Yesterday Sue and I took a trip to Maidstone in Kent, and whilst I was there I paid a visit to the local branch of Waterstones. Amongst the books and other stuff on sale I found a couple of packs of special WATERLOO 200 playing cards priced at £4.99 each ... so I bought two packs!
The packs contain 54 playing cards, and according to the box 'The armies of both sides, and their leaders and soldiers, are featured on every card in rare prints, portraits and dramatic paintings of the ferocity of war.' The playing cards are published by Bird Playing Cards with Waterloo 200, and were printed in Austria by Piatnik, Vienna.
The packs contain 54 playing cards, and according to the box 'The armies of both sides, and their leaders and soldiers, are featured on every card in rare prints, portraits and dramatic paintings of the ferocity of war.' The playing cards are published by Bird Playing Cards with Waterloo 200, and were printed in Austria by Piatnik, Vienna.
So you'll be producing a set of rules entitled 'Wargames from your Pocket' with an expansion set named 'Re-inforcements from up your Sleeve'.
ReplyDeleteJim Duncan,
ReplyDeleteThat is an excellent suggestion! Your comment has given me an idea as to how I might use these playing cards for a wargaming purpose.
All the best,
Bob
Bought a pack myself
ReplyDeleteJohntheone,
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling that they are going to sell quite well.
All the best,
Bob
Bob,
ReplyDeletePerhaps these cards may do something to reduce the appalling public ignorance about Waterloo reprted in Friday's Metro.
Apparently, most people under 30 only regard Waterloo as a railway station, an ABBA song and a BBC series called Waterloo Road about a ghastly secondary school! And over 40% of those surveyed attributed the victory to Winston Churchill, King Arthur or even Dumbledore!
Are there, perchance, 'pin up' Queen cards featuring Queen Luise of Prussia, Marie Louise of Austria, Marie Waleska and Kitty Pakenham?
Regards,
Arthur
@arthur1815
ReplyDeleteAnd I dare say there will be just as many who have heard of Waterloo who think that it was a great 'English' victory.
Arthur1815,
ReplyDeleteI wish that I could say that I am surprised ... but I'm not!
I don't remember ever teaching about the Battle of Waterloo during my entire career in education, hence my lack of surprise that the modern generation know little or nothing about it.
I have yet to open the packs of playing cards, but I somehow doubt there are any 'pin ups'!
All the best,
Bob
Jim Duncan,
ReplyDeleteBut surely it must have been. After all most of Wellington's Army were ' English ' ... just as long as your 'ethnic monitoring' lumps Scots, Irish, Welsh, German, Dutch, and Belgians together with the English. :^)
Seriously though, the lack of knowledge about the battle is worrying, especially as the French seem to be trying to 'sell' it as French victory that was snatched away from them by the perfidious Britush.
(I won't even start to discuss the Prussian role in the victory as that is an even bigger can of worms!)
All the best,
Bob
Yes Bob, leave the details of Waterloo alone, only the purists know and only they truly care.
ReplyDeleteI secretly smile (most of the time) when I see a BBC article on Waterloo and I try very hard to keep my mouth shut.
I always think of one blessing though, at least our friends across the pond don't claim it.
Bob and Jim,
ReplyDeleteRemembering that Hollywood film in which US sailors captured an Enigma machine, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before a movie shows heroic Americans winning the battle of Waterloo by defeating Napoleon - who proves to have been a Lyalist British officer who fought against them in the Revolution and then fled to Corsica....
As to an 'English' victory, Bonaparte himself - and I suspect many Europeans - used the term loosely to describe any inhabitants/troops of Great Britain, whether they were really English, Welsh, Scottish or Irish.
And many so-called Scottish regiments recruited in the 'Irish Highlands' to judge by the names in the muster rolls.
I'm just waiting for Charles Esdaile to publish a book called 'Waterloo: the Spanish Victory'...
Regards,
Arthur
@arthur1815
ReplyDeleteI have been to an American museum, complete with restored captured U-boat and a glass case with an Enigma machine.
The museum guide wasn't very happy when I mentioned some of the real story.
jim Duncan,
ReplyDeleteThere was a time when you could rely on the BBC to be reasonably accurate, but nowadays they seem to rely far too much on the Internet for their 'research'.
I was in the USA during 2012 and heard a very biased version of the events of 1812. Apparently the British 'ran away' when they attacked New York, burnt the White House in retaliation, and were soundly beaten at New Orleans by sharpshooting U.S. Militia. No mention was made of the failed invasion of Canada.
All the best,
Bob
Arthur1815,
ReplyDeleteHave you thought about contacting Mel Gibson with your plot outline? I'm sure that he would give you lots of money for it.
According to one US genealogical website the Bonaparte family came from Scotland, and the name was a corruption of the name Bayne. An Alexander Bayne and his family was supposed to have landed on Corsica after the ship they were travelling in was damaged in a storm. They were called the 'Bayne party' ...and this was corrupted by the locals into 'Baynopartie' and this - in turn - became Bonaparte.
All he best,
Bob
PS. My wife's surname is Bayne, hence our interest in this rather laughable story.
Jim Duncan,
ReplyDeleteI got a similar reaction when I pointed out some of the 'errors' in the story we were told about the War of 1812 whilst we were in the USA.
The guide was not a happy bunny by the time I had finished.
All the best,
Bob
Bob et al,
ReplyDeleteThis has been the best set of comments and replies I have read for a wee while.
I've even had a sly chuckle to myself.
Jim Duncan,
ReplyDeleteI am in absolute agreement with you.
I would never have thought that a blog entry about packs of playing cards could have generated such amusing comments.
All the best,
Bob