I'm enjoying Snorkers! (Good Oh!) so much I've bought stls for Italian and British ships for the Mediterranean.
A friend is closing up his business selling Osprey books so I was able to scoop some relevant volumes at a heavy discount to begin the requisite background research.
I'm hoping Don will be bringing me some ships next month at Hot Lead. In the meantime I'll be learning more about Italian and British cruisers than I've ever needed.
Scott has an impressive Napoleonic history library, and he's always happy to loan me his latest titles. This winter I read John Gill's substantial 2 volume history of the Confederation of the Rhine armies during the 1813 campaigns, Broken Eagles. This work is an excellent addition to his book covering the same armies during the 1809 Danube campaign, With Eagles to Glory.
Volume 1 gives a brief overview of how the Rhinebund came into being, their contingents were organized, and the invasion of Russia in 1812 to set the stage. He follows with an overview of the Spring and Autumn campaigns of 1813 before diving into the individual stories of each contingent.
In many instances, at least with the larger contingents, Napoleon's German allies fought quite well. Certainly as well as the equally hastily raised and trained French regiments. Several regiments earning the esteem of their French colleagues. Saxon, Baden, and Wurttemburg cavalry were well appreciated by French commanders. The Bavarian division faithfully guarding the French baggage park for several days after Leipzig until they were officially released.
Reading Gill's books on the Confederation of the Rhine armies always makes me annoyed at army lists that downgrade German troops. Granted the Saxon line infantry weren't up to scratch in 1809, but by 1812 they were fine. The Westphalian troops in 1813 suffered from shocking leadership, and if your king is going to abscond to the Rhine, it's only natural for the conscripts to return home at the earliest opportunity. Especially when Westphalia was a artificial kingdom that had only been in existence for 7 years. They didn't have the regional allegiance like the other armies. A lot of wargames seem to rely too heavily on self-serving statements by Napoleon and his Marshals. Gill digs into primary sources to give us a more accurate and detailed analysis of the Confederation of the Rhine troops, who for the most part fought well and honourably.
The final pages of The Lord of the Rings, and the death of Theoden never fail to leave me a little misty eyed.
If you haven't been paying attention, I'm a bit of a Tolkien fan, as I declared way back here. Some folks seem to think that C.S. Lewis is better, but they're usually Anglicans, so they're biased. Tolkien's craft, command of language, development of character is just vastly superior. And he doesn't smash you over the head with his theology. But it's there if you're paying attention.
OK, since White Supremacists seem to try to co-opt Tolkien as well as everything else, maybe he's too subtle. But White Supremacists aren't terribly deep thinkers, so it could be right in their face and they'd miss it, just like they missed that Homelander in The Boys is a Bad Guy. But women's agency, indigenous oppression, the rejection of Power, enviromentalism, the dangers of Corporate Greed, and the value of small things done with love are all there. Tolkien tells us that the mighty only exist, not to set things right, according to their wills, but to make space so that the small folk can build a better world, one garden at a time.
Something the rich and mighty in our world should think about.
I decided to return to my comfort blanket this spring because of all the stuff going on in the outside world, where it seems, when I'm feeling overwhelmed, that the Power of Mordor is growing. As I re-read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, I noticed that all of the things that Jackson cut out of the movies are things of great value that I was only too happy to appreciate again.
There's more of the Shire, especially as Frodo and Sam move to Crickhollow. And if you're a Hobbit-head, and would like to live in the Shire, like me, then these chapters are super rich.
Merry and Pippin are actually intelligent and capable young hobbits, not the clowns that the movies cast them as. And Farmer Maggot. He squares up to a freaking Nazgûl! But this is an early indicator that Tolkien thinks real goodness and power comes from being rooted in the soil, oh... like Sam.
The Old Forest, Tom Bombadil, and the Barrow Downs, all show us that there are perils and powers beyond Sauron and the White Council. I think Tom Bombadil and Goldberry are present to show us what Middle Earth would have been like without Melkor's Rebellion. That was going to be my Ph.D thesis in the alternative timeline where I got to be a Professor of Literature.
