The Lure of the Sublime Porte

A new history covering the campaigns that shaped the Ottoman Empire up to 1600. I was never going to be able to resist getting a copy!

I blame Eric Knowles for this! I first became acquainted with the Ottoman Turks via the Madasahatta campaign, the follow on WW1 South East naval camapign, along with an epic refight of the Siege of Vienna in 1683 fought using 25mm figures (mainly Minifigs and Hinchliffe) in the cellar beneath the New Model Army shop in Manor Park. As I recall - this was in the early 1980s - the result was the same as the historical version but the Turks came a whole lot closer, within a whisker even, of capturing Vienna. It was, as were most things Eric organised, large, brash and a whole lot of fun to take part in!

I have flirted with the idea of a Turkish army over the years and in a variety of scales, but never really settled on anything specific. To start with, the number of figures required to do the army justice tends to be on the large side which translates as a lot of painting. I was also undecided as to what scale of figures to use and indeed, I have looked at scales from 6mm to 28mm but have never settled on one. To be honest, for a long time I had given up on a land based set up for this very reason but instead focused on the naval side. This translates for the period in question (15th/16th century) to galleys and lots of them!

My thoughts on the naval dimension of the Ottoman Empire of the period will form a later post but as far as the land side is concerned I will, in the short term at least,  fall back on the use of my block armies. 

A long time ago in a man-cave, far, far away….

A good few years ago, when I chopped up umpteen sets of ‘not-quite-Jenga-blocks’ to make my block armies, I wanted to make a set that would be suitable for tribal or irregular armies. The formal armies consist of red, blue, green, light grey, brown and olive sets whilst the irregular set is a little more varied in colour.

The ‘Irregular’ blocks set. The blocks in the bottom three rows were designed as a ‘Zulu’ set whilst the two rows above are intended for use as Afghan/Arab types. The top row has some artillery and my version of the famous Janissaries.

The top left two sections contain the blocks that I organised to represent stylised Janissaries - the colours were deliberately chosen - with their famous white headdress, blue tunic and red leather boots. 

Jannisary blocks - although I made these best part of a decade ago up until now they have never been in action. The ‘Zulu’ and ‘Afghan/Arab’ sets have been used on a few occasions and have given some really good games (see the Games folder).

With my recent acquisition of the first two Portable Wargame compendiums - with all that 3 x 3 goodness and much else besides - as well as the ‘Dominion’ series, I have some very good rules to experiment with and so the lure of the Sublime Porte makes a compelling case for further investigation.

And of course, there is the naval dimension to consider - and consider it I am!

Turtle Ships and Samurai

Between 1592 and 1598, Japan invaded Korea twice, with the ultimate aim of conquering China. The expectation that Korea could be subdued easily en route to China but ultimately this was not the case. The Koreans, assisted by the Chinese, fought the vaunted Samurai armies to a standstill until they finally withdrew in 1598, following the death of the Taiko: Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

The two invasions were marked by unbelievably savage fighting on land - in which the Koreans certainly gave as good they got - and some quite remarkable battles at sea. At it is the war at sea that has formed a new post ACW project for me for which, mercifully, I will not be making the models!

The starter set from MT Miniatures with the list of contents listed on the box.

The Indefatigable David Manley drafted the rules which come in the starter set as well as being available on Wargames Vault under his Long Face Games label. He has also penned a set designed for large scale actions of the period called “Those Who Seek Death” as well as a couple of scenario PDFs. Aside from the rules, David has also included a potted history of the war as well as descriptions of the main ship types - in short everything one would need to get started in the period.

Game accessories - all laminated but needing to be carefully cut out

The ships that come with the starter set (1:1200th scale white metal) - needless to say I have expanded the choice and number available somewhat!

A painting guide for the Korean ships - note the famous ‘turtle ship’ in the centre….

….and also for the Japanese.

