Armies of the Balkan Wars 1912 - 13 (MAA 466)

Hurrah! I have recently acquired the new Osprey title on the Balkan Wars by Philip S. Jowett and it is very nice indeed. The plates have a good selection of the troop types involved in the two wars and the black and white pictures are helpful as well. The author acknowledges a book that I will have to try and source - Balkan Wars 1912-13 published by Kedros Publishing although sadly unless it is English it may not be suitable as my Greek is limited to 'dumbed down holiday phrase book' standard!

The only downside is that the pictures all confirm (or rather reinforce)the fact that the 15mm Irregular Miniatures Bulgarian infantryman is in fact wearing the wrong tunic for the period. He is wearing one of those Russian pattern side fastening types rather than the more normal centre buttoned version. You could possibly disguise this with a careful paint job but it is noticeable on most of the models. Irregular Miniatures are pretty good at correcting this sort of thing so I will drop them a line and see what happens. It does mean though that the Balkan Wars project is now back on to an extent - the existing Bulgarians I own could just about pass muster given the chronic uniform shortages faced by the combatants but I would prefer to use a more appropriate figure.

The Turks are fine though - the resrve troops will look very noticeable alongside the regulars in their dark blue uniforms with a red fez The chap in the red tunic comes from the Italian Legion serving with the Greek army which adds a further dash of colour - as do the various Albanian and Macedonian guerilla types; festooned as they usually were with all sorts of weapons - the epitome of the veritable walking arsenal!