Ottomans in FoG

Second half of our club FoG competition started yesterday. The first half was limited to pre-Feudal armies and now we have shifted to the later forces.

My choice not surprisingly is firmly in the Balkans with an Ottoman army and Serbian allies. My hope is that the Serbs will give the army a bit a punch that will complement the flexibility of the Ottomans.

Best laid plans and all that. My opponent fielded a Plantagenet army with wall to wall longbowmen, knights and some spearmen. My Serbian nobles charged up to his knights with all the elan they were famed for. And you guessed it, the commander got killed and they all ran away!

However, the Ottomans are made of sterner stuff. The Janissaries formed up with support from Voynuks and Ilyars and punched their way through his longbowmen. The Timarots kept their head and knocked out his lighter cavlary and then a unit of knights and the infidels were routed. 19-6 to the Ottomans in FoG terms.

So a good recovery from disaster and a lesson to me and my bias towards mounted armies that infantry are important, particularly superior types with the shooting and fighting expertise of the Jannisaries.

The Prow Beast

This is the latest adventure of the Oathsworn from the pen of my wargaming opponent Robert Low. This is a Viking saga told by a man who really knows his history and in particular how his characters lived and fought.

I wasn't as keen on the last book, because I felt Bob got a bit carried away with the camp fire tales at the expense of the main story. It therefore lacked the pace and action that I look for in historical fiction.

No such reservation with the Prow Beast. Full bloodied action and a real feeling that you are with Orm and his crew as they sally into the borderlands between the Holy Roman Empire and the Slavs to the East. Orm takes on other Vikings and an array of tribes that even I only vaguely recognised. The book culminates in an epic siege of a plague ridden fort where our heroes (of sort) fight of an army of Pols. Great stuff and highly recommended.

Vlad - the Real Dracula

Just finished C.C.Humphreys novel of the real Dracula, Vlad. This is the first novel I have read by this author who appears to be better known for the Jack Absolute series.

This is historical fiction at its best. A well researched history that keeps as close to what we know about the real historical figure, yet written with a great fast paced dialogue. The real Dracula was of course Vlad Tepes known as The Impaler after his favourite form of execution. Contrary to myth a form of execution that originated in the west - not the East. Dracula is a play on Dracul, or Dragon the knighly order he belonged to. It was of course Bram Stoker who created the vampire version, although in fact he did very little research on the original.

The novel takes us through Vlad's early years as a hostage in the Ottoman court, through several periods as Prince of Wallachia until his final defeat by the Ottomans. To this day Vlad is a national hero in Romania and many would welcome his success in stamping out crime - even if his methods were a bit robust by modern day standards!

In 2004 the GDWS display game The Real Dracula was based on Vlad's most famous battle the Night Attack. We used WAB rules as we had playtested the WAB supplement. I provided the Ottomans and the Wallachians came courtesy of my pal and fellow GDWS member Liam Entwistle. Liam is getting married today to Aileen in Glasgow so congratulations to them both. I will probably not mention to Aileen (or the priest for that matter!) Liam's interest in this period at the celebrations later!

Vlad Tepes as painted by Liam Entwistle

The wedding. Note Liam's period kilt. No Victorian tourist stuff for him.

Guillou - Crusades Trilogy

Missed my wargaming fix this weekend as I am streaming with a cold. Particularly annoying as we have our open FoG competition Schiltron and a club day today when we were going to try Black Powder rules with my Napoleon in Egypt figures. The cold started when I was up in Stornoway on business; given the usual hospitality on the islands, it is obviously a myth that whisky cures a cold!

My hotel room overlooked the old harbour and it isn't difficult to imagine the galley fleets of the Lord of the Isles docked there. I say galleys, but these would have been Berlinns, small galleys with up to 18 oars that were the mainstay of the largely independent Lordship of the Isles. Nigel Tranter's fictional account of the life of Somerled is a good introduction to this period. For a real history I would recommend 'Kingdom of the Isles' by R.McDonald. I have never built a wargames army for this period but Viking types are a good starter. For a card cut out model visit the Comunn Birlinn site.

Carving of a Birlinn at Finlaggan

Anyway back to the subject of this blog. Being ill I finished my latest book The Road to Jerusalem by Jan Guillou. This is the first of his crusades trilogy and was made into a film in 2007. It tells the story of Arn de Gothia from his upbringing in 12th Century Sweden to becoming a Templar knight.

