What are you currently reading ?

[nikharwood]

Nick


By any chance do you have a copy of Blue Max by GDW

Nope... will go look for those too - thanks, Fenton

[nikharwood]

A&A games engineering. Really nice guys, great set of rules.

Cool - will check them out; thanks, Will

[Fenton]

They are WW1 but a friend did a WW2 conversion. Which the website for sadly seems to be down

[nikharwood]

They are WW1 but a friend did a WW2 conversion. Which the website for sadly seems to be down

[KTravlos]

Finished Dorothy Gies McGuigan  "Metternich and the Duchess". This is the last book on the Congress of Vienna that I had to read for my paper. Good book, a look at the history through the lens of the affair between the Duchess of Sagan and Metternich. A good study of them both, and the social mileu. Recommended.  Has some stuff that the other books missed.


So I am finally free of the need to read stuff. At various stages I am still reading , "Global Politics after the Cold War" (translation of the Greek title) by Panayotis Kondylis (probably the most important conservative thinker of the 21st century, quite depressing for a liberal cosmopolitan like me), Hooton's "The Balkan Wars", and the Osprey Combat "Somme 1916 British Infantryman vs. German Infantryman", and Embree's Radetzky's Marches. And I would really like to continue my Aubrey-Maturin books, volume 16.

[DaveH]

Reading a couple of sets of rules at the moment - FiveCore: Skirmish Gaming Evolved 2nd edition and UseMe SF.

[fsn]

Went out last week to do some Pendrakenmas shopping.

Bought myself "British Soldiers of the Korean War: In their Own Words".

[FierceKitty]

Now reading By Force of Arms; the SYW from the Austrian perspective. Duffy again. It's a weighty volume.

[T13A]

Hi

Just finished 'Marston Moor' by Michael Arnold. Fiction, but a good read and the 'flavour' of the civil war comes across well. His 6th civil war novel.

Cheers Paul

[Leman]

Still having trouble with ITLSU so decided to have a look at a long, tucked away copy of Contemptible Little Armies 3rd Edition.

[kipt]

Finished "Fallen Stars; Eleven Studies of Twentieth Century Military Disasters" edited by Brian Bond.

A bit different than the previous book on Military Misfortunes in that this book looks more at what the commanders did wrong, but not totally.

Interesting chapters on the 11, from Tannenburg to Burma.  Liked it.

[kipt]

Finished an interesting little book, "Great Mistakes of the War" by Hanson Baldwin.  He is writing about WWII.  Says we (Americans) only wanted to win the war, but lost the piece, meaning Russia got what it wanted and we ignored that.  Published in 1949, so shortly after the war and watching what the Soviets wanted (and got).

Also against the A-Bomb use, figuring Japan was already down (true) and ready to surrender anyway.  Says the war was shortened by maybe days, weeks, months?  And that we could have continued the blockade and starved Japan out with no need to invade.  Controversial thoughts that have been written about in many books.

Also down on MacArthur, which I agree with.

[FierceKitty]

There's no real question but that the use of the bomb was intended to impress the Russians, surely?

[paulr]

I have not seen evidence that the Japanese were going to surrender in weeks or even months

I have seen evidence they were making major preparations to repel invasion

If the Japanese were going to surrender why had they not surrendered earlier, US carriers raids on Japan started in February 1945

There were also large Japanese forces outside Japan to consider...

Also given the casualty rate, civilian and military, wasn't shortening the war a good thing

Note if this is considered too political I'm happy to suspend the conversation

[kipt]

Agree with you