What are you currently reading ?

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

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kipt

Finished "Casca: The Eternal Mercenary" by Barry Sadler (remember him from the song of the Green Beret?).

This "fantasy" novel is about a Roman soldier who was the one that executed Jesus.  A drop of blood got on him and he ingested it.  He now hears "Soldier, you are content with what you are.  Then that you shall remain until we meet again.  As I now go to my Father, you must one day come to me."

This book (and I think there are 14 of them) chronicles his long life as a Roman slave, gladiator, farmer and back to legionnaire.  Quick read and interesting.

steve_holmes_11

Quote from: fred. on 06 January 2019, 08:32:55 PM
They are good fun rules. There are a huge amount of army lists, and the temptation is to try to build all of them!!

Not just me with the "Gotta catch em all" bug then.

With Irregular Wars, a good many of the companies (Particularly in seafaring or colonist forces) seem to be partially, or hastily armed civilian scrapings.
It's tough finding figures that look sufficiently un-martial to portray those roles.

All up, I'm really enjoying reading the rules.
Clearly written, not burdened by excess fluff, and with very useful examples.

Leman

OK, it's 15mm, but the Peter Pig pirate range has a large number of not especially martial figures to go up against regular forces, in the colonies and at sea.
The artist formerly known as Dour Puritan!

fsn

I have just finished my Japanese air fleet for the Akagi at Midway, 1942. Waiting for some of the correct (and very little used) stars for the US equivilent (I think I picked Yorktown). This satisfies my early Pacific requirements.

I was they looking at the late war (so I can have some Corsairs, Hellcats, Avengers) and examined the carriers at Leyte and air support at Tarawa etc.

Then I bought the Osprey book on Rabaul, 1943-44. Gentlemen, I don't mind telling you that it was to the laminator straight away! In short, Rabual was a Japanese island fortress which the allies decided to go around and besiege by the air (and sea ... but meh!). The island held out until the Japanese surrender in 1945.

This book has freed me from the tyranny of the carrier. On the Japanese side, alongside the Zero, Val and Kate there's the Betty and the Judy. On the allied side there's Hellcats and Avengers and B24s and B26s and ... P38s, P40s and I think even P39s.

As usual with this Osprey series it give the story with losts of photos, some colour plates and lots of inspiration.
Lord Oik of Runcorn (You may refer to me as Milord Oik)

Oik of the Year 2013, 2014; Prize for originality and 'having a go, bless him', 2015
3 votes in the 2016 Painting Competition!; 2017-2019 The Wilderness years
Oik of the Year 2020; 7 votes in the 2021 Painting Competition
11 votes in the 2022 Painting Competition (Double figures!)
2023 - the year of Gerald:
2024 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

SV52

Air Force Blue, being a general history of the RAF up to and including WW2 and Target Tirpitz, speaks for itself by Patrick Bishop.  An omnibus edition at 800 pages will take a while.  No preconceptions, no axes to grind, just a good read.
"The time has come, the walrus said..."

2017 Paint-Off - Winner!

Womble67

Second World War Infantry Tactics: The European Theatre by Stephen Bull

Take care

Andy
The Wargames Directory

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2018 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

kipt

Finished Volume 82, No. # Of "The Journal of Military History".  It comes out 4 times a year and some of the contents of this issue are:

Medieval Strategy and the Economics of Conquest,
French Intelligence on the Russian Army on the Eve of the First World War,
Learning to Win: The Evolution of U.S. Navy Tactical Doctrine During the Guadalcanal Campaign

as well as a feature article Did Vikings Really Go Berserk? An Interdisciplinary Critical Analysis of Berserks
and The Death Ride of the Panzers? Recent Historiography on the Battle of Kursk.

Many book reviews and a listing of articles in different magazines.

KTravlos

Finished Nazim Hikmet's "Human Landscapes from my country". Quite good except when he went down the path of political propaganda (referring to Stalin as the "wisest mouth of the century" for example). When talking about Turkey and the Turkish people it was sublime. Some of the vignettes are really depressing. You get a feel for the struggles of the poor and power-less.

Ithoriel

German E-Boats 1939-45. Christmas present from my older sprog.

Usual Osprey format and a good intro into a subject that it turns out I knew less about than I thought.
There are 100 types of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who can work from incomplete data

kipt

Finished "The Reminiscences and Recollections of CAPTAIN GRONOW; Being Anecdotes of the Camp, Court, Clubs and Society 1810-1860".

This is a delightful recounting of his observations of people.  Each of these is no more than a couple of pages, and usually a couple of paragraphs.  Gronow was in the First Foot Guards and did go to the {Peninsula.  His regiment was at Waterloo, but not his battalion.  However, he was able to join the battalion that was there.

He spent most of his life after the army in Paris it seems.  He has stories about wellington, Beau Brummel, the Prince Regent, Byron, and Napoleon III (who he really liked, but Gronow dies in 1865 before Le Debacle).

Very interesting snapshot of the high and mighty during this time period.

Leman

Taking a break from the history books again to read the C19th/early C20th rules From Shako to Coal-scuttle prior to trying them out as a FPW game.
The artist formerly known as Dour Puritan!

Raider4

The first three Conan stories published: The Phoenix on the Sword, The Scarlet Citadel and The Tower of the Elephant.

The first two are atypical of the Conan stories I remember - they are set later in Conan's life, when he is already King of Aquilonia. The third is almost a prototype of the classic Conan stories that were to come.

Pros: They're short - Howard gives you a complete tale in less space than George R.R. Martin would take to describe the main course of a banquet. Punchily written.

What's missing in these early tales? No woman for Conan to, erm, you know. No women at all in these stories really.

Onto the next - Black Colossus.

kipt

Finished "German Battle Tactics on the Russian Front 1941-1945" complied by Steven Newton.  This is a collection of reports written by German officers for the Russians and Allies.  It has OB's, newish maps (old computer done, very pixilated) and the reports of the actions.

I wouldn't call it tactics however.  More operational, moving divisions, brigades, kampfgruppes, corps depending on the author.

Interesting but not too engaging.

Sean Clark

I'm on a real WW2 kick at the moment which is a period I've always skirted around previously. I'm building a Dunkirk project in 28mm using Chain of Command and Normandy in 10mm using I Aint Been Shot Mum.

After listening to the Too Fat Lardies podcast I have picked up two books I was ignorant of. The Sharp End of Battle by John Ellis about the more personal experiences of soldiers at war and also The Face of Battle by John Keegan. This is not specifically WW2 but talks about the individual experience of the soldier at Agincourt, Waterloo and the Somme.

Enjoying both immensely but taking my time with them to digest what is being said.


I've also treated myself to a couple of dozen second hand Commando comics as a bit of nostalgia. Lovely stuff.
God's Own Scale podcast
https://godsownscale6mm.podbean.com/

fsn

Both excellent volumes. I prefer that kind of thing to big battle books.

I can also recommend "Tank Men" by Robert Kershaw for a mechanised view.
Lord Oik of Runcorn (You may refer to me as Milord Oik)

Oik of the Year 2013, 2014; Prize for originality and 'having a go, bless him', 2015
3 votes in the 2016 Painting Competition!; 2017-2019 The Wilderness years
Oik of the Year 2020; 7 votes in the 2021 Painting Competition
11 votes in the 2022 Painting Competition (Double figures!)
2023 - the year of Gerald:
2024 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!