This series has had some good reviews, but I regret I can't agree with them. His early life in a monastery together with the domesticity of medieval Sweden doesn't exactly make a racy read. The action is an occasional diversion from this. The back cover describes the book as "An epic tale of bloody battles and deep held beliefs, of forbidden love and heroic people" - frankly this is seriously overhyped, particularly the 'bloody battles' bit.

The author clearly knows his subject - but he could have spared us a lot of the detail. After sleeping with two sisters he is banished to join the Knights Templar at the end of the the book. The rest of the trilogy therefore holds out more promise, although the pedestrian writing style will need to improve to tempt me to complete the trilogy.

Hobilar and the Longbow

Just finished reading the latest edition of Hobilar, the journal of the Lance and Longbow Society.

There is a particularly good article by Paul Reeve, Longbows and Bowmen and the End of the Medieval Army. Paul gives an overview of longbow use and sets out comparisons with the gun in terms of range, accuracy, rate of shooting and impact. He also addresses some of the fables around guns and armour such as armour made arrows useless; and it takes a lifetime to earn the bow and day to fire a musket.

His conclusion is that the decline of the longbow had more to to with other military and social factors such as the decline in the popularity of military service. It was also a matter of training given the lack of shooting drill compared with the musket's use in practice and the regularisation and integration of the later musket armies.

As always this debate will go on and I expect a response from the longbow advocates in the next edition. Thankfully only time travel will end this type of historical debate.

The Normans

Just finished my monthly update of the Balkan Military History website. The feature army this month is the Normans.

The Norman adventure in the south is a great story and Normans served as mercenaries in the Byzantine army as well as against them. Most famously in 1081 when they invaded the Empire in modern day Albania at dyraccium (modern Durres).

Not just a great story but also a good wargame army. Heavy knights with a ferocious charge supported by a solid spearman base and quality missile firing with bows and crossbows. I like the Sicilian version that gives you light horse archers as well.

These are from the Gripping Beast range.

Field of Glory - Byzantine

It was Field of Glory competition day at the club on Sunday. I was fielding my Early Byzantine's against a Pontic army.

The Pontic's won the initiative and went for mountain terrain. This resulted in a cluster of steep hills in one corner and they dug in there. My cavalry army couldn't operate in there and there is no way in the rules that cavalry in two ranks can ride up shoot and evade to tease them out. Bit of a weakness in the rules in my opinion. An actual Byzantine army of the period would have done just that. Alternatively the might have galloped up, then shot them up dismounted. However, in the rules you can only dismount at the start.

So a stalemated draw after a few moves. Day not wasted though as we played another game in agricultural terrain. Good balanced game that looked as if it was going against the wily Byzantines, until they recovered to snatch victory. Belisarius triumphs again - although you just know the Emperor Justinian won't thank him!

On the subject of Byzantium I am enjoying a series of podcasts 12 Byzantine Rulers by Lars Brownworth. A really good introduction to the subject.

Air War in the Balkans

My latest reading has been 'Over the Balkans and South Russia 1917-19' by H.A.Jones MC, published by Grenhill Books in 1987. Picked it up in a Wigtown bookshop last week. Wigtown is Scotland's official book town and whilst not on the scale of Hay on Wye, it has certainly come on a lot since my last visit over ten years ago.

This is primarily the story of 47 Squadron of the RAF that provided air support to British forces in the Salonika campaign. It demonstrates how air support developed during WW1 albeit with the second line aircraft that were sent to the Balkans. Artillery spotting was the main task together with some light bombing of enemy airfields and supply dumps.

The author also covers the attacks by German and Bulgarian aircraft. For another good book from the German side I would recommend War Flying in Macedonia by Heydemarck. Long out of print but you might get it through the library.

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil War is my new project for 2010. Of course like any wargamer this doesn't mean I have finished my current projects! Peter the Great's Russians are done. The Salonika campaign is making good progress but still need some strengthening of the Central Powers - mostly Bulgarians and Austrians. I also intend to add a British army to the Napoleon in Egypt - but perhaps that counts as a new project!

Anyway, why the Spanish Civil War? I have always been fascinated by this prelude to WW2 and in particular the British volunteers in the International Brigades. I have had the honour to meet a few of them and hear their stories. 35,000 volunteers from all over the world volunteered to fight fascism, more proportionally from Scotland, hence my direct interest.

My interest was rekindled last year by Daniel Gray's book Homage to Caledonia that tells the story of many of those Scottish volunteers. Not really a military history, it instead gives the political and social context that is essential for any understanding of this particular conflict. I have just finished reading Franco's International Brigades by Christopher Othen that tells the story of the support the Fascist dictators gave Franco, together with the proportionally smaller numbers of overseas volunteers and of course the Moors.

