A Bit of Reading

I found this book in a charity shop, snapped it up, and read it straight away.

I cannot say that I learned much new about the developing military technology and its corresponding application. However, I found that the strength of the book was in how Stephen Turnbull took me, as the reader, across Europe and through time to narrate examples of the evolving art of warfare.

From the fall of Constantinople, to the conquest of Granada, past the Italian Wars, through the lowlands, onto Poland and to the Balkans, Turnbull writes of the changes in action.  

The campaigns and individuals are dealt with in a clear fashion without getting bogged down in unnecessary detail.  The biographies of the Chevalier Bayard, de Monluc, de la Noue and Captain John Smith (yes! He of Pocahontas legend) left me waiting to know more... especially about John Smith and his time fighting the Ottoman Turks.

The book has opened up to me an awareness of previously little known conflicts.  If I was made of weaker stuff (thinking of some of my fellow Rejects!!!) I might now be consider a new wargaming project.

Turnbull has not written a great, in-depth tome. Nor do I believe that was his intention. This is perhaps more of a survey over space and time.  And, for me, he has done a great job

Thoroughly enjoyable.

Review of Death and the Landsknecht

I've purchased Warlord Games' new Pike and Shotte supplement, 'Death and the Landsknecht', as well as their new command figures.  So, I thought that I ought to do a quick review of the supplement.

Now, I don't use Pike and Shotte for either of my Renaissance projects (Great Italian Wars and the French Wars of Religion).  Nonetheless, I was interested to see what they might include and whether there was any potential use I could make of this tome.

First up, it is sensibly organised with the following 'chapters':

A history

The troops and weapons

Leaders and generals

Special rules

The army lists

Scenarios

Rules for gaming sieges

A campaign to play

Further reading

The history section is an appetite whetter. It is helpfully concise to quickly acquire the ebb and flow of the wars. At the same time, it doesn't fall into the trap of being weighed down by the numerous twists and turns.  It gives enough. The assumption (I think) is that you either know the period and that's why you want the book, or you are new and excited about period and will follow up later with more detailed reading.

A sample of the history section.

I think the theme of giving 'enough' information without getting too bogged down in detail continues throughout.  It is certainly true in the troops and weapons section. It mentions all the troop types a gamer might wish to represent, along with their 'tools' of the trade.

The leader section is handy and short.  When reading one history of the wars, I compiled a list and got around 60 leaders and generals before I stopped.  This is far more select.  One drawback is that its focus seems to be on the period up to around 1525... so, Pavia and just after.

I found the special rules section drew my attention.  It included some useful information on the different formations, such as the Spanish Colunela, and how to simulate them in Pike and Shotte.  If you are unfamiliar with the formations then this is a good starter.  I enjoyed this part.

The army lists are interesting to read too.  I don't use these rules. Nor do I use army lists.  However, I can see how I might adapt and use these for creating 'balanced' fictional encounters if I was minded to.

What was very pleasing was that lists were included for the Peasant Wars, English, Scots and the Ottoman Turks as well.  The latter opens up using your Venetian and/or Imperial armies in the Balkans.

The scenarios are a nice mix of battles.  Again, the focus being pre-Pavia.  Possibly because it was increasingly sieges thereafter, and possibly to avoid straying into battles in the wider Habsburg-Valois wars.  Who knows?

The OOBs are obviously designed on a points basis to fit with the rules and this supplement.  So, if you are looking for detailed orbats you will be disappointed. Each vanguard, battle and rearguard is given a points allocation and a sense of the troop types you should 'buy'.  The exact composition is down to you.  This has an advantage of allowing gamers to select to match their collection.

There is a helpful section on playing siege games.  Whilst geared to to the rules they could give ideas to those looking to explore this area of the conflict.  For me, I have neither the models, space to store, nor the current inclination to dabble in siegecraft.

Lastly, comes the campaign.  The authors have set it around Milan circa 1515.  This kind of fits in with the general focus of the supplement.  It reads okay. In very simple terms it's a two player game (they say two teams or sides). You dice to see how many battles in a campaign season and of what type.  These are played and then renown is earned at the end of each season.  Depending on results, players can gain a various numbers of towns.  Armies can be worn down over a number of seasons.  Victory goes to the side that either captures all the towns, has the most towns after a certain number of seasons, or one side is too worn down to continue.  There's more to it than this quick description suggests and it requires my closer inspection.