The ‘Imjin War’ and the later ‘Chongyu War’ (essentially the first and second invasion respectively) are not exactly mainstream naval history in the West but a very useful history of the period has been penned by the renowned expert on matters Far Eastern - Stephen Turnbull. By chance I saw a copy of this on ebay for next to nothing and immediately hoovered it up - and am really glad that I did! Although it is not a naval history as such, the exploits of the famous Korean Admiral Yi Sun-sin - celebrated as a national hero in the same way that Nelson is - with his turtle ships against the Japanese invading forces feature throughout. 

A really useful book on the period - as are his other titles, primarily focussed on the Samurai

In a nutshell the Koreans largely dominated the naval scene wherever they found the Japanese ships so on the face of it the conflict would appear to be pretty one-sided. However, whilst the Koreans had stronger ships with better artillery, the Japanese had numbers, lighter and possibly handier ships (although with far fewer guns) and a willingness to get into hand to hand combat wherever possible. It was the outstanding leadership of Admiral Yi that provided the command expertise to the technological edge the Koreans possessed. The Japanese did have a few successes but not against Admiral Yi.

A modern replica of a Korean ‘Geobukseon’ - the ‘Turtle Ship’.

Gaming Thoughts

I must admit that this is not a period of naval warfare I would have considered were it not for David Manley’s rules and the models from MT Miniatures. In fact I would go further and say that I had never even heard of such a conflict other than as a mention in the book Shogun by James Clavell!

Despite the relatively obscure nature of this conflict, at least in the West, there is plenty to get one’s naval teeth into. Much of the combat was fought in sight of land so there is scope for some terrain in the form of fishing villages and small islands etc. The ships are quite simple in terms of design and paint scheme (a BIG advantage for me!) and have a distinctive look about them. There is little rigging to speak of and the ships use both sails and oars for propulsion. There are plenty of exotic weapon types in use and even early mines! Aside from the Koreans and Japanese there is also the Chinese including the inevitable war junk - a model that is useful for all sides.

I like the two differing tactical approaches so you have the ‘stand off and batter using gunfire’ doctrine used by the Koreans as opposed to the faster ‘get up close, board and butcher’ system favoured by the Japanese.

I have fancied tackling something 16th century based from a naval perspective but had never considered this conflict but I reckon it will be a lot of fun in an anarchic sort of way.

The land side of the war could possibly be catered for using Command and Colours: Samurai Battles although there are no rules that I am aware of that cater for the Koreans, or the Chinese for that matter. A trawl through the various facebook groups that cover the Command and Colours series may prove fruitful but that will be for another day.

First things first  though - ACW and DTPIW!

Farewell to Shogun

I am unsure what the Japanese for ‘a bit like the curate’s egg’ is but the good parts were very good indeed!

A day later than usual I managed to watch the series finale of Shogun - the ten part mini series based on the novel of the same name by James Clavell.

My feelings about this production have probably been influenced by having read the novel umpteen times - almost to the point that I can quote vast chinks of the dialogue and text etc from memory! 

I enjoyed it for what it was - a bold and beautiful production that was visually stunning to look at and with a real feel for the subject matter but all the while ‘based upon’ the novel, which in turn was a fictionalisation of the actual historical events of the period.

For me, therein lay the problem. Without giving too much away the production played fast and loose with the events in the novel - certain incidents were out of sequence and others were changed entirely - which personally I found to be a little on the irritating side. If I were a purist I would say ‘butchered’ would be a more accurate description, perhaps with a more surgical degree of precision but chopped about all the same. I realise that adapting a book to the screen requires certain changes but I am not convinced this was for the better. Again, I blame my familiarity with the novel for this apparent ‘nit picking’. 

I also felt as though the pacing was a little uneven although trying to condense the story into ten hours of screen time was never going to be easy. In many ways it felt rather like watching an extended highlights series with the highlights sometimes in the wrong order. 

One of my tests of the value of watching something on the screen usually runs along the lines of ‘is there a game in that?’ Absolutely - my enthusiasm for all things Samurai remains as high as ever and indeed, revisiting my project for the period in some way will definitely be on the cards at some point so Shogun served its purpose in that respect.

So in conclusion I can safely say that I enjoyed it for it was but the 1980 series was closer to the book and so I shall make a point of revisiting it in due course.

