This week I 'arve mostly been ...listening to...

... Helion Military History Podcasts.

 https://www.helion.co.uk/helion-military-history-podcasts.php

I came across this very recently. It's only been running for a few months. Every episode I've listened to so far has been a cracker. There's only one I've got to finish. None of them have been in my primary area of interest, but I've found them fascinating nonetheless. Podcasts, I find, are a good way to dip my toes into a subject area that I wouldn't normally read about. Typically they are about "commute length" so that makes them ideal for journeys to/from work.

As you were.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw18OafeQiM

In a mellow tone

I had cause to remember this band earlier. I didn’t nt remember the cause. Very, very romantic when they sing in French. With this song I can imagine M.Broom (qui est surnommé le joyeux) dancing with Mme Broom. And pourquoi pas, eh?

Love the way the usually pretty unvoiced e is vocalised. Reminds me of those films c1990 based on Marcel Pagnol books. And of the Little Sparrow of course.

https://youtu.be/FbqLa7vNiEY?si=Ucc6ObjLUqK2wy6B

Non-Partizan English (and other) Republics

Friday saw another in-person meet up with 'the Ragged Soldier' (Dave B) at a National Army Museum talk on the English Republic. The speaker was Professor Alice Hunt of the University of Southampton.  In common with a lot of the NAM talks, it was a lot more engaging than expected. It can still be viewed online (link below). I know it's not directly related to the history of the civil wars, but there was a lot more going on in the country during that time than 'the Banning of Christmas', and a bit of reading/listening around a subject never did any harm.

https://www.nam.ac.uk/whats-on/republic-britains-revolutionary-decade-1649-60 

There were a couple of first edition near contemporary books on display at the talk.

Professor Hunt can also be heard talking on the same subject on the World Turned Upside Down podcast:

https://www.worldturnedupsidedown.co.uk/podcast/britains-astonishing-revolutionary-decade/

***********

It's always good to catch up with David and have a natter over lunch after the talk. He brought along a recent purchase to lend me, Peter Connolly's 'Greece and Rome at War'. This is really useful as it lays out the organisation and formations of both Greeks and Romans at different stages of their respective histories.

**********

Saturday saw the timely arrival of an order I placed with Pendraken for some more bases and dice holders. Whilst I was placing the order I thought I may as well make the most of the postage charge and ordered some 6mm flags for the French, Dutch and various Holy Roman Empire states. Whilst technically these are for the War of the Austrian Succession, I think they'll do at this scale for the Seven Years War and War of Austrian Succession. I've been meaning to get around to painting the flags on the French figures for a couple of years, without actually doing anything about it. Now it'll be a simple case of cut, snip and glue. I hope.

To return to the ECW, the Pendraken order also included a copy of the Battleground Series book on Naseby.

So quite a haul over Partizan weekend. Only I didn't go to the show.

**********

Now I have a big backlog of projects to be getting on with. Various unpainted figures (human and animal), buildings, rivers, walls, rebasing, re-flagging etc. I also have some trees and some other odd figures on order (for yet another project). I probably should create a list and challenge myself to get it done by a set date.

Prime & Load Podcast Vote

 https://primeandload.buzzsprout.com/2453485/episodes/17699697-top-commanders-bracket-round-3

This series, an FA Cup of 18th C commanders if you like, has already reached round 3. Maximilian von Browne  is the Grimsby Town of the competition, reaching the Quarter Finals. But I suspect, like the Mariners in 2023, MaxiB has reached the end of the road. Still, his supporters will have had a nice journey and a fine day out and a good singsong in Brighton Freed from Desire

The project is a bit of fun but it does provoke some interesting debate amongst the presenters and food for thought.

I may have possibly got my metaphorical wires crossed somewhere along the line, but I might have got away with it.

3 Civil Wars

It's been pretty quiet on the wargaming front recently, apart from participating in one of Jonathan Freitag's Mortimers Cross games. You've probably already seen the AAR on Jon's blog, but if not I recommend having a read.

