Montenegro

I have published an overview of my recent tour of Montenegro at Balkan Military History.

I can't recommend this country for a visit strongly enough. Plenty of historical interest and enough to keep the family happy with the weather, pool and beach. It is certainly cheaper than most European destinations when you get there, although flights, accommodation and care hire are similar.

The main military highlights included the Austrian forts built in the 19th Century to defend their main naval base at Cattaro (Kotor). The old fortified Venetian towns like Kotor, Perast and Budva. Plus, up into the mountains to the old royal capital Cetinje.

The museums are small but interesting. Here are a few of the exhibits at the excellent Kotor Maritime Museum.

 

 

and some more, this time from the National Historical Museum at Cetinje

 

 



CornwellFest

My holiday fiction reading has been a catch up of Bernard Cornwell books. I can remember the day when I would buy hardbacks of his books as published. However, these days I have been a bit slow, not because his writing isn't still superb, but simply because there is so much good historical fiction that has followed in his wake.

My first catch up was with the ongoing saga of Thomas Hookton, the English archer in the Hundred Years War, in '1356'. Essentially this is about the Poitiers campaign, possibly the least well covered of the three great English longbow victories of the conflict. Perhaps also forgotten, that in this battle the men at arms played a big role.

Our hero starts the book commanding his Free Company on mercenary duty in France. He falls foul of the church authorities and gets involved in a search for a sacred relic, the sword of St Peter, la Malice. As always, damsels have to be rescued and great characters come and go before we reach the climax at the battle itself. This is classic Cornwell, written at great pace, strong characters and nearly impossible to put down. And I wouldn't have, had it not been for the distraction of Montenegro.

My second Cornwell book was Death of Kings. This continues the story of Uhtred, a pagan Dane, sort of in the service of King Alfred the Great at around 900AD, during the off and on conflicts with the Vikings. Again, it has all you would expect from a Cornwell book. Our hero is of course an anti-establishment figure as much at war with the church as with the Danes. More damsels to be rescued, much treachery, all culminating in a big battle scene. All inspiring me to get the SAGA boards out before my holiday ends.

My non-fiction read was 'Realm of the Black Mountain' by Elizabeth Roberts an excellent one volume history of Montenegro. My holiday companion as I toured the country. More details of that trip will be on Balkan Military History when I finish writing it up.

Guarding the Bokar Kotorska

These are the forts built by the Austro-Hungarian Navy to defend their bases in the Bay of Kotorska, or as they would have described it Cattaro.

I spent the day climbing over several Montenegrin mountains looking at the ruins of the Austrian defences. These are undoubtably the best though. The locals have made good use of what I suspect was the naval base supporting the forts. They have turned it into a beach resort!

Some of the roads up to the forts defending the land approaches to Kotor are very interesting. My admiration of the Austrian engineers who built them knows no bounds. Mind you at 40c even my enthusiasm was starting to wilt by late afternoon. However, I have now recovered, thanks to the excellent local fish and vino!

 
 

Kotor

I am on holiday in the Balkans, where else you might say! To be specific, Kotor in Montenegro.

The old town of Kotor (Cattaro) as shown in the picture below is recognisably the Venetian fortress it was for several centuries until the fall of the republic in the Napoleonic wars. The walls are very well preserved, although the Castle above the town is in some disrepair. There is a small but interesting maritime museum in the lovely old town with its narrow streets, churches and palaces. 

On the subject of Napoleon, his forces did briefly occupy this coast. Napoleon was keen to expand his Illyrian province and sent Marmont to negotiate with the Montenegrin ruler, Vladika Petar in August 1807. The previous year they had fought further up the coast at Herceg Novi and although the French won, Marmont remonstrated with Petar over the Montenegrin practice of cutting the heads off their enemies. Petar responded that the French had no problem chopping the heads off their King and Queen! Fair point, I would say.

There is some British interest. In 1814 Captain William Hoste besieged Kotor with Montenegrin help. Finally capturing the town by dragging cannon up the mountainside. He left the keys with the locals and sailed away without waiting for the Austrians, who by treaty were taking over. It was eventually turned into a major Austrian naval base.

Anyway, interesting history and an absolutely lovely spot for a holiday.

Master of War

I have just finished David Gilman’s, ‘Master of War: The Blooding’, the first part of his Hundred Years’ War series. Gilman was the writer of the ‘Touch of Frost’ TV series.