Naval Warfare Under Oars

The seminal work on the subject. First published in 1974 and then slightly revised and updated in the edition above from 2003. A true classic.

Following on from my recent acquisition of the Lepanto 1571by Nic Fields - so far a very good read - I naturally turned my thoughts to getting some ‘nuts and bolts’ background on the ships of the period. In truth this is not a new area for me as I dabbled in the period some years ago but did not really pursue it. This is a shame really as the period offers plenty of potential in terms of being quite transitional in many respects as well as offering two very different types of ships each with their own strengths and weaknesses - sails versus oars 

I am very much enjoying this although there are plenty of other books about the battle available.

There are a numerous models available in various scales for the period but should I opt to tackle it then I will naturally be making my own. For the record I have similar ideas about ancient galley warfare - think Salamis and similar - and these are along the lines of making a generic galley for each period that can up or downscaled as required. I will keep it fairly tight in terms of variety of models so that mass production will be easier.

A new project(s)? Maybe, but for the moment it is just a little light reading.

He said, tongue firmly in cheek….

War in The Land of the Rising Sun

The Japanese gaming options - old and new. Command and Colours for the tactical battles using the figures from Shogun with the board game providing the strategic backdrop. An idea for latter methinks….

After a selective search over a couple of months or so and assisted by some of my customary wheeling and dealing, I was finally able to source a copy of the old Milton Bradley board game Shogun, complete with slightly over 400 1:72nd scale hard plastic figures. Aside from being an excellent strategic game, the figures are rather nice in a way that appeals to the reluctant painter - modest levels of detail and stylistically ‘simple’ looking!

The figures in the game - there are five colours with the Ronin figure in Grey - they can be used by any faction, hence the neutral colour - and the solitary Ninja in black (naturally)

There are a number of ideas floating around with the acquisition of this game. To begin with there is the the traditional ‘age of war’ - the late 16th century - which is the focus of the board game. There is also the ‘Last Samurai’ to consider. Now I know that the film took a number Hollywood style historical liberties but as a visual spectacle for me it ticks all of my unworthy Western perceptions of the Samurai!

In keeping with my 1:72nd fetish I have an idea that will address a couple of things. I am now looking for a copy of the Eagle Games ACW game - similar to their War in the Age of Imperialism - as the kepi wearing infantryman could, at a pinch and with some paint conversion, serve as Japanese regular infantry as well as Union and Confederate types.

All of these ideas are very much Portable Wargame facing and the challenge of using cheapish and simple  figures to realise these ideas is one that I will relish.

On the subject of International Naval Wargames Day….

There is an after action report to follow - you will be able to see how Captain Butler got on - but that will be for tomorrow.

Blocks and Counters with Lashings of MDF

Ready to go....

....as is this!

 Although I had the day off on Monday for my birthday the days since then have been busy, busy, busy! Work has been pretty demanding although working from home has saved me a huge amount of time and money with the commute. Working in what is essentially a sales role means that although technically I am part time the reality is a little different.

I have to say though, given the way things are at present still being in a job is preferable to the alternative!

I have managed to get some things done though as well as the inevitable thinking that I seem to get as much fun out of as anything in the real world. Two of my recent acquisitions - Jacobite Rising and Conflict of Heroes: Guadalcanal are ready for action. For the former it meant punching out terrain tiles and counters, sorting the cards into three decks - command, Jacobite and Government - and lost of labelling of blocks. It was all easy to do but it did take a while. Conflict of Heroes was very easy indeed as there are only 175 large counters - all of which were individually die cut - and they fairly fell out of the card surround. I reckon that took me around ten minutes in total.

It did strike me though at much better production values are for board games these days compared to back in the late 1970s. 

With both the above games ready to roll I will try and get one played over the weekend - it is about time I got a game in after all the hours spent sorting and packing I have spent recently.

The latest title from Nick Lipscombe - his Peninsular War atlas is also a cracking good tome!