The Pukel-Men. These, if anything, are an indictment of Numenorean Imperialism, which is touched on in The Silmarillion, but the emphasis on Elendil and his heirs pushes the conquering, oppressive expansion of the Numenorean Empire into the background. We don't learn in the movies of Numenor's spiritual and literal fall into darkness. Same with the Dunlendings. In the movies we don't really get why the Dunlendings hate the Rohirrim so much. You get pushed from fertile farmlands to scrabble a living in the mountains and see how you feel? The Dunlendings, full of hatred and anger, fall victim to the lies of Saruman. The Pukel-Men however, recognize the greater threat and side with the powers of Good.
The Fields of Cormallen and the whole long gentle winding down after the fall of Baradur. Wars just don't wrap up neatly, and everyone goes home. Troops didn't return home from the First World War until 1919. This part of the story gives Tolkien the time to tie up all the lose ends, and give us more time with beloved characters.
The Scouring of the Shire. I get why Jackson cut it out, but I think doing so diminishes the hobbits. But the movies do diminsh the hobbits to make Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, and Gandalf bigger heroes. The Scouring finishes the hobbits' character development arc. And the hobbits come into their own and solve their problems without Legolas trick shooting while surfing on a shield. And Sam's Gaffer gets some great lines.
And there's more hobbits as the Shirefolk rise up against oppression and then rebuild.
Then there's all the stuff Jackson inserted into the movies.
Elves at Helm's Deep? Sigh. Thank goodness he resisted the temptation to have a bad assed Lara Croft-ish Arwen arrive to save the day. He filmed it. But left it out thank God.
The Witch-King breaking Gandalf's staff at the siege of Minas Tirith. Really? Doesn't that rather render Gandalf impotent now? And Merry dealing the fatal blow with his elvish blade is downplayed in favour of Eowyn's blow.
Faramir dragging Frodo and Sam to Osgiliath and Frodo having that dumb face off with the Nazgûl.
Aragorn killing the Mouth of Sauron is definitely not cool either. Aragorn is a valiant, honorable king and knight. Killing an Ambassador, even the Ambassador of the Dark Lord, is a moral failing. Poor way to start your reign.
I shan't bother itemizing what's wrong with The Hobbit movies. No one has time for that.
But it was good to re-visit beloved stories, and refresh them in my memory. Especially in our digital culture where the movies so easily erase the written text in the popular discourse.
This was a fascinating read. Most accounts that I've found of the Hundred Days focus on the politics, Napoleon and the march to Waterloo. Or they're anglocentric and focus on Wellington. I've read so much about Waterloo itself as a youngster that I started avoiding the subject. But this book, detailing the right wing of Napoleon's campaign is quite fascinating.
This is part of a trilogy examining the campaign. A companion volume explores Ney and the Battle of Quatre Bras. This book is also unique to me in that it examines events from the French perspective. In depth analysis of the battles of Ligny and the pursuit to Wavre and the battle of Wavre itself are a big part of the book.
He concludes with an analysis of the facts as they were known to the participants at the time. A lot of ink has been spilled saying what Grouchy or Napoleon or Ney ought to have done, but those are all talking with the benefit of hindsight and arrive at very unjust criticisms. The composition of Grouchy's force is also looked at to give insight into its mission.
But the clear analysis of Napoleon's orders and appreciation for the fact that Napoleon did not approve of initiative or independent action by his Marshalls are the most convincing. Grouchy did what he was told to do. The fault is entirely Napoleon's.
Field is a very good historian and more importantly a very good writer.
Highly recommended.
Spoiler Alert: Unless you've already read The Silmarillion (and honestly, why haven't you?) then I might spoil a few things for you. Read on at your peril!
I was anticipating The Rings of Power with a mix of trepidation and cautious hope. A "Let's wait and see" approach.
I mean, it couldn't be anywhere near as bad as that pile of flaming poo that was The Hobbit movies, right?
Right?
 |
| Recently acquired after much searching. Highly enjoyable and provided many insights. |
The origins of the Hobbits, as portrayed by the Harfoots, is quite canonical, but was only vaguely described by Tolkien, so there's lots of room to play about in. I'd like more time with them. Lenny Henry as the leader of the Travelleresque Harfoots is quite brilliant. But no, we go straight to a very headstrong Galadriel jumping off a ship on it's way to Valinor and trying to swim back to Middle Earth! Then a whole episode wasted with her on a raft in the middle of the ocean. And there's only going to be what? 6 or 8 episodes? Looks like we're plunging towards the Numenoreans capturing Sauron and bringing him back pretty quickly. Sauron corrupting Ar-Pharazon and bringing about Numenor's fall will be the plot arc for Season 2 I'm guessing.