Last thoughts
I did hesitate about purchasing this.  I couldn't see how it would add anything to my understanding of the period that I hadn't acquired through other sources and from Helion's "All is Lost Save Honour".  Nor am I a player of Warlord Games' Pike and Shotte rules.  However, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed seeing how the supplement translated troops and formations of the period to their rules.  It is a nice book to look at - as you might expect.  Plus, having someone's take on scenarios and armies is interesting and may come in useful at a later date.

If you know a lot about these wars and don't use Pike and Shotte then this may not be useful other than expensive eye candy.  Moreover, there isn't much for those interested in the wars after 1525.

I also purchased some command figures at the same time.  All now prepped and awaiting some colour.

Some other Warlord Games command purchased at the same time: (L to R)Old Emperor Maximillian; Young "Max"; and the freebie with the supplement, Richard de la Pole - the last Yorkist claimant to the English throne and leader of the Landsknecht Black Bands at Pavia.

These are new command figures from Warlord Games:  Bartolomeo D'Alviano; Gaston de la Foix; and Giovanni de Medici of the Black Bands.  All of them plastic.  I don't know if Warlord have changed their "recipe" but the plastic is different from previously and have an hard rubber feel when trimming.

In short, I'm glad that I bought the supplement but it won't be an essential asset.  Please bear in mind that this is my view.  Others may see things differently.

My Italian Wars Reading List... so far!

As with any new project a large part of the joy is in the learning.  Here is a selection of the reading I've done.  The following are readily available.

The first and certainly the "must read" tome is Oman.  A great read in itself regardless of any particular interest in the period.  Infinitely re-readable.

The Italian Wars by Shaw and Mallet.  I found this a very good history of the wars.  It is certainly a confusing period with many shifts of alliances.  However, the survey of the wars is well covered.  So, with pen and notebook to hand, I made sense of events, people and chronology.  I would certainly recommend this.

Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe by Bert Hall.  I found this to be an eye opening book.  I thought that I knew some stuff about gunpowder and firearms, but Hall has really made me think hard about the use and efficacy of gunpowder and firearms. Not just in the 16th century, but right through to the early 1800s.

Of course, the editions from Helion and Osprey are bread and butter and offer invaluable material.

One of the primary sources I looked at was the commentaries from Blaise de Monluc.  Whilst his memoirs are self serving they provide an insight into events, people and how they fought.  For the small action or skirmish gamer, there are some accounts in here that lend themselves to the tabletop.

I'll round off this brief survey of my reading with this wargamer's guide to the Italian Wars by Cairns and Ashton, recently published by Helion.

It's good. Well and sensibly organised. The history is concise but useful. The section on armies of the different states and their organisation was welcome and gave enough information to think about the differences. The scenarios were usefully set out in a straightforward way which seemed genuinely rule agnostic.  They included 15 scenarios from Fornovo, Cerignola, through Pavia and to Gravelines. The painting section reminded me of one I am sure that I found from a blog post somewhere.  However, it's helpful on getting started on both landsknechts and gendarmes.  Some period designs for the latter might of been a good addition.  Although the information on damask designs was surprisingly engaging.  The bibliography is extensive and means that further research can be carried on productively.   All in all a great buy... in my opinion.

However, I wonder if for anyone already immersed in the period this will add to their understanding and hobby knowledge.  But then, I suppose the audience is probably more for people like me who have just recently embarked on this period. 

Being a little pedantic for a moment, the irritant for me was what seems to be the lack of proofreading and editing. Many pages (and I do mean a lot) have either poor spelling, typos or a nonsensical sentence.  I'm no shining example of accurately written English but I did, at times, find myself looking for them instead of taking in the information. 

Nonetheless, I am still extremely happy that I purchased this addition to the Helion library.  The authors should be congratulated on, what I found to be, a well organised, informative and really useful guide to wargaming the period.

Enough of the review of "All is Lost, Save Honour."

To those immersed in the period apologies for highlighting the obvious.  To everyone else, I hope this gives a nice sense of my early knowledge accumulation.

