Williamsburg Muster - accidental convention trip

So, recently, I had to tell folks that asked that I was not going to be able to attend Marscon and the Williamsburg Muster.  Both in Williamsburg, Virginia (one of my favorite places on Earth, even though Scribner's is closed since 1984, Rizzoli's is closed since 2001, and the Williamsburg Toymaker has recently closed - sniff), they would prove just too far, since we are living in Harris County Georgia currently, at Toad Hollow.

And then, and then, it happened.  A work trip, a family visit, all coincided.  So I would be in the area over the weekend of the Williamsburg Muster (Feb 7-9).  I decided to attend.  I took a flight to arrive on Friday, so I wouldn't have much luggage room for buying, and I did not bring any games or miniatures with me, but I was looking forward to a good time.

Lots of miniature games (a very solid collection of games, although I did not notice anything appreciably exciting or new...maybe I was not in the right place at the right time).  There was a board gaming room, ran very capably by Tidewater Area Gaming Society, although some of their peeps were also supporting Whose Turn is it Anyway? (the winter version of That Board Gaming Thing) in Raleigh NC.  There was a Flames of War tournament room (which also doubled as part of the Flea Market room on Sunday).  There was a room given over to Slot Car racing (??what??).  (ed. note: Slot car racing is a great hobby, and I used to love going to races with my dad and my uncle when I was a wee little sprog, but I don't know what it adds to a gaming convention)

Watched lots of miniatures games.  The rules that I WANTED to play, but didn't make/find time for:

• War and Conquest
• Pike and Shotte
• Bolt Action
• General Quarters 3

Watched and played a bunch of board games.  The games that I WANTED to play, but did not see, or did not engage in, were:

• Trains
• Russian Railroads
• A Study in Emerald
• Ora et Labora
• Glass Road
• Troyes

What I did get to do was spend some time with some fantastic friends, and play a few board games and card games, and watch a lot of miniature games.  I got to do a lot of "window" shopping for miniatures and miniature rules.  And I got to buy a couple of books.

First, I bought a copy of the main rulebook for War and Conquest.  This is a set of 28mm wargaming rules for Ancient and Medieval warfare, written by Rob Broom.  Rob was the director of the North America effort for Warhammer Historical games, so it has a certain feel to Warhammer Ancient Battles.

One of the cool things about War & Conquest (WAC) is that the army lists for it are available in a very polished professional way, but online as electronic documents for free.  This is being published and supported by Scarab Miniatures.  I wish them well, with WAB gone (well, out of commercial production), a set of rules that is still "in print" is a nice thing, even if WAB itself still is available non-commercially and played quite a bit.

One of the other acquisitions I made was a copy of Renaissance Warfare, edited by Bob Carruthers.  This is a nice collection of pieces about battles in the British Isles from 1513 through 1640.  It is extracted from a larger work, originally written by James Grant, and published in 1894, called British Battles on Land and Sea.

This work, for me, is chiefly interesting because of the focus on the battles between the end of the Wars of the Roses (ended 1487) and the beginning of the English Civil Wars (beginning approx 1642).  The battles covered in this title are:

• Flodden, 1513
• Haddenrig, 1542
• Ancrum Moor, 1545
• Isle of Wight, 1545
• Pinkie, 1547
• Siege of Leith, 1560
• Zutphen, 1586
• The Groyne, 1589
• Flores and Cape Corrientes, 1591
• Cadiz, 1596
• Porto Rico, 1598
• Bay of Cezimbra, 1602
• Cagliari, 1617
• Isle of Rhe, 1627
• Newburn Ford, 1640

In addition there are treatments of Sir Francis Drake, Admiral Hawkins, and the Spanish Armada.  All of these are covered very sketchily, but as I did not have something concise on this period in my library, it serves as a nice introduction.  One complaint - it is in a series from Pen and Sword, called the "Military History from Primary Sources" series, and this is definitely not primary sources, although it is republishing a historical piece of military history writing (Grant's work from 1894).

Two other pieces I picked up are two titles from Histoire & Collections.  These are fantastic little military history monographs, accompanied by a packed house full of illustrations.  Perfect for the armchair historian, or the wargamer, who is looking for inspirational images, and a thumbnail sketch of a campaign, or a particular army.  In this case, I got two titles from their "Men and Battles" series, very similar to the Osprey Campaigns series.  The two I got are Alesia, 52 BC, by Frederic Bey, and Rocroi, 1643, by Stephane Thion.

