What are you currently reading ?

[fred.]

A couple of good suggestions there. Add the James Holland one to my Christmas list, need to check if I already have the Williamite wars one

[kipt]

Finished an interesting little book I found in an antique shop "Colorado Volunteers in the Civil War: The New Mexico Campaign 1862", by William Clarke Whitford, D.D.  First printed in 1906 and reprinted in 1963.  Whitford visited the area and then learned about the happenings in New Mexico.  He was able to speak to veterans of the campaign and endeavored to list all the killed and wounded.  However he dies before he could accomplish that and so the booklet was published posthumously.

Talks about the fights at Valverde, Apache Canyon and Glorieta Pass.  The Valverde fight is covered as a scenario in the Regimental Fire and Fury Volume 2 scenario book.

[fsn]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/8893273713/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Austrian Army during the Napoleonic wars 1813-1818: K.K.Oesterreichischen Armee (Soldiers, Weapons & Uniforms NAP)

Oh dear.

If you want to know about the Austrian army 1813-1818, I'd go elsewhere. If you want examples of prints by Joseph Trentsensky, this may be the book for you. No real explanation of the Austrian army in 1813, but an intro to the army in 1800 (which was a very different proposition). Then lots of pages explaining ranks in the army ... which is odd, before we finally get into the plates.

Lots of plates 50 by Trentsensky, plus 30 by other artists. Full colour, and IMHO a bit dark ; some relating to 1800 which was a different army. The biggest disappointment is that there are no notes on the plates. Page 64 "Austrian Naval Infantry" ... who were they? How many? When? What did they do? No clues in this book.

Expensive for what you get.

[mmcv]

Picked up in a charity shop today "Great Military Blunders" and "Great Commanders of the Medieval World" (though really from late Rome to late renaissance) to perhaps provide some inspiration for future projects.

Also picked up the rather oddly named The Qin Dynasty Terra-Cotta Army Of DREAMS.

Tad hyperbolic but some interesting information and pictures.

[kipt]

Finished "Mounted Archers of the Steppe 600 BC-AD1300" by Anthony Karasulas and illustrated by Angus McBride.  A typical Osprey in the Elite series.  Not my area of interest but is was given to me.  Still informative and the drawings are always good.

[kipt]

Finished "the Journal of Military History" Vol. 85, No.3.
Articles include:
The Battle of Fariskur (29 August 1219) and the Fifth Crusade: Causes, Course, and Consequences.
Notre Cher Ami: The Enduring Myth and Memory of a Humble Pigeon,
The early Military History of the Second Indochina War and the Moyer Thesis.

And 92 pages of books and magazine articles reviews.

Published 4 times per year and well worth the cost ($70.00 per year regular membership).

[kipt]

Finished my 3rd Eugen book "Prince Eugen of Savoy" by Nicholas Henderson, 1964.  The bibliography lists the two books I discussed prior.

This one does not have much about the battles; a high view of not even a page, but does have very interesting discussions about Eugen and his interactions.  Henderson makes a good case for the view of "perfidious Albion" and how jaundiced Eugen became dealing with the government after Marlborough.

[Techno II]

Over the past few weeks have listened to....

A Murder Too Soon, by Michael Jecks.

Set in June 1554....An assassin is sent to kill 'a spy' in the palace of Woodstock where Princess Elizabeth is being kept under close guard. He arrives just too late. Someone else has beaten him too it.
From then on a murder mystery, with so many twists and turns at the end, I was half expecting Hercule Poirot (or Miss Marple) to turn up. Pretty good, though !

A Lawless Place, by David Donachie.

Set in the time William Pitt is PM.
Slightly irritating, as I reached the final CD thinking.....Coo they're going to have to go some to tie this all together...and then the main character is shot and apparently killed.
Had to find out from reviews on Amazon, that this was the second book in (at least) a trilogy, with the end of each book ending on a 'cliffhanger'.

Elementary Murder by A J Wright.

Set in Wigan in 1894.
Murder mystery set in an Elementary School.
Not bad, at all.

Airborne, by Robert Radcliffe.

Starts off in September 1944......But whizzes backwards and forwards in time.
Really well structured story...Very enjoyable.

The Skin Collector, by Jeffery Deaver.

Basically a murder thriller..(Someone is killing folk by tattooing them with poison 'ink'.)
Lots of twists and turns, at the end...again, very enjoyable.

Viper's Blood, by David Gillman.

Best of the bunch.
To quote the back of the 'book'..."...gives a true taste of the Hundred Years War. A gripping chronicle of pitched battle, treachery and cruelty. The stench and harshness of medieval life is ever present."

