A delivery, a productive holiday and some light reading in review...

It has arrived.
It has many Filipino stamps on it.
It weighs over five kilos.
It is full of painted miniatures from Barry.
It is not the only parcel we have received full of painted miniatures.
They are come.

We have been quietly building up a large mass of newly painted Napoleonic toys to add to our collections. Rich has bundles of new Hanovarians, Germans, Brunswickers, Scots and Brits including some heavy cavalry at last - possibly even a rocket section. These are in action as we speak in our 100 Days campaign. Tony has taken on board a pile of French conscripts and Chris is rounding out his Austrians. Rich has based all of his stuff already. Tony will do his own as ever and Chris very kindly helped me get past first base with mine. They are now glued down with sand & rocks etc modeled around them. Next step, flock and dry brush them, then add rufty tufty bits.        

Our new puppy Birdie and I looking out to see.

My wife and three daughters and I are spending a week in Devon on the north coast over half term with our new puppy in a nice big house near the sea and a fine pub. Now the kids are older they fend for themselves so I get some time to do me things - in this case flock and read!

The dramatic north Devon coastline at Lee Bay.
Why didn't I contact the other JJ of Devon Gamers for a blogger meet up and greet? Doh!
(What if he told me to piss off? Awkward!)

Here's what I decided to base up on my holiday.

The toys above fitted into the two boxes pictured with no room to spare. This should keep me busy.

Here is what I have for you as they get based, hopefully sooner rather than later;-

4x36 Poles, 12 Polish skirmishers, Polish Foot Battery, 36 Portuguese Legion, 36 Piedmontese Legion & 6 skirmishers, 36 Corsican Tirailleurs, 36 Noepolitan Guard, 36 Italian lights, 2x36 Italians, 3x36 Nassauers, 3x36 Westphalians, 4x32 Middle Guard, 2x36 Austrian Jaegers, 30 Portuguese and 12 skirmishers, 12 French lancers, 36 Austrian hussars, 12 Austrian uhlans, more Austrian generals, a beautiful Napoleon vignette, 3x32 Prussian LDW and 40 Scots Light Infantry. Not all of this fitted into the two boxes so will come later.  

I intend to flock this lot first.

Some civilians fuss about in front of my muster!

Portuguese skirmishers in front of Polish battalions - note bather.

Austrian top brass with Napoleon and retinue behind, cooeey! Nassauers and Middle Guard with Austrian jaegers in line.

Polish Skirmishers, Westphalian lights and two Italian battalions. Piedmontese Legion skirmishers in brown, Middle Guard Fusilier Grenadiers with red plumes. 

Baron Ott's Austrian Hussars! My largest ever cavalry regiment at 36 strong.
Polish foot battery behind, Polish line in the foreground.

General overview - much green flock and tufts needed.

This might amuse - me aged about 19 or 20 in someones bathroom!
27 or 28 years ago - where does the time go I ask you?
Moving swiftly on... 

Holiday reading material

From the archive.

I was gifted Bruce Quarries book in the late seventies or early eighties, I recall my edition had more pictures than this one which I picked up on ebay for peanuts. It was a trip memory lane, which is a path not to be tread lightly as somethings are not quite as you remember! This is only an ok read to be honest. What strikes me is how far the hobby has come in terms of just about everything!  Quarrie sets out his stall early on, this isn't a history book it's about creating campaigns to give your battles a purpose which is a laudable aim. In this respect he creates an overly complex and needlessly detailed system with a nod towards the quarter master's role or chief of staff rather than marshall, emperor or general. The actual wargame rules are from that era just before rules became very chart & modifier heavy and these are heading there with haste yet remain pleasingly naive. There are very serious charts about dead ground and loads about weather too. The section on leadership is very good and he even goes so far as to provide a "stat line" for a whole host of generals of the age which is useful. By far the best bit is the chapter on a few of the bigger battles with beautifully drawn maps which are ideal for wargamers. I am glad I picked this up as it is well worth the read and reminds us of how spoiled we are as gamers now - may sell it though!

       

From the Best Sellers lists.

God knows I can't stand the Sharpe series and God knows I have read enough Waterloo books but this one came to me by a surprising route. I had bought a copy for my father in law at Christmas, he and I plus my two brothers in law are visiting Waterloo in June so I guessed he might like some accessible background reading. He gave it back to me as he already had a copy! I hooked it out for a holiday read and I have to say I am really enjoying it, if only his Peninsular books were as good, infact I saw him doing a documentary on the Peninsular War which was excellent. If it lets me down I'll say so but for now I'm enjoying the ride.
    

Off the shelve - the top shelf I might add!
 Do we really rank alongside soft porn and tattoo/piercing mags?
The model railway chumps get star billing beside computer games and women's fashion!  

2015 has seen me continue my self imposed boycott of these three and any other printed titles. I picked these up to read on the holiday loo - sadly none are absorbent enough to be useful for wiping. I remain convinced that I don't need these in my life and will invest my pounds in painted models or scenery instead. The variation and quality coupled with the immediacy of the online wargames community on both blogs and some forums has me hook line & sinker. Some of this magazine content is even from the online community so why we I paying for it when we can see it free and chat with the author online?
If you are looking for casualties in wargaming as one article seemed to be, I would suggest it is printed magazines not wargames conventions as postulated. This is a shame as the early Miniature Wargames mags where utterly responsible for much of my gaming life and ambitions.
However, things change.  

A few scenario books from my collection.

I never go on holiday without a few of these and I have very many. Fields of Glory is excellent and these other three are very, very good too. I intend to write a whole post about Napoleonic scenario books one day.

So that's my reading material for the coming week. If I find time aside from being a parent, husband, master to a puppy and flocker of armies I'll get some quality reading done.

Catch up soon, Jeremy.