Read Attila

I FAIRLY raced through Attila The Hun - Arch-Enemy Of Rome by Ian Hughes.

The book, which was published two years ago by Pen & Sword, is really more about Huns in general than Attila in particular.

This is because the sources are, to say the least, somewhat limited, so much of the book consists of Hughes discussing fragments and trying to reconcile conflicting accounts.

Such a read is not to everyone's taste, I am sure, but it is precisely the type of detective work I find fascinating.

A Tale Of Two Mags

MY recent reading includes issue 334 of Slingshot and issue 98 of Toy Soldier Collector.

Two magazines ... two colourful covers

The Society of Ancients' journal is top notch as usual, with my favourite article being Justin Swanton's look at Roman dispositions at Cannae in 216 BC.

TSC includes an article on Canadian military history, quite a bit of which was completely new to me.

Procopius Part Three

HAVE finished the third of my books by Procopius on the Eastern Roman Empire's wars under Justinian I

Book Three

The author was again with General Belisarius as the Greek-speaking Romans conquered Sicily, Rome and much of the rest of Italy from the Ostrogoths.

A large portion of the book deals with the Ostrogothic counter-siege of Rome, which lasted for a year and nine days.

At one point Procopius is sent out of the city to bring in succour, although he does not seem to give undue prominence to this part of the story or to his involvement in it.

All in all, these books, each originally published in two parts, make a great read. But if I could only read one again, it would probably be the book on the Vandalic War as it has, at least to me, a fantastic immediacy.

Procopius Part Two

HAVE finished the second of my two books by Procopius on wars during the time of the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I.

This one covers the Romans recapturing Carthage and much of North Africa from the Vandals.

Procopius on the Vandalic War

What helps make this book so good is that Procopius was an aide to the Roman chief general Belisarius and so witnessed many of the events he writes about. 

A Fool And His Money ...

... are soon parted, but I just could not resist forking out £1.50 for a toy-soldier set from a pound shop in Watney Market, which is just off Commercial Road in East London.

"Armed Forces - give infinity happy memory to your childhood"

The set is made in China and imported by Kingstar International of London E12.

The contents

The infantry are 40mm scale, ie 1:43, and I guess the guardtower is similar, but clearly the tank and especially the helicopter are not.

It is quite possible I will be able to use the tank for an Airfix Battles scenario, and maybe the infantry (one of the green men is quite useful in being armed with an anti-tank launcher).

All in all, a fun set.

Procopius Part One

HAVE finished the first of my three books by Procopius.

Procopius on the Persian Wars

It covers the Eastern Roman Empire's wars under Justinian I against Sasanian Persia, including the famous AD 530 Battle of Dara, for which Procopius is the main source.

The text, which is a reprint of a translation from the early 1900s, is an exciting and generally easy read, but I could have done with having maps to hand.

Fiddlesticks

I BOUGHT the February 2021 edition of Wargames Illustrated because I was excited by the cover mount of Greek hoplites.

February's Wargames Illustrated

Unfortunately the figures need assembly, and this turned out to be so fiddly that I soon gave up.

The hoplite 'kits'

I have not binned the mount, as I did with the magazine's previous American Civil War offering, as I may be able to use the spears and shields to adorn a temple, for example.

As for the magazine, well, it has lots of glossy photos, but nothing much to interest me, I am afraid.

The magazine after the cover mount has been removed

Bringing Cities To Book

I HAVE walked through part of High Holborn, or at least very close to it, almost every day during Lockdown 3.

It turns out to be the road which houses the headquarters of Thomas & Hudson, publishers of the latest book I have read: Great Cities Through Travellers' Eyes.

Compiler Peter Furtado has edited together accounts of some of the world's famous urban centres, as they have been viewed over the centuries. 

Highlights from High Holborn

Inevitably, in a book that covers 38 cities, some destinations are more interesting (Alexandria, Baghdad, Jerusalem) than others (Sydney, Washington).

But very few of the traveller's excerpts are uninteresting, and many have given me ideas for future book purchases.

The Pen Is Feebler Than The Sword

I WAS excited to receive through the post from military books specialists Pen & Sword their spring catalogue.

Pen & Sword's catalogue

But my pleasure soon turned to frustration at the contents:

In WWI, Scandinavian countries proclaimed their neutrality but pitched the two warring sides against each other to protect their trades. [No they didn't!]

Using veterans own words ... [Missing apostrophe]

The Author sets the scene ... [Why Author rather than author?]

A Wargamer's [sic] Guide to the Early Roman Empire ... the dramatic events of the Norman conquest.

This is a unique and original material.

In 73 AD [AD stands for anno domino, the year of our Lord, so correct is AD 73]

This is the story of how the company began, how it grew, and how they diversified ... [Why switch from singular to plural?]

My point, and I have only looked at bits I thought might particularly interest me, is that I very much hope the catalogue is not typical of the care exercised at Pen & Sword.