Has Your Hobby "Turned Your Current of Life?"

Following a visit to Chartwell, the Kent home of Winston Churchill,  I decided to listen to a series of podcasts on the life of Churchill.  They both happened to be about his early life.  The podcasts are all on BBC Sounds:

The Rest is History 1: Young Churchill: Born to Lead

The Rest is History 2: Young Churchill: Soldier of Empire

The Rest is History 3: Young Churchill: Prisoner and Fugitive

The podcasts were very interesting.  They made reference to Churchill's own book that he wrote in 1930, My Early Life.

Like a a very thoughtful partner, my better half looked out for it and actually found it in a charity shop.

I'm currently in the process of reading it.  I have to say that so far it's an easy read and he's quite self-deprecating. The narrative flows like a "ripping yarn".

But one thing that I came across was this passage about when Churchill was still a school boy.  He was writing about his collection of nearly 1,500 soldiers.  The account continues:

"... my father himself paid a formal visit of inspection.  All the troops were arranged in the correct formation of attack...  At the end he asked me if I would like to go into the army.  I thought it would be splendid to command an Army, so I said 'Yes' at once."

With his future now determined by this conversation, Churchill then went on to comment that, "the toy soldiers turned the current of my life."

Now, I love my hobby.  However, I can't say that it "turned the current of my life" in as dramatic or life defining way as Churchill's.  What it did do was provide good friends, a positive community of like minded people and a life engaged in the joy of history, gaming and problem solving.  That's not too shabby!

So, have the toy soldiers turned the current of YOUR life?  If so, how?

A Little "Light" Reading

I have to confess to not really feeling the wargaming hobby vibe this summer.  Hopefully, this is just due to holidays and a lack of games, and will be cured by a return to Postie's Shed of War next week.

In the meantime, I have been reading this hefty tome that fellow Reject Steve lent me.  Given the current events in that part of the world, it seemed an apt moment to learn a little.

I have read previous books written by the author, Simon Sebag Montefiore, and always found them easy to read.  This history of Jerusalem was no different.

The book takes Jerusalem from its very earliest biblical times right through to the Six Days War.  Probably a reasonable decision from an historian's perspective.  Others may consider that potential controversy was dodged by not bringing it more up to date, it was published in 2011.

Considering that the city has been and is a holy site for a number of faiths and denominations, it appears that disappointingly few of the rulers of Jerusalem acted in a manner consistent with their faiths.  The city sits on layers of blood, intolerance, slaughter and destruction.

Sebag Montefiore includes much needed maps of the region and of the city at different points in time. Plus, some genealogies of important families and dynasties.  The narrative is not dry, but contains very human accounts.  The author is detailed without being overwhelming.  He has the knack of communicating what is important and knowing what to leave out.  He calls on archaeological evidence to help with the history.  However, he is open in accepting the ambiguities of the evidence and other possible interpretations. 

My favourite part of the book was that which covered the Crusades.  Possibly a bias from my point of view, as I used to teach this topic to A level History students (17-18 year olds).

At 628 pages it is an investment in time.  However, I would recommend this book if you have an interest in knowing something about the city specifically, and the context in which it is placed.

Whilst reading the sections on the Crusades, I was reminded of an excellent book (in my opinion) on the Crusades by Thomas Asbridge.  This marvellously well written history tells the story from both sides and weaves together a thoroughly entertaining and incredibly informative narrative and analysis of events.  Quite unusually, I found this a page turner... not something one can often say about volumes of historical writing.

As you have probably guessed, I thoroughly recommend Asbridge.

Fingers crossed, my wargaming mojo gets a kick start next week.

The Thrill of the Wargaming Heritage

The other day I finished reading a book that I've been working through for a little while now.  War and Society in Renaissance Europe by JR Hale is an informative, but not always an easy read.  This was never a study in the art of warfare during this period, but to continue improving my understanding of the context in which war was conducted.  In this case, the impact of war on society and government and the impact of society and government on war.

It was instructive.  However, it is a surprising hobby moment that I'd like to share.

