What are you currently reading ?

Started by goat major, 03 November 2012, 06:40:05 PM

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Steve J

Hordes of the Things 2.1 rulebook. Arrived in the post today and providing a nice counterpoint to 'one of those days at work'. A quick flick through so far but looks good to me :). Also Osprey Campaign D-Day 1944 (3).

shireman

"A Writer at War", a selection of the journalism of Vasily Grossman who was attached to the Red Army as a war correspondent and saw action from Barbarossa to Berlin via Stalingrad and Kursk. Fascinating material (translated and introduced by Anthony Beevor). I liked the headline from Krasnaya Zvezda, the army newspaper, at the start of Barbarossa: ' The much-battered enemy continued his cowardly advance.' And the flamboyant commands of Red Army battery commanders as they bombarded Berlin: 'At the lair of the fascist beast, fire!' Grossman didn't keep quiet about mass r*pe in Germany either and for his truth-telling on a number of issues he would have been off to the Gulag had Stalin not died at an opportune moment. His great novel, 'Life and Fate' was arrested by the KGB in 1960 (they took everything, carbon copies and even the typewriter ribbon) but fortunately a copy was smuggled out. Well worth a read.

kipt

Finished Bruce Weigle's "1871: Fast Play Grand Tactical Rules for the Franco-Prussian War".

I don't play his rules but I do use his scenarios.  There are some minor changes to the 1870 rules which might speed up the game.  All seem logical.

The scenarios in 1871 for the most part use less troops (except for Sedan for one).

The different scenarios are: Noisseville, Sedan, Villers-Bretonneux, Villepon, Champigmy-Villers, Poupry, Vendome, Bapaume, Villesexel, Le Mans, The Lisaine and St. Quentin.

Just as good as the rest of his rule books.

Steve J

Will pick this up/pre-order for collection at Colours. Still awaiting confirmation if Bruce will be there as no list of demo games on the Colours website when I last checked :(

Leman

I don't think Ithoriel will like the houses in Champigmy-Villers!
The artist formerly known as Dour Puritan!

kipt


mollinary

Quote from: Steve J on 18 August 2017, 08:03:16 AM
Will pick this up/pre-order for collection at Colours. Still awaiting confirmation if Bruce will be there as no list of demo games on the Colours website when I last checked :(

He will be there, we are meeting up!😀
2021 Painting Competition - Winner!
2022 Painting Competition - 2 x Runner-Up!

Steve J

Do you know if he is putting on a game Mollinary? Mike embree contacted Dave Fielder and I to see if we wanted to help out on the day, which naturally we do, but haven't had any confirmation yet. Would be great to see him again and to meet you too.

mollinary

I believe he is putting on Vendome to showcase his 1871 rules by, to be honest, our correspondence hasn't focussed on his game, more on dinner after the show!

Mollinary
2021 Painting Competition - Winner!
2022 Painting Competition - 2 x Runner-Up!

Steve J

You have your priorities right on this one ;) :D.

kipt

Finished another book by JFC Fuller, "On Future Warfare", 1928.  It is interesting to see the predictions made after WWI for what the army would look like.  Less infantry, several different types of armor; recon (light 2 man, probably like the Bren carrier), assault (moving with the infantry) and pursuit.  Except for the recon with mg's only, the others have small bore high velocity guns, so he didn't look at the scale creep that actually happened.

Another theme is the use of gas, which he says is inevitable and more humane because it caused less deaths that bullet and shell.  He goes into divisional organizations, which were close but tank heavy, as well as the power of an airforce. He didn't predict the German use of the combined arms, thinking that if both sides used that it would go back to trench warfare.

Anyway, an interesting look at the times between the wars.

DaveH

Ian Castle Majuba 1881 The hill of destiny - the first Anglo-Boer war, Angus McBride The Zulu War  and Ian Castle Zulu War Volunteers, Irregulars & Auxiliaries, so a bit of a pattern there. Lots of Osprey titles.




KTravlos

Not a lot o reading on the no-net vacation. Read Tina Tinamman's "August Torma" which is a biography of an Estonian diplomat of the interwar years. An brave attempt at covering the subject matter but Mr.Torma was nota good subject. He did not leave a lot of papers behind. Interesting to see how elements of the Estonian goverment viewed their position vis-a-vis the USSR etc. Also interesting about how the Baltic ambassadors tried to soldier on after the Soviet Occupation.

I also read a pieace of classical greek (not ancient but 19th century) literature. Konstantinou Christomanou "Kerenia Koukla" (the Wax Doll). This is one of the most depressing things I have read in a long time. Currently going through the readable, but rather thin "Greece the Hidden Centuries" on Greek history during the period of Frankish, Venetians and Ottoman rule.

Leman

The artist formerly known as Dour Puritan!

Techno

Listening to "Emperor - The Gods of War", by Conn Iggulden. (Think I've borrowed this one before.)

The narrator pronounces Cicero, as Kick-erro......I always thought is was pronounced Siss-ero.
Roman scholars.....Your advice ?

Cheers - Phil.