Dux Bellorum Arrives

My copy of Daniel Mersey's new Arthurian game for Osprey Publishing, "Dux Bellorum", just turned up today.
Primarily I bought this publication because I am very new to this period and I thought an Osprey publication would be useful for artwork and examples.  TooFatLardies's Dux Britanniarum appears to be a good set of rules, but most of the images are diagrams to explain the rules.  I felt that Dux Bellorum would be likely to have more pictures of models and artwork from Osprey books.

I am not disappointed.  There is a fair bit of "wargamer porn" in this book, and certainly it gives me a few ideas for schemes to paint by Britons and Saxons.
Have yet to explore the rules but I probably will at some point.  In his introduction Daniel talks about a focus on command and control, so it will be interesting to see what mechanisms are used.

Coming soon, more Heroics and Ros figures in detail.....

Argentine Infantry Work in Progress

Here is one of my unpainted Argentine infantry sections accompanied by a bazooka team (click for a larger image).

These guys have been languishing in the cupboard for the better part of the last month since I originally based and undercoated them while various things have prevented me from getting them finished off.

They're next off the line though, before I go back to finish the unpainted UK Marines.

Here's the rest of the current understrength company.  I still need another platoon to bring it up to full strength, and it's missing any mortar support.

The missing figures for the final platoon will be ordered from Heroics and Ros this coming month (August), and hopefully I can get the Brits finished off before polishing off that final platoon.

Mortars for both sides are not done yet because I want to model some digging in around them, and I'm not entire sure how exactly I want to proceed with that.  There are some very evocative images of pits cut into the peat to get down to solid matter for the base plate that I want to have a shot at doing.  Maybe some trials later....

I've been a little stalled on the Falklands project overall.

I'd been reading "Above All, Courage" and the firsthand accounts of the attack on the RFA Sir Galahad from Guardsmen, Navy Pilots and medical staff had been quite confronting.  Coupled with stresses from work I had temporarily shelved the whole thing. 

 Now that I've managed to bite the bullet and get some figures moving again I picked up the book again this morning over breakfast on the deck here at home.  This time it was accounts from 2 Para (Chris Keeble and John Crossland, with a few more to go) from the section of the book on Darwin and Goose Green, and they've helped to push me back on again.
Certainly recommend this book, full of interesting little details and the realities (as far as I can judge) of war.

Razor's Edge - Initial Thoughts

I've just finished reading "Razor's Edge" By Hugh Bicheno.

I'm just going to offer some initial thoughts at the moment, as there is a lot of criticism surrounding this book and its accuracy.  I need to read more to fully understand those arguments, so I will refrain from a full review at this time.

I found the book an easy read, but I think part of this is because I already had much of the political background from slogging through Hastings & Jenkins "The Battle for the Falklands".

Bicheno is quite outspoken in his views on the British Public Service and also on the Argentine regime.  In addition, he is highly critical of 5 Brigade command and of "H" Jones.

The book contains a wealth of maps and details of the battles, which appears to make it an invaluable reference for those planning table-top scenarios, but it is this very information which is called into question by some commentators, so until my research is more complete, I won't offer a full recommendation either way at this time.

My next target is Martin Middlebrook's "The Fight for the Malvinas", to try to cement more Argentine information before I focus on more accounts from the British side.

Falklands/Malvinas Update 2

I've been off sick for the past week or so.  We believe that number one daughter brought the offending bug home from childcare.
I've been too out of it to get much reading done, but I have almost finished Bicheno's book and hope to post some first thoughts on that this weekend.
Back at work again today, and my copy of the "The Fight for the Malvinas" by Martin Middlebrook, and also my initial sampler of figures from Heroics and Ros were waiting for me on my desk!

I think I'll be going through this book next, after the Bicheno, as it looks (after the first flick through) like another good overview book.

On the figures front, I picked up a range of the codes to get a sample of the figures and vehicles that will make up the respective forces.  I'll be posting some pics and reviews over the coming weeks.

Now for some bad news.  My original intent with this project was to actually get some games in during the April/May/June timeframe of the actual conflict.  Unfortunately I've overspent my budget on the "Falklands Reading Pile", so it's probably going to be the second half of the year before I can field the full company-plus forces I need for many of the key battles such as Goose Green and the various mountains west of Stanley.  Disappointing, but the current reality.

I'm not planning on stopping though.  I should have enough with this initial purchase to game some of the smaller special forces actions, and probably the combat on South Georgia.  I may also have enough (certainly on the British side) to put together some scenarios for the initial Argentine landings in and around Stanley.

Stay tuned for more bulletins as events warrant....

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.

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........

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.

Quick "Road to Baghdad" Review

I'm going to cheat and post a quick review I knocked up for Book Depository.  After I've had a chance to read through RtB more thorough over the Easter break I'll post more detailed thoughts:

The Road to Baghdad is a return to roots for Ambush Alley Games (AAG). Their original game "Ambush Alley" was firmly rooted in the events of the 2003 invasion of Iraq - Operation Iraqi Freedom.

