. The embarrassing string of Russian defeats undermined the Tsarist government, and proved a major cause of the Russian Revolution of 1905.

I first 'discovered' this conflict over 30 years ago when I was given a copy of The Tide at Sunrise by Denis and Peggy Warner. This is an excellent study of the war although a more recent study and probably easier to source is Rising Sun and Tumbling Bear by Richard Connaughton. There is also a useful Osprey essential histories. Of course the real inspiration is the marvellous TV series, Reilly Ace of Spies and the episodes that concentrate the siege of Port Arthur.

The starter for the Japanese army was the old Lancashire Games range that I first collected for the Boxer Rebellion. By modern standards these are not good figures. For the Russian's I had a good selection of Minifigs. I picked up the figures below at Salute  a few years ago. They came in 50 figure bags but I can't recall the company who made them. I haven't seen them since but I hope the molds are still around as the animation is superb for 15mm.

PoW is a good ruleset for this conflict. It correctly puts the Russian player in the difficult command position of controlling a sluggish force with poor fire discipline. I got away with it today, through a combination of a crowded table in terms of terrain and my opponents poor initiative dice. This led him into a piecemeal attack on my best units, without the opportunity to manoeuvre around me. An enjoyable game done and dusted in just over three hours.

British forces in Greece

Slow progress on the painting and gaming front recently; work does get in the way of the hobby!. More done than I think but limited to short bursts.

Anyway, the British allies for the Greeks are now finished and the sun is even shining so, temperature apart, you might even think we are up the Pindos Mountains.

Greece WW2

Just finished FoW rebasing the Greeks of WW2. The Italian Greek campaign of 1940 is one of the more interesting and underplayed conflicts of WW2. A totally inadequate Italian army blundered into the mountains of north-west Greece, where it was defeated, thrown back into Albania, only to be rescued by the German invasion of Greece the following year. The common perception of this campaign is of a massive Italian army being held off by valiant, outnumbered Greek forces. Valiant they certainly were, however, the opposing forces were actually fairly evenly balanced.

I wrote a short history of the campaign for the Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers Journal a number of years ago and an updated version is on the Balkan History history site. I have also visited the main battlefields in Greece and Albania, some high up in the mountains. It gives a very different perspective of the campaign.

Next stage is to rebase the Brits as allies.

Carthaginian Warrior

I have enjoyed my latest Osprey, Carthaginian Warrior 264-146BC. As I have mentioned before this was my first wargame army and I have a soft spot for them. Made my first visit to the site of the city a few years ago.

This is in the Warrior series so the focus is on the men who fought for Carthage through a series of wars, most famously of course, the Punic wars against Rome. The unusual feature of Carthaginian armies was that they were almost all mercenaries or at least levies from subject tribes. This makes the achievements of Hannibal particular very special in my view. His leadership skills must have been amazing.

This study by Nic Fields takes the reader through the recruitment, equipment and experience on campaign and in battle. Good narrative supplemented by glorious artwork from Steve Noon. Recommended.

Italian WW2

Finished rebasing my WW2 Italians for Flames of War. I can use some of the units to supplement the Nationalists for the Spanish Civil War project. But the main reason I collected them was for the campaign against Greece in 1940. So I am now rebasing the Greeks and the Brits as well. Not my favourite task as it takes me away from real painting - but they were all originally based for Rapid Fire (individual bases), so needs must.

Plus, I have finished this month's update of Balkan Military History. The feature article is on Pyrrhus of Epirus and his army, inspired by Jeff Champions book. A good general history of one of the ancient world's greatest battlefield commanders.

Empire of the Moghul

Brothers at War is the second book in the Empire of the Moghul series by Alex Rutherford. This follows on from the story of the dynasty's founder, Babur, in the first book. His eldest son Humayun takes over but has to face the rivalry of his three half brothers who want the empire to be split up between them.

As a consequence they fail to unite when the Empire is threatened by a rebellion and Humayun is driven from India to seek support from the Shah of Persia. With military support from the Shah he recaptures Babur's original base in Afganistan from his brothers. When the warring factions in India break apart he grasps the opportunity to recapture the Moghul lands and reestablish their rule. The irony is that after this epic struggle he falls down the steps of his observatory and dies. Such is fate!

I raved at the first of this series and I cannot fail to do the same for the second. The history itself is of course truly epic and Alex Rutherford brings it to life with great story telling skills. I cannot recommend this series too strongly. Time to get my 28mm Moghuls out of the box ......