It seemed a cheap way to get Galadriel to Numenor, and thereby getting the Numenoreans into the story. Numenor is quite well portrayed, just the way I imagined it really. But it is the center of a vast globe spanning seafaring empire, so Numenoreans showing up in Middle Earth to trade with the elves and dwarves isn't a stretch is it?
The dwarves are OK. But when did dwarves become comic-opera Scotsmen? It's a cliché really. Even though Amazon seems to have set up race-baiting to shut down any criticism of the show, I really think they missed a diversity point by not giving Disa (Durin's wife) a very canonical beard. Doesn't have to be a great big bushy beard, but a short, soft, feminine beard would do, maybe with some gems braided into it. The character is still quite good though. Although we already know that they're going to release a Balrog, probably in the season finale. Although maybe they'll save that for Season 2, but I've seen a Balrog in clips for the show. Thus is a perennial problem with prequels anyway.
Elrond's hair bugs me too. I guess the Second Age is the Age of the Mullet. The elves in general bug me. As usual they've gotten the whole motivations of the elves and their relationships with men, Middle Earth, and the Valar rather out of tune. Galadriel is portrayed as way too immature and headstrong to have been around since the first rising of the moon.
Some people who are also Tolkien fans, love the parts I hate, and I hate the parts they love. I remember when Ralph Bashki's Fellowship of the Ring came out a reviewer observing that you can't make every Tolkien fan happy with your portrayal of the imagined. Rings of Power, I think, is having the same problems.
I don't know. I'll keep watching, I guess. I don't hate it, but it doesn't excite me like The Expanse did.
Or perhaps eventually the irritating niggling details will bug me enough that I'll take Gandalf's advice and ignore it.
This arrived in the mail from Pen & Sword.
I ordered it almost two years on a preorder deal.
It's a hefty tome, weighing in at 4.25 pounds, or 2 kgs. It is densely packed with text. There is not the usual excess of eye-candy and wargamer porn featuring gorgeously painted armies and sumptuous terrain, which, to be honest, I was expecting.
But it is chock full of ideas which will take me a while to get through. Hopefully I'll be able to link more games together and perhaps run a solo campaign.
I treated myself with some of my Christmas bonus and bought this book from Ken Trotman Books. At £35 plus £10 postage and packing (Cdn$75), it seems a bit expensive. I reasoned a low print run book on an obscure battle would be on the expensive end, and this is an important battle for my Bavarian army, plus I figured I was worth it.
A very securely wrapped parcel arrived within two weeks via airmail.
The book is a large hard cover the same size as my copy of Black Powder and 140 pages with colour print through out. It is easily equal to two Osprey campaign books, so amply justifies the higher price tag.
Some sample pages:
The book is densely packed with tables of data and primary source material covering the retreat from Leipzig and the condition of each army leading up to the battle, plus the battle itself. Some of the personal accounts have not been previously translated into English before either. My only complaint is that the personal accounts are all printed in italics and in lines spanning the width of the page. Long passages of italic print are hard to read. Two column layout would have also been easier on the eyes as well.
The main section of the book is Major Becke's analysis of the battle. Becke was a Royal Artillery officer in the Boer War, so he has some solid first hand experience with horse drawn artillery, and was fascinated by the development of artillery tactics during the Napoleonic Wars. The same publisher also has a book featuring his study of Friedland in 1807. Becke suffers from Napoleonic hero worship and is rather harsh on Wrede. Drouot's handling of the Guard Artillery and finding a solution to the tactical problem is worthy of praise, even if Becke does indulge in quite a bit of over flown prose when discussing his heros.
 |
| maps of the battle |
The section of primary source accounts of the battle and Dr. Summerfield's conclusions give more balance. Wrede is criticized by Becke, among others, for deploying where he did with his back to the Kinzig river. But deploying anywhere else would have allowed the French to emerge from the woods, set up a strong flank guard and then march on to Frankfurt unmolested, which would have left the Bavarians open to criticism for not really being committed to the new alliance. Wrede, operating under misleading intelligence and disingenuous orders from Schwarzenburg did the best he could really. By trying to pin the French in the Lamboy Woods with a strong gun line, he was making the best use of the terrain and resources at his disposal to achieve his objective of slowing the French retreat.
 |
| the battle was noted for both the artillery and the cavalry playing the most signifcant roles |
The retreat from Leipzig and the battle of Hanau are usually treated as a footnote in histories of the 1813 campaign, so anyone seriously interested in this campaign really should get this book.