Whilst reading the chapter entitled The Society of Soldiers: The Professionals, I came across this:

"... there is one [woodcut] showing him [Maximilian I] as a boy learning to joust with the aid of jointed wooden models.  Assisted by the publication of books containing diagrams of military formations, the model soldier became a more ambitious educational aid.  Do not bring up boys to play with wooden horses, dolls or toy carts, advised the old soldier Jean de Tavannes in the memoirs he concluded in 1596.  Order instead six thousand models (in wood or pottery) of horsemen, arquebusiers and pikemen, also model cannon, castles and towns. 'With these little models you can carry out and explain how to draw up companies, squadrons and main forces, and demonstrate the storming of breaches, charges, retreats, the posting of sentinels and watches... in such a way that by the age of ten... instead of having passed the time uselessly, they will have formed the habit of thinking of themselves as a soldiers or a captain.'  By the late sixteenth century metal toy soldiers were being moved about by veterans reliving past battles."

Don't you love it when you chance upon something that reinforces the historical value given to wargaming as an intellectual, and pleasurable, pursuit.

Throwing Thunderbolts - A Quick Review

Christmas brought me this tome by Garry David Wills, published by Helion.

With a long standing interest in the period, both professionally and as a hobbyist, I was excited to get into this and launched myself at it with some enthusiasm.

The volume is A4 in format and is no light weight with its 301 pages of content.

After the introduction, the book is, broadly speaking, divided into three parts:

1. History and chronology of the war:  2 sections of about 105 pages.  The chronology broken down by year, and then by theatre - north, Rhine, southeast, southwest, internal (revolts such as in the Vendée etc.) and overseas.  This expands and contracts according to events such as specifically Italy in the 1796 part.
2. The Protagonists:  about 60 pages.
3. Wargaming the period:  Just under half the book, divided into 6 sections dealing with collecting armies, rules, scenarios resources and references.

Mr Wills writes that "this is a book for wargamers based on history rather than a history book." His approach to the history and chronology of the war epitomises that aim.  He clearly knows his subject and lays out the events without getting bogged down in the minutiae of the socio-political events of the revolution, yet gives enough to satisfy and introduce the broader context.  In my view, the author strikes the right balance of background versus describing the flow of the conflict. In reading the chronology I constantly found myself thinking about how to get the action onto the table or how to construct a campaign with it.  Certainly ticking the "book for wargamers" side of things for me.

The section about the protagonists gave plenty of information about the armies, organisation, and doctrine. But what impressed was that it went beyond the great powers and included states like the United Provinces, Naples and Saxony.  As you would expect more space was given to the Great Powers.

In dealing with how to game the period, the author has covered the hobby without being drawn down rabbit holes. For example, he discusses collecting and painting armies but is careful to provide the references to do ones own research rather than try to be the reference on every uniform in every army.  In this, and many other respects Mr Wills has really understood the position and purpose of his work to open the world of this fascinating period.

I think the author does a good job in concisely highlighting different rules for different levels of game - company/battalion, division, and army. Again, he does so without being drawn into the pros and cons of each.  He defines the rules scales for the reader/gamer to make their further investigation and choice.

The 10 scenarios range from the large scale battles like Castiglione right down to company level with the "whiff of grapeshot" of the 13th Vendémiaire.  The scenarios also include three naval engagements. Wills is not prescriptive in the rules to use but provides some ruleset specific OOB's. However, it would be easy to convert these to other rulesets.  The scenario details are good, with useful maps for reproducing the tabletop battle.

The scenarios are a good and not necessarily obvious mix, including:

The Battle of Lincelles, 18 August 1793

The Battle of Pirmasens, 14 September 1793

The Assault on Fort Mulgrave at Toulon, 16-17 December 1793

The Battle of Boxtel, 15 September 1794

The 13th Vendémiaire, 5 October 1795

The Battle of Mondovi, 21 April 1796

The Battle of Castiglione, 5 August 1796

A fleet action based on the Glorious First of June 1794

Frigate action off Banda Aceh, Sumatra, 9 September 1796

Les Droits de l'Homme, Audierne Bay, 13-14 January 1797

Another feature I liked was that the author included really useful tables and information, such as one that had possible ratings for generals from all protagonists that could be useful for the wargamer in producing army lists.

My usual issue is that there are never enough maps. There are some, and probably enough. My personal taste would be to want a few more. 