Albanich

I popped down to Dumfries yesterday for Albanich the first Scottish wargames show of the year.

This is a small local show that none the less attracts a good range of traders. I picked up a number of smaller items I needed. I had bought a very nice Spanish/Italian 15mm building at a show last year, very suitable for my SCW project. Some more would be good but I forgot who did them. And there they were, sold by Rif Raf Miniatures, so a village of them is taking shape. I also got some nice entrenchments for FoW along with grass tufts and some more bases from the excellent Warbases. Warlord Games had their latest and Aventine Miniatures had some very nice Republican Romans and Indians with some fabulous elephants.

The theme of the show was A Very British Civil War (AVBCW). This is produced by Simon Douglas at Solway Crafts who organises the show. For those not familiar with the concept it is an alternative historical outline of events of 1936-38 that begins with a decision by Edward not to abdicate. They have produced some excellent source materials, flags etc and you use whatever rules you like.

I have been attracted to the concept but have resisted. However, yesterday I gave in and bought the books. You can use Great War Warhammer rules for this and a number of my WW1 figures will be suitable for starters. I suspect a worker militias will be my starting point.

There were a number of well presented games on this theme to tempt anyone in, certainly someone as weak willed as me! Below is a snap of the South East Scotland game. The terrain surface is teddy bear fur. Cheap and robust according to the Edinburgh lads.

Again this was a good show, well worth the journey.

Open Days

Glasgow and District Wargames Society held its annual double header and open days this weekend. This is the opportunity to play big games that take longer than the normal afternoon. We also open the doors to any member of the public who wants to find out a bit more about wargaming and what the society has to offer.

I was primarily involved in testing the scenario Somerled's Last Stand that will be our main demo game this year. A big 5000pt WAB game based on Somerled's last battle at Bargarran in 1164. We learnt quite a bit about WAB 2 rules and how it impacts on fighting a battle in difficult terrain. We concluded that we probably made the terrain too difficult as it made the light infantry Islemen very difficult to beat and the outcome was a resounding victory for them. If that had been the historical outcome we would probably be speaking Gaelic not English today!

The above are my Iselsmen with the big man on the hill representing Somerled's right hand man Saor McNeil. They sent several units of Norman knights packing.

There was also a FoG competition using smaller 650pt armies on a 5' x 3' table. This provided quick games. There was also a big WW1 game using PoW, Blitzkrieg action in France from the WW2 boys and a couple of Fire & Fury games. George Dick's 15mm Arthurian army (see below) is one of my favourites.

Pyrrhus of Epirus

Just finished Jeff Champion's book on Pyrrhus of Epirus. His claim to fame is that he defeated the Romans in two major battles and was rated by Hannibal as the second greatest general after Alexander. His name lives on with the phrase 'Pyrrhic victory'.

The author starts with an overview of the Eastern Mediterranean in the 3rd Century BC and of Epirus itself. At this time the state was a loose combination of tribes with the King's role primarily that of war leader. Epirus covered large parts of modern North Western Greece and Southern Albania.

Pyrrhus spent much of his youth in exile. This was the period of the Successors and war between them was the norm, dragging in other states. He developed into an brave and capable commander before returning to Epirus as King. He probably inherited a modern Macedonian style of army based on the pike armed phalanx supported by cavalry and elephants.

The rest of the book takes us through his main campaigns. Firstly his conflicts with neighbouring Macedonia and then, at the invitation of the Southern Italian states, with Rome. His famous 'Pyrrhic victories' at Heraclea and Asculum are covered in detail. He then campaigned in Sicily against Carthage before returning to Italy, this time to lose against the Romans at Beneventum. His final campaigns were in Greece, culminating in his death in battle against Argos and the Spartans. 

A fitting end for a King who was almost continually at war. Whilst he was undoubtedly a great battlefield commander his strategic outcomes were poor. Too many campaigns were not seen through to the end and his diplomatic skills in maintaining allies were weak, even allowing for the shifting alliances of the period.

This is a book I would highly recommend. The author has a good writing style and effectively deals with the limited sources in way that retains readability for the general reader. I have spent some time in the Epirus region and it is well worth a visit with plenty of sites of interest for the historian.