Cheers - Phil 

[Steve J]

The Secret War by Max Hastings. About half way through and so far superb.

[John Cook]

Just finished Marengo by Terry Crowdy.  Comprehensive research in the Austrian and French archives, as well as use of multiple sources both primary and secondary, including regimental histories, coupled with sensible analysis which is well explained and written.  This is what all military history should be like - original research rather than the recycling of what has gone before.

[DHautpol]

I'm about a third of the way through The King Over The Water by Desmond Seward.  It seeks to draw all the Jacobite history into one study and look at them in context to each other, rather than focusing individually on particular incidents, say, the Boyne campaign or the 1715 rising. Just got to the accession of Queen Anne.

For light relief, I very much like the British Library Crime Classics.  These are books from the classic period of British crime fiction from the now less well known contemporaries of Christie, but who were widely read in their time.  They are attractive paperbacks with covers using classic railway posters from the time.  I'm currently reading Death In White Pyjamas and Death Knows No Calendar by John Bude from 1942 and 1944 respectively.  Annoyingly, they are bound into a single 450 page volume when at about 225 a piece they could have been bound individually.   

[kipt]

Finished "Jager: Europe's First Special Operations Forces; History, Organization, Arms & Equipment of the Autro-Hungarian Empire's Elite Light Infantry to 1866" by James A. Capua & COL Carl M Kruger (USA, RET).

Written by two arms collectors and well done.  Gives the Austrian light infantry a concentrated look and perhaps more credit against the French during Napoleon's time and  in 1866 against the Prussians than many wargame rules might do.  They do give the Prussian needle gun a plus for rpm however.

Half the book is about the firearms, bayonet and hangers.  Well illustrated.

[Techno II]

Listening to....Imperial Vengeance, by Ian Ross.....Set in the time of emperor Constantine.

Pretty good, so far.

Cheers - Phil.

[Heedless Horseman]

Cold War turned Hot NAVAL novels by John Wingate. 'Frigate', Carrier', Submarine'.
Read these as library books in mid 1980' several times. Fairly slim novels postulating Cold war, mainly Naval confrontations... escalating.
In the day, thought they were great, though could have been bigger. Enjoyed re-reading after all this time... but wish more 'combat' and less character personal life stuff.

Have wanted to re-read but long OOP and wasn't going to buy 40 yr old paperbacks that would disintegrate... but but found some good condition hardbacks at not too bad a price.

(Interesting thought? If full hull sub models available in smallish scale, (?), could be mounted on 'adjustable' 'flight stands' for submarine combat?).

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Still got the original paperbacks and they are avaliable as e-books on Amazon 

[hammurabi70]

Cold War turned Hot NAVAL

(Interesting thought? If full hull sub models available in smallish scale, (?), could be mounted on 'adjustable' 'flight stands' for submarine combat?).

It has been done.  Also done for a demo game at SALUTE showing the X-craft raid on the Tirpitz.

[Heedless Horseman]

I have found a 1/1250 full hull Typhoon but other 80s era boats yet.
I have doubts, however, as to whether ASW would have been as effective as in the tales and at least one weapon system... the sub launched 'Anvil' AAM seems to have been fictional as far as I can tell... although currently there may be something in development.

[pierre the shy]

I have found a 1/1250 full hull Typhoon but other 80s era boats yet.
I have doubts, however, as to whether ASW would have been as effective as in the tales and at least one weapon system... the sub launched 'Anvil' AAM seems to have been fictional as far as I can tell... although currently there may be something in development.

John Wingate's cold war naval trilogy is a great read isn't it?

The "Anvil" sub mounted SAM system used by the Russians in the books are fictional, HH however ironically the Royal Navy did test just such a system in the early 1970's based on the Blowpipe SAM system fitted to HMS Aeneas:

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/submarine-launched-air-missile-slam.1722/

[paulr]

36 Days The Untold Story Behind the Gallipoli Landings by Hugh Dolan

A fascinating read about the 36 Days the ANZACs in particular had to plan the Gallipoli landings. Includes quotes from a lot of diaries and official documents. Lots of details on the planning, espionage that went on and the air and naval activities

A little more understanding of the political challenges faced by Hamilton
Scathing of the attitudes to the Turks in London and the British 29^th Division

[Steve J]

Osprey's 'The Balkans (2) Germany's Blitzkreig Against Yugoslavia and Greece'. Honestly a lot to take in in this book, given the amount of units involved and the large geographical area covered. It's a book that will make more sense with repeated reading. From a wargaming point of view, some interesting actions that could be fought and would probably work best as a series of linked battles, but most are a tad too one-sided to be of interest to me to be frank.