What are you currently reading ?

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Not I take it Tercio the TTG set from the 70's ?

[Leman]

No, this is a translation of a set produced recently in Spain - see Raph's post on his replay of Rocroi.

[kipt]

Finished "Generals at War" by MG Sir Francis (Freddie) De Guigand, Montgomery's chief of staff.  This is the second book he had written, the earlier one "Operation Victory" meant he had to pull some punches as it was too close to the end of the war and he was still a serving soldier.  This book was published in 1964.

He is critical of Wavell.  He recognizes the pressures Wavell was under but faults him for his decisions, particularly when pressured by the politicians.  The decision to go to Greece seems to have been deplored by almost all military except Wavell.

He obviously talks about Montgomery (who was still alive when this book was published) but he does admire him and his methods.  however, he says Montgomery was so sure of himself that he was unaware of how others saw him.  Also discussed is Auchinleck (he likes) and Eisenhower (also likes).  De Guigand visited Ike when he was President.

Easy flowing read and enjoyable.

[Steve J]

White Mughals by William Dalrymple. An interesting read about the early days of the East India Company, a period I know sod all about. So far loads of ideas for small skirmish type games with Revolutionary French vs East India Company troops, aided by a wide range of interesting Indian troops. I picked the book up again after watching Beecham House on ITV which is visually stunning and easy viewing.

[Poggle]

Just started on A Peace to End All Peace: creating the modern Middle East 1914-1922, by David Fromkin.

[mmcv]

Just finished Flashman and the Redskins, in which he romps his way through the early American West having plenty of run ins with the titular natives, then jumps forward 25 years or so to get caught up with Custer. Next up will be Flashman at the Charge, though holding off on it until I start my 2mm Crimea project as it'll provide plenty of inspiration.

Some other recent notables:

Eric Cline's 1177BC, an interesting analysis of the late bronze age and the factors leading to the collapse and dark age.

The Great King by Christian Cameron, in which the hero, Arimnestos of Platea, hops about the Mediterranean trying to whip up support for the Greeks and culminates at the naval battle of Artemisium (while a famous last stand rages on the mainland). Next stop will be Sardis.

The first two books in Zoe Saadia's Rise of the Aztec series, interesting to read a fiction set in a time well before the Spanish conquest. This is off the back of becoming interested in doing an Aztec project and have since picked up a couple of osprey books on the matter and Ross Hassig's Aztec Warfare an me starting to think about unit structure and rules.

Also been working through various podcasts and lectures from the likes of Hardcore History, Great Courses and YouTube. Wondering if there should be a podcasts thread.

[paulr]

Also been working through various podcasts and lectures from the likes of Hardcore History, Great Courses and YouTube. Wondering if there should be a podcasts thread.

Sounds like something that should be on the resources board, similar to the You tubes finds thread

[mmcv]

Sounds like something that should be on the resources board, similar to the You tubes finds thread

Yup, started putting it together some bits here: http://www.pendrakenforum.co.uk/index.php/topic,18803.new.html

[Terry37]

I just finished Franklin Horton's third book - "Legion of Despair", a post apocalyptic book. He writes very well, with a raw realistic approach. While I am waiting for the next three books in he series to arrive, I am very much looking forward to reading Stieg Larson's "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". Love the movies and very much love hte character of Lisbeth, so I have been wanting to read the books for some time now. As I am writing this a statement that Rooney Mara who played Lisbeth in the American version of the book - "Lisbeth is the kind of person that you'd have nothing to do with if you met her on the street, but once you see the world from her perspective, everyone loves her".

Terry

[kipt]

Finished "Balaclava: Gentlemen's Battle" by John Selby. Written with many eye-witness accounts, both from the Russians and the French and British.  Well done in that respect.  Good descriptions of the combats and the operations.  I enjoyed it more than I first thought I would.  Written in 1970 so a bit old, but good.

[kipt]

Finished "Military Concepts and Philosophy" by RADM Henry Eccles (retired).  He was in his later career very involved in logistics, but did command 2 submarines before WWII.  As in the title there is a lot of philosophy, but he has some interesting statements such as "logistics is the bridge between economy and the operations of combat forces" and "Business or economic factors limit the combat forces one can create.  Logistics factors limit the combat forces one can deploy".

And even though it was written in 1964 (the US is getting involved in Viet-Nam) his thoughts still apply: "...the United States has no monopoly of brains, creativity, or dedication to the concepts of civilized freedom.  Therefore while it may lead, it must no attempt to dominate."

