The Ultimate Library

The stuff that dreams are made of....

Continuing my random journey around the internet in search of visual treasures, I found what certainly must be The Ultimate Library. I found this picture on Pinterest this morning. Wouldn't it be grand to have a two-story set of bookcases, requiring a ladder or staircase to reach the upper half of the shelves?

I'm sitting in my own library this morning as I write this post, and looking around me I realize that my own library is pretty nice too. My library hardly holds all of my books, far from it. I store my reference books for the SYW, AWI, Napoleonic era, some GNW books and my  collection of wargaming books ( Grant family, Featherstone, Peter Young, etc). My large ACW book collection is shelved in other areas of my house. All of my Ospreys and uniform reference books are in the wargame room in the basement.

Here are a few pictures of my library. I am sitting on the leather settee as I write:

The view from the entryway, looking to the right.

The view from the entryway, looking left.

The rolltop desk was given to me by my late father. It is one of a matching pair that he purchased in London, circa 1972.

My one regret is that I did not put a fireplace in the room. We rehabbed the entire house before we moved in back in 2004, and our architect told me that he could install a fireplace in the room, probably where the armchair and window are today. I'm kicking myself for not taking him up on the offer. The small television seems a bit out of place in this room.

The bookshelves are groaning from the weight of my books.
The white porcelain is  Lord Nelson, a gift from my wife. The John Bull statue is one of my favorite pieces. I bought it with the intent of turning it into a desk lamp, but I have never gotten around to doing that. On the shelf second from the bottom is my small collection of Frederick the Great statues and busts that I have acquired on my world travels.

One of the other bookshelves in the library. Note the collection of Napoleon figures on the second shelf. The collection has expanded greatly since this picture was taken about 5 years ago. The equestrian statue is Robert E. Lee on his horse Traveler, sculpted by Ron Tunstall. The grenadier mitre is a reproduction made by Military Heritage in Canada.

My library has a set of pocket doors that I can slide shut to keep out the noise or to have some privacy whilst I meditate and have great thoughts (or read another Christopher Duffy book).

"River of Doubt" by Candace Millard

Book cover of "River of Doubt" by Candace Millard.

I am in the process of reading a book called "River of Doubt" by Candace Millard which tells the story of Theodore Roosevelt's exploration of the Amazon River area of Brazil in 1914. Theodore Roosevelt had recently lost his bid for a third presidential term in 1912 to Woodrow Wilson (splitting the normal Republican vote between himself and incumbent president William Howard Taft) and he set his sights on the physical challenge of making the first descent of an unmapped river tributory of the Amazon River in Brazil.

The book jacket description:

The River of Doubt - it is a black, uncharted tributary of the Amazon that snakes through one of the most treacherous jungles in the world.

After his humiliating election defeat in 1912, Theodore Roosevelt set his sights on the most punishing physical challenge he could find, the first descent of an unmapped, rapids-choked tributary of the Amazon. Together with his son Kermit and Brazil's most famous explorer Candido Mariano da Silva Rondon, Roosevelt faced an unbelievable series of hardships: they lost their canoes and supplies to punishing whitewater rapids, and endured starvation, Indian attack, disease, drowning, and a murder within their own ranks. In the end, three men would die, and Roosevelt would be brought to the brink of suicide, but the expedition accomplished a seemingly impossible feat, and changed the map of the Western Hemisphere forever."

Ms. Millard writes a compelling story that flows easily across the pages for the reader and is one that is hard to put down. This is the style of Ms. Millard as I had previous read her book about a young Winston Churchill and his escape from a Boer prisoner of war camp, titled "Hero of the Empire". This latter book took me only two days to read cover to cover because is was so riveting and hard to put down.

I bought the River of Doubt book a few years ago on the recommendation of my late mother and some of my friends, though I had not picked it up for a read. However, with my recent trip to Maui, Hawaii, I needed something to read whilst basking poolside and so I re-acquainted myself with this story. I began reading it on the return flight from Maui and I am about half way through the story in one full day's reading. I plan on finishing the book over the weekend and I can tell you that it is just as hard to put down as Millard's Churchill book.

My copy is a paper back book that costs $17.00 US and was published by Anchor Books.

I heartily recommend both of the Millard books. You really cannot go wrong and you will enjoy the story very much.

Fritz

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The Great $5 Book Sale

SALE UPDATE: I HAVE MARKED "SOLD" NEXT TO ANY BOOK THAT HAS BEEN SOLD

Der Alte Fritz needs to cull some books (62 in all) from his personal library to save space and is offering nearly everything for a rock bottom price of $5.00 per book. There are a couple of items that are so good that I am pricing them at $10.00 per book.

The total lot of 62 books prices out around $310.00 plus applicable postage so if anyone was interested in buying everything at once, then I'd offer the lot at $200.00 plus applicable shipping.