As the first offering from their new partnership with Osprey, AAG have served up a wargamer's treasure for this conflict. The book is 104 pages, soft cover, and full of colour art and photos as you would expect from an Osprey publication.

After a brief introduction, 11 pages are devoted to the an overview of the war, with the timescale stepped out.

After this comes the real "meat in the sandwich"; 19 scenarios for the conflict spanning 83 full colour pages with maps, force lists, suggestions for alternate and augmented forces, and the all important historical outcome. These scenarios are design for use with the Force on Force ruleset, but could equally be used with any ruleset focusing on about a platoon per side.

Finally there is an overall listing for US, British and Iraqi forces to enable further scenario creation, as well as a bibliography of further reading.

If I have one immediate criticism of Road to Baghdad, it is that there is so much information crammed into the 104 pages. Skimming the book it can be difficult to pick individual scenarios immediately, as there is very little whitespace (camouflage space??) free in this book to delimit the individual scenarios and they often run on into each other. The Table of Contents obviously helps here, but this is a lot of content in a compact form.

Christmas Loot

For Christmas I received some money from relatives, and that has been spent on some more 6mm - more bulletins once the figures arrive.  I've already mentioned my paints Vallejo paints as well.

 

I also had some money from my wife, so I immediately set about giving it to TooFatLardies.

 

I picked up:

• Bag the Hun - WW2 Aerial Combat (expanded to Post War in various Specials)
• Sharp Practice - Napoleonic Skirmish (large number of scenarios and expansions available)
• Kiss Me Hardy - Napoleonic Naval Rules (hopefully get my Wizkids Pirates back out)

Plus I picked up a number of Specials, which amongst a whole heap of other stuff contained:

• Summer 2004 : Up your Cara al Sol - Spanish Civil War and A Bunch of Limey Gangsters - Commandos for IABSM
• Christmas 2005 : To Die for a Tie - Korean War for IABSM
• Summer 2006 : What's for Afters - Pegasus Bridge scenarios, and Grabbing Mussolini's Baubles - InterWar conflicts for IABSM

Force-on-Force Primer Available

The guys over at Ambush Alley have released the Force-on-Force Primer - a series of 6 scenarios for Force-on-Force that you can play interlinked as a campaign, by Piers Brand.

The scenarios are all generic and have examples of how they could be played both for WW2 and the modern era.

And it's all for the princely sum of......FREE!!

Get yours today at: http://ambushalleygames.com/fofprimer.html 

Latest Ambush Alley purchases

Well I just picked up Tomorrow's War and Operation Uruzgan from Ambush Alley.
A quick skim of Tomorrow's War and there's a lot of material in there. 

 Like any ruleset attempting to provide a toolkit to model all sorts of sci-fi settings, they've included a lot of content to model your favourite settings.  A lot to consume over the 102 pages....

I should note though the pre-release doesn't contain the "eye-popping" art and photography promised in the Osprey edition, it's still no slouch in the presentation stakes.

Operation Uruzgan also looks excellent.  Now if only Flashpoint or Eureka would ever get around to producing their modern Australian Infantry in 15mm! 
Luckily for the time being; the book has a guide to converting to British and US troops.

In my quick skim I was quite taken by this note at the end of the first scenario, "Render Safe":

For those Australians using Operation: Uruzgan; a humorous mini scenario can be played using this scenario template and substituting the VBIED and the EOD operator for an Army Major trying to locate and purchase a hair dryer for a visiting Prime Minister.....

That's gold.....

Lard Sale!!!

I had a bit of a binge on TooFatLardies stuff again this weekend.
At the moment, they are having a sale with £1.5 off everything in store.
I had already planned to pick up a few bits and pieces over the rest of the year, but now I've been able to grab them in bulk.
First up was Footsteps of the Legions, which is army lists for North Africa and the Meditteranean.  This rounds out my current WWII interests with the earlier purchase of Gotterdamerung and Shadow of the Rising Sun.  To accompany this, I also picked up the recently published Operation Compass scenario pack.  There's loots of good stuff in there.  It is also an interesting deviation from most IABSM games in that much of the campaign was armour and artillery rather than direct infantry actions.  There are a number of more traditional infantry actions based on the Australians at Bardia though, which is one of the primary reasons I purchased it.

Still on the subject of World War II, I also picked up another Robert Avery scenario pack: Fall of the Lion's Gate.  I'm very interested in gaming the Pacific Theatre, hence the purchase of this, as well as the Shadow of the Rising Sun.  I also used a voucher my brother and sister-in-law gave me for my birthday to purchase Paul Ham's book on Kokoda on the weekend.  I was very impressed with Ham's work on Vietnam, so I'm looking forward to reading this as well.