The teacher in me wanted more on the revolution. However, the author was right to resist this temptation and stick to the purpose of this volume.  In fact, there could have been more of a lot of things - history and hobby-wise.  However, that would have made this work too unwieldy and possibly diluted in focus.  That said, the section on painting was, for me, the weakest.  But I am coming from the position of already being a painting and playing wargamer of this period.

What I really like about this book is that it sets up the new gamer to this period (and the seasoned one to!) with the information needed and a really good end section on figure suppliers, online resources, and a good and fulsome bibliography.  This is a real pearl of great price in itself.

I am extremely happy that I found this in my stocking.  I enjoyed reading it through and know that it will be a useful reference in the future.  I am itching to play those scenarios, and to work out games and campaigns.  There you are... job done Mr Wills!

I am no literary critic.  So for what it is worth, well done to Helion on this publication and especially to Mr Wills for a job very well done.

The Festive Haul

As I have been on Santa's "nice list", I have received pretty much exactly what I wrote in my letter to the North Pole.  All books in fact. So, having done the "tell", here is the "show".

First up a couple of hobby reads:

 

Then some to add to the French Revolutionary Wars library. The Blanning book I used for teaching, but I could hardly "borrow" the school copy. It's second hand with humorous cover graffiti.

Plus, the following:

All 5 volumes.

And lastly, a couple to continue my journey through the French Wars of Religion and Renaissance warfare.

Luckily, I read much faster than I paint figures. Now all I have to do is stay on that "nice list" during 2024.

Happy New Year all.

Sedan 1870, The Eclipse of France

Having read Douglas Fermer's excellent second book in the series about the Franco-Prussian War, France At Bay (see here for my review), I was compelled to purchase his first book entitled Sedan 1870, The Eclipse of France.

About a third of the book rightly deals with Franco-German relations from the Vienna Settlement of 1815 through to the crisis of 1870.  Fermer does a superb job in balancing detail and narrative to give the long and short term causes of the war alongside the contributions of the main individuals.

The mobilisation and frontier battles up to Gravelotte/St Privat are covered with concise precision.  The maps are well placed and helpful in following the developments and manoeuvres. This is a real asset and not seen often enough in many military histories.  It was great to see a place name in the text and have a map with it on.  With ease, and enjoyment, I followed the course of the march routes of the the various corps and armies on the enclosed maps.

Unsurprisingly considering the title, almost half the text covers the manoeuvres and fighting of the belligerents leading to and including the Battle of Sedan.

The battle itself is covered in admirable detail. The narrative, like the whole book, creates drama and makes for a page turning delight.  Fermer nicely merges eye witness testimonies of front line soldiers with the unfolding tension of command between the French generals.  The sweep of the story reminded me of reading Emile Zola's well researched account in his novel La Débacle... another must read for anyone interested in the FPW and Paris Commune.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, both in the series in fact. Fermer's skill as a historian and narrator made me eager to read his account about which I feel that I already know much and have taught to an advanced level at school.  I can highly recommend Sedan 1870. A fine addition to my library.

France at Bay

At the Cavalier show in February I saw this book at a reasonable price and snapped it up.

France at Bay by Douglas Fermer (published by Pen and Sword) deals with the Republican phase of the Franco-Prussian War. In otherwords, events following the French defeat at the Battle of Sedan until the peace and onto the Paris Commune. This is the second in the series with "Sedan 1870" being the first dealing with events leading to and including the debacle at Sedan.

If you are looking for orders of battle etc., then this is not for you.

What it is, is a very well written history that successfully weaves the military and political developments without overwhelming or confusing the reader.

Douglas Fermer has a good narrative style that pushes the story along in a compelling manner. This is combined with a very good analysis of events and decisions that screams that he really knows his stuff, and is up to date with research.  Unusually for this type of book it is a page-turner; you want to know what happens next... I say that as someone who already knew what would happen next!

A lot of focus tends to be on the battles of the early, imperial, part of the war. It is great to have such an accessible history on the post-Sedan phase of the war.

I really enjoyed this and would recommend it.

A Little Reading - The French Wars of Religion

We all like to know what we are getting into when we start a new project.  This will involve film, books, an increasing amount of online media and source material.

