More Grist for the Falklands Mill

Two more books for the Falklands/Malvinas reading list arrived today:

 Hopefully Bicheno's book will provide more Argentine insight.

The Battle for the Falklands - a Quick Review

Last night on the train home I finished reading "The Battle for the Falklands" by Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins.  I thought I'd put down a few quick words on my thoughts on the book.  I hope to do this with all of the books in my Falklands Reading List this year.

First an admission is necessary; this is the first book on my Falklands Reading List, so I really have nothing to compare it with.  This claimed by many to be the standard reference work, so I thought I'd start with it.  Future reviews of other books will obviously contain comparisons where appropriate.

I read a 1983 paperback version of the book, 448 pages (although only about 380 of these are the meat of the book), with 16 pages of black and white photos and 8 pages of maps.  In addition to the the text, maps and photos, the book contains a chronology of political and military events, a glossary of terms, a list of british decorations (both civil and military) and an interesting section outlining the ships, men and aircraft of the taskforce.  Excerpts from the "Franks Report" which was the official government report into the Falklands conflict are also presented at the end of the book, to enable the reader to compare and contrast the official findings with those presented by the authors.  A full index is also included.
Max Hastings was a journalist who accompanied the task force to the South Atlantic and appears to have a fair bit of experience reporting military matters.  Simon Jenkins was the political editor of the Economist, and so had access to many sources in Whitehall.  In the text, Jenkins covers what was happening in the UK, Argentina and the US, whilst Hastings covers the progress of the task force and the conflict "on the ground" in the Falklands.
The first point I feel I need to make here is that this is a history book rather than military war story.  The authors have done an excellent job tracing the cause of the 1982 war from the original discovery of the islands, through the various claims and occupations of the islands through to the failures of diplomacy that lead to the war. In fact, the actual Argentine invasion does not occur until more than 90 pages into the book!
There is a lot of material on the actions of the Foreign Office in negotiating with Argentina over the future of the islands, and also decisions by Defence that lead to some of the materiel issues faced by the task force.
I found some of this early material difficult to read, paricularly keeping straight in my head the revolving door of ministers and secretaries working on the negotiations.  This did however contribute to the point that the text was trying to make that continuity of office was a big contributor to the issues with the dicsussions over the islands.
The narrative of the naval battles and then the land campaign is quite good.  There is some detail on Goose Green and also the battles for Stanley as 3 Commando Brigade and 5 Brigade advanced over the mountains, although obviously a book of this size and scope cannot provide infinitesmal detail on these military actions.  Some good overview maps are provided for Goose Green and the approach to Stanley, which helped to cement things in my mind.
The book is (of necessity I think) anglo-centric, although the authors appear to have attempted where possible to use Argentinian sources.  Quotes from Argentine politicians and soldiers appear throughout, but deep analysis of Argentine actions is not possible from these.  This appears to be a more general problem with Falklands texts (at least those in English) as access to Argentine sources appears to be difficult.
Overall the book provides a very good overview of the actual conflict and has enabled me to lay out in my mind what happened where and when. This has given me a great start in working out what to read next and I also now have some good ideas for actions to bring to the table top.


I would recommend this book.  It doesn't have a lot of nitty-gritty detail on the military actions, but there is enough to give you a good overview and steer you in the direction of more detailed accounts.  It is, however, an excellent analysis of the conditions that lead to the two nations facing off over a tiny spec of land in the South Atlantic and a record of how that played out.

Falklands update 1

Not a lot of obvious progress on the Falklands project over the last ten days or so, but I assure you things are progressing!
I've been reading "The Battle for the Falklands" by Max Hastings and Simon Jennings.  It's been a difficult read at times with my current levels of sleep thanks to Abigail and her 2-hourly feeds, but I hope to finish it this week, which should mean a review next week. 
We also still have family visiting to meet Abigail, and they all stay in the room where my hobby stuff is stored, so I haven't been able to access it since Christmas.  I'm keen to get some painting done to get my brush-wok back up to scratch for the Falklands Project, and also to try to get some of the other projects languishing on the lead pile moving forward.  I also need to get started on some suitable buildings for the rural Falklands communities that will feature in the early games.
The next book to be targetted is likely to be "Goose Green" by Mark Adkin.  I also have some more books coming to add to the reading pile, particularly some more Argentine-centric reads.
I've also got an initial order in with Heroics and Ros for the figures I'll be using and I'm looking forward to those arriving.