Contact me by e-mail at:  altefritz1740@yahoo.com

First come, first serve on all titles, so act fast if you see something that you like. I have placed an asterix next to the book titles that I think are very well written-presented

Seven Years War & Other 18th Century Books (all $5.00 each)

The Coward of Minden   - Piers Mackesy (1979)SOLD

Frederick the Great   - Pierre Gaxotte (1941)

Prince of Europe, The Life of Charles-Joseph de Ligne   - Philip Mansel (2003) SOLD

Warfare in the Eighteenth Centruy   - Jeremy Black (1999)

*The French Army Before Napoleon  - Spencer Wilkinson (1915) SOLD

Roots of Conflict - British Armed Forces & Colonial America   - Douglas Lead (1986) SOLD

The Art of Warfare on Land    - David Chandler (1974) SOLD

The Revolutionary War   - Gail Stewart (1991)

Frie's Rebellion  - Paul Douglas Newman (2004)

Battlefields of Britain  - David Smurthwaite (1991)

Napoleonic Era

Regiments of Waterloo (Almark)  - Rene North (1977) SOLD

Borodino (Knight's Battles for Wargamers series)  - Peter Young (1971) SOLD

The Years of Napoleon (Almark)  - Hunt & Embleton (1972) SOLD

Flags and Standards of the Napoleonic Wars - Keith Over (1976)

*The Armies of 1812  - Otto von Pivka (1977) SOLD

The Causes of the War of 1812 (in America)  - Bradford Perkins (1962)

*L'Armee Francaise 1790 - 1865  - Edouard Detaille (1992) SOLD

Napoleon - The Last Campaigns  - James Lawford (1977) SOLD

Napoleon's Military Machine  - Philip Haythornthwaite (1988) SOLD

Wellington's Military Machine  - Philip Haythornthwaite (1989) SOLD

*Hougoumont  - Julian Paget (1992) SOLD

The Rise of General Bonaparte  - Spencer Wilkinson (1930 reprint 1952) SOLD

The Napoleonic Wars  - Michael Glover (1979)

Napoleon's Enemies  - Richard Warner (1977) SOLD

Austerlitz   - Claude Manceron (1966)

Waterloo New Perspectives - David Hamilton-Williams (1993)

Napoleon 1812  - Nigel Nicolson (1985)

*Napoleon's Grand Army 1813  - Scot Bowden (1990) SOLD

With Moore at Corunna  - G.A. Henty (date?)

Napoleon's Art of War (Maxims) - Napoleon (1995)

*1815 Armies of Waterloo  - Ugo Percoli (1979) SOLD

Discovering Famous Battles , The Peninsular War  - RJ Wilkinson (date?)

American Civil War

The Civil War Source Book  - Philip Katcher (1992)

Chicago Battery Boys, Chicago Mercantile Battery  - Richard Barclay Williams (2007)

  (includes Ed Bearss autograph) SOLD

*Don Troiani's Civil War - Don Troiani & Brian Pohanka (1995) SOLD

ECW & 17th Century

Killiecrankie 1689  - Stuart Reid (1989) SOLD

Scots Armies of the 17th Century (date ?) SOLD

The English Civil War (Almark)  - Potter & Embleton (1973) SOLD

General Topics

*Firepower   - B.P. Hughes (1974)

Great Battles of Military History  - Cyril Falls (1964)  - includes Fontenoy, Rossbach, Poltava

The Armies of the First Schleswig Holstein War 1848 - 1851   - Ralph Weaver (2007) SOLD

*Simken's Uniforms of the British Army - Cavalry  (1982) SOLD

*Simken's Uniforms of the British Army - Infantry  (1982) SOLD

British Infantry Uniforms since 1688  - Michael Barthorp (1982)

$10 Bargain Book

*The War in Mexico - Tony Adams (1998) - SOLD 

Osprey Books

The Indian Mutiny (#67)  - Christopher Wilkinson-Latham (1977)

Scots Armies of the ECW  - Stuart Reid (1999)

Louis XIV's Army  - Rene Chartrand (1986) SOLD

Marlborough's Army - Michael Barthorp (1980) SOLD

The American War 1812-1815  - Philip Katcher (1990) SOLD

  

*The Jacobite Army 1745-1746 (Elite series)  - Stuart Reid (2006) SOLD

Soldiers of the English Civil War (Elite series) - Infantry, 2 copies available,  - Keith Roberts

Soldier of the English Civil War (Elite series) - Cavalry, 2 copies available, - John Tincey

Matchlock Musketeers (Warrior series) 1588-1688   - Keith Roberts (2002) SOLD

Ironsidees ECW Cavalry (Warrior series) 1588-1688  - John Tincey (2002) SOLD

Osprey Campaign Series

Marston Moor 1644  - John Tincey (2003) SOLD

First Newbury 1643  - John Tincey (2003)

Auldearn 1645  - Stuart Reid (2003) SOLD

Dunbar 1650  - Stuart Reid (2003)

The English Civil Wars (Essential Histories series)  - Peter Gaunt (2003)

*Normandy 1944 - Stephen Badsey (1990)

vvv

New Summerfield Book On SYW Hanoverian Army

Today, I received notice that Stephen Summerfield's book on the Hanoverian Army of the SYW is being published with an expected release at the Salute game convention in the UK at the end of April. The publisher is Ken Trotman Books.


You can see sample pages of the book at academia.edu (you will have to register to the site and then do an author search to find the PDF files depicting some of the pages.


Here




While I can't copy the preview pages on this site, let me say that the work is Stunningly Good. The copy of the dust jacket of the book, shown above, should give you an indication of the quality of the graphics in the book.


It includes lots of color drawings of the uniforms of every Hanoverian infantry, cavalry and artillery regiment. Stephen appears to have found a lot of information on the Hanoverian Artillery component of the army. This is something that has long been missing from the usual sources that wargamers use for Hanoverian army information. On this basis alone, the book looks like a must buy.