Russia's Balkan Entanglements

Another gift from Santa was Barbara Jelavich's tome on Russia's Balkan Entanglements 1806-1914.

This is a primarily a diplomatic history of Russia's 19th Century engagements in the Balkans. Starting with the Napoleonic wars and ending with WW1 and the subsequent collapse of both the Austro-Hungarian and Russian Imperial Empires. The period included no less than five wars with the Ottoman Empire from which Russia gained minimal territorial advantage at considerable expense. The author concludes that emotional commitments played a significant part in driving Russian policy. The irony is that an autocratic regime supported, what we would today call liberation struggles, at an economic cost that contributed to its own downfall.

I was about to say that the military operations are given cursory attention. However, that would be overstating the case. They are barely mentioned. Whilst this is not a military history, a reader not familiar with these conflicts would struggle to follow events.

This is not an easy read, not least because the author quotes primary documents at length. It does give a detailed understanding of both the internal Russian considerations and the diplomatic exchanges between the Great Powers. The author also threads the theme of the motives for Russian engagement throughout the book. The analysis is excellent, if the presentation is a little turgid.

One for the real Balkan enthusiast now it is available at a reasonable price in paperback. Not for the general reader.

Cross and Crescent in the Balkans

Santa was very good to me in the books department. The first to be read was David Nicolle's Cross and Crescent in the Balkans.

This is the story of the Ottoman conquest of the Balkans. He covers the early history of the Ottomans and the chaotic world at the time. The decline of Byzantium, divided Islam and distracted European states all contributed to the extraordinary rise of this dynasty from a small tribe to superpower status.

This is not a simple narrative military history. The author gives a fair amount of social history that puts the Ottomans in context and explains their resilience. Not least the loyalty of Christian vassals in the Balkans. He also gives some detail of the Ottoman military and administrative system as well as their remarkable comeback after the defeat by Timur at Ankara in 1402.

The military history is outlined and expanded with a somewhat selective treatment of the major campaigns. The Crusade of Nikopol and the Siege of Constantinople get several chapters each. However, the battle of Maritsa plus the first and second battles of Kossova are virtually ignored. This is a bit disappointing as this prolific author has written detailed accounts of Nikopolis and Constantinople in the Osprey campaign series.

With that exception this is still a good overview of the period, written in the David Nicolle's very readable style.

Punic Wars

Happy New Year! May your dice always roll 6. Well for most rules anyway.

It is traditional at this time of year to review projects and plans for the coming year. My main project will be Lord of the Isles as this will be our main display game for this year. Mostly Scots spearmen outstanding. I will no doubt add the odd unit to the WW1 Salonika campaign armies as particular figures catch my eye. I am also enjoying my first few games of Flames of War, so I anticipate some expansion of my Spanish Civil War armies and rebasing the Greeks and Italians. As for actual gaming there will be the club FoG, FoGR and WAB competitions. Plus I want to play more Black Powder, Warhammer Great War and FoW. That should be more than enough to keep me busy!

Just completed the monthly update for Balkan Military History. The main new piece is in the outside the Balkans section with my 28mm Punic Wars armies. The Carthaginians were my first proper wargames army, although I was somewhat shocked to calculate that this was some 40 years ago.

Those Garrison figures have long been sold off and replaced with a bit of a mixture of figures and units gradually picked up or painted when the mood took me over the last ten years or so.

These Spanish foot are some of the best. 

and these Libiyan spearmen are not bad. Later additions from the 1st Corps range I think.

I suppose we have to show some miserable Romans as well........

Spanish Civil War using FoW

Thank goodness for the Xmas holidays and a chance to get some figures onto the tabletop.

Had my first serious effort at playing Flames of War using my new Spanish Civil War armies. A fairly simple scenario to start with. The International Brigade attacking a Nationalist held village, right out of Ken Loach's film. Land and Freedom for those not familiar with his SCW film.

The attack started with the T26 platoon supported by infantry advancing on the centre. The aim was to pin down the fascists while the remaining infantry platoons attacked the flanks. However, the T26's were quickly knocked out by the Italian ATGs and artillery and the infantry went to ground, so offering little distraction. The right flank did reach the hill and I therefore tried out the assault rules. But the Nationalists were too strong. Heavy Machine Guns are very effective!

I really like the rules. The mechanisms work well, fairly simple once you work through the sections in the right order. The SCW has few of the later complications so I haven't had to tackle many of the annexes. I am playing a larger game at the club on Sunday so we will see how that goes.