A sample of one of the battle maps contained therein

The book you see above came about as the result of part of the Amazon gift cards I received for my birthday. It is unbelievably good and for a variety of reasons will be being used rather a lot in the coming months - I will say no more but suffice it to say NO plastic or metal figures will be involved....

The Rayleigh shipyard just waiting for the creative juices to spawn forth a winning idea or two!

I sat down and had a play around with various pieces of wood and the new MDF pieces I acquired - just to experiment really - and I already have in mind some ideas for my first few ships for the ACW. Naturally as I now have turrets some monitors will appear! Aside from the ACW I really like the idea of messing about with some assorted ironclads and am even looking at the potential of the Pacific War as well as something ‘imagi-navy’ ish.

A great campaign to tackle from the naval perspective as the numbers involved are modest. Besides, there is always the Huascar....

I have also been looking long and hard at my block armies that have sat idle for some time now. I really want to use them again as I seem to be in one of my periodic ‘anti-figure’ modes at present. I keep looking at various battle maps and transplanting them into 3D affairs with model terrain and blocks on a grid. It works for me and has the attraction of being easy to set up and put down again very easily. Significantly though, my rather belated discovery of the virtues of bespoke MDF has given me a lot to think about in respect of supporting the block armies.

Great thoughts continue to be thunked.....

Tudor Rebellions

"I can resist anything except temptation...."

I mentioned in the last Sitrep about the two rebellions of 1549 – The Prayer Book version in Devon and that of Robert Kett in Norfolk. Inspired my recent visit to ‘Prayer Book Rebellion’ territory and the prospect of visiting Norfolk at the end of the month I figured, as is my customary wont, that undertaking a little research would be appropriate. Mention has already been made of the magazine articles devoted to each but I wanted something a little more tangible. I have no plans to undertake either rebellion as a figure based game but certainly there is potential using blocks or similar. Having said that perhaps a DBA style set up or even one for one of the Rampant series of rules by Dan Mersey may be an idea.

In any event any such undertaking is so far down the project batting order that you would need the Hubble telescope to see it!

There is something quintessentially English about the Tudor period. For my own part my interest usually only goes as far as the Armada or the exploits of the various ‘Sea Dogs’ but there is a lot more to explore. Deep down I suspect that my interest is more about the English taking their first tentative steps on the world stage against a backdrop of domestic change.

Anyway, coming back to the subject in hand, I did a little trawl of the net (always dangerous when the inspirational urge is upon you….) and came across the above book by Julian Cornwall. It is not a military history per se; rather it is a social history of the background to both revolts but it does have a good account of each campaign. It is a useful addition to the library although as mentioned above it is unlikely I would game it in the foreseeable future.

One for the ‘to do’ list methinks.

"Pen in one hand, a sword in the other"

The latest addition to the library by Roger Crowley who is fast becoming one of my favourite historical writers.

The title of this post is how Roger Crowley described the Portuguese acquisition of an empire based around the Indian Ocean. I will not offer any explanation as to why - you will need to read the book - but it sums up the overall impact they had as a result of their exploration and travels across the Indian Ocean and into East Asia. I purchased the above (and yes, there is also an Osprey title that is on the 'to get' list) for background to the El Dorado collection I have now taken delivery of. Whilst the idea of Aztecs and Tlaxcalans has a certain appeal - what I would call the traditional Conquistador approach - I am fast coming to the conclusion that figures I have would be better off as Portuguese, simply because the opposition is far more diverse. I shall enjoy reading this and indeed, may even acquire a digital version.

A selection of figures from the Foundry El Dorado range

The El Dorado range by Wargames Foundry is quite delightful and the selection I have is pretty much complete for what I would need. All I need to do is to think about the opposition and so I hope that Crowley's book will help with my decision. 

"Conquistador, your stallion stands...."

Great book, great TV series but why do I get the feeling that this is not going to end well.....?

My capacity for being sucked into yet another project is legendary. Very occasionally I even manage to make one of them stick in some fashion although usually after the initial rush of enthusiasm has been exhausted, practicality rears its ugly head and this the current 'in thing' inevitably falls by the wayside. There should be a law against wargames fly tipping in this manner methinks!