Here is a copy of the Ken Trotman press release:




Summerfield Hanoverian Army Book Preview




DUE FOR PUBLICATION AT SALUTE 25 APRIL 2015: STEPHEN SUMMERFIELD HANOVERIAN ARMY OF THE SEVEN YEARS WAR: UNIFORMS, ORGANISATION AND EQUIPMENT. 256pp., illustrated in colour throughout. 2015. Stephen's latest superb uniforms book is simply magnificent, simply outstanding. This volume explores the uniforms, organisation and equipment of the Hanoverian Army during the reign of George II (1727-60) to the end of the Seven Years War in 1763 under George III (1760-1820). In addition it covers the Saxe-Gotha Infantry Regiment, the Schaumburg-Lippe contingent and the various Light Troops in Anglo-Hanoverian pay. The massive amount of illustration comes from contemporary sources as well as Brauer, Knotel & Schirmer. But the real joy are Stephen's meticulously reconstructed flags and standards. This will become the essential work for years to come.

Museum in Berlin

Frederick the Great
The Uniforms of the Prussian Army under Frederick the Great from 1740 to 1786

About the book

824 pages (linen bound with a protective cover, it comprises two volumes in a slipcase), ca. 1500 colour photographs and illustrations, Format: 29.5 cm x 26 cm

The authors

Daniel Hohrath, with additional contributions from Judith Zimmer and Elisabeth Boxberger

Price

€ 129,90

ISBN

978-3-902526-51-9 (English)
978-3-902526-50-2 (German)

Book Review: Wargaming In History Volume 9

My own, well-thumbed through copy showing a little wear and tear on the corners of the dust jacket. The picture on the cover depicts the Battle of Lobositz.

I received my copy of Charles S. Grant's latest wargame book, Wargaming In History - Volume 9 (SYW),  last November (2013) and I have been remiss in not getting around to giving it a review. The book covers the first battles of the Seven Years War in 1756 and 1757 and include Lobositz, Reichenberg, Prague and Kolin, so this book dovetails nicely with Volume  4, which covers Hastenbeck, Rossbach and Leuthen. Taken together, Volumes 4 and 9 virtually cover the whole opening campaigns of the SYW.

Grant usually begins his books by giving the reader a peek into the structure and organization of his famous VFS and Grand Ducy of Lorraine armies as well as any new ideas or tweaks that he has developed for The Wargame Rules. Volume 9 starts with a discussion of rules changes covering the use and deployment of grenadiers and his new cavalry organization (the same number of figures as before, only now they are organized into two squadrons). Additional comments regarding "dead ground" and how it is handled in the rules is also discussed.

Next part, the pictorial section covering the Grant wargame armies, is usually my favorite section of the book. This time, Charles does not fail to please as he provides pictures of some new elements, such as Sappers Pompier (firemen), the artillery train and siege park (with some rather stunning pictures of the whole siege park), various support wagons and camp scenes. The reader will find a lot of useful ideas that are worth stealing, um, er, I mean, borrowing, for one's own armies.

Part III - Lobositz

The battles of Mollwitz (1741) and Lobositz (1756) are probably the signature Grant family wargame battles/scenarios, as they were the ones featured in the original version of The War Game. While I have only played Mollwitz a few times, I never get tired of playing Lobositz. The book begins with the historical background to the battle accompanied by some of  Christopher Duffy's maps, a complete order of battle for both sides of the conflict and some present day pictures of the important Lobosch Hill. From here, Grant lays out the wargame scenario for fighting Lobositz, complete with game maps so that the reader can copy the scenario to his own tabletop. Included are victory conditions for both the Austrians and the Prussians.

Finally, we get into the meat of the game with a battle report of the scenario, as played by Grant and his  daughter, Natasha (commanding the Prussians). The battle played out over the course of two days and encompassed 30 game turns before reaching resolution.  I am happy to report that Natasha led the Prussians to victory.  I count eleven color pictures of the battle in progress and the large "Wargame Rules" battalions look very splendid indeed. How could one not be inspired to try the Lobositz scenario after reading this chapter of the book.

Part IV Reichenberg

The next scenario covers the battle of Reichenberg, fought on April 21, 1757, between von Bevern's Prussian column and the Austrian general Konigsegg. As many of you probably know, Frederick invaded Bohemia in the spring of 1757, descending into the province with four separate and converging columns of the Prussian army. Their objective was to link up near Prague and fight the decisive battle of the war and hopefully end it right then and there.

This was a smaller battle than one usually finds during the SYW, with 14,000 to 16,000 soldiers per side. The battle occurred as a prelude to the battle of Prague and is one that does not get a lot of mention or coverage in either the history books or in the wargaming forum. Thus Reichenberg will be a new battle for many of the readers, which makes the book worth the purchase for this reason alone.

This time, Charles and Natasha switch roles, with Charles commanding Bevern's Prussian army and Natasha conducting a fighting retirement from the defensive position at Reichenberg. Again, I am happy to report that the Prussians won the wargame, just as they did the historical battle.

Part V - Prague

Prague is a significantly larger battle than the previous two scenarios in the book, and so Grant describes how he approached the task of boiling the battle down to a suitable action on the wargaming table. The scenario focuses on the far right flank of the Austrian army, as it shifts the facing of its battle line to counter Frederick's attempt to march around the Austrian flank. This scenario involves a lot more cavalry than either of the previous scnearios, and some of the pictures of the massed regiments of horse in hand to hand combat are truly stirring stuff. The battle follows the familiar format of presenting the historical background, the order of battle for the historical forces, a description of how Grant reduces the forces to create a "doable" tabletop game, and finally, a description of the actual wargame augmented by lots and lots of pictures. As with history, the Prussians won Prague again, but the Austrians gave a good account of themselves and it was certainly no cake walk for the Prussians.

