Ancient and Modern

Came across this article today. Evidently the device has been used for some time in recent conflicts. Not being a modernist, or really an ancientist * (to coin a term), I wasn’t aware of their use in WWII.

https://www.forces.net/ukraine/how-roman-empire-technique-inspired-ukraines-caltrops-being-used-against-russia

I know the polis here in the UK use something similar: a roll out ‘mat’ of spines to puncture baddies’ tyres without the car running out of control.

* side note: my bases should arrive tomorrow so I could have the first legion based by the weekend. 

Test base sizes

I finally got the time to start the preparation of the Punic War figures I bought. I've put some sample groups together.

Pic 1 has 3 lines of Hastati and 1 of Triares.

1st Line: 2 ranks of 5 on 4x3cm

2nd Line: 2 ranks of 6 on 4x3cm

3rd Line: 2 ranks of 5 on 3x2cm

Pic 1

Pic 2 - Triares

2 ranks of 5 on 3x3cm

1 rank of 6 on 3x2cm

Pic 2

Pic 3

Pic 3

Line 1: 2 ranks of 6 Hastati on 4x3cm

Line 2: 2 ranks of 6 Triares on 4x3cm

Looking at all that, I'm minded to go for bases 3x3cm with 2 ranks of 5, or 4xcm bases with 2 ranks of 6. The extra depth makes handling safer and has a reasonable amount of spacing for men who are supposed to throw pila. Probably the former as this permits 4 bases of Hastati, 4 of Principes and 2 of Triari as the heavy infantry element of a legion. This will fit nicely on one of my hexes.

Mini Update

I still haven't taken the plunge on the basing. Peter is right that bases 3cm wide will be fiddly. A legion (inc cavalry) will require at least 20 bases with this scheme.

Velites 8; Hastati 4; Principes 4; Triari 2; Cavalry 2.

Sabots will help, but that just delays the whole process while I decide how that will work.  But never fear, I have thoughts of a radical solution that doesn't involve sabots but does give me what I want to do. I will test it tomorrow.

I have however nearly completed the painting of a legion and started a second, which is some sort of progress.

Rules rule OK

Or keeping the Impetus going.

Thanks to Neil (see comments in last post) I bought a discounted copy of BI 2.0. They duly arrived today. Not had a proper look at them just yet, but the format would get a thumbs up from that chap at Little Wars TV. They’re ring bound.

Nice!

Salute haul

I was thinking about posting some pictures of Salute but others have done that much better than I ever could. For a real visual feast head over to Big Lee’s blog/YouTube.

Instead I’ll share my small, but valuable catch. First up was not a purchase at all but the thoughtful gift, or gifts of two books by David-in-Suffolk, of the Ragged Soldier blog fame. I’ve read the first already, and look forward to delving into the second.

David knows you can take the boy out of Grimsby….

Bull Sand and Haile Sand forts, originally built in WWI, are still there at the mouth of the Humber. The latter is close to the low water mark on the Lincolnshire side - but the sands are notorious for shifting.

An armed trawler. This happens to be one my maternal grandad, a deep sea fisherman sailed on, though I don’t know if he was on it during the war. I do know he did convoy escort work on the runs to northern Russia and minesweeping duties. Northern Gem was involved in the infamous convoy PQ17. 120 Grimsby trawlers were lost during the War I think the pre-War GY fishing fleet was c.700.

An anti-personnel device known as a ‘Butterfly Bomb’. I was brought up on warnings of these things. Dropped in 1943 the last casualty was a boy some time after the War. The book shows German POWs sweeping for them in 1947.

The second book is this:

I believe there’s one about the First World War too.

So a big thank you to David!

My only purchase of the day (I had picked up a couple of Ospreys at a stall but they only took cash) was a set of rules from the Society of Ancients. Naturally, if you saw that I’d recently acquired armies for the Punic Wars, you’d assume that I’d bought rules that either specifically covered the period or were those all-purpose ancients rules like WRG. Obviously I didn’t. I got these:

They are specifically for armies of competing Greek city states, made up mainly of hoplites. The intro explicitly states they were not designed for the Persian Wars or the Hellenistic period, but include some suggestions for the former.

There’s a phase of the game called ‘let the gods decide’ where players draw cards which can be positive or negative.

These rules intrigued me at the stall, and still do, having read them through. The essential feature of the rules is that there is very little scope for fancy tactics. The leader’s job is to get the men geed-up for combat, give the order to advance and keep order. They remind me of Hoplomachia hoplite battle rules by the Perfect Captain, though much less complicated. Also, they have some similarities to Loose Files and American Scramble (AWI) with variable movement and disorder points. Which gets an immediate thumbs up from me.

Primarily aimed at large scale figures, with figure removal, they do have an option to use casualty markers and base removal so they can be used with 6mm figures (my chosen ancients scale). I could use some of the spearmen from the Punic Wars, and supplement with ‘Italy-based’ Greeks/Italiate hoplites. What’s Classical Greek for mission creep?

Scipio and Barca raise their armies

Whilst I was on the way to Salute (more of that later) I got a message from the Margravina to say that a small parcel had arrived for me.

Excellent stuff! When I opened the pack I thought "crikey that's a lot to paint and base". Of course if I'd been more organised I'd have known what bases to buy from Pendraken today at Salute. I want to play around with different sizes and combinations before I commit to buying any bases.

Romans on the left, Carthaginians on the right.