Screenshot of one of the early turns. Lancastrians in the foreground.

End of the road for the Yorkists

Anyway, back to Spain. My son reawakened a dormant interest of mine a few week back when he gave me the book below for Father's Day. I started reading it about a week ago (it's a big book). I'm currently 18 chapters in out of 52. I don't know how it stacks up in historiographical terms, but I'm enjoying reading it. It certainly doesn't pull any punches.

Early on fellow Grimbarian Tom Wintringham popped up (we're a Bolshie lot). Interesting bloke, being an early advocate for setting up the Home Guard (as in 1938 earl). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Wintringham

Wintringham is in the middle, looking a bit like Mr Lah-di-dah Gunner Graham with his 'Huniversity Heducation'. "It Ain't Half Hot Mum" reference.

Oh, and the third civil war is the one we had over here in the 17th century. Ralphus of the Wars of Louis XIV blog has flagged up another worthy listen. Cavalier Cast. Here's the Podbean website for an episode they did on wargaming the Civil War. https://www.podbean.com/media/share/dir-nbkgv-1802ea54 And while I'm on the Pike and Shot theme, here's an excellent episode of Citizen to Soldier podcast https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/the-citizens-to-soldiers-podca-5889375/episodes/episode-8-patrick-wyman-on-rai-230406209 They mostly cover contemporary military matters but now and again they delve into history.

Another podcast. And it's a goodie!

Thanks to Ralph's over at Wars of Louis Quatorze blog I've been enjoying a newish podcast these past few days. Prime and Load also here https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZnTpOagexNqE0wyla1BZwak37perxC0O

It concentrates on 18th century warfare in Europe and North America and is presented by familiar names: Doctors Alex Burns and Andrew Bamford, with Lee Gagino. Since launching in March 1/2 a dozen episodes have 'dropped' (as the young cool cats say). The ones I've listened to have been very good. Including the excellent episode released for the 250th anniversary of Lexington and Concord. It really deepened my sketchy knowledge of that encounter.

The reg'lars are comin.

"Hey Nathaniel. Ain't it strange how wherever we go these rocks and bushes seem to go too."
"Jus' quit your yacking Zeke and fill them lobsterbacks full o' lead".

That episode left me with the feeling that modern NATO soldiers on COIN operations must have a good insight into how the Redcoats felt on that fateful day. And of course, it set the mind racing on how it could be gamed. (I think Matt Crump and Jonathan Freitag did this a few years ago).

There are many podcasts claiming my attention these days (too many to keep up with), but Prime and Load has pushed its way tot he front of the queue.

No kings, no tyrants!

"You cannot be excused duty soldier. I don't care if your pop owns an inn on Long Island. What on God's green Earth are bones spurs anyway?!"

Another ‘Churchill’s Spaniards’ Talk

The author, Séan Scullion, is doing another talk on his book. This time at the Royal Engineers Museum on Saturday 14th September.

If you’re within reach of Gillingham, I would recommend it:

https://www.re-museum.co.uk/

ECW Podcast

My listening list is getting too long for my commuting. One podcast that has pushed its way into my list is The World Turned Upside Down. It’s towards the academic end of the spectrum, so don’t expect details about tactics at Marston Moor or the colours of Prince Rupert’s regiment of foot. But it is well worth a listen if you’re into the wider picture. I’ve just listened to the episode on Basing House and it’s a belter.

https://www.worldturnedupsidedown.co.uk/

The Holocaust and the Roma

These days I tend to listen to an awful lot of podcasts. I'd heard this fella (Dr Waitman Beorn) on We Have Ways some time ago and saw that he had his own podcast. The episode below caught my eye. A subject I never knew anything about (beyond the fact the Roma were on the list of groups targeted by the Nazis). I remember a page in a series of magazines about WWII from the early 70s showing the various badges that different groups had to wear - yellow stars, pink triangles etc. Beyond that, I knew next to nothing. Pretty much the same as most people probably.