Grant reports that his new grenadier and cavalry rules received a good work out in this game and that they produced the intended results. Dividing the cavalry regiments into smaller squadrons seemed to have the desired effect of creating more ebb and flow to the cavalry melees and so I am tempted to apply some of these ideas to my own rules and armies and see what happens.

Part VI - Kolin

I have refought Kolin on a number of occasions (at least 4 times, if I recall correctly) and the battle is a large one that includes a number of problems in its transference to the tabletop. Charles rightly focuses the scenario on the Austrian right wing, near Krechor village, rather than trying to set out the terrain for the entire frontage of the Austrian position atop several hills. Grant gives us two different Kolin scenarios: one is the larger attack on the Austrian right flank and the other is a smaller scenario that involves the fighting in and around Krechor village (called "Clearing Krechor"). The latter scenario will probably interest the majority of gamers as it is a smaller action that requires fewer miniatures to play, thus making the game a doable event for most wargamers.

Part VII - Cavalry

The next section of the book covers aspects of cavalry in the mid 18th Century augmented with 13 colour plates drawn by Bob Marrion - wonderful plates and very useful as uniform painting guides.

Part VIII - More on Cavalry & Grenadiers

In this section, Charles provides more detail about the changes in the cavalry organization that he is now using for The Wargame Rules. While the regiments still retain the 24 troopers and 4 officers organization, he now divides the regiment into four squadrons of 7 figures. He then explains how the changes affect a cavalry charge in the rules so that you can implement the changes into your own games. There are also sections regarding "the first volley" and the new organization of grenadiers in the rules. This section is also sprinkled with more pictures of Charles' grenadiers in their converged battalions.

Conclusion

Well there you have it - a rather comprehensive review and overview of Wargaming in History - volume 9. I heartily recommend adding this book to your collection if you have an interest in the Seven Years War. You get orders of battle for all four of these important battles, ideas for converting the OOBs into wargame scenarios, after action reports, and lots and lots of colour pictures of big battalions of Minden Miniatures, RSMs, some Eureka Miniatures, and probably several other brands. If you buy Volume 9, I would also recommend buying Volume 4 so that you can tack on Rossbach and Leuthen scenarios and have the whole 1757 year in wargaming.

Osprey Great Northern War Book - Your Help Needed

Apparently Osprey Publishing is holding a vote on the title and subject of a new book for their Men At Arms series: "The Swedish Army in the Great Northern War". That is terrific news for those who are interested in the period, and with a flood of 28mm figures for the GNW slated to hit the market in 2014, the timing of such a book is excellent.

Alas, the book has only garnered 8% of the votes so far, while The Opium Wars 1830-1860 leads the field with 35% of the votes. With nearly 400 "followers" of this blog and numerous "lurkers" who also follow my writings, I believe that we have the potential to swamp the poll with our votes and get this important book published. As an added bonus, perhaps a successful voting interest in the GNW will prompt Osprey to republish the out of print books covering the Army of Peter the Great.

So here is what I am asking everyone to do: go to the Osprey Publishing web site at:

www.ospreypublishing.com 

and place your vote for the Swedish Army in the Great Northern War. You will find the poll by scrolling down the right hand side of the page.

I want to thank you in advance for your help in bringing this important book to the market.

Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin

Exsquisite Book from Verlag Militaria

Someone recently asked me for information about places to visit whilst on a trip to Berlin and the first thing that came to my mind was paying a visit to Potsdam (accessible via the local tram or bus from Berlin) and spending time at Frederick's palace of Sans Souci.

Next on my list would be a visit to the Deutsches Historisches Museum in Berlin, located in the old royal arsenal building, also known as the Zeughaus. While searching for information on this museum, I stumbled across this book that was published a few years ago, one that I have been meaning to purchase, but never got around to it. It features the SYW militaria collection at this museum. Check out the link below to the publisher's web site (Verlag Militaria) for more information on how to order the book.

Finally, no trip to Berlin would  be complete without a visit to the Berliner Zinnfiguren store to view the extensive collection of SYW flats and military history books. See the direct link to the store's website in the left hand column of this page.

I will leave it up to your own Google skills to find out where these three sites are located, but they would be my recommendations on places to visit while in Berlin.

About the book

824 pages (linen bound with a protective cover, it comprises two volumes in a slipcase), ca. 1500 colour photographs and illustrations, Format: 29.5 cm x 26 cm

The authors

Daniel Hohrath, with additional contributions from Judith Zimmer and Elisabeth Boxberger

Price

€ 129,90

ISBN

978-3-902526-51-9 (English)

978-3-902526-50-2 (German)

Prussian Army Uniform Book

Content

This work represents a new basis for the study of the Army of the Prussian King Frederick the Great; it is an indispensable standard work for anyone interested in the military and cultural history and the crafts of that era. It depicts the uniforms of an army whose military successes laid the foundation for the rise of 18th century Prussia as amajor European power, and which, like its royal commander became the military ideal for all of Europe. Their particular style and the grandeur of their equipment were widely copied, and – uniquely for that day – collected by Frederick’s successors for posterity. The result of those efforts is the world’s best collection of 18th  century uniforms, now in Berlin’s Deutsches Historisches Museum, located in the old Royal Arsenal, the Zeughaus. Here, for the first time, all of the more than 200 items are presented and described individually and in detail, with high quality colour photographs and precise measurements.