I mentioned in the last Sitrep about my acquisition of a selection of Foundry Pirates and figures from their El Dorado range. My initial thoughts concerning the latter eventually settled on using them as Portuguese on the basis that the variety of opposition had greater variety than that facing the Spanish version. Conquistadors all for sure but with the Portuguese you could number Africans, Indians, Arabs, East Asians, Chinese and Japanese amongst their opponents rather than the more usual range of Central and South American types (Brazil is a separate issue - at least for my purposes).

This is not a period I know very much about although I was reminded of the excellent BBC TV series some years ago called Conquistadors by the well known historian Michael Wood. Before I had settled on the Portuguese I figured it would be good idea to track down a copy of the book of the series as a good introduction to the whole Conquistador phenomena and its place in the overall scheme of things. I duly picked up a copy for a giveaway price and I am pretty sure you can guess the rest....

The source of the El Dorado figures also has a number of Tlaxcallans and Aztec figures - unpainted - for disposal that initially I was going to leave. However, my ice cream like resolve has melted faster than the England cricket team's first innings against Ireland and so I am looking at the aforementioned Aztecs and Tlaxcallans.


I must be mad and I am hoping that this temporary brain storm will soon pass but just when I am getting a handle on things so the above book beckons me onward with its siren call.

An old wargaming friend, sadly no longer with us, raised an Aztec army using Naismith figures in 25mm (this would have the early to mid 1980s) to use under WRG 6th edition. As I recall it was lethal in action but looked to my eyes as being incredibly difficult to paint well. there was also rather a lot of figures involved!

These days, with the whole Portable Wargame/Rampant series of rules being my gaming of choice raising such forces are, for me in any event, far more achievable in theory.

I am still thinking about the opposition for the Conquistador types but the traditional New World option is very tempting. However, whichever direction I opt to source the opposition from - the West or the East - I need to carry out rather more in the way of research before committing myself!

On the Bounding Main....

From the collection of Chris Hardman. The models are 1/600th scale and were first used for an Armada based game back in 1988. There is rather a lot of it as well....

Well this is a first. I finally got around to not only having a game on a club night but also to play test a set of rules with my old friend Chris Hardman. The rules in question are 'Galleys and Galleons' by Ganesha Games and whilst they have been around for a while getting them to the tabletop has been a challenge for me due to time.

Kaptain Kobold has used these a lot and if check out his blog The Stronghold Rebuilt you will some of the games he has taken part in as well as some rather nifty scratch built models he has Kobold together for the period.

The scenario was the entry level Pursuit contained in the rules book which pitched a very nimble 'Jacht' against a merchant Galleon. The scenario is designed to get the player used to the game mechanics. Now Chris and I (Chris especially) have played numerous wind and water naval games over the years so you would think we would have a reasonable handle on such things as the weather gauge etc.

Hmmm.

After much blundering about and frantic manoeuvring to avoid the islands dotted about the Jacht was able to get a few shots aways but with no effect. It was great fun though and the potential is there for for further entertainment.

The picture above was taken on my phone so apologies for the mediocre quality.

The tool box containing the models was revelation although a couple of models would need a little TLC to get them into fighting trim as the years and much travelling had taken its toll. One model in particular was quite badly damaged. The ship in question was called the San Andreas.

Needless to say I pointed out that it had a fault with it....

Many thanks to Chris for his patience - this play test has been months in the making - and for the game and use of his magnificent collection.

Ancient and Renaissance Blocks

The great block reorganisation has made some significant progress this weekend as the core sets for red, blue, grey and grey have been completed. It was not quite as onerous as I originally expected but was time-consuming all the same. One thing it has made me think long and hard about though is the possibility of using the block armies for earlier periods of warfare.

I have previously mentioned that I have played ancient games on a number of occasions and have owned Carthaginian, Ancient Indian, Gallic, Viking and Late Imperial Roman armies over the years. At the present time I do not own any painted ancient armies - in fact, the only ancient exposure I have is a complete set of all the Command and Colours Ancients series of games by Richard Borg (as I do for most of the Napoleonics as well). Now you could be forgiven for thinking that as devoted block user having these units available via the games would be sufficient for my needs. To be honest I certainly thought so but now am not so sure. The Command and Colours blocks are really good to look at but my feeling now is that it would be more in keeping with my current usage to use blocks of my own design.