It won't be any surprise to anyone who has more than a passing interest in History, that the picture is much more complex than might be supposed. A fair amount of time is needed just to discuss who the people under discussion were. There wasn't even agreement at the time. In 1944, the Germans released people that the Dutch authorities had sent to them as Roma, that the Germans considered were not!

The sobering thought for me personally is that, had Britain fallen under a similar or the same regime, my mother's grandparents (if not her mother) could have ended up being 'removed'. They lived in a fairly small town. An ordinary town, full of ordinary, decent people. It couldn't happen here. Could it?

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-holocaust-history-podcast/id1727015690?i=1000653191869

https://www.waitmanwbeorn.com/

Happy New Year

I have Ralphus over at The Wars of Louis XIV to thank for this. It’s a delightful thing to listen to. I hope you are able to listen to it where you are in the world. Brigadier Peter Young on Desert Island Discs in 1977.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p009mt3m?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

For non-UK readers, Desert Island Discs is a very long-running BBC radio programme in which famous people are asked to imagine themselves stranded on a deserted island, in the manner of Robinson Crusoe, and pick 8 records from the shipwreck that they would save. It’s assumed the castaway would also be able to save a gramophone player. They also get to choose a luxury and a book. In the course of the selections, the celebrity reveals something of themselves.

The Brigadier shows his playful side in this programme. I’m picturing him, rosy-cheeked, moustache twirling as he pops his head up through the famous hatch in the Wargames table.

One door closes……

….another opens.

A suitable subtitle for this post might be “the importance of checking the calendar”. Another would be “Serendipity”.

A correspondent of this bloggist asked whether I would be attending SELWG on 15th October. Sunday just gone. “No”, said this bloggist. “I’m taking the oldest of the 17 year olds to a Uni open day.” Despite said open day being on SATURDAY 14th and not Saturday 15th. Other plans were made for Sunday 15th, thinking it was going to be the 16th. Confused? Welcome to my mind.

When I figured out (thanks to various other bloggers) that SELWG was on Sunday it was too late. Getting this wrong was obviously the ‘door closing’. The ‘door opening’ was spending the time in the company of the Margravina. My regular reader will have noted how uxorious I can be. The plan was to park up in or near a place called Petersham (a picturesque’village’ between the Upon-Thameses of Kingston and Richmond) then walk into Richmond to purchase one pair boots, walking, Margravina, for the use of.

Superfluous, gratuitous shot of a boat that almost looks like one of the bateaux of North America.

We walked along the river until we got to Water Lane and headed towards the main shopping street where the aforementioned footwear could be purchased. 100 paces up Water Lane stands a branch of the Curzon cinema chain. For non-UK readers, Curzon is a chain of picture houses that tends to show films on the slightly more ‘art house’ side of the range. The programme for Sunday included The Great Escaper, 45 minutes after we passed the cinema. As this was a film I’d planned to look out for we bought tickets, nipped up the road to complete the planned purchase, drink a coffee and return to watch the film.

And what a cracking film it was. Based on a true story of a 90 year old veteran of Overlord who, in 2014 having missed the chance to go on an organised trip, made his own way to Normandy for the 70th anniversary commemorations. In the course of this he had “15 minutes of fame”. The script, the acting (Michael Caine and the late Glenda Jackson in their last film, and the supporting actors*), the cinematography were all great. Flashbacks sensitively handled. Those of you into WWII, and in particular the work of James Holland, will be pleased by the appearance of the Sherwood Rangers in the D-Day flashbacks. It was at that intersection of the Venn Diagram of this bloggist’s interests and those of his spouse. Perfect. I don’t normally do this, but I will in this case……go to see it. And if you do, take someone whose hand you can hold.

* including John Stride

Despite all that, walking back along the river I couldn’t resist pointing out that ‘the bus to Dover was heading the wrong way along Hove seafront’. Not a single button was counted in that moment of pedantry.

