The Legion

Just finished my latest Simon Scarrow novel 'The Legion'. This is in his Roman Empire series following the adventures of Macro and Cato, now both Centurions, around the Empire's wars.

This episode takes place in Egypt. Cato and Macro are chasing the slave pirate Ajax along the coast where he is impersonating a Roman unit and destabilising the Empire's hold on what was a vital province.

He is eventually cornered by the flotilla led by Cato, but escapes overland. Ajax heads for Nubia and joins up with the Nubian army that has launched a major attack on the southern provinces. Cato and Macro are ordered to join the 22nd Legion and Cato ends up commanding the legion after the death of two previous commanders.
Scarrow is a master story teller. His books have real pace and his heroes have that anti-establishment edge that make them interesting and powerful characters in their own right. The model is of course Sharpe, just back a few centuries. Be warned this is very difficult to put down!   

Who do you think you are kidding Mr Hitler

I know books are not good for me. Good historical fiction is really bad for me.

I enjoyed Andy Johnson's book Seelowe Nord so much that I just had to wargame it. A German invasion of Yorkshire in 1940. I have regular British troops in 15mm, but a key role in the book was played by a Home Guard platoon.

So off to Peter Pig who have all you will need in metal. A quick paint job and there we have a Yorkshire version of Mr Mannering and this merry band. These are based and organised for Flames of War. I used the Lines of Communication platoon data from the Blitzkrieg supplement.

Next I will need some Germans. Why did I sell of my last 15mm Germans? I have decided on a Gebirgsjager company. As some one who has puffed and panted my way up a fair few Scottish mountains I have nothing but respect for mountain troops who had to do it with equipment, in all weathers and without the benefit of modern walking gear. 

Lots of metal ordered for what will become one of my key projects for the year. Watch this space - eventually!

Italian Army Elite Units 1940-43

 

The Italian Army of WW2 gets a generally bad press. This is largely based on the early war performance in the Western Desert. After that, despite some poor leadership and obsolete equipment, individual units performed well.

This new Osprey (Elite 99) covers most of the better units of the Italian army including armoured, paratroop and assault engineers. Then a variety of special units, many of which I had never heard of. All set out in the usual Osprey format with a good range of photies and the excellent colour plates.

Reading this inspired me to get some Italians out of the 'to do' box and onto the painting bench. Having reorganised my Flames of War army for the Greek campaign in line with the Burning Empires supplement, I realised that I am going to need more infantry.

I haven't painted 15mm figures for some time. Nice to be able to get units painted quickly for a change. Some LMG bases as a starter below.

Hannibal - Enemy of Rome

Just finished my latest Ben Kane book, Hannibal - Enemy of Rome.

I am always going to be sucked into a book about the Punic Wars and needed no encouragement when an author as good as Ben Kane gives Hannibal the treatment. Carthage was my very first wargames army, mostly Garrison 25mm figures - yes we are talking nearly 40 years ago!

He tells the story through the eyes of the family of one of Hannibal's officers. One son gets captured by pirates and is sold into slavery near Capua. You can tell where this will all end later in the campaign for those familiar with the history of Capua during this period. The other side through a Roman officers family from Capua.

Anyway, this book covers the siege of Saguntum, the crossing of the Alps and the Battle of Trebia. The battle scenes really come to life and the story is told really well. Looking forward to more of this. Recommended. 

Some of my current Carthaginian troops. Libiyan spearmen of the type commanded by the officers in the book.

Sons of Thunder

My latest read has been Giles Christian's Sons of Thunder. This is the second of his Raven series covering the adventures of a shipload of Viking warriors.

This tale takes our band of warriors to Carolingian France. First to catch up with the Saxon traitor Ealdred and then to sell a religious book to the Emperor Charlemagne.

I have to say I struggled with this volume for the first two thirds. It seemed very slow with painful amounts of detail around individual relationships that had already been developed in the first book. The final third lived up to the billing as an action thriller when the band reached the Emperor and were forced to flee with a large force in pursuit.

I am glad I didn't give up on this at an early stage, but it simply wasn't as good as the first volume. Not sure I will bother with the next stage. But as they are heading for Constantinople I may well give in.

Thunder in May

Just finished the second of Andy Johnson's World War 2 series 'Thunder in May'. I raved about his first book 'Seelowe Nord' last month, so I picked up the second eagerly and was not disappointed.

This volume deals with the Fall of France in 1940. The formula is similar. He tells the story in short chapters from the strategic level down to small unit action. Most of the characters are taken from history, albeit with fictional dialogue, and a few more are added in.

