Thursday 30 November 2017

New books


This morning, just after B had gone to work, I was stood in the shower waiting for the hot water I realised....no hot water. I dressed and checked the boiler and it's not working. Now I am sat here, waiting for the plumber to come so I thought I would write another entry about my reading. A few weeks ago I wrote about two books I had received, "The Last Crusaders" by Barnaby Rogerson and "Maginot Line Gun Turrets" by Clayton Donnell.

I have finished "The Last Crusaders"; this was a terrific read, I enjoyed it very much, it was just what I needed. The author's style was easy, almost non-academic, not much detail because of the geographical spread and the time spread of the subject matter. This was what I wanted and I learnt a great deal, for example I did not know that first Portugal then Spain tried to annex large parts of the Maghreb in the 15th and 16th centuries, these annexations were largely unsuccessful. The main conflict that evolved was between the Spanish Empire and its allies in the Holy League and the Ottoman Empire and their allies the Corsairs, for control of the Med and led to the Siege of Malta and the Battle of Lepanto. All very interesting stuff.

About three weeks ago I found a copy of this book online and at a very reasonable price.

I have read the first two chapters; this is a very different style of book and of writing, lots of maps and tables and numbers. A much more academic work and I think I will finish it but in bite-sized chunks over a period of time.

I was tempted to this course by another book. The Murphey book is my third Middle East history book in a row and I have heard the siren call of my main interests- those of French history and artillery fortifications. Clayton Donnell, mentioned above, has released another book on one of my favourite subjects, the Maginot Line.

Three chapters in and I am very much enjoying it. I have reached 10th May 1940 and Operation Fall Gelb is about to start the invasion of France and the Low Countries. Exciting stuff.

Thursday 16 November 2017

Pheasant/Paddington




Our neighbourhood pheasant has returned from his summer hols - a welcome sight and I'm glad to see he evaded the flak of the Glorious Twelfth but I will have to be careful now whilst filling the feeders as he does leave rather large turds.

Also - at B's request we went to see Paddington 2 at Cityscreen. We enjoyed it, full of good humour, plenty of laughs, a bit Laurel & Hardy, very entertaining.


Friday 3 November 2017

Fiasco 2017

Fiasco is the annual show put on by Leeds Wargamers Club at the New Dock Hall, next to the Royal Armouries in Leeds. (This hall was known as Saville Hall but it underwent a name change after the very unsavoury revelations that occurred on the death of Sir Jimmy Saville.)

This year the event was on Sunday. It is a smaller scale show that is very friendly, the gamers and the traders always have more time for chats and to explain what is happening on their games.

For the last two years I have been pursuing a policy of taking a fixed amount of money - also known as a budget - and only buying what I need, not buying lots of figures or paints or books. This is my haul for my ongoing Ottoman project.

Two more flatpack buildings from Warbases

One book - memoirs from a man who was there

From Colonel Bill's stand, a bag of OG 28mm Akinji

Some spears, a number of my Ottoman figures from Ebay do not have spears

A pair of Austrian 3 pounders from Eagle Figures

Why a pair of Austrian 3 pdrs? Well, a few weeks ago I was reading an article on the Ottoman army during the Napoleonic Wars by Andrew F Booth. He had written a sentence "However, the Turks had a fondness for Austrian 3 pdrs..." I find this to be an intriguing line and that such a battery with Turkish gunners would be a good addition to my army.