Postscript:

Look it's not just me saying this. James Holland and Al Murray raved about this film in a recent episode of We Have Ways of Making You Talk. They also had an interesting talk with the director and writer, which gives you more of a clue as to what was real and what was imagined in the plot. https://wehavewayspod.com/episodes/

Frederician Podcast

I came across this podcast about, well, the Life and Times of Frederick the Great. The style isn't always to my taste as it seems very much read from a script - I prefer the more discursive style of podcast*. But it's a good way of covering the subject in a brief period of time and there's some interesting pieces in there that I hadn't thought about before**.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-life-and-times-of-frederick-the-great/id1566277737?i=1000520393905

I listened to a couple of the later episodes initially, but jumped back to the beginning on a flight back from holiday on Saturday, and learned lots of new stuff about Brandenburg-Prussia in the 17th century.

* I'm a big fan of We Have Ways of Making You Talk, which is hosted as a double-header and the hosts have enough heft to get lots of interesting guests on. And of course, one of them is a professional performer, so it's unfair to compare the podcasts. I've listened to a couple of episodes where the host (Alex Avdakov) has guests on, including one with Doctor Alexander Burns (Kabinettskriege blog), and these were very interesting. Alex Burns edited the Changing Face of Old Regime Warfare: Essays in Honour of Christopher Duffy.

** Such as the episode on why Frederick invaded Silesia, where it's suggested that if he didn't, then Saxon Elector (and Polish King) Augustus III might, pushing Prussia further down the pecking order.

Anyway, the Life and Times of Frederick the Great is well worth listening to. A good accompaniment to painting. Especially SYW figures.

We have ways of making you wargame

For those of you who do not listen religiously to Al Murray and James Holland’s WWII history podcast, “We have ways of making you talk”, the latest episode was devoted to wargaming. Specifically WWII wargaming, but the guest, Nick Skinner of Two Fat Lardies, gives an overview of the whole hobby. Bear in mind neither Murray nor Holland appear to know anything about the hobby (though Murray is a modeller) the explanation is necessarily simple. It makes you think how you would explain it to a complete novice.

Anyway, we’ll worth a listen, because Mr Skinner is an engaging speaker and he talks about some very interesting games. 

Idle hands

The Devil makes work for them as you know. Having finished my SYW odds n sods (see Devils in Skirts) and having finished the Duffy Festschrift book* kindly leant to me by the Ragged Soldier, I’m at a bit of a loose end. Until the arrival of the Great French Re-enforcement and His Britannic Majesty’s Army that is. Which hopefully will be with me by the weekend!

I’m raring to go. If they do arrive, Saturday afternoon will be spent file in hand, smoothing off the bases, whilst listening to the Mariners strut their stuff in Salford**. All being well they should all be undercoated on Sunday and maybe even a start made on painting. I’ll probably prioritise the redcoats, and the more interesting French units like the horse grenadiers in bearskin caps.

Stupidly, I didn’t think to crack on with repainting any of the spare mounted officers as Anglo-Hanoverian staff. Or trying to do any of the French flags on the last batch. Still, there’s always Thursday and Friday evenings. 

* Very interesting book by the way. If you’re into this period.

** With an away form much better than home form so far, I wouldn’t…....tempt fate.

By the way, I’ve been listening to the series on Portugal on the Rest is History podcast. I knew next to nothing about the country. Amongst other things it answered the big question (why out of all the Iberian medieval kingdoms is Portugal now independent). A very good way of getting a quick overview. Don’t expect it to go into any detail on the Battle of Bussaco though.

Adeus!

Update

Looks like the Devil has got the better of me, in the form of the Communication Workers Union, as a postal workers' strike has delayed my delivery. Ah well, I don't begrudge them in the circumstances. I've used the time to convert some Austrian and Prussian mounted officers to Anglo-Hanoverian/Hessian staff. This involved prising them off their penny bases, and rebasing them on square MDF bases. Might complete the base texturing later. There appears to be no clear uniform for British general officers, with the assumption on Kronoskaf being that they wore the uniform of the regiment's that they were colonel-proprietors of.