The main character is again Sargeant Jackson, 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards. His platoon is involved in several delaying actions before they are evacuated at Dunkirk. But we are also given the glider landings at Eben Emael, Rommel and the Ghost Division, the counter attack at Arras,

Guderian and the halt order, and many more highlights from the campaign.
Couldn't put it down. Highly recommended.

Russo-Turkish War 1877

Reinforcements for the 1877 project. More Outpost Miniatures from their superb range.

First we have Russian Cossack cavalry and artillery.

Of course they need someone to skirmish with. So enter the Turkish cavalry and supporting artillery.



Fiat CR.42

New addition to the Italian forces for the Mediterranean campaigns is a flight of Fiat CR.42 aircraft. Also useful for the Spanish Civil War as it looks similar to the earlier CR.32, the mainstay of the Nationalist air force.

The models are from the Flames of War range and are 1/144 scale, slightly smaller than the ground forces. I was delighted when these came out, as I struggled to find this aircraft in model form at a scale suitable for use with 15mm figures. While it is a bit fiddly and delicate, that is probably inevitable with biplanes using struts.

Unlike the models the earlier CR.32 was a very robust aircraft, well suited for flying in Spain off semi-prepared airfields. Being made of wood, it was also easier to repair than the more modern I-16 or Bf 109s. Some 225 aircraft were operational at the end of the conflict and some 50 of these were rebuilt using scrapped components. The Osprey Fiat CR.32 Aces of the Spanish Civil War tells the full story.

The CR.42 Falco (Falcon) entered service in May 1939. By the end of the war some 1800 were built and it also saw service in the Hungarian, Belgium and Swedish air forces. It fought in all the Mediterranean campaigns and although obsolete, it performed well due to its impressive manoeuvrability. More details of the plane in the Balkans can be found in Christopher Shores book Air War for Yugoslavia, Greece and Crete 1940-41.

VBCW - Flags and Facists

The Clydeside Brigade is looking good with the latest arrivals adding to their strength. Fascists beware! However, something was missing - flags.

In steps Iain, a new club member at GDWS who runs Flags of War a supplier of 28mm wargames flags. As you can see below the Clydeside Brigade now has it's very own flag and company level ones as well. Many thanks Iain!

I don't claim any objectivity when it comes to the 1930's, hence my choice of unit. However, they need someone to fight other than the Scottish Government forces. So Moseley's British Union of Fascists have crossed the border. Lets hope my red dice roll well!



The Afrika Reich

Just finished my first Kindle book, Afrika Reich by Guy Saville. I didn't think I would like an electronic book reader, but I was wrong. Love having a huge library at my fingertips to download in seconds. It won't replace reference books, but I anticipate using it for most of my fiction reading.
Anyway, Afrika Reich is a bit of post WW2 alternative history. Britain made peace with Hitler after Dunkirk and the subsequent treaty gave Germany its pre-WW1 colonies back. They took over the former French and Belgium ones as well. They exploited the continent and the SS applied an African version of Lebensraum.

The book is really a thriller with a former soldier and mercenary hired to assassinate the SS commander in the German Congo. Plenty of twists and turns and fast paced action as they are chased across Africa by the SS after the assassination goes wrong.

It would make an interesting idea for a wargames campaign with an updated Afrika Korps and 8th Army fighting it out in Rhodesia and South Africa. Stop me now!
   

1812: Alternative history

This weekend was was our annual Double Header at GDWS. An opportunity to play big games that take too long to fit into the normal Sunday afternoon session.

My contribution was an alternative 1812 scenario as this is the 200th anniversary of Napoleon's invasion of Russia. As Napoleon started his advance the allies put together a coalition of British, Ottoman and Russian troops that advanced through the Balkans into the Ukraine to threaten Napoleons right flank.

The rules were Principles of War Napoleonic in 15mm. The allied force consisted of an Ottoman 'Corps' of 2 horse and 3 foot commands; A British Corps of 3 Infantry and 2 cavalry divisions; and a Russian Corps of the same size. Plus an advance guard of Tartars. Napoleon sent a blocking force of the Austrian detached Corps; a Saxon and a Polish corps together with a cavalry corps.

It will be obvious that these armies are strong in cavalry. That was intentional, as the plan was to force a major cavalry battle on the Saturday with the infantry arriving on the Sunday. It all worked out to plan with a huge swirling cavalry clash, narrowly won by the Allies. However, the infantry couldn't exploit the victory on Sunday with the 'French' hanging on, blocking the exits to Napoleon's line of march.  

Really fun game with lots of interest through some 13 hours of gaming.

Other games organised during the weekend included Sudan in 28mm, Eastern Front WW2 in 20mm, Boer War in 6mm and a FoG competition in the Biblical period.

