Sunday 19 August 2012

Boot Sales, Books, Boxes and Battleships


Fills a hole in the collection and at £2 a copy they were very good value

Despite the oppressive heat and humidity of this morning SWMBO and I managed to go to a small boot sale not far from us this morning and I managed to pick up a couple of titles on the wars of the Duke of Marlborough. I have to say that this period is not one that I am hugely familiar with; nor is it one that I would ever attempt to game using figures but having these two titles in the collection is as good a start as any should that change over time. Certainly it would have possibilities for me using the block armies (and I have some really attractive troop labels I could use) so I may give it some thought in around ten years time at the current rate of progress!

David Chandler needs no introduction from and I am aware that he also wrote a companion volume on the campaigns of the Duke which I shall try to track down at some pint - perhaps with Richard Holmes's biography of the Duke as well, if only because I always enjoy his books.

James Falkner has written a couple of titles on the period and this one complements Marlborough's Wars rather nicely. As far as figures are concerned the troops are not quite as ornate as later in the century but are probably still too much for my painting inclination!


The final expansion so my ancient block based set up is now complete - let the games commence!

Friday saw the arrival of two of the parcels I am waiting for - the Spartans (in the box above) expansion for my Command and Colours Ancients set up (I have already labelled the blocks contained therein!) and my two WW2 Naval forces for the RN and the Km in a scale I have not previously used. The models are from MY Miniatures - MY Miniatures 1/4800th Ships - and are scaled at 1/4800th so the Bismarck comes out at around 2" long. I have chosen this scale for a number of reasons. To begin with, for WW2 games played on a 6 x 4ft table they look 'right' for the scale distances involved. I did not want to go down the road of using 1/6000th simply because they strike me as being too small (although closer to being in scale) and, tellingly, they are more expensive. Mention of cost brings me to the next point - the two fleets I acquired came in at £25 including postage and I have all the ships types I a likely to need although when I tackle the Mediterranean I will need a few others for the RN, not to mention the Italians. Detail-wise the models are OK and the types represented are clearly identifiable and so once painted, based, named and 'flagged' will look very attractive on the new and larger Hexon area.

For the Spartans, as mentioned above, I have already labelled all the blocks and so once the missing two dozen blocks arrive from Mr Gow that I am short of the entire collection will be complete. I have also found out that I can buy copies of the rules and charts from the expansions direct from GMT so this will be really handy - the only one I will be unable to get is for the Greek and Eastern Empires expansion.


I really enjoyed this and it is hugely inspiring in a 'I have a load of ancient blocks and need to get some games in with them' kind of way


Finally, a few weeks ago I picked up a copy of Barry Strauss's book - Masters of Command, Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar and the Genius of Leadership. The book covers careers of the three named and follows the story of each at a similar stage throughout for comparison purposes. The author has managed to write a fast paced study of each of the above and draws a number of parallels in terms of the key stages of their military journey. I really enjoyed the novelty of this approach and the end result is a thought provoking book that I thoroughly enjoyed.


Minnie the moocher - mooching in my chair and not going anywhere in a hurry!

The final picture on this post shoes the handicap under which I have been labouring in order to write this post - Minnie, the youngest of our three cats has adopted the office chair as 'her chair' so this means I have to work around her. Remind me, when dealing with a feline exactly who owns whom?



10 comments:

Michael said...

Glad that you solved the Airforce problem. The two books on Marlborough are simply excellent. It took me years to get hold of the second volume of Duffy's work on Seige Warfare but the library is the better for it. I remember Leicester Micromodels did 1/4800 in the distant past, I daresay the moulds etc are long gone.

David Crook said...

Hi Michael,

Air Force was an unashamed piece of nostalgia and I am so glad I persevered with it.

The two Malburian books will provide much inspiration but I have no plans in that direction just yet.

The ship models, I believe, are from the original Leicester Micro Models moulds (and to be fair are a little dated)but they are absolutely fine for what I want - I will need to add some extras though.

All the best,

DC

Bluebear Jeff said...

It has been well and truly said that . . .

"Dogs have masters; Cats have staff."


-- Jeff

Michael said...

No promises but I think I may have some 1/4800 liners/merchantmen and assorted warships somewhere in the archive. My late grandad bought them as a Christmas present when I was younger. (There is no way you are getting the copy of Seastrike that Bob O'Brian signed though ;) ) I will see what I can find though after all I am not using them and would prefer that they went to a good home.

David Crook said...

Hi Jeff,

Absolutely bang on! As we have three cats I suppose we have treble the domestic chores!

All the best,

DC

David Crook said...

Hi Michael,

That would really kind of you sir - many thanks indeed! My home email is roguejedi@btinternet.com so pop me a line to discuss further.

All the best,

DC

Paul O'G said...

Some nice additions to your library there good Sir!

David Crook said...

Hi Paul,

They were quite unexpected but welcome additions to the library - I shall try to avoid dabbling in the period for a while though!

All the best,

DC

Geordie an Exiled FoG said...

That book by Barry Strauss looks very, very intriguing!

David Crook said...

Hi Geordie,

It is not the most detailed book on the subject but as a combination of the three from the perspective of command it is a great read. It is also pretty cheap on Amazon as well....;-)

All the best,

DC