 

The only other one I already own in the series is on Bull Run (purchased to help my Daughter with a school project on the battle... as I am not a huge fan of the American Civil War, for wargaming).  If you are not familiar with the Histoire & Collections publisher, they are from Paris, originally published in French, and their series' are now being translated into other languages (including English).  Very nicely done, and a nice complement to the many Osprey titles on popular topics, as a layman's introduction to military topics (again, great for Wargamers and Figure Painters... like those slaving away in the dungeons below Gaming with Chuck headquarters).

Not to let Osprey be outdone completely by their French rivals, I did purchase an excellent new volume from them.  I got Campaign Series number 260, Fort William Henry 1755-57 which was just published in November of 2013.  This is an excellent treatment of the famous French & Indian War fort, built in 1755, and subjected to two sieges.  The second one finally saw British Lt. Col. Monro surrender to the French/Native American force that was besieging the fort, and the elements of the 35th Regiment, the Massachusetts Regiment and the New Hampshire Regiment (along with some carpenters, sailors, and elements of the Royal Artillery) prepared to march out.

The ensuing "Massacre of Fort William Henry" occurred when the Native American troops in French command fell upon the column leaving the fort, and began to hack and kill the British and Colonial troops.  The battle is well recorded in the fantastic movie "The Last of the Mohicans", but as this title by Ian Castle points out, modern scholarship, and archaeology of the past 20 years, have brought to light some different details.  The scene, from the Daniel Day Lewis movie, however, is still a stirring piece of Hollywood militaria (regardless of what it gets wrong).


The movie is a really nice piece of what Hollywood can accomplish as an action/history movie, although much of that is based on the inspiration of the fantastic Cooper novel.  One of the best things of the movie, commented on several times in the past here at Gaming with Chuck, is the great soundtrack by Trevor Jones.


Several Violin soloists have done nice versions, to be found on youtube.  Here is one played by a talented young lady dressed as a Gypsy dancer at a renaisance faire (in the background of the video is another young lady dressed as the Genie from I Dream of Jeannie??).  Here, however, is one of my favorites by very talented Taylor Davis.

All this talk of the Lewis film is all well and good, but the original book by Cooper is not to be missed. By all means, read it.  The movie referred to here (while good) is based much more on the 1936 (Randolph Scott) version of the story, than the Cooper novel.

From a gaming perspective, doing French & Indian war miniatures has long been on my Miniatures Painting project list.  Perhaps soon. However, the boardgame Hold the Line from Worthington Publishing (formerly Worthington Games) has the French & Indian War supplement available.

While the Fort William Henry Massacre isn't one of the scenarios in that expansion, there are a number of great battles included.  Very good game, and satisfyingly reminiscent of the period (and they get the history right, much better than Hollywood).

Finally, the last treasure that I walked away from The Williamsburg Muster with was a copy of the fantastic treasure trove of information concerning the military activities of Prussia (and then Germany) in the period from 1860-1867.  The book, Armies of Bismarck's Wars: Prussia 1860-67, is by Bruce Bassett-Powell (2013 Casemate).  It is fantastic, with information on the German Bund, leading up to the Schleswig-Holstein war, the Second Schleswig War and the Seven Weeks war.  Information about the armies, politics, diplomacy, key personnel, and battles abounds, with lots of reproduced primary illustrations, and other information.  This is the first half of the book, the second is dedicated to describing the Prussian arms - organization, operational methods, and uniforms.  It is all finished with a large number of color uniform plates, and appendices on the OB information for Prussia, Denmark and so forth - for the 1864 and 1866 campaigns.  A great book, and  nice find.  Glad I was able to pick it up.

Here is an example of one of the uniform plates from the book.  As you can see, a lot of great information, again, a perfect source for an armchair historian (although this book has a lot of very good, apparently sound from an academic perspective, information), and for a wargamer and figure painter.

So, the final shot of this article is to say thanks to Larry Weindorf, now owner of "For the Historian" a military history (and military models) shop in Gettysburg Pennsylvania.  He is located at 42 York Street, Gettysburg, PA 17325.  He is a fantastic guy to deal with, and most of the books listed here were purchased from him.  He has supported the Williamsburg conventions (especially back when they were sponsored by ODMS, and I was partially responsible for running them) for years now, and is a dealer at other wargaming shows (notably the big HMGS shows in Fredericksburg and Lancaster).  Great guy, buy some books from him at http://www.forthehistorian.com/

Top 100 Military Sci Fi novels

Nice list of the top 100 Military Sci Fi novels. I was please to see Dorsai near the top of the list. Who makes up these lists? That's what I want to know. (top 100 groups who come up with "top 100 lists"?). https://www.worldswithoutend.com/lists_baen_milsf.asp

Never mind the bollocks - it's AD&D!