Hungarian Army 1848-1849

This is a new booklet from Partizan Press on the Hungarian Army during the year of revolutions as it sought to break away from the Hapsburg Empire. Written by Ralph Weaver, the Secretary and driving force behind the Continental Wars Society and their very useful newsletter The Foreign Correspondent.

There is a very short introduction to the uprising before we get into the meat of the work, the Organisation, equipment and uniforms of the Hungarian army. The key elements included the National Guard, the national army or Honved, the regular army units that came over to the uprising and finally, the irregular and foreign units. Each section describes the organisation and uniforms with line drawings supplement by Ron Poulter's fine colour plates.

I saw some excellent paintings of this army in Budapest last year.

This army, with its colourful uniforms just cries out to be modelled on the wargames table. I have the Austrian army of the period,  so I need to think about the Hungarians. The regular army is simple enough because they started the conflict with the Austrian uniform, so it just needs some colour changes. For the Honved, I think some Italian uniforms of the period might be capable of conversion as could some ACW figures. Plenty of Hussars and the foreign legions generally follow their home nation uniforms. So it might not be too difficult after all. Put it on the project list for later in the year. 

A good history of the uprising is The Lawful Revolution by Istvan Deak.

VBCW - Clydeside Brigade recruits

The New Year brings some new recruits to the Clydeside Brigade.

First we have a shipyard rifle platoon. They have taken the Covenanters as their inspiration, hence the blue bunnets.

Then we have some more workers militia.

These figures are mostly from the Musketeers Miniatures range.





VBCW - Duchess Hussars

A bit of an indulgence this but I couldn't resist these figures and A Very British Civil War was just the excuse.

May I present the Duchess of Argyll's Hussars. Historically the great lords in Scotland all had their own private army. That all came to an end with the Jacobite rebellions etc. Although there remains one legal private army in Scotland, the only one in Europe, at Blair Atholl. The Atholl Highlanders number around 100 men and are today a ceremonial tourist attraction at the estate.

Back to the VBCW. With revolutionary activity all around the great, and not so great, lords started to recruit private armies once again. The problem being manpower. The clearances and other economic change meant the landowners no longer had large numbers of tenants to call upon for military service. The Duchess of Argyll came up with a solution. She recruited her friends and their staff into an all female hussar unit. Anyway that’s my story!

The figures are from the Hinterland Miniatures range. They do a wide range of figures and support weapons on this theme. Visit the gallery section to see how collectors across the world have used these fine castings.

Seelowe Nord

My post-Xmas reading was Andy Johnson's Seelowe Nord: The Germans are Coming. This is a fictional account of the German invasion of Britain in 1940. The difference is that the author treats the landings in Kent as a diversion for the main effort on the Yorkshire coast.

He doesn't pass on the obvious challenges such an invasion would cause for the German planners. A long sea route with limited fighter air cover, while the British have the advantage of interior lines. And of course it all comes to a sticky end!

The author's approach is also interesting. We are given many views of the invasion from different levels in short chapters. The strategic view from Churchill and the Chief of Staffs, with Alanbrooke the key command figure. And on the German side the High Command. At the operational level we get German paras, UBoat commanders, pilots and others. For the Brits, Home Guards, naval units, resistance and later, armoured units for the counterattack.

I won't spoil the story but it is very well told, extensively researched and few distractions from the action that is relentless. I am pretty familiar with this coast having walked it, but I suspect others would benefit from a map or two. Other than that minor gripe I cannot recommend this book highly enough. I look forward to reading more from this author. 

It also caused me to look out my well thumbed copy of Peter Fleming's 1957 book Invasion 1940. A good starting point for anyone wanting to know more about the period. As a wargamer I did a campaign many years ago simulating German attacks on Scotland post invasion and this book has many possibilities for a similar campaign. The Flames of War Blitzkreig supplement has all you need. Now where are the Battlefront and Peter Pig catalogues..........

Russo-Turkish War 1806-12

Happy new year! I suspect one prominent military history anniversary this year will be Napoleon's invasion of Russia.

Of course I am always looking for the Balkan angle and therefore I have published an introduction to the Russo-Turkish War of 1806-12 on the Balkan History website. The ending of this conflict enabled the Tsar to redeploy forces from the Balkans to face Napoleon's armies.

The Russian army in the final stages of the war was brilliantly led by Kutuzov. He defeated much larger Ottoman forces, most notably at the Battle of Ruse in June 1811. You can also see elements of the strategy he later used to defeat Napoleon during that terrible Russian winter.

I recently gamed the battle in 15mm using Principles of War rules. The Russian's formed up into two lines of Regimental squares with cavalry in reserve. The Ottoman cavalry actually managed to break some squares down during the battle, but sadly not on the tabletop.

