A Most Dangerous Discovery - The Way Back Machine and Other Parts of the Internet

Back in the days of the early 2000's I was in academia, like others, searching the Internet with a passion. The WayBackMachine was in its basic inception and I used it for hours in "multi-disciplinary research! (ahem). Well it's way better now as there seems to be oodles more to find and quicker check it out for yourself (see below):  

Examples of searches ..

https://archive.org/details/Airfix_Magazine_1960-01/page/n17/mode/2up

https://archive.org/details/airfixmagazine?&sort=-week&page=2

The generic WayBackEngine link: 

https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine

https://archive.org/details/magazine_rack

And there is more to be found ... (note, the collections are not necessarily comprehensive - but nevertheless a brilliant time waste, er I mean research resource) ...

Dragon Magazine: 

https://archive.org/details/DragonMagazine260_201801/DragonMagazine095/page/n3/mode/2up?q=dragon+magazine

The General: 

https://archive.org/details/general_magazine

Military Modeller: 

https://archive.org/details/modelmilitarymagazine

The Space Gamer:

https://archive.org/details/space-gamer

Ares Magazine: 

https://archive.org/details/ares_magazine

https://archive.org/details/Ares_Issue_12_1982_Jan/page/n3/mode/2up?q=ares

White Dwarf:

https://archive.org/details/white-dwarf-023-uk-1981-02-03-36pag/mode/2up?q=white+dwarf+magazine

Meanwhile in another part of the Internet - Donald Featherstone's Magazines and Newsletters: 

https://fourcats.co.uk/mags/index.html

And finally - the way is was back when board games had printed Zines distributed by postal mail or hand:

https://archive.org/details/Diplomacy_World_19_-_Spring_1978/page/n1/mode/2up?q=wargamer

I advise you to set an hour timer on your mobile phone before you start clicking on the links - but it may already be too late by now.

British Army Fight Club Video: Jim Storr - Issues of Land Command

I found this You Tube talk very interesting, it was from the academic and former British Army officer Professor Jim Storr about the current state of (British) land command (see below, in part a review of issues in his current book, "Something Rotten" - link to You Tube): 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3JL15N4ps8

The name (Storr) caught my attention as I am currently reading (or rather it is on the shelf about to be read - along with some others, ahem - my bad) his book about the 1980-1990 NATO-WARSAW Pact era, Battlegroup, "The Lessons of the Unfought Battles of the Cold War".  

Paddy Griffith: ACW Book: Empire Interactive - American Civil War Game

I recently (well fairly - this or last year[?]) read Paddy Griffiths ACW book (and it is very interesting to hear American commentators, perhaps shall we say not so praiseworthy reviews, of the book) but knew that upstairs in the loft was an old bag of computer games, one of which was Empire Interactive's Battles of the American Civil War in which was a paper book supplement, written by Paddy. Yes back in the days computer games came with physical instruction books, so with some spare time on my hands (don't tell the wife) off to the loft I went (see below, amongst the cobwebs my efforts were rewarded):  

It is a classic info book. A good guide to get the basics into perspective and introduce themes to a general audience rather than an in depth or comprehensive historical reference or treatise, but I would say it also goes slightly beyond that and hits the wargamers "sweet spot" and gets them salivating. In the words of an old football coach, "Nobody ever gets cut for spending time practising the basics" and this my friend is a good grounding text to return to so you know you "have it right" (see below, nicely illustrated, some 48 pages and a lovely thing to dip into): 

In combination with my recent purchases of Warlord Games Epic ACW and the Worthington Games (solitaire) Gettysburg wargame, it is a nice fit. 

WW2 American Infantry Experience in European Theatre of Operations (ETO) - Audible Book: Closing With The Enemy

I can highly recommend my current Audible book on the US Army in the ETO (European Theatre of Operations) and how they fought .. or .. rather how they changed the way they fought from the Normandy beaches, through the bocage through France and into Germany. Incredible detail, particularly with reference to the urban combat (Brest and Aachen) and the ingenuity employed (see below, another book I pick away at during car journeys and walking the dog): 

Particularly as it gives great reference to US learning experience and their adaptation in confronting challenges - on the fly changes and inventing doctrine that worked (like pulling a M12 155mm SP howitzer into a street fight to emphasise a point to some defending Germans and positioning artillery perpendicular [aka already flanking the position to be attacked] to teh axis of attack on a village, so that there is no longer a problem of short rounds [blue-on-blue] and the attacking infantry can "pounce" on still stunned defenders). 

28mm Fantasy - Undead Hoards - Skeletons

For reason still as yet clear to me after a short conversation with my eldest teenage son I began painting my massed skeleton (from various manufacturers) collection (see below, HeroQuest [top left], Warlord Games [top right down to bottom], Wargames Atlantic [middle left down to bottom] and there was even some Games Workshop lingering around off camera): 

My colour palette (see below, Army Painter Grey Spray Primer plus the paints shown - Citadel Base Corax White (which I think is a lovely grey), Citadel Contrast Skeletal Horde, Vallejo Game Bonewhite and Vallejo Game Dead White): 

Corax White (see below, looking white, but a grey white to my eyes, perhaps it is the primer coming through - but as a base paint it is rally rich in pigment): 

Skeletal Horde with the Bonewhite highlight (see below, I must confess to using it more as an all over wash than a selective paint so perhaps I am missing a trick here, still I like the end result):  

Dead White ultra-highlight (see below, trying "not to do too much" with a dab, giving a fine-lining highlight effect - which I find the hardest part, just to put enough on and no more): 

Thank is the bulk of the figure done, just a bit of work to do on the weapons and shields. The aim is to produce a suitably rusty grimy effect .. watch this space ;)  

Update (3/10/2022): Swap out Vallejo Game Dead White for the less bright Vallejo Game Off White, the less intense colour works better for the highlight IMHO. 

Note to Self: Peter Perla Wargaming Research Publication

 Wargaming and The Cycle of Research and Learning (sjms.nu)

Thanks to John Curry from the History of Wargaming Project, Peter Perla himself in the Lost Battles groups.io, Rex Brynan and SDM in Paxsims  for bringing this to my attention.

When three respected sources of information point something out independently, best listen - or even better read it! 

The French Admiral Suffren - Bane of the Royal Navy

After finishing listening to Mahan's "Influence of Sea Power on History" (although I have to say, it was a much longer than expected slog), I was delighted to uncover an aspect of naval history I was completely ignorant of, namely the illustrious career of the French Admiral Suffren, who was the bane of the Royal Navy on the India station in the late eighteenth century. I have to confess to my relative ignorance of the of both the "Age of Sail" and this great French admiral (other than a class of French WWI vintage armoured cruisers being named after ), things I am trying to address (see below, the Wikipedia link is a very useful starting point):  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Andr%C3%A9_de_Suffren

There is also a wonderfully titled tomb (Satan's admiral) on Admiral Suffren's career, but it is somewhat outside of my price range and budget (see below, I ask you is there nothing [in theory] you cannot buy on Amazon?):  

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Admiral-Satan-Life-Campaigns-Suffren/dp/185043686X

From my internet poking I see there are plenty of other wargame bloggers have tread the Suffren path before: 

http://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2020/12/admiral-satan-life-campaigns-of-suffren.html

http://devonwargames.blogspot.com/2013/02/battle-of-sadras-1782.html

There are even board games to play: 

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/31251/monsoon-seas-naval-warfare-south-atlantic-and-indi

Interesting "Age of Sail" web-site:

http://www.larsonweb.com/transfer/miniatures/sail/sailhomepage.htm

More doubtless to follow ;)