Knights and more knights

When we started the Muret 1213 project there was a naive assumption that we had most of the figures required. Of course when we came to look at army lists we realised how many knights would be required. After further research it also became apparent that most of club members collections were later Hundred Year's War knights with all too much plate armour for Muret.

So, not for the first time we are in mad painting mode. Carronade is only two weeks away and I have been away on business for a week.

Thankfully Andy McGeary's  skilled brushwork has helped with this unit of Templars. They are Old Glory figures.

This is my more modest contribution from the Gripping Beast range. A particular irritation was the prelate. In a rush I gave him a sword, but it didn't look right, even for a medieval bishop. My nighttime reading is on the period when the author reminded me that fighting prelates used maces so they didn't spill blood. Apparently bashing your enemies head in with a mace was fine!

More on the painting baton. Some late nights ahead!

Grande Armee - Talavera

Got a game of Grande Armee in over Easter. We refought Talavera, very doable in this scale as are all the big battles of the Naploeonic wars.

I took the British and Spanish. The French came at my British left flank and ignored the Spanish. I extended my flank to meet them, but had strong units on the ridge. This is a battlefield I have visited so I could picture the terrain. My recollection was that it was much more rugged than the scenario, but we got to the same point of decision as in the actual battle.

Somewhat disconcertingly my veteran British line collapsed and I was struggling to plug the gaps with cavalry while they rallied. In fairness to the scenario my dice throwing was abysmal. None the less I think it is important that the effectiveness of British volleys is reflected better in the strength points in the scenario. There are few variable factors in the rules to keep it simple, so the British advantage needs to be reflected in strength points.

This picture shows the point of near disaster.

The rally rules are a particular feature of Grande Armee and certainly saved my bacon. The cavalry held up the French and my line brigades rallied and held the line.

Despite some faults with the scenario, I think the rules are still good for big battles in 15mm.
 

Muret 1213 Update

We tested a cut down version of the scenario for our Carronade display game, Muret 1213, at the club on Sunday 8 April. The basic idea worked fine using Hail Caesar rules. Unlike Black Powder there are no rallying rules in Hail Caesar so we will have to introduce them for this battle, otherwise the French Crusaders will be too weak by the time they get around to the Toulouse forces.

As usual there will be some last minute painting. We have plenty of foot figures but not enough feudal knights. Masses of Hundred Years War figures but they have too much plate armour. Fortunately, the Spanish and Southern French hadn't moved on so much, so our Normans and El Cid figures can be deployed there.

Crusaders crash into the Spanish forces

The besieging forces

Two fingers from the Castle of Muret!

Sources in English for this battle are limited. Oman's classic Art of War in the Middle Ages covers it. Happily there is a Spanish Osprey look alike on the battle and campaigns. In Spanish but the pictures and battle plan are excellent.

Panzerschlacht - Hungarian Plains 1944

My Easter reading has been Perry Moore's book 'Panzerschlacht: Armoured operations on the Hungarian Plains, September- November 1944.'

The text covers, in some detail, the battles on the Hungarian Plain in the autumn of 1944. In particular the battles at Torda and Debrecen. I have driven around this area and can confirm that this is prime tank country, broken only by the many rivers that became a feature of the defensive positions.

Hungary became a battlefield in late 1944, when the Romanian border was breached by the Russians and the Romanians switched sides. Heavily outnumbered Hungarian and German units fought a series of strategically defensive operations, with some local counter attacks. They often held up large Russian and Romanian units, but in the end numbers prevailed.

This is a big book physically, almost coffee table size. The level of detail is a remarkable testimony to the research that must have gone into this book. Ideal for wargamers, as it describes German battle groups down to the numbers of men and tanks for a huge number of actions. It is not so strong on the Russian and Romanian units.

The level of detail makes the narrative hard going in places, but it's supported by good maps and plenty of them. Again, something you don't often get with this type of publication. Helion's high standards show throughout this book. However, the book is worth the price for the photographs alone. Hundreds of them that make full use of the books size. Plus orbats and some nice colour plates of the main AFV's.