I reckon the chap in the middle throwing his hat in the air is the Marquis of Granby, though someone will probably point out he wore a blue coat. Behind him in his cloak is Dick Turpin/Adam Ant.

Daily reality of war

Now then. This song has got helpful side-by-side translations. It sounds like a straight militaristic song, with a jaunty tune, revelling in the imagined glories of war. But when you read the words you can see it’s about the grim reality. There are enough sarcastic, and bitter lines in there to make me believe it was written by someone who knew from first hand what he was talking about. It fits well within the cultural reference points of Unknown Soldier (Tuntematon Sotilas).

What really gets me is the line about the horses being so hungry they try to eat the stable walls.

https://youtu.be/-W9m1bLbKjg

This sort of thing is in the back of my mind when I think of the Continuation War, and forms the backstory to my (rare) games in the period.

Battle of Winceby talk tonight

My good pal Lincolnshire Tom just sent me the link to a talk on the Battle if Winceby this evening at 19:30 BST. I’ve signed up.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/that-famous-fight-and-most-glorious-victory-at-horncastle-tickets-156479270711

Post Script.

I logged onto the Winceby talk earlier this evening and found it very informative. The speaker, Dr Jon Fitzgibbons of the University of Lincoln. was clear, and spoke slowly - very useful if you were taking notes. He opened with the statement that Oliver Cromwell died of his wounds on 11 October 1643. Pause. In fact what Dr Fitzgibbons was referring to was a letter from Sir William Widdrington, the Royalist governor of Lincoln, to the Earl of Newcastle, giving an account of the battle wherein Widdrington reported that Colonel Cromwell had been killed. Indeed Cromwell’s horse was shot from under him and despite getting up, the future Lord Protector was seen to be knocked down by (some believe) by Sir Ingram Hopton. This set up a counter-factual question….which was left hanging.

Dr Fitzgibbons set the battle in the strategic context (Lincolnshire being a border ‘no man’s land’ between the Parliamentarian Eastern Association and Northern Royalists; the siege of Hull, the various sieges of Lincoln, Gainsborough and Newark). He also mentioned this was the first battlefield collaboration between Cromwell and Sir Thomas Fairfax, a significant and successful partnership.

A lot of attention was given to the possible location (noting the uncertainty) and discrepancies over the numbers engaged and the casualties reported by different elements of both sides. Dr Fitzgibbons did note that, to his knowledge, there has been no archaeological digs on the favoured site to discover whether there was physical evidence.

Overall very worth listening to (during the first half I was driving). There some clear maps showing context, pre-battle operations and possible tactical moves during the battle. I didn’t stick around for any Q&A as I had a pre-booked swimming session with a limited time. All good stuff.

Next up in these Society for Lincolnshire History  and Archaeology talks is one on the folklore around harvests. That’s very tempting for me. I suppose these webinars are one of the side benefits of lockdown. It means Yellowbellies in far flung places can get to hear these things.

The Munich, sorry, Washington Putsch

No doubt some of you will already listen to We Have Ways of Making You Talk, the podcast mainly about WWII by James Holland and Al Murray. 

If you think it’s another example of the ‘Metropolitan Liberal Elite’ (copyright every right wing metropolitan elitist) you will hate this episode. If you’re at all liberal (i.e. democratic) you might find the latter part of the discussion scary. [At this point I can almost hear the dog whistle claim “that’s what they want you to think”].

https://www.podbean.com/ei/dir-v7kib-e93bf14

Something about wargaming soon. I promise.

Sellanen ol Viipuri - A theme of Continuation

So today Postie delivered a book that I ordered from Helion in on of their frequent sales (50% off). The book is Bair Irincheev's Vyborg 1944: The Last Soviet-Finnish Campaign on the Eastern Front. When this first came out I baulked at the £30 cover price, bearing in mind the patchy quality of Helion's publications.  At half that I jumped in. I had a quick skim through the book and started reading it this evening.