I have just received this fantastic book as a gift, because I have pretty awesome friends.
The Bavarian Army 1806-1813 by Peter Bunde. Originally in German, translated by Richard Sanders. This book is obviously more expensive than the Osprey, but definitely worth it. I had had my finger hovering over the order button actually, and then Scott said he'd gotten it for me. So good timing.
Full of colour plates and lots of uniform details. Up until this weekend I had been getting Twitter connections to photograph pages for me for reference.
But if you're painting Bavarians in anything larger than 6mm you really should get this book.
In my little corner of gaming Twitter we are having a #Bavarians painting challenge now. My constant WIP posts had gotten others talking about their own Bavarian figures in their lead piles, and the challenge was suggested to motivate everyone to get them done. Of course I've noticed quite a few people ordering figures specifically for the challenge, so Hat, Front Rank and Perry have gotten a little bump in sales thanks to me.
Apparently the thought about what shade of blue Bavarian coats were has changed over the years.
Traditionally the infantry have always been portrayed in sky blue coats. This is what I had always thought, having been fascinated by this picture of the Battle of Polotsk since I was a lad.
 |
| double page spread in Time Life Books Ancient Art of Warfare by Robert Laffont 1966 |
Of course you can't trust contemporary paintings in general history books either it seems. I've always liked this picture from the same book of a Bavarian dragoon threatening General Drouot at the Battle of Hanau (detail from a painting by Horace Vernet).
 |
| Drouot says "Hey! Your coat is the wrong colour!" |
Lovely dramatic painting, but by 1813 the dragoon should be in a green coat. The white coat works though in the artistic use of light and dark, so I guess that's why Vernet did what he did.
 |
| Full painting |
These two paintings (Battles of Hanau and Polotsk) are also why I've always like Bavarians and find myself launching a whole new army of them, instead of buying easier to get, and possibly cheaper, and certainly more versatile, French.
Of course if you Google "cornflower blue" you get quite a range of shades. Newer thinking has the coats as a more "medium" blue. Perhaps the lighter shade is due to fading? Or people mistaking "sky blue" for something out of a baby's nursery? Sky blue is pretty variable too really if you just look up.
The Osprey is disappointing. It spends a lot of time on the Bavarian army of the Revolutionary wars and even devotes space and a colour plate to units that weren't formed until 1815.
Bunde's book is what I was really hoping for, but at $51.00 a bit steep. fortunately, I know people who have it and are willing to share their research with me.
So what shade of blue? I did a test figure while prepping the last Russian Grenadiers. I used my Vallejo airbrush "French blue" over a brown undercoat and got this:
I find that instead of doing the smart thing, and researching deeply before diving into a project, I tend to research as I paint. Each fueling the other in a feedback loop. If I read about something else it often causes a loss of focus and may even derail a project entirely.
I've always been fascinated by the Prussians and the War of Liberation. Maybe it's my German heritage? Maybe it's just Prussians are cool and something different from British, which one sees a lot of. I mean, the Peninsula and the Waterloo campaign are awfully well covered by just about everyone else. So when Osprey had their sale this winter I got the two thematically appropriate campaign books for some background and perhaps scenario inspiration. They did fill in some gaps in my knowledge, even if the lack of maps, or the text referencing locations that actually weren't on the maps, was a bit frustrating.
Speaking of Peter Young and The War Game, I'll have to peruse it again just for a dose of nostalgia.
Even just to look at the pictures of the old school armies. These pictures really inspired me as a youngster as I built my armies from Airfix figures.
I was delighted to receive this book for Christmas. My other hobby is, I suppose, studying the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien. So this discussion of the moral dimensions of Middle Earth was welcome. Theologically I'm a self-confessed Tolkienist, and Middle Earth is my emotional comfort blanket.
This book looks at how the two friends, C.S. Lewis and Tolkien wrote their great works as a response to their experiences in the Great War. Instead of turning to cynicism, atheism and rejecting the old values like other writers of their time, Lewis embraced Anglican Christianity and Tolkien set about reasserting outmoded concepts of Goodness and heroism. But the Goodness and Heroism is still human and flawed and doomed to failure.