The portion I liked best are his last two Appendices.  Appendix C - Decentralization, Initiative, and Command, and Appendix D - Further Comments on Morale and Leadership.

Bit of a slog but interesting.

[Leman]

Since last posting I was so impressed with the free downloadable version of Tercios that I bought the full version from Caliver. This adds a variety of differentials into the mix for each troop type, plus a more granular points system, eg a few more points will make your tercio veteran and/or give it a contingent of sword and buckler men and/or give all your firearm troops muskets instead of a mix of musket/arquebus. It also puts a lot more emphasis on commanders, terrain and so on. Then there are 6 scenarios, each with a different way of calculating victory. Admittedly it was originally produced in Spanish so there are a few (very few compared to Tin Soldiers in Action) oddities in translated expression, but nothing that detracts from the actual game, plus it is the most beautifully produced rulebook I have seen since Maurice:





Please excuse the side on view. IT is most definitely not my forte.

[kipt]

Finished "The Chief of Staff: The Military Career of General Walter Bedell Smith" by D.K.R. Crosswell.  "Beetle" Smith was a maverick, up from the ranks.  He joined in 1911 in the Indiana National Guard as a 16 year old.  Thirty nine years later in retired as a four-star general.

He was a workaholic and was Eisenhower's Chief of Staff.  This book is a great explanation of the various staff departments and a behind the scenes look about what it took to keep an army running.  The author is a bit hard on Eisenhower by the way, but shows Marshall and even Montgomery in a good light.  Regarding Eisenhower the author says "The key to understanding Eisenhower's style of leadership lies in its covert cover.  One can identify five techniques by which Eisenhower concealed the direct, [personal aspects of this leadership style: (1) the selective delegation of authority to subordinates, allowing them considerable freedom while simultaneously using them as foils to deflect criticism from himself;  (2) the insightful evaluation of friends and antagonists and the careful calculation of the help or damage they might render in any situation; (3) the avoidance of making unilateral decisions insisting upon multiple advocacy for any major policy shift;  (4) the refusal to engage in personality clashes; and (5) the intentional use of evasiveness and ambiguity to screen his actions and unbalance his critics.  Beneath the amiable "Ike" existed the hard-minded operator.  In achieving his various ends, Eisenhower worked through others, and the individual most responsible for his success was Bedell Smith."


Lots of political maneuvering in the upper echelons of command as well as international relations.  Beetle took care of a lot of that.

[fsn]

That about sums up Eisenhower to me. I don't think of him as a battlefield general, more of a politician/administrator - having to juggle the nagging voices of each of the allied governments, excellent and American subordinates and ... the Germans. This isn't a disparaging view, I generally admire him for the way he handled NW Europe.   

[Leman]

Over the next couple of years, sticking with the Renaissance theme, I intend to have a go at the Dutch War of 1672-78, using the LOA range and the Twiglet rules. As a start to my research I bought the Helion book on the subject of the Dutch army at this time (Century of the Soldier series) by Bruno ? This has turned out to be a bit of a Curate's egg, i.e. there are some great colour plates and descriptions of uniform colours for many of the Dutch regiments involved. The problem, though not insurmountable, is the text. The author is Italian and the text appears to be a direct transliteration from Italian, thus the phraseology is very tough on a British reader. This makes the reading, essential for research, a real hard slog. This transliteration is combined with the use of overly complex sentences of many clauses and some obscure words making parts of it read like a very poor sixth former's history essay (you know the type - "I'll put this sentence in to impress the teacher (without actually understanding what it means)."

[OldenBUA]

You probably know this already, but there is a very good blog about this war. Posts are in Dutch and in English. Maybe not as active as before, but you can find a lot of stuff here.


http://rampjaar.blogspot.com

[Leman]

No, that's a new one on me. Many thanks.

[Steve J]

'Fighting the French Revolution: the Great Vendee Rising of 1793' by Rob Harper. So far a great overview of the start of the uprising, which has lots of gaming possibilities. Looking forward to getting to some of the major battles.

[kipt]

Finished "The Roman War Machine" by John Peddie (OBE, MC, retired military).  Not that interested in ancients but this book was very well done.  The author dovetailed in some experiences with WWII which added to the interest for me.

The chapters are: Roman Generalship, Command and Control, Supply Trains and Baggage, Marching-camp Techniques, Supporting Arms and Weaponry, Waterborne Operations and Siege Warfare.

Highly recommended if you are interested in this period and particularly for those just getting in to it.

[Leman]

Nothing on actual battlefield tactics? Seems a bit of an omission.