 

I also picked up the Rock the Casbah expansion, which focuses on the Lebanese Civil War.  As it turns out, this expansion is actually for Troops, Weapons and Tactics (TW&T - TFL's skirmish rules).  However there are a number of parallels between TW&T and IABSM - B'Maso! give variations to both for the post-colonial african conflicts.  I'm hoping that the conversion here will be reasonably straight forward (if not directly documented).  Finally I also picked up the 2004 Christmas Special.  Looking at this one, you can see that the Specials have come a long way, in terms of production values, in the last 5-6 years!  I've wanted this one for quite some time as it contains details on how to convert IABSM for the Falklands - a variation known as "We'll Have to Bloody Walk!".  I've always found the Falklands a fascinating conflict, and I'm keen to get it on the table.

What did I achieve over Easter?

Not a lot really.....
On the modelling/gaming front at least.  On the gyprocking and plastering side, there was good progress.  But this is Tiny Metal Men, not Renovating for Nutcases!

I have started on a bamboo shack that I hope to get some work in progress of pics tonight.  My order from Maelstrom has shipped, so I'm looking forward to that arriving so that I can forge ahead on my Flashpoint Vietnam figures. 

I did get in a few minutes of reading and finished off Target Basra about the Royal Marine Commandos in the invasion of Iraq.  Some interesting scenarios there that could work for Force-on-Force. 

On the train in to work today I've started on 3 Commando Brigade about the Royal Marines in Afghanistan.
After that is Ground Truth which is the follow up to 3 Para (which I thought was a good read).  I picked up all three of these (Basra, 3 Commando and Ground Truth) for $25 from my local QBD.

On the gaming news side of things, TooFatLardies released their Operation Compass scenario pack providing:

An extensive history of the Italian invasion of Egypt and the British response: Operation Compass, the Five-Day Raid that turned into a campaign. Set between June 1940 and early February 1941, the booklet contains twenty-three unique scenarios for “I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum!” including attacks, counter-attacks, encounter battles, desperate defences, and the types of action typical of desert warfare: tank vs tank and tank vs gun battles.


From the 11th Hussars’ initial reconnaissance and harassment missions; through to the assaults on the network of Italian camps in the Western Desert; the Australian assaults on Bardia, Tobruk and Derna; and on to the thrilling climax at Beda Fomm, you’ll encounter British, Australians and Italians of all shapes and sizes.

I'm hoping to pick this up to accompany my current collection of 15mm Battlefront Australians.

1938 : A Very British Civil War

As I was prepping my order up for Maelstrom last week, I noticed that they stock 1938 A Very British Civil War.  Coupled with their shipping policy, this represents a bargain for international customers, but I had already committed all of my funds. 

For those of you who aren't aware of the this fictional Third English Civil War, it essentially exists in an alternate timeline where Edward VIII refuses to abdicate over Wallis Simpson, and the political turmoil that would have arisen from that decision.
There is a much better summary than what I could provide here.

Here is the TMP post from Solway Crafts and Miniatures for the first book:
http://theminiaturespage.com/news/787475

Definitely something I want to explore in the future.
Yes!  Even more periods to game - exactly what I need!

As a final note, it appears that Maelstrom does math that does not conform to normal worldly arithmetic.  They're still significantly cheaper on a lot of things at the moment due to the strength of the AU$, but I need to follow up with them as to why there is the difference between what I end up with when I total up the costs, vs. the online shop's calculation.  It's probably some error on my part.

More Books!

I had promised myself that I wouldn't by any more books, but I came across these three at my local QBD for about $25 total.

• Killer Elite by Michael Smith
• Midnight in Some Burning Town by Christian Jennings
• Fighting Scared by Robin Horsfall

I couldn't help myself. I'd just finished reading "Black Hawk Down", so I splashed out.

I started Horsfall's book (which I'd never heard of before) on the train in to work today, and I've been enjoying it.

QBD is definitely a great source for discounted books!

More Books

My pile of books to be read has just gone up by another two.
Yesterday I discovered two items at my local QBD.

The first was House to House by David Bellavia, about the battles in Fallujah during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
I've had lots of recommendations regarding this book, particularly from Ambush Alley players around the world. And at the princely sum of $8.99 I couldn't walk past it!

Having already "broken the seal" on my wallet, I had a quick hunt around to see what else was available for the right price; I came across "An Ordinary Soldier" by Doug Beattie MC.

This is the story of the Royal Irish actions at Garmsir in Afghanistan, for which the author was awarded the Military Cross. Some have described the operation which was predicted to take 2 days which became two bloody weeks as a "modern day Rorke's Drift". Once again, at $8.99 it was a no-brainer.

I'm having to juggle my reading schedule at the moment to make sure that I'm also covering off a whole heap of baby-related material for the October arrival. Tizzie Hall's "Save Our Sleep" has to be completed before I can turn the first page of these two!