British Army in Ulster Vol 3

Found the following book at a local market and picked it up.

It looks like quite an interesting read.
Essentially its a bit like a diary of events in Northern Ireland from late 1975 to early 1978.
It details units deployed over that period and significant events in more detail.
It's going to have to go on the pile for after the Falklands material, but it looks like a good reference for Northern Ireland during this period, or if you are looking to game an alternate timeline ala Winter of 79.
On the subject of the Falklands reading list, I've started "The Battle for the Falklands" by Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins.  I'm finding the early chapters very interesting, but it is a little heavy going on my current sleep levels.  Good detail on what happened that lead to the conflict over the islands.  Still to get to the actual conflict itself at this point.

Falklands Reading Material

Whilst up late one night before I finished up work last year, I ordered a number of used books on-line relating to the Falklands War. 
While I was away, the packages piled up at work, so I actually had a reason to come back to work this year (mortgages and feeding children aside....).



Most of these were selected for their relative cheapness more than anything else, although I believe "Goose Green" by Mark Adkin was recommended in one of the TFL Specials.

The two larger format books I ordered because I figured that they would have a number of pictures that would be useful in envisioning men, machines and terrain for the conflict (I was only 5 when the war took place).  Having a quick skim, this certainly appears to be the case. 

There are a few more books that I would like to get, including "No Picnic" by Julian Thompson, but I'm going to have to wait until I can save some more money.

Keen for any recommendations that others may have on this, particularly for good texts presenting the Argentinian perspective.

I also picked up a couple more Don Featherstone books (Battle Notes for Wargamers and the Victorian Colonial Warfare book on India), as I've been quitely collecting many of his books over the last 6 months.

Now to sneak them home without my wife noticing........

New Addition

First Post for the new year, and it's actually a catch-up on the big event from just before Christmas.

Things have been pretty quiet here on the blog for a number of months now, mainly due my pre-occupation with the preparations for the arrival of our second daughter.  I had a lot of work to do renovating our bedrooms to make room for the new addition, that was only just finished in time.

On the 15th of December, Abigail was born and since then I've had even less time for the hobby between my family visiting for Christmas and adjusting to a new member of our immediate family.
I'm back at work now and imbued with the spirit of the new year ahead, I'm hoping to post more frequently, particulary since I've now gone and committed to getting my Falklands project done this year!
More on that soon.....

2012 Project

Normally I would shy away from any commitment to a given project in a given year. The demands on my time from work and family are such that hobby time is always difficult to find.
That said, there us one thing I really want to achieve in 2012. The year marks the 30th anniversary of the Falklands / Malvinas War, and I really want to run a couple of games this year that revisit some of the events during the conflict.

Rules will be "We'll have to bloody walk" by TwoFatLardies. Scale will be 6mm.

I may also do some of the special forces operations using Force-on-Force.

Focus will be on the land war, but if time and budget allow, this may expand to the sea and air.

More bulletins as events warrant, but I have a lot of reading ahead of me to get properly up to speed...

2mm Moderns

Recently, on a whim, I spent the last of my pocket money for this year on a 2mm Modern Battlepack from Irregular Miniatures.  These are packs with two opposing forces, plus a set of rules.
I wanted to match Brits up against Warsaw Pact in the 1983 timeframe, so Ian from Irregular was very helpful in ensuring that my future BAOR (British Army of the Rhine for the uninitiated) forces were equipped with FV432 and mainly Chieftain tanks (just a couple of Challengers) rather than the Challengers and Warrior IFVs of later years.
Below is a quick comparison picture I took of some of my 6mm Irregular NVA (painted for my AK47 games) against BAOR mechanised section with their FV432 APC. 

As you can see, these are tiny figures, but they create a real glee in me.  I can't help but smile when I pick them up and look at them.
The infantry section comes in a single long strip with 8 figures, but a pair of side cutters very quickly gave me two groups to provide more variety for basing.

Painting will be the trick; I'm hoping to give that a go some time this week.
I also have a conundrum on whether to pursue 2mm or 3mm - more on than later....
Hobby time has been very short over the last few months as we prepare for the arrival of our second child next week.
I'm not going to fool myself that I'll have a wealth of time available after number two arrives.....