Initially when I thought about this my head quickly became filled with a myriad of unit type permutations - pikes, spears, javelins, archers, swordsmen etc - which threatened to derail the entire idea or at least making it incredibly complicated. I then stepped back and thought about it rationally (which sets a rather dangerous precedent for me!).

Now that I have added some distinguishing marks to the existing horse and musket blocks - the black and white stripes - I should easily be able to differentiate between troop types so, for example, I could have Roman legionaries, auxiliary infantry and assorted allies represented readily enough. The same principle could be applied to cavalry so everything from Pathian Cataphracts to Numidian light horse can also be tackled simply by designating the appropriate label as the specific type required.

I must confess that my thinking was helped somewhat by referring to my copies of both DBA and HOTTs for reasons that are easy to see. As both sets of rules merge similar troop types into unit categories it makes it a lot easier to represent units using blocks - as long as they are clearly defined beforehand. This is something I will need to work out but to be honest, will be fairly straightforward to do by making use of the aforementioned different labels types and by standardising unit compositions in some way.

The biggest single problem I am facing with tackling this project is how to represent formed bodies of troops are with ranged weapons. The horse and musket era assumes that all infantry types are armed with a firearm of some kind (excepting those blocks used for native types - Zulus etc) but in the earlier period having having some way of identifying separate 'shooters and fighters' is required. After thinking about this I have decided that a new label type, based on the standard infantry label, will need to be designed. This will enable units of formed shooters to be represented and, by dint of the idea I am currently pursuing, will also double for pike units during the Renaissance period where the standard infantry block can be used as per its more usual horse and musket incarnation.

I realise this may seem a little on the confusing side for which I can only apologise but once the new block type is ready it will all make a lot more sense.

The plan is to tackle the ancient (taken in its 1500 and earlier guise) era and also the Renaissance in some fashion - simply because the lure of the Ottoman Turks of the period is something that I am unable to resist.

Galleys in the 16th Century

The Battle of Preveza, 1538

As regular readers of this blog will no doubt be aware I am very interested in the history of the Ottoman Turks. It is also fair to say that the 'golden age' of their efforts and achievements was probably from the fall of Constantinople in 1453 to around 1650 at a stretch. The sixteenth century was probably the best of this - and one could argue that only under Sulieman the Magnificent was this true. In fact, after his death the empire went into a long and protracted decline but that is not really the object of this post. I have long desired to game with an Ottoman army or navy when it was a force that was taken seriously on the global stage and so the sixteenth century would seem to be the best time to consider this.

In the sixteenth century, the war at sea in the Mediterranean was dominated by the galley. True, they often carried guns and routinely used slaves/captives/convisted crminals for the propulsion but essentially the tactics were little removed from that of the ancients - except that the ram was more likely to be a close range forward firing salvo of cannon fire followed by a boarding. In fact the ram was not a ram at all, more like a spur to sink into the opponents upper works thereby forming a boarding bridge of sorts. It was deemed better to capture ships than to sink them. Gunpowder had made the biggest difference though - both from the point of view of ship-borne artillery and that of personal firearms.

I have many ideas in connection with how I want to tackle this (although not immediately - I have far too many things to do in the interim) and once again, Navwar will be the supplier of choice for the ships I shall be needing in due course. As with the ancient galley period, I have a small but fairly complete selection of books on the period so when I eventually tackle it I will not be short of inspiration.

On the subject of inspiration, the following battle looks like it might be fun to have a go at it in due course - and no, it is not Lepanto!

Battle of Preveza

This also has the added attraction (for me in any event) of having been fought on my birthday - 28th September. Now I wonder if I could set myself the challenge of readying the models for both sides in order to attempt a refight of this action to coincide with my Birthday later this year?

Mmmm, much to ponder here methinks....