Many of these original pieces were previously unknown, or had been seen only in drawings or poor quality old photographs. Supplementing these illustrations are photographs of items from other European collections. The total of some 1500 photographs shows an almost complete series of fusiliers’ and grenadiers’ caps, along with such items as cuirassiers’ coatees and hussars’ dolmans, sabretaches, caparisons, cartridge boxes and hats. There are also several uniform coats, including one worn by King Frederick himself.
In addition, this work includes a complete reproduction of the Lace Pattern Book of 1755, a manuscript containing the original embroidery and braid patterns of over 100 Prussian regiments, which is kept at the Deutsches Historisches Museum.

Finally it contains reproductions of the portraits of a large number of Prussian Army officers of the Seven Years’ War period, many of them previously barely known; most are from the Field Marshals’ Hall of the Prussian Military Academy in Groß-Lichterfelde. Also shown are drawings and black-and-white photographs of items from the old Zeughaus Collection that have since been lost.
The text includes explanations of the uniforms and their development, and short histories of each regiment in the Old Prussian Army. It is prefaced by historical essays on the Army of Frederick the Great and the history of the Zeughaus Collection, and includes an in-depth examination of the materials, designs and production methods of the uniforms and trimmings, from the point of view of modern textile conservation.

The Siege of La Crenoil, by Charles S. Grant

Cover photo of Charles S. Grant's new book on his siege warfare and related campaign

Just before departing for Historicon a couple of weeks ago, I received a packet from the UK containing a copy of the latest work from the prolific pen of Charles S. Grant: The Siege of La Crenoil, Fleisher's Revenge and only now have I had an opportunity to look at the book in detail.

The purpose of the book, of course, is to guide the reader through the inner workings of how to conduct siege warfare on the table top and then tie it into the on-going war between the Grand Duchy of Lorraine and the Vereinigte Freie Stadt (or "VFS" for short). The thought of trying to replicate sieges on the war game table has always intimidated me to a degree, as I held the preconceived notion that such games are inherently complicated. Smack me on the side of the head for that, because Mr. Grant proves that siege games are easy to play and that there is a wealth of scenario ideas that can be played out on the tabletop that are both challenging and fun.

The frame work for the siege campaign lies in the mid 18th Century war between Lorraine and the VFS, circa 1754. The book picks up where the preceeding book, The Annexation of Chiraz left off. The Grand Duchy of Lorraine had spoiled the VFS's attempt to annex Chiraz and they then launched a counter-strike into the state of Wolfenbuttel (see Grant's book The Wolfenbuttel War ), leading to a humiliating defeat of the VFS. Now the leaders of the VFS are plotting their revenge which will see their army advancing into Lorraine territory to invest the key trading city of La Crenoil.

The book then lays out seven Table Top Teasers, all linked one to the previous TTT, which enables the game to string together an informal campaign that can be played out over time (weeks, months etc). The Teasers are all done in the usual Grantian manner or format, beginning with a brief background to place the scenario into a context, followed by a description of the terrain and tabletop layout, a description of the forces that are available to each side, and finally, a set of victory conditions for each side. Grant then follows up with a brief after action report of the scenario, which helps to convey to the reader how to play the scenario and how it might turn out.

TTT #1: The Run For The Fort sees General Fleischer leading a small strike force to cut off a Lorraine supply convoy before it can deliver its supplies to the soon to be invested city of La Crenoil.

TTT#2: Storming The Grammon Revelin has the VFS attempting a daring night attack on a key defensive position of the city's works and an escalade of the same.

TTT#3: Attack on the Siege Park finds the Lorraine forces mounting a daring raid on the VFS artillery park, with the hope of disrupting the timing of the VFS siege.

TTT#4: The Sally - Lorraine forces stage a raid on the nearly-completed VFS siege trenches, hoping to cause maximum damage to the entrenchments.

TTT#5: Storming the Breach (The Forlorn Hope) there is a practicable breach in the city's walls and a VFS forlorn hope force must attack the breach and gain a lodgement in the town so that the rest of the VFS army can storm the city.

TTT#6-V1: Fight Through the Town sees the final storming of the city by the VFS.

TTT#6-V2: Fight Through the Town is a variation of version 1.

The book concludes with some examples of how to wargame the siege and how to organize a simple  (i.e. easy to play) campaign that leads to the siege of the town.

Charles S. Grant illustrates his book with plenty of wonderful color pictures of the two armies in action, and I daresay that I am suitably impressed by the depth and detail of the armies that he has built up over the past 5 or so years. There are vignettes galore and unusual wargame units such as the La Crenoil Fire Brigade, the VFS pioneers and siege train forces. The book concludes with a glossary of siege terms (something that I find very helpful) and a pictorial section featuring some of the famous leaders of both armies, such as the VFS leaders General Fritz von Tarlenheim, Brigadier General Pottsdorf, General Fleischer, Brigadier von Sprackel and of course, the Margrafin von Wolfenbuttel-Oldenburg (otherwise known as "Tutzie"). The Lorrain leaders include General Count Chambrey, Major General Louis Reynaud and Colonel Remy Martin.

As you might guess, I am very impressed with this book and am glad to include it in my collection of wargame books. You can never go wrong with a book produced by the Family Grant and this one should provide hours of fun and reading and/or playing entertainment for you. Now, I had better start getting to work on my entrenchment terrain pieces so that I can start the business of trying out one of these siege games.

John Ray Book Announcement

18th Century Russian infantry and artillery designed by John Ray.
Photo courtesy of John Rayand copy right by John Ray and family.