A couple of years ago I picked up some units for both sides in 15mm at a bring and buy - mostly Peter Pig I think. These will form the starter force of the project. Next stop is some armour and aircraft and more International Brigade figures. Watch this space.

22nd Battalion of the International Brigade

NO PASARAN!

Wargames Recon

I received a complimentary copy of a new wargames magazine this week Wargames Recon. The economics of magazine publishing must be improving for someone else to join what looks like quite a crowded market.

My first impressions are positive. This is a glossy, well produced magazine in the modern style with plenty of eye candy to accompany solid text. There is a strong emphasis on product reviews that I always find helpful. Some quality contributors as well from this very obviously Geordie led enterprise. They include Ray and Mark from Under the Bed Enterprises. very pleasant and knowledgeable guys, so anything they are involved in is worth a second look.

So I for one will be taking out a subscription and wish the Geordies well.

Siege of Plevna

A pal pointed me in the direction of this clip on YouTube that depicts the Russians storming Plevna during the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. It is taken from the film Turkish Gambit that is based on the second book from the Adventures of Erast Petrovich Fandorin series of novels written by the Russian author Boris Akunin.

Sometimes described as the Russian James Bond, I would describe him as more of an intellectual investigator. Either way the books are an excellent read, full of period colour and the Turkish Gambit is particularly good. I had no idea it had been made into a film. As there are sub titles I must try and source a copy.

There is an excellent museum at Plevna in modern day Bulgaria, complete with a wonderful panorama painting of the battle. On my last visit an English speaking guide was on hand to give a detailed explanation - first class and highly recommended.

All this might even inspire me to dust down my 15mm armies for this conflict. Russian Guard below.

The Great War

Club game this Sunday was a Salonika campaign scenario using Warhammer Historical The Great War rules. A British battalion against a mixed German and Turkish battlegroup. Both had cavalry and artillery attached.

Only played a few games with these rules so far - so learning as we go. They are very brutal. Units caught in the open don't last long, which is fair enough, so make sure your tabletop has plenty of terrain. Field guns are not that effective but mortars and heavy machines guns are. Close range i.e. within 12" rifle fire is as well.

Once we played a couple of turns the rules clicked into place and moved quickly. A 1000 point game lasted less than 3 hours so very playable. Next time out we will try an attack on a fixed position.

Some of my new units - Russians, Greeks and Italians didn't get on the table in the time we had, but I have put pictures on my Salonika page, with a taster below.

British 18lb Field Gun

Greek Evzones

Russian Infantry

Scotland - Serbia link: Dr Elizabeth Ross

A rare Scottish link with the Balkans in the Scotsman newspaper with an article about Dr Elizabeth Ross who died in a Serbian military hospital in 1915.

Dr Ross, was from Tain and one of the first women in Scotland to gain a medical degree. She died of typhus in a military hospital in Kragujevac, Serbia where she had been treating  First World War casualties. 

After qualifying as a doctor, no mean feat for a woman in 1901, she worked in Persia and then as possibly the world's first female ship's doctor. In 1914 there was a desperate need for doctors and nurses in Serbia after the Austrian invasion and with other projects such as the Scottish Womens Hospitals, which were travelling to the region at the same time, Ross borrowed money from an old servant in order to make the trip.

When she arrived in late January 1915, she volunteered to go and work in a typhus hospital in Kragujevac. The place was in a mess when she arrived and there were no nurses. She survived less than three weeks dying on 14 February 1915 aged 37.

She was remembered quietly, both by her family (including a neice who still lives in Tain) and in Serbia. In 1977 the local Red Cross in Kragujevac restored her grave. She is buried next to two British nurses who also died in Serbia of typhus, Mabel Dearmer and Lorna Ferriss. In total 22 British women lost their lives to typhus in Serbia during the First World War, attempting to aid wounded soldiers. In the early 1980s, after the graves had been restored, the town started holding commemorations at the graveside, and over the years they began to gather momentum, attracting bigger crowds, and becoming an important date in the town's calendar. Meanwhile similar celebrations started to spring up across Serbia.

The tradition will continue this Sunday, the 95th anniversary of her death.

Salonika Campaign WW1

Completed some new editions for one of my current wargame projects, the Salonika Campaign of WW1.

I have always been interested in this campaign after reading 'The Gardeners of Salonika' by Alan Palmer, sadly long out of print. I have collected a fair number of books and there is an excellent Salonika Campaign Society with its journal The New Mosquito.  For an introduction I would recommend Under the Devil's Eye by Alan Wakefield, published by Sutton in 2004.