If you are planning on gaming this section of the Eastern Front - this is a must have book.

Dacians

One of the very few Balkan conflicts I haven't done before is Trajan's invasion of Dacia.

I have been collecting Roman units for the past six months or so. Not quite a full Hail Caesar army yet but getting close. I have a reasonable collection of generic Celtic infantry that will muster at the least the back ranks of the Dacian foot units. There were several Celtic tribes in the area so they can also be fielded in their own right.

To supplement this I have used the Warlord Dacian plastics. Tremendous animation in these figures, probably too much to fit together well, but these will provide the front rank for my units. Not really enough falxmen so I will need to supplement these with metals.

Some command stands of course. Although with Hail Caesar rules you can't rely on your units to take any notice of them!

What I really like about the Dacians is the balance the Sarmatians give the army. Shock cavalry and horse archers. These Warlord metals are very nice indeed. My horse archer collection will probably suffice, but can I resist a unit of female warriors? Probably not.

If these fine figures are not enough for the project, Warlord have produced a supplement, 'Rome's Dacian Wars', written by Craig Woodfield. This is very good. Plenty of eye candy to go with the potted history, scenarios and army lists. In addition some rule additions including sieges and a skirmish game. I am also painting up some Foundry casualty figues for those very nice Warbase casualty counters.

Constantine the Great

A short interregnum in my reading around my key projects has been Elizabeth James book, 'Constantine the Great - Warlord of Rome'.

Constantine is of course best known as the Roman emperor who converted to Christianity and effectively led the Empire very quickly in the same direction. However, as the title implies, the author seeks to remind us that this was only possible because he was also an outstanding general.

James sets out the organisation and equipment of the Roman army in the 4th Century and how it sought to defend the extensive borders of the Empire. Constantine was in Britain when his troops declared him Emperor and there is a statue of him in York. She then takes us through the campaigns of the ensuing civil war including the 'vision' at Milvian Bridge that led to his conversion. Then the later campaigns in the Balkans that led to the capture of Byzantium. This was converted into the new capital that bore his name, Constantinople.

This is a good narrative history and while the religious impact is explained, this book focuses on his military campaigns and the armies he led.

Russo-Turkish War 1877

Some reinforcements for my Russo-Turkish War 1877 project in 28mm. These are from the seriously good Outpost Miniatures range. I have returned to this project largely due to being inspired by Quinton Barry's excellent book 'War in the East'. It includes some of my photies taken at Shipka Pass, a very well preserved battlefield.

First up a unit of Redif infantry. These are reservists that had been called up when war broke out with Serbia the previous year. These are modelled with the turban wrapped around the Fez. This distinguishes them from the regular line infantry although they didn't all do this. The main difference was the rifle. Reservists were mostly armed with the older Snider rifles, inferior to the Berdan issued to regulars, but still as good as the Russian Krnk.

Then a Turkish Pasha to command the army together with some officers and line infantry reinforcements for existing units. He has been modelled in what I assume is closer to full dress uniform. Most of the photos show a slightly plainer uniform but we do like our generals to stand out.

Next up a unit of Russian guardsman. The main difference with the line is the Furashka cap instead of the kepi.

 

 

And finally, no Russian army would be complete without General Mikhail Skoboleff. He is surrounded by some line infantry reinforcements. I would welcome any suggestions for a suitable flag.

 

 



I am of course kidding myself that is is still a skirmish project! Hence the individual bases. But Warbases helpfully provide slot bases for units in regular formation for a full Black Powder game.

Albigensian Crusade

I am getting into the research for our first display game of season at Carronade in May, the Battle of Muret 1213.

I usually start with a general history and this is Jonathan Sumption's 'The Albigensian Crusade'. To most people 'crusade' means the Holy Land or perhaps Spain, or if like me your interest is in the Balkans, then perhaps Nicopolis 1396. You probably wont think about Southern France and the Languedoc in particular. However, in the early 13th Century there were several fully authorised crusades aimed at extinguishing the Cathar church.

