A belated Happy New Year to everyone1
It's been a while since I indulged in any wargaming activity. After the mad period of painting in late Autumn I've hardly done anything (apart from two great on-line games hosted by Jonathan). This has happened before and this time there has not been much in the way of Real Life activity getting in the way. There's obviously been Christmas Day/Boxing Day and one football trip*, but not much in the way of wargaming activity. This feast or famine has happened before and I'm beginning to wonder if I'm on some sort of spectrum. In mitigation, I'm in week 4 of a cough so maybe that's eroded my motivation.
* Usual disappointing result but a great day socially
On Boxing Day the eldest came round and we had a game of 300 which naturally he won. Good game and even having to look up the rules every now and again it only lasted 1 hour. The girls have somehow managed to avoid their commitment to play the game. I was thinking of using the mechanisms for a SYW campaign based around the invasion of Bohemia in 1757, but on reflection it is more suited to a higher level of strategy. You could, however, easily substitute Ancients tabletop games for the abstracted battles of the boardgames.
On to the reading matter. For my birthday before Christmas I got 3 books from the aforementioned offspring. Two down and 35% of the way through the third.
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| Book 1 |
** Well done if you know how to pronounce that without having first heard someone say it!
*** Rollicking great fun but not history
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| Book 2 |
This is a journey through the FA Cup, and England, in the 2022-23 season, starting with the Extra Preliminary Round**** right up to the Final. 14 rounds in total. The idea was that the author went to watch the winner of each round's game in the next round, right from Tuffley in Gloucester (no me, neither) to Wembley. Along the way the author discovered something of the clubs and towns he visited. The reason it was given to me appeared in chapters 9-12 (or from round 3 to the Quarter Final). As the author puts it at the end of chapter 8, "Which brings me, with love, to Grimsby". Even well before that, I was thoroughly enjoying the book. It's much more than a football book (the games get relatively little ink considering the erstwhile theme). It's more than a travelogue. Actually, I don't know how to describe it, other than it's bloody good and you should read it.
On reflection, the subtitle, 'England with the FA Cup for a Compass' describes it very well. The football is almost a way of randomly generating a tour of England with, roughly, the smaller settlements coming first and the bigger ones coming later.
**** There was an Extra Preliminary Round, a Preliminary Round, four qualifying rounds, five 'proper' rounds, a Quarter Final, a Semi Final and a Final.
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| Book 3 |
I spotted this on my last visit to the National Army Museum*****, and sent the photo of it to the family group chat on WhatsUp. The hint was taken. Happily. This is a much more dense book than the other two. But good all the same. Looking at the chapter titles, it seems like it's going to trace an arc from the Germans being arch-baddies to being potential allies. My initial interest was driven my a desire to find out more about the world in which my late dad did his National Service. He thoroughly enjoyed his time in Germany. He missed the first couple of post-War years, though I do remember him saying "you could [still] buy anything with a packet of fags" (😮). He came home with a smattering of German, a stripe and a licence to drive lorries. Timing wise he was lucky. Too young for World War Two, he was on the reserve list at the time of Korea and had notice to go when the truce intervened.
***** The author is a historian based at the NAM
It would be remiss of me not to post a link to the wonderful song from which Dr Cowling took the book title. Do please sing along.
Happy New Year to you too Chris!
ReplyDeletePronunciation of Irish and Welsh is always a challenge...my guess would be (phonetically) Finn MacCool.....love Rogue Heroes and not overly concerned re the historical accuracy...all the late 70's New Wave music is great, too! I don't doubt Paddy Mayne was a bit of a "character " but I find it hard to believe an officer could get into major fisticuffs with MP's and not end up cashieried....bit of poetic license there I think!
Finally, like the look of that last book...my dad was in a similar boat, 16 when war finished then uni studying law, so he didn't do his time till the early 50's, and luckily went to Germany rather than Korea.
I think he had a good time...he had a couple of Frauleins writing to him for a while after he returned to Blighty....I was never sure if my mums antipathy to Germany and all things German related to the war ( she was 18 when it ended and had known boys who died etc) or the letters from German tarts! They stopped once my dad was engaged to her, I believe 😆
I bet there were some frosty silences Keith!
DeleteAgree on the music. I also like the little clips of old newsreel.
Chris
I must get the Winner Stays On book seems a goodie, when I used to go every week the social aspect tended to outweigh the football most of the time! Happy New Year by the way, hope it's a goodie!
ReplyDeleteThanks Donnie. Because I don’t live at ‘home’ I mostly go to away games down south so the social side is more ‘important’.
DeleteChris
Thanks for the book reviews/recommendations, most interesting . My late father never talked much of his National Service, circa 1848, apart from being on guard duty in Italy with a pick axe handle to stop locals pinching stuff. He was also in the Desert with the Dental core driving thunder in mobile vans with foot operated drills…
ReplyDeleteSadly his father died during that time and m6 father had a long train ride across Africa to get a boat home. We have small , square b and w photos of giraffes etc taken from a train.
Alan Tradgardland
It sounds like your dad had some interesting experiences Alan. I assume you meant 1948 😀
DeleteChris
A good mix of books there, with the first and last being of particular interest, with many politicians benefitting from reading the latter when considering post-conflict issues that need to be considered. I'm reading Holland's 'The Savage Storm' as to his credit he does mention a lot about logisitics and the issues in keeping the occupied parts of Southern Italy working, whilst still fighting a War. A tricky balancing act for sure!
ReplyDeleteGood point about politicians considering post-war issues. ‘What are we going to do if we win?’ is a serious point, cough, Iraq.
DeleteI couldn’t get on with The Savage Storm. I don’t know why. I enjoy JH talking about it.
Chris
I don't think it's as good as his other books, probably as I've read better books covering the Italian campaign. I'm about half way through and must admit my interest is waning now, but will plough on through. As always nice snippets of info, just enough of them to keep me going...
DeleteSome interesting books there Chris. My uncle was a “wrong un” and allegedly did a fair amount of his post war call up time cleaning up the liberated concentration camps. Took his mind off chasing Frauleins at least. There you go, zero to dark in fifteen seconds.
ReplyDeleteIt is a dark subject as a whole. But as a palette cleanser I recommend (re)listening to the Noel Coward song!
DeleteChris
A nice eclectic mix of reading. My mother in law grew up in allied occupied Berlin at the end of the war. She only has bad things to say about the Russian soldiers. She went on to marry a French soldier.
ReplyDeleteThere were undoubtedly crimes committed by soldiers of the western Allies, but so far I’ve not seen reference to anything on the scale of the Soviet side. I can understand your mother-in-law’s point of view Richard.
DeleteChris