I have to say that the news I am reporting "made my day" when I first heard of it. I opened up the Emperor versus Elector blog this afternoon and scrolled down through the list of some of my favorite blogs, when I spied "Classic Wargaming" by Phil Olley. There are a few blogs that I put in my "stop everything and read now" category, and Phil's is one of those. Imagine then my delight when I read Phil's announcement about the pending publication of a book by John Ray. I have been anticipating the publication of John's book, illustrated by pictures of his own unique figures, for some time now so it goes without saying that I am very excited by this news:

Classic Wargaming

A Military Gentleman

If you click on the second link above, to John Ray's new blog site, called "A Military Gentleman", you will have a better idea of what I am talking about. The site is named after the pending book of the same name.

John has been working on this book for about seven years, and every so often he would give us a glimpse of the scope and quality of the project by publishing a few pictures on various internet forums or in some of the wargame publications. I have been looking forward to the publication of the book with a great of anticipation over the years, knowing that it would be illustrated with many pictures of the wargame collection that John has sculpted entirely by himself.

According to the link, the book will have about 300 pages and a gallery of over 100 pages, chock full of the wonderful creations of John Ray. It will have a limited print run of 500 copies, so if you are a kindred spirit with me, i.e. a member of the John Ray Fan Club, then you will want to visit the site and click on the e-mail link to express your interest in purchasing a copy for your own library. 

I have been a long time fan of John Ray's sculpting talents and his ability to focus in on one historical period. John learned his sculpting trade via his friendship with the late Steve Hezzlewood, who many of you know through his work on the RSM Miniatures line of 18th Century figures. I can't recall when I first saw John's work, it was probably in an old issue of Wargames Illustrated when I saw pictures of his Zulu War and AWI collections. When I saw the latter collection, my first thought was "I didn't know that RSM Miniatures made those figures?". It was only later that I learned that John had sculpted the figures for himself and that he was building up a large AWI collection.

Imagine that you have the talent to sculpt wargame figures. Then imagine that you could have any figure that you wanted, just by collecting some copper wire, a soldering iron and some epoxy putty or Milliput. Well, that is what John Ray can do.  One of his trademarks is the vignette. John draws inspiration from historical military art prints and then recreates the scene in 28mm figures which grace his wargame table. Over the years, I have been following his AWI project with great interest and watched as this evolved into a wider hypothetical European war that might have taken place during the 1770-1789 period. John built Hessian, Prussian, French, Spanish, Austrian, Russian, Ottoman Turks and probably a few countries that I have missed. 

Sitting By the Fireplace on a Cold Winter's Night

The Fireplace Room at Schloss Seewald

Here is another photo from my experimentation with the iPad camera. This is a picture of our family room last evening. With the wind howling and the temperatures plunging by nearly 20 degrees Fahrenheit , it was a good evening to stay indoors by the fireplace and reading my copy of Charles Grant's Wargaming in History Volume 7 ( copy seen lying on the chair to the right ), which covers the Napoleonic Peninsular War in Spain.

UPDATE: I had to e-mail the photo to myself from the iPad and then download it from our desktop iMac. Then insert the photo, in the usual manner, into Blogger. I can't seem to get the picture to download using the Blogger App. Obviously there is a way to do this, but I haven't figured it out yet. I wish that these things came with a Users Manual or a "How to do it for Dummies" book.

Yesterday I received a box full of new books from On Military Matters and I want to compliment Dennis for the great service. I received my order within two days, just in time to get in a bit of weekend reading. In addition to the Grant book, I also purchased two books on the Philadelphia Campaign of 1777 by McGuire and these look to be exception books with lots of detail and information that is new to me. Some of the maps are superb from a Wargaming point of view as they present all of the regiments at hand and good terrain detail for conversion into war game scenarios.

Scan of the Germantown battle map from Volume II.

I would rate the maps as "Christopher Duffy Quality" in terms of the details about the different regiments and where they were during the battle. Hopefully the scan that I did of the Germantown map will give you an idea of what I mean. Note though that the actual map in the book is much better.


Volume I: The Philadelphia Campaign - Brandywine and the fall of Philadelphia, by Thomas J. McGuire. ($37.00)

Volume II: The Philadelphia Campaign - Germantown and the Roads to Valley Forge, also by McGuire. ($35.00)

Austrians at Leuthen

Austrians draw up battle lines around the Leuthen churchyard. Front Rank Austrians provide the garrison and support. Buildings, trees and roads scratch built by Herb Gundt. Click the picture twice to enlarge.

We received our first appreciable amount of snow last evening in Hesse Seewald, so even though it was but a slight dusting of the white stuff, my thoughts are turning to the Leuthen campaign in December 1757. I was scrolling through my iPhotos archives and found some nice pictures that I took of the Leuthen game that Bill Protz and I ran at the Seven Years War Association convention in 2010

I have also been reading Charles S. Grant's "Wargaming in History - Volume 4" covering the battles of Hastenbeck, Rossbach and Leuthen of late. I carry a copy in my brief case and read it during my one hour train commute from Hesse Seewald to Potsdam, which I do every day.

Charles S. Grant's book on Leuthen etc. published in 2011 by Ken Trotman Ltd.

I really enjoy the way that Charles tackles the subject matter: starting with a brief historical overview of the campaign, an order of battle for the actual forces and another OB that downsizes the historical forces into a manageable pair of wargame armies, and then finally, a summary report of the battle. Of course, each battle is illustrated with wonderful color pictures of Charles' wargaming armies and I do enjoy the pictures of Charles' "big battalions"  (53 infantry figure battalions and 24 cavalry regiments).