The French Wars of Religion is unusual as a wargaming project for me.  All my periods have found their origins in my teaching them at school.  Drawing inspiration as I extended and deepened my understanding of the topics in order to better convey the history to my students.  I have never taught the French Wars of Religions.  In this respect, the research has been a more personal and "selfish" endeavour.

My research process tends to start with simple (often children's books) then work up to more specialist/detailed work.  I find that this helps me to build the layers of knowledge and not become overwhelmed by information.  However, there aren't many English language children's books on this topic!

Here are some of the books I've read so far.

General history

Years of Renewal is an old textbook for A (advanced) level students in the UK (17-18 years).  It surveys the period stated.

It takes themes and countries into account, and ensures that the whole are connected.

It is an easy read and doesn't get you bogged down in too much detail.  It is well organised.  It has to be remembered that this is aimed at students.

Nonetheless, I found it useful as one of my starting points.  Little by way of military history... as you might expect.

This is another student textbook.  This comes from a series that covers A level and early university students.  This series contains extracts from primary sources as integral to the reading.

Very much focusing on the complex factors at play during the wars - economic, factions, social, religious etc.

Robert Knecht has published a number of items on this period and clearly is a master of his material.

Again, not a military history but essential in getting a handle on the context, and very readable.

Detailed History

This is an excellent narrative/analysis of European history from the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis to the Treaty of Vervins.

It provides a detailed account that makes clear the interwoven strands of events, characters and developments.  From England to Poland, and Sweden to Spain.  Europe gets covered and the links are revealed.

In a readable fashion a lot of complexity is carefully handled and transmitted.

It is not a military history.  However, it does a good job in showing that the French civil wars are inextricably linked to events in Elizabethan England, the Netherlands, Rome and all of them inevitably with Spain.

I've put this volume from Osprey Publishing under detailed history as, whilst it gives a very good treatment of the wars and all the major battles, it also provides good and clear history and context.

This follows the usual pattern for Osprey books and is well illustrated.

A good read and helpful companion.  But for deeper understanding of the wars in context, rather than military alone, then Knecht's book above is more appropriate.

The wars and the military

Sorry.  This is a hardback book and I lost the dust cover.

This is a general survey of war in the sixteenth century.  There are some comments on a few battles, but it is really about how wars were fought.

This is almost a coffee table type of book - easy to pick up, have a peek at some pictures, read a little portion, then put down.  Having said that, it is actually very revealing in the art of war and formations used.

I think that this is a very useful book and a nice starter on the art of war in this period.

Again.  No dust cover on this book!  I'm clearly quite careless.

This one is specifically aimed at wargamers.  Gush may be a name that older gamers will recognise.

Divided by country/empire this deals with the various troop types and, broadly speaking, how they fought.

Very useful black and white photos and drawings of troops, armour and flags.  You can always find something new in here.

Quite a valuable tome to have in one's collection.

A small paperback guide.  This covers in brief detail the major battles of the wars.  There is a map with deployments and enough information to start compiling orders of battles for each of the engagements.  There is a little background information with each.  However, the focus is, as the title suggests, a wargamer's guide.

No colour illustrations here, or fancy printing.  This is good old fashioned fare.  Nonetheless, a good job well done to get you started.

This one is from Helion publishing and still quite new.  It is excellent.  A really good primer for the wargamer.

It has some background context.  There is sufficient detail on the major battles of the wars, maps with plenty of information to start organising your armies and games.  Plus, there are colour and black and white illustrations of various troop types and standards.

It can feel a little quirky in its use of old French for town names, but this does not detract from the really handy nature of this volume.

There are plenty of prints from the time and the bibliography permits deeper investigation.

An essential purchase in my view.

Another absolutely essential read is this one by Charles Oman.  There are aspects of this that is a little dated, e.g. the treatment of some of the historical characters.  However, this is a classic and remains a "buy it now" volume.

The section on the French Wars of Religion is brilliant for understanding the troops, the tactics and how the wars were fought.  It always nicely links to the other conflicts that are also covered, such as the Dutch rebellion against Spain.

Next Steps

I'm looking to start examining the more contemporary accounts of people like Tavannes, La Noue or Montluc.  Hopefully I can find English translations before I have to put my very limited French to the test!!