The beliefs of the Cathar church are not at all clear because the Catholic church destroyed their writings, but they appear to have been similar to the Bogomils in the Balkans. They were certainly a protest against what they perceived to be the moral, spiritual and political corruption of the Catholic church. They opposed war and capital punishment, marriage vows, sexual intercourse even to the extent of not eating the product of any intercourse. Instead of priests they had Perfects who administered  the Consolamentum, involving a brief spiritual ceremony to remove all sin from the credente, or believer.

While this was a grass roots movement, it had widespread support amongst the nobility, including at least tacit support from the area's main ruler, Count Raymond VI of Toulouse. Militarily this meant the crusade pitted the knights of Northern France against those from the South. The widespread northern enthusiasm for the Crusade was less to do with religious fervour than the papal decree permitting the confiscation of lands owned by Cathars and their supporters.

The crusade was led by Simon de Montfort, no not the Barons War one, but his father. The war fell into a routine of summer gains, mostly through siege warfare, when Simon was supported by large numbers of crusaders. Then some falling off during the winter when he had to hold off the locals with a small number of knights. The decisive battle was Muret in 1213, a victory against Raymond of Toulouse and his allies, including Peter of Aragon who died in the action. In the longer term it had greater significance to the royal house of France than to Simon de Montfort, as it was a big step in the creation of the unified French kingdom we know today.

Sumption's book explains the dualist tradition of the Cathar Church and then the main campaigns that didn't conclude until the French King Louis VIII led a crusade in 1224 - 29. The Cathar church gradually died away after that. The last major military stand was at the Cathar fortress of Montsegur in 1244.


While Sumption describes the campaigns he doesn't say much about the armies. For that I turned to Osprey MAA 231 'French Medieval Armies' that has a rather good colour plate of Simon de Montfort on the cover. Ian Heath, 'Armies of Feudal Europe' is always a good source. Oman covers the battle itself in Volume One of his 'Art of War in the Middle Ages'.

So, history understood, the next stage is the armies. I have started to collect flags from a variety of suppliers and a few figures including the Mirleton version of de Montfort. Then we will need an audit of figures in the collection of GDWS members to identify the gaps for the painting table.

Albanich 2013

My first wargame show of the season was yesterday's Dumfries show, Albanich. I was working in the morning so I only had time for a brief visit in the afternoon. This is a small show, but apparently a good turnout and there was a strong showing by traders. They certainly did well out of my short visit, including books, paint and more than a few figures from the Warlord stand.

I resisted adding to my ancients, but it was difficult when you see the quality of these Aventine figures.

There were only a few games but they were all very good.

Being Dumfries a VBCW game is mandatory.

French Indian wars

Bolt Action

 

 

An unusual Russo Japanese skirmish

 



And finally the Battle for Madrid (SCW)

Flodden 1513

This year is the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Flodden. It was fought in Northumberland on 9 September 1513 between a Scottish army led by King James IV and an English army led by the Earl of Surrey. It was the largest battle ever fought between the two kingdoms and resulted in a major defeat for the Scots and the death of King James.

The war began when Henry VIII invaded France in 1513. Scotland was allied to France and James agreed to a diversionary attack on England. He invaded with an army of 60,000 men supported by French arms including the first use of pikes by a Scots army. The Earl of Surrey mustered 26,000 troops from across northern England, as the best troops were in France.

By the time the Scots army reached the hill of Flodden Edge it had shrunk to around 35,000. This was a strong position with entrenched artillery so Surrey marched the English army to the north forcing James to move to Branxton Hill. After suffering casualties from English artillery fire James advanced his pike blocks off the hill to attack the English lines. After initial success on the left the main attack faltered under artillery and bow fire. The arrival of Stanley's force seals the victory. Some 10,000 Scots were casualties including the King. English losses were around 1500.


My reason for reading up on the battle was our plan to include this in this year's GDWS display game programme. We like to do at least one anniversary battle. So I started with a good general history, Peter Reese, 'Flodden - A Scottish Tragedy' and then the Osprey Campaign 'Flodden 1513'. Having understood the battle, I then moved onto the armies. The Osprey MAA series does a book on both armies and I also have Ian Heath's excellent study 'Armies of the 16th Century'. There are some good online resurces as well including the Flodden Ecomuseum.

