What you reading?

Simon Scarrow. I hadn't heard of him 6 weeks ago but a friend gave me a head's up. Unfortunately I began with his last (?) book on the Parthians. Well written. Then I moved to his earlier books which are not so taut & suffer in comparison. The man had some learning curve. donald

Weird I like the early romans more, maybe because I like the setting better. You should try his one's about Nappy/Welly they are excellent.

Just finished Peter Dunns "The First Indochina War" (OOP) - an obscure book on the British involvment in Vietnam in 1945-46. Some most interesting observations in there, for those of us interested in the more obscure aspects of the war & some cracking ideas for a scenario; does the idea of Gurkhas making a Kukri charge supported by Japanese against Viet Minh holding a "Beau Geste" style fort, also supported by Japanese appeal to anyone? (Rich B - it will be for you when I get organised!) In the middle of Adam Zamoyski's "Warsaw 1920 - Lenins Failed Conquest of Europe." (Harper Press 2008. ISBN 978-0-00-725786-7) at the moment, a good read as I'd expect from such a talented author but I must confess to a slight feeling of disappointment. Its a good deal shorter than his other books that I've read (160 pages cover to cover) & I get the feeling that there's a lot of research that he's done that hasn't ended up in the final work. It covers the political machinations leading up to the war quite well & the links with the broader Russian conflicts of the time. It's still an excellent primer on a nowadays reasonably obscure subject & one that's piqued my interest now. Peter Pig do many of the requiste figures in 15mm; so if only I can find suitable Polish troops.......

Re: What you reading?
Just finishing 'Falklands Commando' by Hugh McManners which is very good. Basically its the recollections of a forward artillery observer in the Falklands. Next on the list is 'Savage Wilderness' which is a novel set in the French and Indian War. Again? And that would be by Harold Coyle, yes Eccles? Good book. Just finished 'Shattered Sword', on the defeat of the Japanese in WWII. Next is the latest in the 'Horus Heresy' series.

To answer my own question - PP also do Polish troops.

Etranger, in Devizes last week I managed to pick up a relatively cheap paperback copy (£10) of a book called 'The British in Vietnam: How the Twenty-five Year War Began' by George Rosie. Haven't read it yet, but it's getting near the top of the pile. It looks like it covers the same territory as the Dunn book. I'll keep my eyes peeled for a resonably priced copy of that Peter Dunn book. Anyway, currently reading 'Modern Warfare: A French View of Counterinsugency' by Roger Trinquier. It's basically an extended essay on COIN warfare by and old Indochina and Algeria veteran first published in 1964 (with a forward by Bernard Fall incidentally). It does seem a chilling in it's recommendations in some places, as you would expect from a veteran of the Battle of Algiers. It mainly deals with Algeria, but there's enough Indochina stuff in there to make it interesting, and the author seems worthy of a bit of study himself.

Hi Peewee. There are a few books of that type around but they mostly seem to be OOP - the cheapest copy of Dunn that I could find on mazon was $80 or so & they didn't ship outside the US. Fortunately there is a copy in the local University library so I can get hold of it fairly easily. I've seen Trinquier's name mentioned before but I hadn't realised that there were English language editions of his work around. I'll keep an eye out. I guess we forget that militarily the French won the Algerian War. They definitely weren't following The Queensbury Rules though!

I found a copy of the Dunn book on Alibris going for about £20. I'm afraid I couldn't resist...

Yeas it is the Coyle book Duckie. Its quite good so far although I feel he dumbs down a little. Have you got a pic of the bloke on your copy? He looks like one of the Thunderbirds.

Yeas it is the Coyle book Duckie. Its quite good so far although I feel he dumbs down a little. Have you got a pic of the bloke on your copy? He looks like one of the Thunderbirds. Heh, I used to play Jagdpanzer with him, he's a local fixture. His son was one of the driving forces behind Battleground WWII and Easy Eight Enterprises. There's also a Civil War series, but for my money his best stuff is the modern fiction.(Team Yankee, Sword Point, etc.)

Yeah, I've seen the other titles but none of them really appeal to me.

Next up ... when it arrives Oppenheim's "The Fragile Forts: The Fixed Defences of Sydney Harbour1788 - 1963". Has arrived, and looks to be a well researched and interesting book.

"The Jazz Bass Book- Technique and Tradition" Well, we're not ALL wargaming all the time! Next on the list is history related- I've got to get some minis based and finished first, though. http://serreslesrangs.blogspot.com/2008/08/number-of-exciting-developments-here-at.html

Reading? Looking maybe "Private Paton's Pictures"- a photographic history of things behind the lines with Kiwi soldiers in North Africa 1942- 43. Penguin press. What makes it a bit more special? I happened to talk with one of my patients about a friend of his that I'd played with - an old gent by the name of Harold Paton- "have you read his book" was his question - he subsequently lent it to me As for private Harold Paton himself he was a photographer with an Auckland paper, lied about his age and joined up. He was pulled from the ranks to take pictures when the then NZ PM Peter Fraser visited the troops in North Africa and thereafter became official war photographer for the 2nd NZ Expeditionary force. I didn't know this when I last played golf with around a month ago - he's really quite amazing - around 87 with a lovely fluid swing who regularly shoots under his age and a good all round bloke. I'm going to talk him in more detail and tell him that I've read his book if I get a chance to play with him again soon

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