What are you currently reading ?

[steve_holmes_11]

Thanks for the info Steve. Currently looking at Elizabethan English, which gives me options for Plantation conflicts or fighting against Reivers etc. They can then also explore West Africa which gives me a chance to have a game or two in Nigeria, where I used to live.

The English Adventurers are rather different to the British Isles armies, but an interesting option.

Maybe you can advise me on matters West African.
The Songhai list seems to be the closest match for the West African Savannah kingdoms.
Is there any equivalent for coastal West Africa, or would they fall under Tribal African?

Thanks

[Steve J]

I would have thought Tribal african would cover large parts of the coastal regions. Certainly the terrain is not cavalry friendly away from the savannah regions. From memory the Islamic 'crusade' was stopped at Offa in Nigeria, but need to do more research on this. Also not sure when and how long the Kingdom of Benin lasted.

[DaveH]

Irregular Wars: Conflict at the World's End wargames rules. They look to be good and simple but effective game mechanics. The only downside is there are som many very tempting army lists at the back of the book. Which ones to go for is the question!

I am tempted by them as I have a load of Sengoku period Japanese in 15mm that I was going to put on 30mm square bases so I would have two armies that fitted it for period and basing.

[fred.]

I am tempted by them as I have a load of Sengoku period Japanese in 15mm that I was going to put on 30mm square bases so I would have two armies that fitted it for period and basing.

Well worth getting - we've played a few games with my Pendraken Sengoku Japanese

[steve_holmes_11]

I would have thought Tribal african would cover large parts of the coastal regions. Certainly the terrain is not cavalry friendly away from the savannah regions. From memory the Islamic 'crusade' was stopped at Offa in Nigeria, but need to do more research on this. Also not sure when and how long the Kingdom of Benin lasted.

That seems pretty sensible.
Tribal Africa is fairly flexible, with room for plenty of scount, warrior heavy, a few shooters and some european allies.
The savannah south of the Sahara isn't my field at all, but I have the impression that there were a series of large "Horse Kingdoms", one following the other.

Irregular wars talks of the Berbers eventually overcoming the Songhai (Who themselves were a bit west of Nigeria).

Thankfully the lists and rules are fairly flexible.

[steve_holmes_11]

I am tempted by them as I have a load of Sengoku period Japanese in 15mm that I was going to put on 30mm square bases so I would have two armies that fitted it for period and basing.

I've "measured up" and figured that my table is good for up to 40mm bases.
I then started thinking about "mass effect" bases.

30mm square would pack in up to double the recommended figure numbers.

With 40mm square the ranges and movement felt rather easier to manage, and triple the recommended figure count, with a little space to spare.

Bear in mind the need to maintain a casualty count.
Either a token behind the base, or a mini die on the base.

[fred.]

For figures with 10mm on 40mm square bases, I go with numbers based around the resolve value of the unit. This is to give a good visual look, rather than any specific figure to man ratio
So resolve 3 - around 8 figures (skirmishing and shooters)
Resolve 4 - 12 figures
Resolve 5 - 16 figures (tends to be pike blocks)

These are guide numbers, not hard and fast, dependant on poses and what I have to hand!

For cavalry its pretty much the resolve as number of figures.

Leaving a little space on the back of the base for a casualty dice is a good idea - I sometimes use the dice frames available from Pendraken, but less so on normal infantry units where they take up quite a lot of a 40mm base.

[T13A]

Hi

Just finished James Holland's 'Sicily 43'. Excellent read but slightly spoiled for me by some basic mistakes such as referring to '1st Airborne Brigade ' (no such unit existed) and (British) 2nd Parachute Brigade (which did exist) when he really means 1st Parachute Brigade (the later case several times in the book). I know I'm being 'picky' but I really like James Holland and I'm surprised by these errors as he certainly knows his stuff (I love the WWII podcast he does with Al Murray). Maybe he was in a rush to get the book out or a sign of shoddy editing?

Oh, and there is also a picture of a glider labeled a 'Horsa' when it is clearly an (American) Waco.

Still, recommended.

Cheers Paul

 

[Raider4]

Foundation by Isaac Asimov.