He takes the story of Thomas Blackstone, an English archer forced into his Lord’s retinue for Edward III’s invasion of France. The alternative was the hangman’s noose. Our hero takes part in a number of small-scale actions and sieges before the finale at the Battle of Crecy.

This is pretty standard historical fiction in the Cornwall tradition. The writing, as you might expect from a screen writer, is very sharp. The story fairly rattles along. As I bought it for the kindle it is difficult to judge length, but it seemed quite short. As it was only 49p, I am not complaining! The next in the series is due out on 1 August, so I will certainly download that one.

Second Barons War

My skirmish with all things De Montfort and early medieval period continues with my latest non-fiction reading, 'The Second Barons' War' by John Sadler.

I recall a previous skirmish with this period when Foundry brought out a very nice range of figures. At their current prices I am not likely to return quickly! However, this conflict was headed by the younger Simon De Montfort, son of the De Montfort who I left suppressing the Cathar heresy in our recent display game Muret 1213.

He led the Barons' in a two year civil war against Henry III and his son Edward - beating the king at Lewes in May 1264 and then losing at Evesham in August the following year. De Montfort was killed in the battle and rebels came to terms the following year.

Sadler writes a very readable narrative history of the period. He starts with an introduction to the tactics and weaponry of the period followed by a background to the reign of Henry II and the First Barons' War 1215 -17. The meat of the book is a detailed study of the two battles based on the latest research.

I may have picked up a remaindered copy quite cheaply, if so, it is very good value for good read.

Fleet Air Arm Museum

I made a long overdue return visit to the Fleet Air Arm museum at Yeovilton today. This really is very well laid out. Everything you could want to know and an impressive array of exhibits. Lots of interactive displays as well. Highly recommended.

More Greeks bearing MGs

Some more 28mm WW2 Greeks off the production line for Bolt Action. Another platoon of infantry supported by a heavy machine gun. Still got a mountain gun to finish and then I need to look at some bren carriers and other support weapons.

These figures are from the Burns Miniatures range.

We have also had a major refurbishment in the study and I have a new painting table. This just might inspire me to tackle the ever growing lead mountain - but then again...

The trade off domestically was no piles of untidy paint pots, so I have invested in these really nice paint pot holders from Battle Flag. They are made of mdf and come as kits that fit together really well. Different sizes for different makes of paint.

MDF kits for buildings are really taking off at present and was sorely tempted at Triples. My only reservation is the lack of depth and texture that you get with resin. Apart from the small matter that I could build several cities with the buildings I already have!

In Pursuit of the Robber Baron

One of my favourite medieval characters is Robert Guiscard, a Norman knight who journeyed to Southern Italy to make his fortune.

It was a bit tough at the outset, although much tougher on the locals, as he made a living as a robber baron in Calabria. But by 1057 he had become Duke of Apulia and two years later Duke of Calabria. In 1081 he launched a hugely ambitious invasion of Byzantium via modern day Albania. He defeated the Emperor Alexios at Durrazzo (Dures) and conquered most of Greece, although he didn't have the resources to hold it.

This is also one of my favourite wargame armies and GDWS did a display game of the Battle of Durrazzo in 2005. I have also travelled over large parts of his route in the Balkans.

As a result I was delighted to pick up a copy in Wigtown of Finch Allibone's travelogue of her own journey in pursuit of the Guiscard. She started from his birthplace in Coutances, through Italy and on to the Balkans. She tells Guiscard's story together with her own visits to the sites of interest on the way. An entertaining read if you can find a copy.

Ottoman armies

Bit of a picture fest in this month's Balkan Military History update. The feature piece is the Ottoman army from the late medieval period to the 18th Century. My collection in 28mm with figures from Old Glory, Dixon, Redoubt and Essex in the main.

A couple of tasters.

 

Redoubt Sipahis of the Porte

 

And some later Janissaries also from Redoubt.

Serbian uniform plates

This is a very useful and rare collection of Serbian uniform plates from 1808. Posted on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HiMCTRA1Qyo&feature=youtu.be

Posted on You Tube by "rasras21a"

 

Yugoslavia 1941

I picked this book up at Triples together with a similar one in the series, Warriors of Japan. That one has some very good colour plates of troops in combat dress, not as they put it 'toy soldier' dress.

This one has a brief summary of the German invasion of Yugoslavia in 1941. But its real strength is in the excellent collection of photographs. Every arm of the army is covered with at least one photo of every troop type and equipment in the infantry divisions at least. Not the random collection of photographs that you get in some publications. This has been properly thought through.