Okay, so this is EXCELLENT news for old school grognards like me.  Wizards of the Coast, finally throwing in the towel on the horrible pile of doggy puke that is 4th edition has made some announcements lately.

First is that there will be a 5th edition.

Second is that in April of this year, there will be a limited re-issue of 1st edition AD&D books.  Proceeds will go to the Gygax Memorial Fund.

Third is that 5th edition will have layers of optional rule structures.  Depending on which you use, you can mimic playing D&D, 1st Edition AD&D, 2nd Edtion, 3rd Edition, and so on and so forth.  Edited by Monte Cook.  This seems very nice, and might be a double barreled blow against both the Old School Rennaisance (depending on how well it is done) and against Pathfinder.  Personally, I think those two rules movements will have their own following, but that many, many of the players and DMs will be buying the WOTC rules when they come out.  The staff at Gaming with Chuck probably will...

On the Bookshelf at the Moment

I realize that it has been out for a while, but I recently bought the newish (June/2009) Osprey hardback on Armies of the Napoleonic Wars. This is a fantastic volume, with information about all of the major players, and many of the minor players in the Napoleonic wars. It rivals some of my other old stand-bys for Napoleonic uniform information (I really enjoy the Otto von Pivka volume, and my Knotel and Ball).


Ordered, but not yet arrived, is a copy of the Digby Smith Uniforms of the Napoleonic Wars. This one looks pretty good (I have flipped through copies at the library and bookstores). The depth of unit-by-unit details don't appear to be there, but I may have missed something. The color illos are nice, however.

Finally, off the Napoleonic bandwagon, I have also been enjoying the recently arrived copy of Vanished Armies, and also a recent Hoyle-like volume on card games by David Parlett.


Been trying to keep up with all of this...but my normal reading for school and research trumps the fun stuff. For Christmas a few months ago I received the two DK volumes Battle and Warrior from Anita and Heidi. They are the most phenomenal stuff, but I'll post on them later.

Tags: military history

Thanksgiving Vacation - a book fest (but sadly no miniature painting)

I just posted about a used book store find that I got from McKay's books in Winston Salem - Red Cavalry. Other books that I read (or purchased) over the Holiday weekend include:

A War Like No Other - Victor Davis Hanson analyzes the Peloponnesian War with (in my opinion) good historical perspective. He then appplies the lessons of that conflict to modern day (and other) examples of "just war". You may find it interesting.

The Russian Revolution: A Very Short Introduction - S.A. Smith. Just what it says - a short introduction. Good overview of the 1905-1917 era, with the rise and release of Lenin, and the rise of the Bolsheviks over the Mensheviks. Not bad, but (as it says) short.

Greek War of Independence - David Brewer. Good book on the events of the 1820s and 30s. Not a lot of detail for the wargamer, but a very good general history. A lot of detail on individual personalities, which makes the whole thing very accessible.

The Russian Civil War - Evan Mawdsley. A very nice counter to Red Victor by Lincoln (my favorite single volume on the RCW). Shows in great detail how the Whites really had a lot of advantages, and how the Red chances of victory were slimmer than previously supposed. I don't know if I'm convinced (I haven't read the whole book, admittedly) but it does make for good reading.

1066: The Year of the Conquest - David Howarth. One of my favorite history authors - this is (as usual) a very readable and enjoyable book. Worth looking for, and should be easy to find.

So there you have it - the books I dragged along with me on my week long trip, and some I picked up on the way. My time would have been better spent painting miniatures, however. Harrumph.

Red Cavalry - a recent used book store find

Red Cavalry is a collection of short stories and reports written by Babel during the Russo-Polish war. I have, admittedly, not read the entire work, but the excerpts I have read made it clear to me why it (in the 1920s) got broad international acclaim for two reasons - (1) It is engrossing and well written, and (2) it is incredibly brutal.

The scenes of Bolshevik, White, Green, Anarchist and Polish troops engaged in all sorts of operations are meticulously detailed, and the feel for someone doing RCW (or related) is fantastic. If you can manage to keep your lunch down between the descriptions of mercy killings, slogging through your own mate's intestines, and gang rape victims being taunted.

Not for the young.


Tags: Russo-Polish War