A couple of immediate observations. There are some excellent photographs, including a number of shots taken by Soviet aerial reconnaissance planes and by bomber crews. The maps are strange. For a start none of them show the city of the book's title. Maybe they make more sense when I get to the relevant part of the text. Secondly, they use unit icons that are quite different to what we're used to in the west, but crucially, there's no key. Finally, none of them have scales. Maybe it's a Soviet thing and the staff couldn't be trusted with all the information. Most odd. Or sloppy. So far the text seems fine and does not suffer from the same translation issues that I mentioned with regard to the Saxon army book. More anon.

Detailed Soviet dispositions, but how big is this area?

Vyborg is the largest city in Karelia and sits on the northern side of the Gulf of Finland, about 10 miles inside the Russian border. Its fate has been that of the classic border city. Once part of the Swedish Baltic empire, Vyborg then passed into the Russian sphere during the Great Northern War. After Sweden lost Finland to the Russians in the war of 1808-09, Vyborg was included within the semi-autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland. From independence in 1917 to the end of the Winter War in 1940 Vyborg was part of the Finnish republic, then it came under Soviet control. For just over a year, as it was recaptured by the Finns in 1941 in the Continuation War. Finally in 1944 Vyborg was re-captured but the Soviets and eventually it ended up in the Russian Federation.

Viipuri by the way is the Finnish name for Vyborg, Vyborg being the old Swedish name. Viipuri is not a transliteration, but is I suppose is the closest to how it notionally sounds to Finnish ears (there being no 'B' or 'G' in the Finnish phonetic system). We did have some confusion in the Schloß several years ago over 'backs', 'bags' and 'packs'. Sellanen ol Viipuri is the usual title given to an old song which I came across on t'internet. I think rendered in formal language it would be 'sellainen on Viipuri' ('such is Vyborg').

The song was written as Ilta Viipurissa* (Sellanen on Viipuri) in 1929 by Eino Kettunen. More specifically Kettunen wrote the lyrics. As I've discovered before with these standards (e.g. Joseph Joseph and Those Were the Days), the tunes are often older. The music was composed by Moravian born Rudolph Josef František Benatzky as Abends in dem kleinen Städtchen. This seems to have been an instrumental judging by the 1924 version on YouTube. No doubt some musicologist or folklorist from Mitteleuropa will (or perhaps already has) claimed even older antecedents for the tune. 

* 'Evening in Vyborg'.  Kettunen also wrote the lyrics to another Finnish classic which became a meme a decade and a half ago when an electronic version got linked to a Japanese cartoon. Again, the tune is older. Much older I believe. (Ievan Polkka in case you're wondering).

There are many versions of Sellanen Ol Viipuri on YouTube, but my favourite is still this one. I may have mentioned it before, but I'm a sucker for cheese. 😁

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc_pVBAVzlk

Here are the lyrics so you can sing along. Enjoy!

Siihen aikaan näillä mailla

Oltiin vielä paljon vailla

Eikä kukaan kummempaa kaivannut kai

Tanssittu ei pitkin yötä

Illoin riitti puhdetyötä

Kapaloissaan kehitys köllöttää sai

Toista oli Viipurissa

Karjalaisten kaupungissa

Siellä vanhat vaihtuivatkin uusiin säveliin

Tanssia sai siellä aina

Arkena ja sunnuntaina

Helppo oli tiensä löytää

Kohti oikeata pöytää

Jos vain joku kielsi 'ei ei ei'

Toinen sanoi heti 'hem till mej'