I had dabbled a bit with this campaign in 15mm, but Warhammer Historical The Great War rules got me started in 28mm. I picked up some Germans, Turks and British at a bring and buy before getting stuck in seriously with the Greeks, Italians and Russians that I purchased in the USA at Historicon. Still some more work to do on these before doing something about the Tiger Miniatures Bulgarians gathering dust in the pending box.

In the meantime a nice German command base.

Hussite Handgunners

I don't have a Hussite army but I couldn't resist the Kingmaker handgunners at a show last year. Whilst the figures are nice, the real selling point is the shields and their fabulous designs. These are from the Little Big Men range. 1st Corps have now taken over Kingmaker. They do some monster war wagons as well.

I thought the raised boss would be a real problem, but a couple of snips with the sissors at each end and then tapering down with a steel rule before applying water sorted them.

Any way I am very pleased with them, although not sure what I will use them for. Probably appear as mercenaries in one of my 15th Century Balkan armies. Now there is a surprise!

Wargames Illustrated

Finished the February edition of Wargames Illustrated. There are mixed views in my club since this publication was taken over by Battlefront, the Flames of War people.

Several say it has just become a house magazine for Flames of War on the Games Workshop, White Dwarf model. Not sure I agree. Yes, there is a lot of FoW content but it is easily adaptable for other WW2 rulesets. Plus there is plenty of non FoW content as well. I particularly enjoyed the Battle of Stresow piece by the Borders Reivers Club. There is colonial, napoleonic, vietnam buildings and the usual reviews. Plenty of non FoW advertising as well.

So for the present I for one will carry on.

Drazki - Balkan Wars torpedo-boat

"Drazki", the legedary torpedo-boat that saw service in the Balkan Wars, and one of the most valuable exhibits in the Naval Museum in Varna, could collapse at any moment due to problems with the foundations. The cash strapped defence ministry is unlikely to come to the rescue so the museum has made an appeal to the citizens of Varna.

The "Drazki" was one of six torpedo boats ordered by Bulgaria. They were built in France, and transported overland in sections to Bulgaria, where the final assembly took place. "Drazki" was launched in the autumn of 1907, and commissioned in early 1908. During the Balkan Wars, "Drazki" entered fleet history after successfully, at almost point-blank range, torpedoing the Turkish cruiser Hamidie, and crippling her. "Drazki" is now the only preserved example of this class of ship, worldwide.

No details of how overseas donations can be made, but if I hear anything I will post. The museum is run by a group of enthusiasts who deserve support.

The Snake Stone

My latest reading has been The Snake Stone by Jason Goodwin. I am not normally a reader of crime fiction but this book is set in Istanbul 1838. The author is an historian who has written a very readable history of the Ottoman Empire, Lords of the Horizon. It is the second book in this series. I have read The Janissary Tree and would recommend that as well.

The main character and detective is Yashim the Enuch. I won't spoil the story other than to say it involves Byzantine treasure and several murders. The author really knows his way around 19th Century Istanbul and weaves in the sights and the polyglot peoples of this wonderful city. Lots of Balkan interest here both Ottoman and Byzantine and the Gallipoli battlefields are a reasonable drive away.

Field of Glory

Early medieval battle at the club today using Field of Glory rules. Haven't really mastered these yet, probably because I don't use them enough given all my other interests, but they almost always produce a good game.

My opponent was Robert Low, author of the Oathsworn series of books. Bob has a superb Rus army in 28mm and like me is finding his way with FoG. I fielded a Ghaznavid army and he clearly wasn't expecting the elephants. Despite some pretty desperate combat dice they manged to stomp their way through his right flank whilst my cavalry peppered him with arrows in the centre. Elephants are more predictable in FoG compared with WAB but still great fun.

Wallachian army

Just completed my monthly update of Balkan Military History. The feature this month is the Wallachian army of the 15th century.

Medieval Wallachia first gained its independence in 1330 when it defeated the Hungarians and established a principality. They allied with the Mongols but by 1368 again fell under Hungarian control. By this time the Ottoman Turks approached their frontiers and under Mircea the Old they defeated Ottoman attacks four times between 1394 and 1408. After the disaster of Nicopolis the pressure built and the Wallachians had to accept Ottoman suzerainty in 1417.


Of all the princes who seized power in the 15th Century the best known is Vlad the Impaler (1418-56). He had a number of successful attempts to hold off the Ottomans but eventually conceded (see The Real Dracula). Despite this Wallachia remained a Christian state and was never absorbed fully into the Ottoman Empire.

The figures below are 15mm Wallachian cavalry from my collection.