Of course this is why Tolkien's writings are in my mind superior to all the fantasy writers who have come before or after with their Nietschean übermensch and moral relativism depicting mighty thewed heroes winning through strength of Will. Any other writer would have Gandalf, Aragorn or Galadriel use the Ring to defeat Sauron. Or Frodo would have resisted the Ring's power to the end and flipped the bird at Sauron while glibly dropping it into the fire, probably saying something clever while he did it too.
Loconte spends time explaining the intellectual and spiritual landscape of the Belle Epoque, when even church leaders were seduced by scientific and technological advances into thinking that Progress would lead humanity to a shining city on a hill. 1914-18 blew that all up and buried the Myth of Progress in a corpse filled trench. Really a bit of cynicism and turning away from old ideals is understandable. I'm surprised more just didn't go insane.
Instead, Tolkien gives us heroes who fail and are flawed, but they struggle anyway because struggling against darkness, even without final hope, is what we have to do. The elves fight the "long defeat" and have seen many fruitless victories. The striving of the great only serve to create space and time for the hands of the small to turn the wheel. But even then Frodo and Sam fail at the end and the world is only saved by Grace unlooked for. Bilbo's small unplanned act of mercy, to not kill Gollum in the cave, is the tiny event, without witnesses or fanfare, that saves Middle Earth.
Loconte is a religious philosopher, so he's not as concerned about a literary analysis as I am. He also gives a bit more space to C.S. Lewis and his Christian allegory The Chronicles of Narnia than I would have liked. But Lewis is, perhaps, more readily accessible to his themes. Still, I found this a thought provoking read about J.R.R Tolkien, my favourite author.
Been plugging away at a few things in my off time. Work has picked up and all the fall chores like cleaning up the garage naturally press upon me.
Also Cadets has started up, but Covid and Social Distancing has complicated that, so there's Zoom meetings and virtual lessons on Google Classroom and training schedules put in disarray to take me away from painting.
But I have been bashing away at the Norman cavalry renovation and am within a pip of finishing them! At least the painting. Then all 72 need to be based or rebased. Plus the infantry. Then they can go loot the village and set fire to the church, or something.
 |
| Off with the old shields! |
 |
| On with the new! |
 |
| So many bases! |
I have also been cleaning up and priming my 1/600 scale aircraft and trying to research IJN aviation colour schemes. It seems the Japanese weren't very precise in their colour regulations. Of course very few examples survived the war so it's hard to tell. Plus sitting on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier exposed to sun and salt water weathers the paint considerably.
 |
| L-R Me110, He111, Me109 |
 |
| Mosquito, Spitfire, Hurricane |
 |
| Taking advantage of the last good evenings. RAF and Luftwaffe getting primed |
 |
| Avenger, Dauntless, Wildcat, Hellcat |
 |
| Teensy weensy landing gear to glue on teenie tiny Vals. So glad I didn't get any Stukas! |
 |
| Betty, Kate, Val and Zero |
And just to keep another plate spinning I've read two books on Afghanistan:
Operation Medusa was a good strategic overview. Fraser was certainly highly complimenatry of everyone he worked with during the lead up to and execution of the battle, from allied commanders down to the squaddies in his Close Protection Detail. The chapter headings featured a lot of quotes from "Mother" his Brigade HQ Sergeant who was in Tactical command of his Tac HQ when it rolled out several times a week. More detail about the tactical aspects of C Company's ambush or B Company's push in from the north would have been welcome, but I suppose that is out of the scope of the book. General Fraser's worry about losing access to all the allied air assets before he could conclude the battle and destroy the Taliban shaped some key decisions. He does also point out that TF31s actions on the southern flank as detailed in Lions of Kandahar were pretty key in winning the battle. Still an interesting read.
Combat Mission Kandahar was also interesting for the soldier's eye view gritty detail. There is information on a few engagements. The chapter covering the Recce Squadron for instance told me that minimum patrol size was 3 vehicles and the sensor operators provided the dismounts as required. I had a third Coyote in the lead pile. A metal and resin kit from S&S Models which I had vague plans to add a sensor mast to, but I decided to just paint it up. A couple of large scale ambushes were also detailed, including one on a large vehicle convoy, and another featuring Canadian advisors and an ANA company. Both could make for an interesting solo game at least.
 |
| Another piece off the lead pile! |
.JPG)
.JPG)