After this reading we decided that sadly Flodden was not a viable project. We had thought that our late medieval armies would form the backbone and it would only need a few add ons. However, the Scots army in particular is almost unique to this battle and, other than the highlanders, very few of our figures would do. The English were also much more renaissance looking than we expected. Painting large numbers of figures for a display game is of course nothing new for us. But this was on a pretty daunting scale, in only a few months, to produce armies that, for the Scot's at least, can only really be used for this one battle.

So, I enjoyed the research but it won't feature on the tabletop, at least not in 28mm. I do have the English in 15mm, so other non-display possibilities there.

Back to the drawing board and we settled on another anniversary battle, Muret 1213 for our next display game at Carronade. But that is another story....

German reinforcements

After my last game in the Flames of War, Seelowe Nord campaign, it became obvious that the Germans would need some heavier firepower as they advanced into Yorkshire. The Matildas in particular are difficult to stop with German army's 'doorknocker'.

So this week I have painted up a platoon of Pkw38t and an 88mm flak, poised for the ground role. The Pkw38's are from Forged in Battle and the 88 is from Battlefront.

The Pkw 38 started as the Czechoslovak army LT vz.38 built by Skoda and was taken over by the Germans after the occupation. Around 1400 Pkw 38's were produced in 8 different variants with various modifications, improved armour protection and armed with Czech made 37mm Skoda A7 vz.38 guns, designated by the Germans as 37mm KwK 38(t) L/48 (L/47.8). They were used by the 6th, 7th and 8th Panzer Divisions during the invasion of France and by the 8th Panzer Division in the Balkans. So it is entirely likely they would have been present has Sealion gone ahead.

The chassis was used for the later Hetzer and Marder SPGs. The tank was also also exported to German allies including Romania (50), Slovakia (90), Bulgaria (10) and Hungary (102). As well as neutrals in South America and Sweden.

I didn't get a chance to deploy them at the club today. We played FoW but I was using an 8th Army rifle company in Sicily against a German panzer company. My anti-tank guns failed badly on the left flank leaving both objectives exposed. However, my opponent pushed his command tanks forward to plug a gap my infantry were creating in the centre and they were both destroyed. So Monty rolls on to Messina! Good game and I learnt a bit more about the rules. 

Seelowe Nord scenario

Today I fought another stage in the Seelowe Nord campaign. For those not familiar with the concept, this is a 15mm Flames of War campaign based on Andy Johnson's book Seelowe Nord that postulates a German invasion of Britain via the Yorkshire coast.

Today's scenario had a regular British platoon holding a bridge over a large river. They were tasked with holding the bridge until an engineer unit came to blow it up. Of course the engineers never arrived. A German armoured car and a scout platoon arrives and decides on a quick assault. They lost one armoured car to an ATR shot, but otherwise forced the bridge sending the Brits packing. Just as well as a Fallschirmjager platoon landed on their side of the bridge ready to attack their flank.

The bridge taken, a tank platoon trundled over with a Gebirgsjager platoon in support. Together with the paras they assaulted the village held by a Home Guard unit and the retreating regulars. The Home Guard were bundled out of the village quickly and the regulars did only slightly better.

British reserves were slow to arrive but a tank platoon led by two Matilda's brought the German armour to a halt after knocking out the Stug and PkwIV. The light PkwII's dived for cover. With the German's holding the village the late arriving British infantry and artillery had little prospect of launching a successful attack, so they withdrew to the next position. Victory to the invaders.

The initial set up

Sdkfz 221's storm the bridge

 

Tank platoons and supports cross the river

Fallschirmjager force the village

Nomonhan 1939

Keeping up the Far East World War Two theme my reading for this week has been Nomonhan 1939 by Stuart Goldman.

As obscure WW2 battles go this might take the biscuit, but it was actually very significant. Justifying, in my view, the book's sub-title The Red Army's Victory that Shaped World War II.