Re-reading this after ~45 years - due to seeing a trailer for a TV show on one of the subscription channels (so I'm unlikely to ever see it).

Stands up quite well to me, for something written in the forties. There's an obvious fascination with atomic power (the new upcoming thing back then). The really odd thing - which is mentioned in the foreword - is that there's next to no actual action. It's nearly all meetings, with the characters talking about what has happened in the past, or what they plan to do in the future. Practically everything happens off-screen. There is only one female character in the whole thing, and she's a very, very minor character indeed. Completely male dominated.

It's also mercifully short at about 230 pages, compared to the multi-hundred page books more common nowadays.

Foundation and Empire up next.

[hammurabi70]

Foundation by Isaac Asimov.

Re-reading this after ~45 years - due to seeing a trailer for a TV show on one of the subscription channels (so I'm unlikely to ever see it).

Stands up quite well to me, for something written in the forties. There's an obvious fascination with atomic power (the new upcoming thing back then). The really odd thing - which is mentioned in the foreword - is that there's next to no actual action. It's nearly all meetings, with the characters talking about what has happened in the past, or what they plan to do in the future. Practically everything happens off-screen. There is only one female character in the whole thing, and she's a very, very minor character indeed. Completely male dominated.

It's also mercifully short at about 230 pages, compared to the multi-hundred page books more common nowadays.

Foundation and Empire up next.

Interesting to learn that a TV series is in the offing.  It must be about 45 years since I read it and I wonder how will it will stand up to modern media handling; at least it will have a plot unlike so much these days.

[Ithoriel]

Interesting to learn that a TV series is in the offing.  It must be about 45 years since I read it and I wonder how will it will stand up to modern media handling; at least it will have a plot unlike so much these days.

I fear you may not have seen many TV remakes

The names remain the same but the plot has been changed to protect the innocent hard of thinking.

[Baron Von Kranky]

Lincoln's Lieutenants, The High Command of the Army if the Potomac by Stephen W. Sears. Very good, but very long.

[Raider4]

There's also another Dune movie coming - they've split the first book into two films this time.

But I can't face re-reading that at the moment.

[fsn]

At the start of 2020, I said it was the year of Napoleonics.

So, it should come as no surprise that I'm reading "Winged Victory" by V M Yeates ... all about airmen in WWI. It's a book that I first read many, many years ago, Perhaps I've lost patience, perhaps I read too many other books, perhaps I feel the cold breath of time's end on my neck, but I do find myself wishing he'd get on with it.

It's full of interesting snippets about flying in 1918. Formation take off being novel, the flying characteristics of a Camel, the acceptance of crashes as an occupational hazard.

Yeates was a Camel pilot. The book smacks of autobiography, and tells the story of front line pilots.

All this brought about because I found some tiny WWI aircraft that I had forgotten. 38 British aircraft assemble and painted in 5 days. Germans taking a bit longer.    

[FierceKitty]

Foundation by Isaac Asimov.

Re-reading this after ~45 years - due to seeing a trailer for a TV show on one of the subscription channels (so I'm unlikely to ever see it).

Stands up quite well to me, for something written in the forties. There's an obvious fascination with atomic power (the new upcoming thing back then). The really odd thing - which is mentioned in the foreword - is that there's next to no actual action. It's nearly all meetings, with the characters talking about what has happened in the past, or what they plan to do in the future. Practically everything happens off-screen. There is only one female character in the whole thing, and she's a very, very minor character indeed. Completely male dominated.

It's also mercifully short at about 230 pages, compared to the multi-hundred page books more common nowadays.

Foundation and Empire up next.

Two objections.

One The whole science of psychohistory relies on numerical inertia; that sheer massive averages will produce overwhelmingly normative results when so many planets contribute their input from so many inhabitants. This works as long as the galactic empire holds together. As it fragments, the mutual stabilising effect fails; decisions and discoveries by brilliant individuals and plain freak chance will start to influence increasingly isolated societies in unpredictable ways.

Two More seriously, Asimov couldn't write decent dialogue if a gronfongler disinto-ray were pointed at his goolies as a motivator.