Off track

I was supposed to be thinking about a post on the Bloody Big Battles blog, but I got sidetracked. Easily done these days. The distraction came about by looking at recently taken photos on my phone.

A couple of weeks back I was walking with the Margravina in Richmond Park, where there’s always something new to see. In the gardens of Pembroke Lodge I saw one of those benches which people sponsor on behalf of the departed. This one caught my eye particularly because of the dedication.

The name wasn’t familiar so I resolved to investigate later. Something I forgot about until now*. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sommerfeld_tracking

My WWII knowledge is patchy so this was news to me. Doubly intriguing because the chap was a German expat at the time and his invention was used against his former homeland. What was the backstory to his arrival in Britain?

What’s also noteworthy in my opinion, is that Britain supplied 44.5m yards (!) of the tracking to the US in reverse lend-lease. Reverse L-L was something I was aware of thanks to James Holland on his We Have Ways of Making You Talk blog. I think he said something like 30% of US war matériel in NW Europe was supplied by the UK.

* one of the things that distracted me at the time was this amazing flower which even the Margravina couldn’t identify. It’s about 40-50mm diameter to give you an idea of size.

Bat-oh!

Knocked up a mock up of a ‘bateau’ for the wars on the American Continent. This was a quick test to see if I could do something. The answer was ‘I can’ but there’s room for improvement.

Materials were an empty cereal packet, some cocktail sticks, paper and Blutak to hold stuff in place temporarily. And a sharp knife (after an abortive attempt with a blunt one).

The basic idea was to make something that can hold a base of my AWI chaps (2x3cm base). Functionality is more important than looks. At the back of my mind I had Dave Crook’s stylised ships for the late 29 18th century. What I’m basing the design on is a simple ‘bateau’ of the type used on the rivers and lakes of North America in the F&I wars, the AWI and War of 1812. Bateaux had pointy bits at both ends and were flat bottomed to aid portability across land. Some had sails as well as oars and varied greatly in size. They were used to move men, weapons and supplies. Some even seemed to have little ‘canon’.

The plan is to maybe make a fleet of 30ish for use in amphibious operations - prompted by my reading of ‘These Distinguished Corps’ by Don Hagist. The book is a history of flank battalion operations in the American Revolution. The Lights and Grenadiers seemed to do an awful lot of bobbing about in boats in the AWI, do I thought ‘why not?’

Now on to the critique:

The gunwales are too low for the figures. I need to up these from 5mm.

I need a good method of gluing the gunwales and pointy bits to each other. Not sure how.

Ditto the mast.

The oars and rudder handle could do with being thinner - maybe thick wire is the answer.

And maybe more of them.

And one or two ‘crew’.

Obviously it needs a paint job.

I might need bases for them (c 12x6cm) to protect them from handling.

But overall it looks workable!

18th Century Reading

There's not been much painting or modelling activity here at the Schloß Nundanket. Any wargaming has come courtesy of the Wells of Washington, Jonathon of the Palouse Wargaming Journal, who has been running on-line re-fights of the First Battle of the Bull Run. I had the pleasure during the games of the company of noted bloggers Messrs Broom (https://mudbloodandsteel.blogspot.com/2023/06/get-yer-tots-out-for-lads.html), 'In-Suffolk' (https://russetcoatcpt.blogspot.com/2023/06/fnurban-24-east-riding-military.html), Foy (http://prometheusinaspic.blogspot.com/2023/06/wss-eichenfeld-noch-einmal.html) and Napoleon Dave (https://stcyronwheels.blogspot.com) for the games. Won one lost one, since you ask.

My current excuse for not doing much in the way of wargaming activity is being involved in taking the young mistresses of the Schloß to university open days, and visiting the West Country branch of the family to raid their garden equipment before they do their flit to Lincolnshire where, ironically, they won't need anything beyond one of those misters and a jug.

I have been making slow, but steady progress through the batch of books I bought last month. So far I've read The Army of George II and More Furies Than Men, and I'm currently on the Hagist book on British flank battalions in the AWI. The book by Brown on the British army of George II is excellent - almost tempted to say it does for that army what Duffy did for the armies of Frederick and Maria-Theresa. I would recommend it for anyone interested in the period and especially if you want to model a British army. The central thesis of the book is that the army was more more professional than is normally portrayed, including its officers.

The book on the Irish brigade I found harder going. It is good on Franco-Irish relations (not as warm as you might think, both being enemies of England) and on the importance of patronage within the Irish regiments. I found my interest waning in the chapter on the way contemporaries portrayed the Irish brigade, especially when it seemed to disappear down the rabbit hole of what this or that poet said in response to some other poet. But I admit, this is a subjective view and it's a case of what floats your boat. As with the British army book, the author researched the subject thoroughly.

As I said above, I'm currently reading the Don Hagist book on British grenadiers and light troops of the AWI. I've been thinking about getting the book since I listened in on the Helion virtual book launch a couple of years ago. Again, this is thoroughly researched and great background for the period. You don't need to read this, or the other two, of course. You could happily wargame the period without it. For me, it adds to the interest though and gives some great insights.

I think next up will be the Pattern (another of the Helion virtual book launches I 'attended'). Going by the book launch, it will be packed with interesting research. Maybe it's time I got the table out.

Le Tour de 1813

Sat down for a rest and switched the telly on. Noticed that  Stage Two of the Tour de France today covers some of Arthur Wellesley’s old stomping ground.

Very pleasant scenery.

https://www.letour.fr/en/stage-2