It took place on the border between Soviet controlled Mongolia and Japanese controlled Manchuria. This was an area of frequent border skirmishes between the two armies including large scale actions at the Amur River and Changkufeng. The primary cause of the clash was the very aggressive leadership of the Japanese Kwantung Army. Or more accurately middle ranking elements of the leadership. What was astonishing is the way they ignored, what would be in any other army a direct order from the General Staff in Tokoyo, to break off the action. To the extent that even after being pushed back they counter attacked again. This is put down to the spirit of gekokujo (the low overcomes the high) that pervaded the Japanese military, especially the Kwantung army. The concept was used as justification for junior and mid-level military officers engaging in principled disobedience if they were motivated by moral principles.

The Nomonhan affair was based on a disputed border area. After what the Japanese regarded as an incursion by a small Mongolian force, the Kwantung army launched air attacks deep into Mongolia followed by a ground attack by a reinforced division that later expanded to become the 6th Army. The Soviets responded with what became the First Army Group commanded by none other than Zhukov. Soviet armour and artillery was vastly superior and despite fighting to almost the last man, the reinforced Japanese forces were destroyed. It was the worst Japanese defeat in modern times with some 23,000 casualties. The Soviets lost slightly more men at around 25,000.

The wider significance of the action was that Stalin felt able to focus on the West and the pact with Germany to divide Poland. It also meant he didn't have to fight a two front war unlike most other nations in WW2. Remember, it was Zukov's experienced Far Eastern army that saved Moscow and probably the Soviet Union from defeat in 1941/42. For the Japanese it encouraged a southern strategy that led to the Pacific conquests and war with the USA. Astonishingly, it was the same middle ranking officers that drove that failed strategy as well.

Overall this is an excellent study of an unusual and little covered conflict. Highly recommended.

Singapore: Britain's greatest defeat

One of my projects for this year is the Far East in WW2, probably starting with the Malayan campaign that culminated in the fall of the Singapore 'fortress'. As always a new project starts with some background reading and so I dusted down Alan Warren's 'Singapore: Britain's Greatest Defeat' that has been in my reading pile for some time.

This is a very good narrative of the campaign starting with preparations for war and then every stage of the allied retreat down the Malayan peninsula to the last stand on Singapore Island. Very readable with reasonable maps and a good selection of photographs.

I suppose what shocked me the most was the absence of good military intelligence on the Japanese army. After all they had recently fought the Russians and the Chinese. In lectures troops were told that the Japanese were small, myopic and technically backward. An Australian battalion commander opined that his men deserved a better enemy and the British military attache in Tokyo complained that "our chaps place the Japs somewhere between the Italians and the Afghans".

At a strategic level, successive British governments failed to adequately prepare for a conflict in the Far East and there was little chance of rectifying the position after war broke out in Europe. There was no real fleet and air cover was minimal. There were arguably sufficient land forces, indeed the Japanese were outnumbered for most of the campaign. Rearguard operations were poorly handled with heavy losses in manpower and equipment caused by disorderly withdrawals.

General Percival gets much of the blame and he undoubtedly made many mistakes. He clearly should have replaced units in Malaya rather than letting them be degraded in continuous operations. British, Indian and Australian troops were in the main better equipped than the Japanese, particularly in terms of artillery and vehicles. They were also regulars, volunteers or reservists - not conscripts. They may not have had tanks, but they had enough anti-guns guns had they been used better. The speed of operations in Malaya was an obvious problem for senior commanders operating in a WW1 manner.

I haven't finally decided if I am going to do this campaign in 15mm for FoW or 28mm Bolt Action, or both. I am also attracted to the pre-war actions in China and against the Russians. More reading to follow.

Capture Tito

Tried a miniature version of the raid on Drvar at the club today, using Bolt Action rules and 28mm figures.

The table below has Tito headquarters in a corner with Tito defended by his escort squad. In the village we have a couple of squads of partisans with two more arriving and over the river an assembling German force with tanks, armoured cars and two squads of infantry. Adding to the mix we have two squads of Fallschirmjager landing with a mortar and HQ unit. Highly compressed, but all the essential elements of the raid.

The Fallschirmjager started well driving the partisans from the graveyard. As veterans they are difficult to hit, especially with inexperienced partisan squads. However, numbers started to tell and firepower rained down on the graveyard as the attack ground to a halt. Aided it has to be said by some poor dice throwing by Iain. The relief force started to cross the river, but the infantry suffered casualties so there was insufficient force to capture the village, let alone move on to Tito's HQ.

The mechanisms worked well but the defences available to the partisans meant that the attackers needed a bigger force. Probably another couple of squads. None the less it has the making of a good display game on a larger scale with a bigger unit of Fallschirmjager. We are thinking of possibly two tables, one for Drvar and another for the relief force battle.

Crucible of Fate

This is latest book by Andy Johnson in his WW2 series.

I have given the first two books rave reviews, so I was looking forward to this read. I wasn't disappointed. I was surprised that he fast forwarded from 1940 to the Normandy landings as I expected the characters to turn up in Greece, the Western Desert or even Italy. However, there is no reason for not going back in time as he did with the second book.

The story is almost entirely based on the first day of the D-Day landings. The German defenders and in particular a unit of misfits who are tasked with holding a wooded hill, code named the Crucible. They may be less than fit, but they include several veterans of the Russian Front. The Brits are represented first by the Paras and then by one of the first infantry units ashore who eventually run up against the Crucible.

The writing style is very similar to the other books. Short chapters written in the first person of a character or characters in the different units. Very easy to put down and pick up again, although putting this book down is not easy.

If, like me, you are playing Bolt Action rules, this is the book to read. Most of the action is at platoon level so you get a real feel for the tactics. The use of cover, flanking moves and the importance of support weapons.

While reading this I have been taking a break from painting the 28mm figures by plugging a few gaps in my Flames of War 15mm armies. Some 20mm AA support for the Germans. Plus additional HMG's, ATRs, 2pdr ATG and mortars for the early war Brits. And another Matilda! The German AA are Battlefront and the Brits are Peter Pig. The Matilda is from the Skytrex range.

Grande Armee

Played my first full game of Sam Mustapha's Napoleonic rules, Grande Armee today.

These are big battle rules with a unit on the table representing a brigade or similar of a few thousand troops. This means you can play the big multi-corps battles of the Napoleonic wars on a normal wargames table. Obviously at this scale there are lots of abstractions, but that also means the game flows quickly.

Weather effect is represented more than I am probably used you and the command elements are represented by command points and control distances. The combat mechanisms have separate skirmish and artillery phases, but all close combat, shooting and hand to hand, is brought together in one phase. There is a fair and helpful review here.

Our game was the Battle of Katzbach 1813. Blucher commanding Prussian and Russian forces against the French commanded by McDonald. In our game the main French effort was on their right. The Russians under Langeron fought and blocking action until they were supported by the Prussians under Yorke. An honourable draw that helped me get a better understanding of the rules.

This was one of several games played at the GDWS weekend of games. Once or twice a year we play big games over a whole weekend. A big AWI Black Powder game as well as Blenheim using Maurice rules. Plus command decision and of course the FoG competition. Photies on the GDWS website.

Pike & Shotte

Played my first full game today with Pike & Shotte, the Black Powder derivative for the Renaissance period.. Tested them with Ottomans against Polish, mid 17th Century armies.

For those familiar with Back Powder the basic mechanisms are very similar. Unlike Hail Caesar that has far more changes. The same basic command system although initiative moves are limited to 6". Distances are generally shorter, I suspect reflecting experience with Black Powder (BP). We like many BP players use the two-thirds play sheet for BP. The key change is the hedgehog formation to reflect the close working of pike and shot units. If you get it right, pikes protect shot effectively against cavalry in particular. Dragoons are also factored in slightly differently to reflect their proper role as dismounted troops in this period. The special rules allow for all the classic renaissance tactics like caracole, gallopers and mercenary units.