650 inf, 84 cav and 5 elephants. Not bad for the money!

Something to do in these longer, light evenings!

Potpourri

Bit of a mixed bag this post. Not much wargaming activity at the Schloß recently. I have however taken part in two remote games chez Freitag of the Battle of Fornovo, 1495. These were my first forays ever into the Italian Wars. 

The first was as part of the Italian league fighting the French, where my command (the left wing) got badly beaten up by a resurgent Napoleon Dave. For the 4th game in a row, my table top character was killed. The Italians came out ahead in a close fought game. If you haven't already pop over to Jon's blog for AARs and pictures of his wonderful Renaissance figures, here and here.

The second was in sole command of the French versus Ray, Surjit and Lee of Posties Reject renown. This game was decidedly not a close run thing. The Rejects played a canny game and I don't think the overall result would have changed even if I had better luck. And I took my personal record up to 5 games with my character being killed! Here's one of the previous occasions: https://mudbloodandsteel.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-king-is-dead-long-live-err.html Second time in a row my character has been killed in a campaign run by JBM. 

In terms of army and terrain preparation myself, not much has happened. (Notice the use of the passive voice, like a politician apologising, to disguise the fact it's me who hasn't done much). I sprayed one side of my 'battle cloth' to make it a bit lighter. Cans of spray paint don't go very far, especially when you're spraying outside. I bought a second can in Lidl at the weekend to do the other side.

Punic Wars. A couple of weeks ago I placed an order with Heroics & Ros for Romans and Carthaginians. I was beginning to wonder when they would arrive, and today I got confirmation that they have been posted. So they could be here by Saturday. 

I have a bit of 1:1 terrain making to complete first, however. I am helping the Margravina prepare a vegetable plot. She seems to have decided it would be wise to prepare for the collapse of commerce by turning over a large part of the Schloß' grounds to agriculture. The ground has been prepared and we are giving the wooden frames that will surround the veg patches a protective coat of paint, before laying weed control, filling the frames with earth and compost, and finally surrounding them with pathways of gravel.

On Saturday I will be going up to Salute for the first time in several years. I should be meeting up with David-in-Suffolk, the Ragged Soldier himself. That's not casting any nastursiums on his appearance by the way, it's his blog. Hopefully I'll be able to meet other bloggers in person too, particularly Posties Rejects.

A lot of my attention, and some of my time has been occupied with Grimsby Town's plight at the wrong end of the Football League. With 4 games to play, they could still be relegated (for the 3rd time in 14 years!). So if anyone was wondering how I could keep smiling through lots of poor dice rolls, I've had plenty of practice dealing with bad luck! Last month I had attended 3 games in close succession. This month I have tickets for 2 of the 4 games, Colchester on Tuesday night and Crawley on 27th. One of the benefits of reaching a certain age, is that ticket prices start to come down. Not everywhere, but Crawley is one such place where over 60s get in for £10.

Favourites to go down are Forest Green and Sutton. Selfishly, I would rather Colchester go down as the ground is awkward to get to, being out of town, and Sutton is a bus journey away for me.

Last night I managed to watch the 2017 version of Tuntematon Sotilas again. It really is one of the best war films out there. The storyline is believeable (the novel is largely based on the author's own experiences and other real events), the acting is superb, and not too many liberties are taken with the plot. Special effects and cinematography are also excellent. Highly recommended.

People who have seen All the Sins (Kaikki Synnit, a Nordic Noir TV series) might recognise Johannes Holopainen. He played the posh lieutenant Kariluoto in the war film and the detective in All the Sins.

Finally, here are a few pics from a trip with the Margravina to the south coast.

On the cliffs at Southbourne

Avon Beach, near Christchurch (Dorset)

Wonder what these could be? (cliffs above Avon Beach)

One of 3 explanatory panels. Seem to have lost the photos of the other two.

Outside the entrance to the former research establishment above. This fossil is about 1/2 metre across.

Isle of Wight can be just about seen at top left

Sentry post at ADRE

The grounds are now a nature reserve

Looking back down to the beach

Highcliffe Castle, a 19th century stately pile.

Looking back west towards Medford Spit and Hengistbury Head. By the time we got back to the carpark, that part of the beach was rammed - people are lazy. They won't walk far to get a nice spot on the beach. Lots of open water swimmers around - mostly women of a certain age and build. Suggesting that the Margravina would soon be old enough to join them was not the wisest thing I'd ever said.

Entrance to Christchurch Harbour

Aha!

View through the MG port

Vent in the roof of the pillbox

On this day

Saw this earlier. I've never read the Kalevala, but if this bloke ever completes this translation, I would. Translating a poem (especially one from an old style of a completely different language), then getting it to scan and rhyme must be the Devil's own job. Hats off!

https://maceochilanguagelearning.wordpress.com/2016/03/05/the-beginning-of-the-kalevala-my-translation/

The chap who wrote down the Kalevala*, Elias Lönnrot, was born 9 April 1802. He was a bit of a Renaissance Man too. Medic, linguist, folklorist, botanist.

* I say wrote it down, rather than 'wrote it', because the stories were traditional ones he collected from folk around the Finland and Russian Karelia.

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

Post Script:

Alan pointed out that an episode of BBC Radio 4’s In Our Time covered Kalevala. A very interesting episode. Shout out too to David in Suffolk who also mentioned this episode in an e-Mail. Here’s the link to BBC Sounds:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001xm8t?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile