Book arrived safe and sound today, so can't wait to start reading it .

Oddy enough, mine arrived yesterday. Having seen it I have a feeling that I have read it somewhere back in the dim and distant past. 

Really enjoying reading this book, but suprised that the battle is now referred to as Konigratz, as when I was at school it was known as Sadowa. At least the book explains why to a certain extent.

Anyway, the main reason for the post is a question to Holdfast and Mollinary:

Would your Wargaming in History book be suitable as a reference material for gaming the period with the Black Powder rules? The OOB etc I take it as given that they will be, but I'm not sure if the amendments to the F&F rules will transfer across as it were. All info greatly appreciated .

Steve J.

Black Powder works brilliantly in this period, when the lads down our club are not fighting 10mm FrancoPrussian they are using it for 1866 in 42mm!

Hi Steve,

I am going to take a fence-straddling position on this one (ooh, matron!).  What the book provides is a look at the war, the armies, the tactics and equipment, as well as examination of the early, corps on corps, battles. These include detailed OOBs (not just for RF&F, but with actual numbers where available), maps largely taken from Lettow-Vorbeck's pre WW1 study, together with wargame maps. The refights are described, and contain a lot of detail on how the battles developed and why. We also try and explain the reasons behind our mods for RF&F, and our conclusions on the relation between our games and reality. And if you are into battlefield walking (which I highly recommend in this instance) it includes a chapter on the fields today. Having said all that, a forum member who has both read the book and played Black Powder (if one exists) would be better placed to comment on the read across between the two. I have Black Powder, but have not played it, or tried to adapt it to this period, so am not really best placed to help. Sorry!

Mollinary

Thanks for the feedback, which is very useful .

Have played Black Powder in an FPW game and it played well.

Having now got approximately two thirds of the way through the book I find myself worrying about a few detail inconsistancies. Craig describes the Prussianinfantry in at least two passages as a"grey-clad mass", or words to that effect. Now this may have been because they were wearing their great-coats, but later on he recounts how they stowed their packs and greatcoats on the transport wagons before advancing into action. I had been led to believe that the Austrians fought the campaign in their black greatcoats, but Craig quotes eye-witnesses on more than one occaision as stating that they were dressed in white.

This is all trivia, of course, but I always have this nagging feeling that an author that gets the small facts wrong may have blundered elsewhere.

Notwithstanding that, the narrative is clear and easy to follow and the diagrams (they're hardly maps in the true sense of the word) make the course of the battle relatively simple to understand - much more so than the comtemporary maps.   

HB

I think the coats are a dark grey as opposed to black. Stuart Sutherland describes them as 'graumelierte'.

Chad

Quote from: Hertsblue on 14 June 2013, 10:47:19 PM
Having now got approximately two thirds of the way through the book I find myself worrying about a few detail inconsistancies. Craig describes the Prussianinfantry in at least two passages as a"grey-clad mass", or words to that effect. Now this may have been because they were wearing their great-coats, but later on he recounts how they stowed their packs and greatcoats on the transport wagons before advancing into action. I had been led to believe that the Austrians fought the campaign in their black greatcoats, but Craig quotes eye-witnesses on more than one occaision as stating that they were dressed in white.

This is all trivia, of course, but I always have this nagging feeling that an author that gets the small facts wrong may have blundered elsewhere.

Notwithstanding that, the narrative is clear and easy to follow and the diagrams (they're hardly maps in the true sense of the word) make the course of the battle relatively simple to understand - much more so than the comtemporary maps.   

The kittel was white though only worn by the officers; the men wore an unbleached linen under jacket which at a distance would also look white however all ranks wore the grey greatcoat as the outer garment, so in fact it would be the Austrian infantry that would have appeared as a grey mass not the Prussians ... and yet Hohenloe Inglefingen describes the Austrian infantry drawn up at Koniggratz as 'white'; perhaps the greatcoat, washed out and bleached by the sun appeared lighter at a distance. Craig's maps are pretty bad however his narrative is generally good and he gives a good account of the campaign. If authorial inconsistencies worry you then best take a valium before reading Geoffrey Wawro's history of the 1866 campaign, its full of them, infuriating really as with a bit of decent editing it could have been a good read.

Cam

What do you think of Quintin Barry's 'The Road to Koniggratz'

Chad

Well to be honest I found it a bit dull; he's not particularly good at communicating overview and there's no original research (as far as I remember) however, every contribution to 'our' period is to be welcomed. Put it this way, I bought it and don't regret it but its not as readable as Craig.

Agree with Cameronian. A good effort, but sadly it does not bring the characters to life. No bodices were ripped when I read it.
Holdfast

I though it had rather more detail than Craig, although I would agree with the consensus that it's not as readable. I found the maps  difficult to read, probably because they were scaled-down from contemporary full-sized documents.

Pretty much finished this book and what a great read . This is a period I will definitely be visiting, so now I need to start swatting up on the units involved (all of which had great names so what's not to like?), the various uniforms worn and the tactics involved. In short a happy man .