Dark Age skirmish

My post Christmas gaming, other than a multi-player Napoleonic Principles of War game, has  focused on Dark Age skirmishing.

Firstly, with 700pt WAB games to try out our 2011 WAB tournament rules. These appear to play well and I have selected three scenarios for the year with two games a session. My test games involved Bulgars v Vikings and provided several interesting encounters. Despite the production problems, WAB 2 plays well and the small point options give a quick and enjoyable game.

Secondly, I have been trying SAGA. For those not familiar with this new set of rules from Gripping Beast it covers the Viking Age and at present there are battle boards for Vikings, Anglo Danish, Normans and Welsh. A force can include Hearthguard or retainers, Warriors, Levies and the Warlord. You make up small 'armies' using a simple points system. No complicated army lists here.

The game mechanics are simple with just four measurements and straightforward combat and shooting mechanisms. The more skilled the troop type, the more attack dice you get and the better the armour the more difficult to kill. The subtlety comes with the battle boards that control orders and special abilities. You roll special dice and allocate them to actions (rest, move, shoot) or abilities that strengthen your attacks or defence. It requires some planning to work out what you want to do and how your opponent is likely to respond. 

Everything is clearly laid out in full colour with plenty of eye candy. Helpful summaries at the end of each section and plenty of worked examples. After just one game we were working off the quick reference sheet. But be warned, while the game mechanisms are simple, this is a lot more subtle than it at first appears and you really need to focus on the orders stage and make best use of the actions and abilities on your battleboard.

Overall I enjoyed these rules that allow a quick and fun evening game.

Normans catch a Viking raiding force!

Englishman in the Russian Ranks

This the remarkable story of John Morse, told in his own words, an Englishman caught in Germany at the outset of WW1.

He was on business in what was then the Eastern border of Germany (modern day Poland) when Germany was about to declare war on the Entente Powers. His story starts with him slipping through German lines during their initial crossing of the Russian border. He eventually finds the Russian army and stays on to fight the Germans. In the 19th Century he would have been described as a gentleman volunteer, although I doubt the Russian army would recognise the concept. He fought with a Cossack unit, an artillery battery and several infantry units for almost a year before being captured, then escaping, before making his way back to England.

His observations of the war in the East, while very English of the period, are fascinating. He gives great descriptions of small and large scale actions, the impact of fortifications and artillery as well as the much more fluid nature of the war in this sector. While not a professional writer, the book is still a good read and an essential source for anyone interested in the period.

Bellini Card

Crime fiction is not my usual genre, but when the setting is 19th Century Istanbul and the author is a historian of the period, I am interested. The Bellini Card is the third in Jason Goodwin's series about the Ottoman detective Yashim.

Most of this book is set in Venice 1840. Yashim and his friend the Polish Ambassador set about recovering the missing portrait of Sultan Mehmet. Venice in 1840 is no longer the great city of the Renaissance. After Napoleon captured the city, followed by Austrian occupation, trade and wealth by pass the city. But there is plenty of intrigue and local politics as they pursue the painting.

I won't spoil the story, but as you would expect from this author the tale has some basis in fact. The former British Ambassador to the Porte, who retired to Venice, acquired the painting of Mehmet II by Bellini in 1865 when it was left on his doorstep! His widow donated the painting to the National Gallery in London.

I have enjoyed this series and if you like crime fiction you won't be disappointed.

More Black Powder

We had an opportunity at the club last week to expand our understanding of the Black Powder rules using the Last Argument of Kings supplement.

This time a match up between Russians and Austrians circa 1710. Four brigades a side. On the Austrian right a cavalry brigade with a unit of cuirassiers and two units of dragoons, facing a Russian brigade with horse grenadiers and dragoons. In the centre (see picture below) two brigades of line infantry and grenadiers faced off. On the far left a brigade of Croats (foot and horse) faced a similar brigade of Cossacks.  

The battle started with the Austrian cavalry charging right across the table while the infantry, somewhat more reluctantly, plodded towards the Russian line. The Croats didn't budge an inch. The cuirassiers made short work of the horse grenadiers although the dragoon battle was more even. By the time the Austrian infantry got to effective range the cuirassiers were threatening the Russian infantry flank and started to roll up the Russian line. The Croats eventually got moving, but the Cossacks hardly moved the whole battle and some desultory skirmishing was all that happened on the left. 

I thought the rules played well. The 'first fire' special rule for foot worked well for this period and the firefight was a decent battle of attrition. The cavalry contest could have gone either way. The Croat v Cossack skirmish was just what you might of expected and the Black Powder command rules come into there own here. Overall, enjoyable and pretty good simulation of warfare in the period. More plus marks for Black Powder.

The figures above are mostly Front Rank for the Austrians and Reiver Miniatures for the Russians.