More than half the book is taken up with army lists for all the main conflicts. Starting with the Italian Wars and finishing with the wars of the Sun King. A short historical overview followed by the main troop types and a few scenarios. There is a points system for those who feel the need. The options in the army lists are a bit limited. For example, no light infantry musket skirmishers for the Ottomans or foot Croats for the Imperialists, but these are easily added in. You are unlikely to need any supplements to play the period fully.

The game played well. The winged Hussars are very tough in these rules but not impossibly so. They rolled over the Sipahis of the Porte on one wing, but were pushed back on the other after the Balkan sharpshooters weakened them. The Janissaries and Polish foot blasted each other to a standstill and the skirmish cavalry did just that, skirmished inconclusively.

Lovely production values of course, masses of eye candy - worth the price for that alone. I have played the full set of these rules over the holiday period. While there are a few points I am not happy with, generally they all give a good game, with plenty of command uncertainty. I reckon they will be my staple rules for 28mm figures pre-20th Century.

Terror in the Balkans

I have just finished reading Ben Shepherd's, Terror in the Balkans published by Harvard University Press.

This is a study of German armies and partisan warfare in Yugoslavia during WW2, with a focus on the early 1941-43 period. This is not a narrative history of the campaigns although there is a decent overview in the introduction. Instead the author looks at the main occupation divisions with a focus on the divisional and regimental commanders. He argues that many of these were actually Austrian and their actions were influenced by their experience on the Eastern Front during the Great War.

The occupation divisions were generally second line troops and poorly equipped for the terrain they had to fight in. The strategy was conditioned by the German abhorrence of irregular warfare to which was added Nazi ideology. Shepherd argues that the commanders experience and training made them more receptive to this strategy. It resulted in widespread terror with massive reprisal shootings, destruction of whole villages and in some cases deportation. The concept of winning hearts and minds featured only rarely and then only at higher echelons when they realised that the strategy was driving the population into the partisan camp. In particular little was done to address the actions of the Axis allies in the Croatian Ustasha.

This is a well written study taking a very different approach to the conflict in Yugoslavia and is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the German approach to what was a major area of operations in WW2.

Happy New Year!

Seasons greetings to all. Wishing everyone a happy New Year and a good 2013.

So what are my plans for the coming year?

Projects at present include:

• WW2 Yugoslavia in 28mm. Some more partisans and Italians for the 1941-43 period. I will also use the Italians as opponents for the Greeks. A few more of them to paint up as well.
• Russo-Turkish War 1877 in 28mm. A few more infantry units for both sides.
• Dacians in 28mm. Almost the last Balkan army I don't have. Probably a few more Trajanic Romans as well.
• Britain 1940 in 15mm FoW. Still a few more units to finish this project off. Some British support weapons and engineers, plus some artillery and AA units for the Gebirgsjager.
• VBCW in 28mm. Just a few character figures to finish the project off.

Overall, more a finishing off year rather than any new projects. But the year is still young and possibilities include:

• Serbia 1876 in 28mm
• Hungary 1848 in 15mm
• Far East WW2 in 28mm, including the pre-war Chinese and Russian conflicts.
• Medieval Scots.

I hope to do more gaming this year. In particular:

• Black Powder along with Hail Caesar and Pike & Shotte.
• Bolt Action for WW2 projects and VBCW (with chance cards).
• Grande Armee. Dusting down my 15mm Napoleonics for what looks like an interesting game system.
• I will persevere with Maurice despite my reservations about systems that are too card driven.
• Flames of War. I think this is an elegant rules system.

For GDWS display games nothing is decided yet, but two outline plans. The first is the Battle of Glasgow Green, VBCW in 28mm. The second is WW2 Descent on Drvar in 28mm. Both using Bolt Action rules that I am very impressed with. We may also do Flodden given the centenary year.

I would like to get back to a bit more writing this year. Something that has dropped off in the last few years. My day job involves a lot of writing and I therefore find painting more of a relaxation.

Finally, my reading pile needs to be addressed although I have just spent my Xmas book tokens to add to it! As usual my reading can spark off new wargame projects. A longish list of historical fiction, some great stuff out there at present, as well as Balkan and other historical works.

Great plans as always. Probably far too much, but I will have fun trying!