Quick Review: FoF Ambush Valley

A day or so ago I received my copy of the Ambush Valley sourcebook for Force on Force by Ambush Alley Games / Osprey. This is the revision of the earlier AAG Ambush Valley offering, to fit into the new Osprey mould.  Despite what it says on the cover (1965-1975) it covers the Vietnam conflict from the advisory period (1963 onwards) and could probably be used through to the fall of South Vietnam in 1975. It is a lovely looking book, paperback with full colour pages, and quite thick (176 pages plus Fog of War Cards).

Unlike the "Enduring Freedom" book, which felt a bit "samey" compared with "Road to Baghdad", "Ambush Valley" is a different beast entirely.  The majority of the book in this case is detailed information on organisation and equipment of all of the various forces involved in Vietnam, Laos, Combodia and Thailand throughout this period.
After a quick introduction, the book launches into specific rules for Force-on-Force for this period.  As well as the usual complement of terrain, civilians etc. the book has a section on boats that enables a riverine game straight out of the box; a nice inclusion.

Then we begin the detailed TO&E info, which runs for most of the book.  There is a lot of meat here, however if you are an experienced Vietnam gamer, there may be very little for you here.  For me, the non-Vietnam stuff (Laos, Combodia, etc.) stuff was new and interesting, but the rest was not new.  As I say, it will depend on your pre-existing knowledge of the Vietnam conflict.

Once the TO&E section is done, there is space for a paltry six scenarios, a page or two on solo play, and then it's "roll credits" time.

To be honest I was disappointed by the number of scenarios, as that is one of the primary reasons I have for buying these books.  The TO&E stuff I can read and find, but the ability to have a ready-to-go scenario to play through is very valuable for me. 

This book has expanded the scope from the original Ambush Valley and substantially beefed up the organisational data included.  However this has come at the expense of removing the campaign system that was present in the earlier version, and there are still only 6 scenarios as there was in the first book.  This was a major shock, with this book following on from "Enduring Freedom" with its 20 scenarios.
I will still certainly use this book as it pulls together TO&E data that I have scattered over half-a-dozen sources into a single handy volume, and it brings the rules up-to-date with the new FoF.
I do regret the small number of scenarios, and the removal of the campaign system.  For those I'll be keeping by version one copy of Ambush Valley close to hand.

If you're new to wargaming Vietnam, this is a must-have. 
If you're looking to game Vietnam with Force-on-Force this is a must-have.
If you are looking for an excellent Platoon-level TO&E guide for the US involvement in Indochina, this is a must-have.

If you are already a Vietnam conflict wargamer, or own the original Ambush Valley, there may be much less for you here than you may expect.

Quick Review : FoF Enduring Freedom

A while back I received my copy of the Enduring Freedom sourcebook for Force on Force by Ambush Alley.  This is Force-on-Force's book on Afghanistan from the commencement of hostilities in 2001 to the current day.  It is a lovely looking book, paperback with full colour pages.  Some comment has abounded regarding the cover art.  Earlier placeholder art was in my view better, but Osprey / Ambush Alley have obviously decided to go with this one in the final release.  It wouldn't have been my choice.

From my perspective this book is "more of the same" when compared with the earlier Iraq book (Road to Baghdad).  There are 20 scenarios in this book, most of them seem to trend towards the larger size of game (Full platoons with support on both sides), rather than the earlier small forces we saw in the initial Ambush Alley product.

The format of the book roughly follows the same approach taken in "Road to Baghdad".  An overview of the conflict is followed by explanations of the specific rule elements for Force-on-Force that apply to the current conflict in Afghanistan.

After that we have the 20 scenarios, followed by details of organisation and vehicles for the various ISAF and Afghan forces.  A quite nice part of this book is a guide to uniforms, painting and model selection for the conflict.  It desn't suit my predeliction for 6mm all that well, but it's nice to see in what is essentially a hooby book.

If you've been a follower of Ambush Alley Games and modern wargaming for a while, there may not be a whole heap for you in this book, apart from the scenarios.  I had a vague feeling of "samey-ness" leafing through the book, but to be honest I have not found the time to invest in a cover-to-cover in-depth read.

If you're interested in Afghanistan, it's obviously a must have.  If not, then I'd leave it.
Maybe it's because it's Australian focused, but I think the older Operation Uruzghan book that AA Games issued before the Osprey partnership was a better book, with scenarios more suited to what I'd like to game in the Afghan conflict.