Charles' breaks down the battle of Leuthen into two separate wargames: Battle One is the attack on Nadasty's Corps on the Austrian left and Battle Two encompasses the main Prussian attack on the village of Leuthen. Given that the required depth for the wargame is greater than the size of the average gamer's table, Grant develops a "rolling battlefield " terrain concept that is pretty neat to behold. As the Prussians advance on the town of Sagchutz, Grant removes the terrain behind the Prussian attack and advances the terrain forward by resetting the location of the village and the opposing battle lines. This process is made easier if you use terrain tiles on your tabletop because you simply pick up one row of tiles and place them behind the Austrian line to "advance the table". I thought that this was a very clever way of tackling the problem of table size.

A similar rolling terrain concept is used for the larger Battle Two so that the Prussian assault on the  town and Lucchesi's cavalry charge can be depicted on the same tabletop.

I know that it is probably too late to order a copy of the book in time to place it under the Christmas tree this year, but if you do not have a copy then take it from me, you will truly enjoy Grant's presentation on how to bring these large battles into the home as easily played wargames. More later...

Fife & Drum and Fritz Get Published

The past month has been rather busy for Der Alte Fritz as I've been busy scribbling out articles about the American Revolution (or AWI) for the wargaming press. Coincidentally, both articles are appearing simultaneously in November.

Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy issue number 63 has a theme issue about the AWI and I was asked to pen an article about the uniforms of the British and Continental armies during the 1777 Philadelphia Campaign. I learned some new things during the research phase of the writing of this article, particularly about the Uniform Lottery that was held in 1777/78. You will have to buy an issue and read for yourself as I'm not going to "spill the beans".

Battlegames issue number 32 features some pictures of Fife & Drum Miniatures on the cover as well as with the article that I wrote: this time, a "command challenge" scenario that is a real cracker-jack of a game. I won't tell you who won the game, but the three times that I play tested the scenario, one side or the other had to win it on the last turn of the game.

I hope that I can peak your curiosity enough to make you want to purchase a copy of both magazines and give them a read. I think that you will like them.

Napoleon's Triumph

I have just started reading the second book in James Arnold's series covering Napoleon's campaign in Poland during 1806-1807. This follow up on Arnold's Crisis in the Snows: Russia Confronts Napoleon The Eylau Campaign 1806-1807.

This is not meant to be a book review, other than to simply post that I am reading the book and that it is giving me some good ideas for wargaming. I believe that Jim Arnold is a wargamer in addition to being a writer of good historical books. This kind of shows in terms of the quality of his maps and the orders of battle that are included with the book - both of which are helpful in setting up a game scenario. A campaign is made up of many small encounters and battles, leading up to the climax of the big battle, be it Eylau or Friedland.

I already have a French army (1:10 ratio using 28mm figures) and an 1806 Prussian army, and have a brigade of Russians too (with a horse artillery battery - love those Elite Miniatures artillery pieces!), so this book hits the sweet spot for me, in terms of content and a cornucopia of ideas for smaller battle scenarios.

One intriguing idea is the thought of what might have happened had the British followed through with their interest in landing an expeditionary force in Stralsund in 1807, joining coalition partner Sweden. The plan was to send in the King's German Legion, some 9,000 infantry in all, to join the 13,000 Swedes already in Stralsund. From there, they could attack Marshall Mortier's corps and then possibly the garrison at Stettin. This would then threaten Napoleon's supply lines from Berlin to Poland and possibly force Napoleon to call off operations in Poland (not likely in my opinion). I think that Napoleon would have turned his forces on to the British with a vengeance, much like he did in Spain during the Corunna Campaign. Such an expedition would have been highly risky for the British. Ultimately though, this did not happen as British resources were tied up in the failed enterprise to capture Buenos Aires in Spanish owned Argentina (Spain was an ally of France in 1806, thus the British were attacking a French ally).

We Have Always Governed Ourselves

I picked up this paperback booklet, by Greg Novak, sometime around 1992 when I was painting my first AWI armies using the very nice Old Glory 28mm figures. This is probably the best source for information about the orders of battle for all of the actions in the Northern Theatre of the American Revolutionary War.

Novak covers each year of the war, starting with the state of the American and British forces, their location/base and their unit strength. From there, he provides orders of battle and regimental strengths for each battle in the North (which I define as from Pennsylvania to all points north of there).

I think that I recall seeing an advertisement that Old Glory has reprinted this book, and the companion work covering the Southern Theatre, with a nice color cover and more up to date fonts that make for an easier read.

If you are starting to research and game the American Revolution (and why wouldn't you now that those wonderful Fife & Drum figures are available), then this is a "must have" book for your library.

New Book About Frederick the Great

There was an announcement on TMP the other day about a new book on Frederick the Great. It has tons of color pictures and is available in both English and German. While many of the artifacts pictured come from the post SYW period , say, circa 1780, the book does appear to have all the goods that would make it worth the high price at EUR129.90. Click on the link below to see sample pictures:

http://www.militaria.at/Book.aspx?book=2587200&Language=de

The text below is copied from the Verlag Militaria web page.