Austrian WW1 Hussars

Bit of a fill in job this. I picked these Hussars up from the Geordies at Under the Bed Enterprises in the Summer to strengthen the Austrians for my Salonika project. These figures from their Reiver Castings range, are a bit more slender than many 28mm, but others would say more proportional. Either way I like them.

I went for early war uniforms albeit with the grey linen shako covers. Probably stretching it a bit, even for early 1916, but the later uniforms are very drab and a bit of colour was needed. These lads wouldn't look out of place on a Napoleonic battlefield!

There were 16 Hussar regiments at the outset of the war. However, remounts became scarce as the war progressed and a number of regiments were dismounted. I used the fine colour plate in the Osprey MAA 392 as my reference.

Somerled

A bit more work completed on the Lord of the Isles project. 

I have re-read Andrew McDonald's book on the subject. This is a more academic study that discusses the sources for what we know of Somerled and his life. The sum total is not very much. A bit disappointing in one respect, but for the wargame point of view it gives a bit more license!

On the Bargarran battle scenario I am planning, he concludes that the cause of the conflict was probably conservative opposition to the expanding Anglo-Norman fiefs in the West of Scotland. Their Lords, knights and castles would have been viewed with increasing unease by Somerled and other rulers on the western seaboard. He therefore views the battle as a pre-emptive strike against the expanding Stewarts.

This author argues for two possible sites for the battle. Landing at Renfrew and a battle at Knock. Or a landing at Greenock and a battle at Inchinnan. However, there is no firm evidence for either but we know the broad area.

On the figure front I now have a Somerled. Of course we have no idea what he looked like, so I have gone for the Gripping Beast representation of Ragnar Lothbrok, with some conversion.

British in Egypt

And the final units (for now at least) for the British in Egypt project. I now have a balanced force for Black Powder. The Highlanders are plastic Victrix rebased from a purchase on EBay. The Generals and artillery are Front Rank. 

You would never guess I photographed these outside in several inches of snow!



Kosovo 1448

There is an excellent article in this month's Wargames Illustrated by John Bianchi on the second, and less well known, Battle of Kossovo in 1448.  John is the primary author of the WAB supplement Vlad the Impaler that I, and fellow WAB players at GDWS, gave some modest assistance with.

Unlike in the first battle of 1389, the Serbian leadership remained loyal to the Ottomans and it was left to the Hungarian's led by Janos Hunyadi, with Wallachian support, to do battle on the Field of Blackbirds. The plan was to join up with the Albanian leader Scanderbeg, but the Ottomans moved quickly to bring the Hungarians to battle before the Albanians arrived. They were only a day's march away.  Despite being outnumbered Hunyadi nearly pulled off a famous victory. However, it was Sultan Murad who triumphed and the Christian cause in the Balkans was on the defensive for the next 250 years.

The battlefield today, not surprisingly as the monuments were built by Serbia, focus on the earlier battle. But you can still get a good view of where the action took place as can be seen from the pictures on Balkan Military History.

John's article is well illustrated with 28mm figures from a number of ranges including the fine Kingmaker war wagons that represent the wagonburg in the Hungarian centre. He also presents a scenario for WAB that I look forward to trying out soon. We have done the slightly later Vaslui 1475 as a display game. It was fought in the fog, in case your wondering!

Siege

This is the first novel from Jack Hight and is based on the siege of Constantinople in 1453.

The book weaves the story of Sultan Mehmed, Longo the Genoese commander of the city's defences and some love interest with the Princess Sofia. The author keeps fairly close to the historical events whilst developing the characters in the best traditions of historical fiction.

He also adds to the history a range of plots and conspiracies that make the story much more than a retelling of the famous siege, epic though that was in its own right.

This is a great read and I look forward to more by this author. His current project is a trilogy about Saladin.
 

British in Egypt

Working hard to finish a few projects before Xmas so I can do some gaming rather than painting.

The British in Egypt army is close to completion, or at least a balanced force. The latest addition is a regiment of Light Dragoons and a unit of riflemen. I picked up most of the rifles at a show and the rest are Front Rank along with the cavalry. Artillery, Generals and few more Highlanders still on the workbench.

Viking vignette

Done a bit more on the Vikings for the Lord of the Isles project.