A few nice colour plates as well.

Good value and highly recommended.

WW2 Italians

Some progress with the WW2 Yugoslavia project. A couple of platoons of Italian infantry fresh off the production line.

I also picked up a 1/48 scale model of a Macchi M.C.200 at Wappinshaw. Just the job.

Wappinshaw 13

Yesterday was the Wappinshaw show in Glasgow's Kelvin Hall. A new venue for this show and not likely to be repeated as the halls are being refurbished for the Commonwealth Games.

It is a large hall with plenty of room for the games and traders. Mostly local or smaller traders as Partizan is the next day and attracts the bigger names in the hobby from England. I had got most of my purchases at Triples, but still managed to pick up some unusual kits and collected some Black Powder bases that Martin at Warbases had made up for me. The organisation was first rate and there appeared to be a decent attendance.

Our display game was Glasgow Green 1938. We thought this was appropriate for the Glasgow show. The focus being a big 28mm model of the Peoples Palace. Courtesy of Iain from Flags of War.

Four of us played the game and all agreed it was the most enjoyable game we had played at a show. Still plenty of time to chat to an appreciative audience. The Red Clydesiders just held on but it was very close.

There were some other fine games, my quick collection of photies.

 

Big Napoleonic game from Phoenix

 

Very nice figures in this fantasy game

 

ACW

 

And another VBCW.

 

 

All credit to the organisers for a good local show.

Tito

These figures are for our Claymore demo, Raid on Tito. They will be Tito and his bodyguard. However, they will make an appearance at Wappinshaw this weekend as Soviet advisors to the Red Clydesiders in our Battle of Glasgow Green VBCW game. Wappinshaw is at a new venue, the Kelvin Hall in Glasgow. It's a good size venue and should be a good show. Hope to see you there.

Triples 2013

We made the journey down to Sheffield over the weekend for two days at the Triples show. My first time at the new venue. Plenty of space in a nice light sports hall. We stayed at the Garrison Hotel that is converted from the old barracks. Highly recommended.

Not having to work a display game meant I had time to really go around the stalls and view the display games. There was a good balance of both. Picked up a number of books for current projects and a few others beside. Then lots of bits and pieces - paint, glues and several cans of Testors Dullcote. The only surprise when I got home was very few figures. Probably best given the current lead pile!

These are the games that caught my eye.

My favourite was this renaissance game with an amazing Landsknect pike block

The scenery was well done in this FoW game

Napoleonic I think

Unusual Maori wars game

Gunboats on the Nile

Carronade 13

It was the Falkirk  Carronade show yesterday. Fine venue for a big show feel. What I really like is the large amount of games being played. Plenty of trade, but it feels more like a wargames show than a trade fair that some other shows have become. It looked busy as well.

My purchases were fairly modest. Some Perry Desert Rats that I will use for my Malaya project. Plus some Warlord Japanese guns for the same project. The latest Black Powder supplement 'Albion Triumphant' and the Soviet Bolt Action supplement. Plus a very nice King John, in case I get around to doing the forgotten invasion. Plus bases and some more foam inserts, oh and the complusory visit to Last Valley of course. Club outing to Triples next weekend so much more time to peruse the stalls.

Our own game was Muret 1213, that came together very well after some last minute revisions on the Friday night. The refight went as per the historical battle. Even King Peter nearly got killed, or would have, had I thrown 10+ rather than a 9.

More Muret 1213 photies at the GDWS web site.

Running a display game means time is limited for looking at the rest of the show, but here's a selection of what caught my eye.

 

Durham's big 54mm Maurice game.

 

Eyecatching, but can't remember what it is!

 

 

Charge of the Light Brigade participation game

 

Simon and the Dumfries club with VBCW

 

Nachod 1866. Very nice scenery and even though the 10mm figures look a bit lost, you get a real feel for the battle.

 

 

Very nice WW1 skirmish

 

Chalons, big battlefield, lots of figures as you expect from Phoenix

 

 

 

On the Antonine Wall. Mostly Prince August molds that took me back!

Glasgow Green dry run

We did a cut down version of our Wappinshaw display game, Glasgow Green 1938, at the club on Sunday. Waves of Government forces attacking the frame of what is shaping up to be a very good model of The People's Palace.

The Communist units holding the sandbag emplacements were wiped out, but the workers militia in the building just about hung on. A few tweaks to the Bolt Action rules plus some new event cards, and we should have a very good game.