Frederick the Great
The Uniforms of the Prussian Army under Frederick the Great from 1740 to 1786

Available as of end of November 2011
About the book
824 pages (linen bound with a protective cover, it comprises two volumes in a slipcase), ca. 1500 colour photographs and illustrations, Format: 29.5 cm x 26 cm
The authors
Daniel Hohrath, with additional contributions from Judith Zimmer and Elisabeth Boxberger
Price
€ 129,90
ISBN
978-3-902526-51-9 (English)
978-3-902526-50-2 (German)
Content
This work represents a new basis for the study of the Army of the Prussian King Frederick the Great; it is an indispensable standard work for anyone interested in the military and cultural history and the crafts of that era. It depicts the uniforms of an army whose military successes laid the foundation for the rise of 18th century Prussia as a major European power, and which, like its royal commander became the military ideal for all of Europe. Their particular style and the grandeur of their equipment were widely copied, and – uniquely for that day – collected by Frederick’s successors for posterity. The result of those efforts is the world’s best collection of 18th century uniforms, now in Berlin’s Deutsches Historisches Museum, located in the old Royal Arsenal, the Zeughaus. Here, for the first time, all of the more than 200 items are presented and described individually and in detail, with high quality colour photographs and precise measurements.
Many of these original pieces were previously unknown, or had been seen only in drawings or poor quality old photographs. Supplementing these illustrations are photographs of items from other European collections. The total of some 1500 photographs shows an almost complete series of fusiliers’ and grenadiers’ caps, along with such items as cuirassiers’ coatees and hussars’ dolmans, sabretaches, caparisons, cartridge boxes and hats. There are also several uniform coats, including one worn by King Frederick himself.
In addition, this work includes a complete reproduction of the Lace Pattern Book of 1755, a manuscript containing the original embroidery and braid patterns of over 100 Prussian regiments, which is kept at the Deutsches Historisches Museum.
Finally it contains reproductions of the portraits of a large number of Prussian Army officers of the Seven Years’ War period, many of them previously barely known; most are from the Field Marshals’ Hall of the Prussian Military Academy in Groß-Lichterfelde. Also shown are drawings and black-and-white photographs of items from the old Zeughaus Collection that have since been lost.
The text includes explanations of the uniforms and their development, and short histories of each regiment in the Old Prussian Army. It is prefaced by historical essays on the Army of Frederick the Great and the history of the Zeughaus Collection, and includes an in-depth examination of the materials, designs and production methods of the uniforms and trimmings, from the point of view of modern textile conservation.

Wargaming in History - Book Review

On saturday I received a long awaited shipment of books from Ken Trotman Ltd. ( www.kentrotman.com ) containing the latest book written by Charles S. Grant, with Phil Olley, titled: Wargaming in History Volume 1 The Seven Years War, Krefeld, Sandershausen and Lutterberg - 1758. This is a hardcover book of 140 pages published by Ken Trotman and promises to be the first in a series of books that are designed to emulate the old Knight's Battles for Wargamers series that were published in the 1970s and early 1980.

Here are some of the particulars: the book is divided into five chapters (An Introduction to Wargaming; The Seven Years War; the 1758 Campaign in Western Germany including the battle of Krefeld; the Campaign to Sandershausen; and the battle of Lutterberg). The text is complemented by 29 color photographs of the three battles in various stages of progress and 17 original colored drawings by noted wargame illustrator, Bob Marrion. There are also 5 campaign maps and 3 wargame maps showing the reader how to set up each of the battles as a table top action.

Each of the battles has a different and unique focus. The first one, Krefeld, is a large set piece battle that will appeal to anyone with a bias towards the big battles (you know, someone like me). The second action, Sandershausen, is a smaller delaying action that can be fought in its entirety without scaling down the historical forces in order to fit everything on the tabletop. And finally, Lutterberg is a big battle, but is an example of how to take a smaller slice of the battle and convert it into a wargame scenario for almost any table size.

Let me just come out and say it, this is the best wargaming book that I have ever seen, and read, and I think that it even surpasses The Wargame by Mr. Grant's father, Charles Grant. I am certain that ten or twenty years from now there will be wargamers who talk about how this book stimulated their interest and excitement in wargaming as a hobby. It is that good.

Mr. Grant's writing style is a pleasure to read and has a conversational style that makes the reader feel like he is there in the game room having a chat with the author. One of the things that I like about the book is the way that Grant provides the reader with the background to the battle, then he goes through the explanation of how he would wargame said battle. There follows a narrative of the game in process, with both Grant and his partner, Phil Olley, talking about how they approached the tactical problems of the game and how the outcome compared with their expectations. Sometimes a game narrative can become a plodding affair to read, but not so in these three battles. I think that many a reader will go back and want to read the accounts over and over again.

And did I mention the high "eye candy" quotient in this book? There are 29 color photagraphs, by my count, composed and photographed by Phil Olley and each picture is a little gem. Charles Grant recounts how he has had to replace his venerable Spencer Smith plastic figures, due to brittleness and breakage of the plastic over time, with RSM and state of the art Minden Miniatures figures for his French-like army of the Grand Duchy of Lorraine. Phil has opted for an all Front Rank Figures army of Prussian-like Pils Holstein infantry and cavalry. Both armies are colorful to behold and grace some simple, but fabulous looking terrain.

It is fun perusing the photos in detail and picking out some of the famous buildings made by Grant Pere that we all came to know and love from The Wargame and from countless Tabletop Teaser articles. Grant Fils is equally adept at constructing wonderful looking buildings and terrain pieces - like father like son, it is all good.

Finally, I should make mention of the color illustrations drawn by Bob Marrion. These are found in a section titled, "A Taste of the Exotic" and cover the various light infantry and cavalry that fought in the small Kleine Krieg actions during the war. Subjects include full color treatment of Prussian freikorps units, Austrian Grenzers, French light troops and some Hanoverians. Each picture would make for a suitable painting guide for any wargamer.

There are no shortage of good things that I can say about this wonderful book, so I shall conclude by simply stating that if you like wargaming (especially the 18th century), then you need buy this book and add it to your collection. Like me, you will probably find it hard to put down and you will read and reread it over and over again.