What are you currently reading ?

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

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kipt

Finished "In The Highest Degree Tragic:The Sacrifice of the U.S. Asiatic Fleet in the East Indies during World War II" by Donald M. Kehn Jr.

This is a very well written book about a part of WWII not covered extensively/  Typically the Japanese start of the Pacific war is covered with how fast they took the Philippines and the East Indies and is no more than a few paragraphs or at most a chapter.  This book gets into the nitty-gritty of the 4 stack destroyers, the Netherlands' ships and the British, and goes into individual ship actions.  Great for scenarios in a navel game if you don't mind a lop-sided force comparison (one of our gamers loves the underdog and the bad armies - same with ships).

Recommended.


mollinary

Many, many years ago I made all the Dutch ships for this campaign in 1:1200 scale out of cardboard, built up in layers, with hulls covered with paper. The Dutch cruisers were de Ruyter, Tromp, Java and Sumatra, if memory serves?
2021 Painting Competition - Winner!
2022 Painting Competition - 2 x Runner-Up!

paulr

Those were indeed the Dutch cruisers, Sumatra was undergoing refit at the time the Japanese attacked but managed to escape to Ceylon

I have a lot of the Dutch ships in 1/3,000 and have been working on some of the various scenarios over the last few weeks
The victory conditions for one of them includes "Both ABDA cruisers escape without being sunk: Miracle"
Lord Lensman of Wellington
2018 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!
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2023 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

Steve J

Quote"Both ABDA cruisers escape without being sunk: Miracle"

For an nano-second I read it as 'ABBA'... :D. Suggestions welcome for suitable songs to with the action ;)

Orcs

Quote from: Steve J on 18 January 2020, 09:58:11 PM
For an nano-second I read it as 'ABBA'... :D. Suggestions welcome for suitable songs to with the action ;)

Waterloo
Fernando

I am so so ashamed that I could suggest them  :-[ :-[ :-[
The cynics are right nine times out of ten. -Mencken, H. L.

Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well. - Robert Louis Stevenson

Orcs

D-Day to Victory . The diaries of Sergeant Trevor Greenwood 9th RTR

He kept an (illegal) diary for his entire service.  It is quite interesting, although it is more about the day to day living in a combat zone than the action.

It gives some good insights into the troubles they had to endure and the differences of the various receptions they received from the different nationals.

Definitely worth a read.  You can also find his letters online as well, although hey are obviously of a more domestic nature
The cynics are right nine times out of ten. -Mencken, H. L.

Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well. - Robert Louis Stevenson

fsn

Quote from: Steve J on 18 January 2020, 09:58:11 PM
For an nano-second I read it as 'ABBA'... :D. Suggestions welcome for suitable songs to with the action ;)
Techno should be good at this with his vast knowledge of the oeuvre of the Swedish Supergroup ...


SOS
My Love, Mikuma
Dancing Queen Elizabeth Class
Knowing Me, Knowing U-Boat


and of course ...

The winner takes it all.
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!

FierceKitty

Quote from: Steve J on 18 January 2020, 09:58:11 PM
For an nano-second I read it as 'ABBA'... :D. Suggestions welcome for suitable songs to with the action ;)

Everybody screamed when I missed the Musashi.
I don't drink coffee to wake up. I wake up to drink coffee.

kipt

Finished "U.S. Battleships: An Illustrated Design History" by Norman Friedman and Ship Plans by Alan Raven and A.D. Baker III.

The title describes the book.  All US battleships are covered with all the variations during the wars and between.  It has a section on monitors also.

Interesting decisions about the invulnerable zone (side armor keeps out projectiles fired essentially horizontal and deck armor keeps out projectiles coming in at an angle).  US ships were designed to keep out the equivalent big gun that the particular ship carried.

This finishes the trilogy of cruisers and aircraft carrier design histories.

Steve J

Black Powder 2nd Edition. Much improved version of the rules, that is certainly better laid out and easier to find stuff when you to. A good buy IMHO.

pierre the shy

23 January 2020, 08:37:38 AM #3190 Last Edit: 23 January 2020, 09:36:36 AM by pierre the shy
Finally got hold of a Library Interloan copy of Edward Furgol's "A Regimental History of the Covenanting Armies 1639 - 1651" - worth the wait and $10 charge? Yep - worth its weight in gold to me for all the detail it goes into for every unit in the army.....

If you can find a 2nd hand copy they are going on Amazon/Abebooks etc for anything from $500 to $1000 currently  :o

I was lucky enough to find that the NZ National Library had a copy in their stack collection that I could interloan via my local library for a month ;)

   
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
we are not now that strength which in old days
moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are.

Lord Kermit of Birkenhead

Quote from: pierre the shy on 23 January 2020, 08:37:38 AM
"A Regimental History of the Covenanting Armies 1839 - 1651"

Fighting from a TARDIS maybe ?
FOG IN CHANNEL - EUROPE CUT OFF
Lord Kermit of Birkenhead
Muppet of the year 2019, 2020 and 2021

Steve J

Chancellorsville by S W Sears. Immediately taken with his writing style which flowed beautifully and the first chapter went in no time at all. This bodes well for the rest of the book and Gettysburg too. Might get his book on Antietam too at this rate.

steve_holmes_11

Re-acquainting myself with Rebels and Patriots (Osprey Games) in preparation for a set to with Westmarcher. (Date to be arranged)

Westmarcher

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.