Sellanen ol' Viipuri

Sellanen ol' Viipuri

Karjalaisten kaupunki

Silloin painaneet ei huolet

Ystävät kun kantoi puolet

Surra saivat hevoset, laulut kun soi

Pyöreen tornin hämärässä

Pöydässä niin hilpeässä

Ilo oli irrallaan niin kuin vain voi

Kaikki viihtyi Viipurissa

Karjalaisten kaupungissa

Siellä vanhat vaihtuivatkin uusiin säveliin

Tanssia sai siellä aina

Arkena ja sunnuntaina

Kieli vieras taikka tuttu

Laulu oli helppo juttu

Jos vain joku kielsi 'ei ei ei'

Toinen sanoi heti 'hem till mej'

Sellanen ol' Viipuri

Sellanen ol' Viipuri

Karjalaisten kaupunki

Tieshää Nuutipoja passas

Että syvämes ja vassas

Viipurlaise rakkaus assuuki vain

Torkkelista sai mie muiston

Alla koivu kaunii puiston

Rinkelii ko siult mie kerrankii sain

Muistat sie myös jottai muuta

Taisiha mie saaha suuta

Monrepoos myö kuuta ko nii kahe kasseltii

Laa-laa-la-la-la-la-laa-laa

Laa-laa-la-la-lal-la-laa-laa

Laa-laa-la-la-la-la-laa-laa

Laa-laa-la-la-lal-la-laa-laa

Hmm...

Hmm...

Sellanen ol' Viipuri

Sellanen ol' Viipuri

Karjalaisten kaupunki

First Post

Welcome everyone to the first post of 2021, and thank you for your support and comments over the course of 2020, and indeed 2019.

As I head rapidly towards the final part of my second year blogging, I was intending to do some kind of review. Has this blogging thing actually worked out and have I done what I intended to do. Then I should probably leave that a little longer, although the thought processes have been whirring away, and will continue to whir away.

I was intending for my first post of the year to be about something I did a lot of in 2020. That is walking in the local area. Yesterday (31 December) saw Mrs Nundanket and I take a long impromptu walk which proved to be very fulfilling, if that’s not too grand a term. Of that more anon.

However, on the Roll a One blog I saw mention of the God’s Own Scale (i.e. 6mm) podcast. There are interviews with the people who run three of the main 6mm manufacturers, Irregular, Baccus and Heroics & Ros. I just listened to the one (episode 14) with Andy Kirk from Heroics and Ros. As the bulk of my SYW armies are H&R, I was naturally intrigued to hear about one of my favourite manufacturers.

In the interview Andy talks about how he came to acquire the business, why he loves it and what he's been doing to develop the products and the customer experience. Now I know not everyone is a fan of 6mm, but you might find it interesting purely from a general interest point of view. Andy comes across really well, he is an engaging speaker, is clearly passionate about his subject and seems driven by providing something that meets customers needs. The interview touches on some of the challenges in producing ranges that people want and how they have redesigned some of the products to meet current tastes and production method to provide the products in a way that customers want. For example, historically H&R have produced mixed arms packs of infantry - each mould is a pack (about 50 to a pack). In the new designed infantry range the moulds are single weapon groups (about 1/2 dozen to a pack). The interview also covers the redesign of the H&R website, how turnover has quadrupled in the last decade, plans for the future and the impact of Covid-19.  Not everyone's cup of tea but I found it fascinating. The full range contains a staggering 3,000 different castings.

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

https://godsownscale6mm.podbean.com/e/episode-14-the-one-with-andy-kirk-from-heroics-and-ros/

Stop dancing!

 ....while I’m at it, the Annie Lennox video shared by Tradgardmastare on his blog reminded me of another clip on YouTube. This one most definitely isn’t a seasonal song, warning instead of the power the Devil exerts through dance.

I was put in mind of this because of some of the imagery in the Lennox video. I thought it looked a bit like shadow puppetry and an image on this other video.

https://youtu.be/FI3iX8WtzaM

If you’re interested in the lyrics, a chap called David Nelson helpfully posted them in the comments in both Swedish and English. Bra!

I posted a link to another song by the same singer, Elina, back in May last year. At least I can claim that one was relevant to this blog’s title. 😁