Firstly I have read Magnus Magnusson's book Vikings!. I picked up my copy from my local Oxfam bookshop for £2.99, that really is a bargain! This is a sympathetic study as you might expect from an Icelander, validly pointing that they got a bad press from Saxon monks. Dark Age spin doctors it would appear. It is a well illustrated book and very strong on archaeological evidence in particular.

Inspired, I have finished one of Gripping Beasts stunning vignettes. Nor sure Magnus would approve of this. Obviously the boys at the Beast have been taken in by the spin doctors!

Maida 1806

I have been working through my reserve book pile in anticipation of an xmas restocking, he says with a broad hint to the nearest and dearest. The Battle of Maida 1806 - Fifteen Minutes of Glory by Richard Hopton is a book I bought some time ago. It covers Sir John Stuart's British victory in southern Italy over a French army commanded by General Regnier. 

The year is 1806 and the Third Coalition is falling apart after Napoleon's victories at Ulm and Austerlitz. The British are forced to abandon southern Italy, the mainland portion of King Ferdinand II's Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Napoleon's brother Joseph is installed as King and Ferdinand and the British retreat to Sicily.

Taking Sicily is a much more difficult task for the French. The roads to the launch ports for an invasion through Calabria are almost non-existent and the French are harassed by the Calabrians. The Royal Navy rules the waves following Trafalgar. With his base reasonably secure Sir John Stuart decides on a spoiling expedition and lands near Maida in the Bay of St Euphemia with a small army of around 4000 men.

General Regnier gathers his somewhat larger force together on the high ground above the Bay. As Stuart decides to advance, Regnier, who had a poor opinion of British troops following his contact with them in Egypt, also decided to attack and came down to the plain. His best Brigade was shot up by disciplined musketry and artillery and the others lost heart. The British had no cavalry to effectively follow up but still mopped up the French garrisons in Calabria.

So a famous if modest victory, indeed the only victory that year, achieved for once by the army. Sicily was secured as a British base in the Med.  Despite this the battle is not well known, unless you live in Maida Vale!

The book is well written and gives a full background to the battle and the consequences. The battle itself is interesting in so far as it is likely that the French fought in line and were still beaten by disciplined British firepower. A prelude to the successes of the Peninsular War.

Bulgarian Legion

Latest figures off the workbench are not from one of my current projects. They are 28mm Bulgarian Legion figures from the Russo-Turkish War.

These are from a new range by Outpost Miniatures. I first saw them at the Claymore show in the summer, when their stall was next to our display game. There is a mouthwatering vignette with their display. I resisted them most of the day because I have this army in 15mm. However, one my my pals, in the finest tradition of the drug dealer, sucked me in by buying me a couple of packs.

I have based them as skirmish figures because I am not going to build full size armies. Famous last words!

Bulgaria at this time was part of the Ottoman Empire and the Bulgarian Legion were volunteers fighting with the Russians to liberate their country.The Legion consisted of six rifle battalions and was attached to General Gourko's flying column, tasked with capturing and holding the Shipka Pass. In an epic battle they succeeded although with heavy losses.

Siege of Khartoum

Plenty of train journeys this week because of the weather that enabled me to finish the latest John Wilcox novel, Siege of Khartoum.

This is in the Simon Fonthill series. Fonthill is an unusual Victorian character who manages to be at most of the late nineteenth century colonial campaigns, as all good heroes are of course. Unusual because the author has given his hero plenty of 21st Century values. Respecting the role of women, natives etc. If a bit incongruous it makes easier reading for a modern audience.

So here he is trying to reach Gordon in Khartoum before the Mahdi closes in. He gets captured and is rescued by his fiance and a Sudanese warrior, who are the real heroes of the book. Not quite the Four Feathers, and to put it mildly stretching credibility, but a good read none the less. 

It was all a bit predictable but saved by Wilcox's pacy style. As one reviewer put it "Boy's Own stuff".

I sold my 15mm Dervish and British armies earlier this year so I wasn't tempted back to the period with this book. Mind you the Perry's do some very nice 28mm .............

More Nationalists

These will be the last of the Nationalists, for now at least.

First we have the regular Moroccan infantry. These troops formed the backbone of the Nationalist army. Volunteer troops recruited from Berber hill tribes they were hardy and courageous soldiers.

And then a few Nationalist cavalry.

Roll on Xmas, when hopefully I will find some time to learn and adapt the rules and get these armies onto the tabletop.