History Today February 2020

THIS is the second issue of volume 70 of the popular - but not too-popular - history magazine.
Highlights include articles about slavery among native North Americans before and during the early days of white settlement, the disappearance of democracy in Hitler's Germany, and Anglo-Saxon place names.

History … highs and lows

Lowlights include this selection from a Q&A session with Dan Hicks, "professor of contemporary archaeology" at Oxford University.
What's the most important lesson history has taught you?
That anti-racism is more urgent than class war.
Normans or Anglo-Saxons?
Brummies.
What will future generations judge us most harshly for?
For allowing BP to art-wash their disaster-capitalist project in the 'world culture' galleries of the British Museum.

More Frenchies

HAVE painted another batch of French line infantry for my Project Kaiser 54mm toy-soldier refight of the Franco-Prussian War.

A dozen new French foot on my kitchen work surface

They started life as Armies In Plastic ACW Union Marines, but I think take on their new role rather well.
Recruiting for Project Kaiser is moving along at a decent pace, but I still have to produce French artillery crews, paint two guns and create lots of scenery.

Two Very Different Mags

ONE magazine is strong on words, the other on photos - no prizes for guessing which is which when the magazines concerned are Slingshot and Toy Soldier Collector.

Two different magazines, but both with striking covers

I cannot say any article in Slingshot (issue 328 - January/February 2020) stood out for me, but all had points of interest to think about.
Toy Soldier Collector (issue 92 - February/March 2020) is a treat to simply flick through, which to be fair is mostly all I did.

Wood You Believe It

ON a trip to Hastings over New Year I called in at The Works, a chain that always has something that looks as if it could be useful for wargamers.
I succumbed to temptation and paid £15 - reduced from £25 - for Castle Blocks, a box of 75 wooden pieces.

Attractive packaging, if clearly aimed at a somewhat younger demographic than myself

I have no interest in building a castle, but I thought the blocks could be used in small numbers to represent built-up areas.
Perhaps they can, although some imagination will be required.

The contents … more fiddly than I expected

The box contained an instruction manual, which I am finding useful as the mass of blocks is somewhat daunting.

A simple build

Time will tell if I ever do find a use for Castle Blocks, but I do not regret the purchase.

Prussians Step Forward

HAVE completed my second batch of Prussian line infantry for my 54mm toy-soldier Project Kaiser refight of the Franco-Prussian War..

Sixteen Prussian foot advancing across my sitting-room carpet

History Today January 2020

ISSUE 1 of volume 70 of History Today is also the first issue of my new six-for-£12 subscription to the magazine.

I would not say any article stood out for me, but I  at least skimmed though everything, so I got my £2-worth even though signs of political correctness - "With the coming of Christianity, all balance was lost," "[Marie-Antoinette's] initial pleasure-seeking and early attempts at political interference were a kind of 'displacement activity'" - are creeping in again.

Tabletop Gaming Annual

I GAVE up buying Tabletop Gaming because I felt the editors' hearts were not in it.
Instead of showing a game or game components on the cover, they always went with a computer-generated image, suggesting tabletop games were a poor relation of 'the real thing'.
However, I have made an exception with the magazine's special issue: The Best Games Of 2019.

Annual round-up … £9.99

It contains 181 reviews - in some cases, perhaps, truncated reviews.
That is a lot to get through, but most I just skimmed as they were of fantasy games set in the game-designers' imagined worlds - not something that interests me at all.
But there was enough in the magazine to form the basis for further research, with the possibility, however remote, of making a purchase.
The reviews that have piqued my interest are: 1066, Tears To Many Mothers; Ancient Civilizations Of The Inner Sea; Blitzkrieg!

Looming Success

I TRY to browse as many charity shops, pound stores and the like, as you never know what may catch your eye.
My latest find is a 50p pack of loom bands from a shop in Watney Market, East London.

Loom bands … not just for ten-year-old girls

The pack has scores, probably hundreds, of coloured rubber bands - far more than I will use, but the price makes that irrelevant.
My idea is the bands can be used as relatively unobtrusive casualty markers for Project Kaiser, in which I plan to use 54mm toy soldiers to refight the main battles of the Franco-Prussian War on their 150th anniversaries.
Regular infantry and cavalry units will likely have a strength value of four points.
If, as planned, an infantry unit consists of four figures, it will be simple to indicate the loss of a strength point by removing a figure.
Cavalry units, however, will probably consist of two figures, so there needs to be way of showing when an odd number of strength points, ie one or three, has been lost.
The photo below of two Bavarian cavalry shows how this will work.

The loom band over the head of the righthand figure shows the unit has lost a strength point

Miniature Wargames January 2020

I STOPPED buying glossy wargaming magazines because they stopped including battle reports.
Imagine my excitement, then, to see issue 441 of Miniature Wargames leading on the cover with "an epic 10-page Black Powder battle report."

Miniature Wargames - the Battle of the Nive takes centre stage

I was sorely disappointed.
For starters, the report assumed a familiarity with Black Powder rule-mechanisms that many readers will not have (I own the rules, but I found the report heavy going).
More seriously, the report has no map or overall photo of the two armies' initial dispositions, making it impossible to know what is going on.
Instead we are treated to juvenile cod-historical, and anachronistic, 'bon mots' such as "cheese-eating surrender monkeys!" and "curse you, English swine!"
The rest of the magazine is overrun with sci-fi and fantasy content which, to be fair, is the way a lot of the hobby is heading.
I am probably being too negative, but I expected so much from the cover.

Ancient Warfare Nov/Dec 2019

ISSUE 3 of volume XIII of Ancient Warfare surpasses even that magazine's usual high standards.

Spoilt for choice

I found every article very interesting and only wish they could have been longer.
If I cite Gareth Williams on Persian armour, or the lack of it, at Platea, and Murray Dahm on mounted hoplites, it is merely to highlight two helpings of cream among a pot full of tasty choices.