The Army of Khyberistan

I managed to complete varnishing and basing my Khyberistan troops.

The Khyberistan Army currently comprises the following units:

• Emir’s Bodyguard
• Emir’s Bodyguard Regiment
• 1st Fortress Artillery Battery
• 2nd Fortress Artillery Battery
• Infantry
• 1st Infantry Regiment (The Red Turbans)
• 1st Infantry Regiment Supply Column
• 2nd Infantry Regiment (The White Turbans)
• 2nd Infantry Regiment Supply Column
• 3rd Infantry Regiment (The Cream Turbans)
• 3rd Infantry Regiment Supply Column
• Artillery
• 1st Field Artillery Regiment (The White Turbans)
• 1st Field Artillery Regiment Supply Column
• 2nd Field Artillery Regiment (The Cream Turbans)
• 2nd Field Artillery Regiment Supply Column
• Generals
• Emir

Warship 2022

This year's issue of the WARSHIP annual arrived in the post on Thursday, and I have spent several hours since then looking through it and reading several of the articles.

This publication started life as a quarterly in 1977, and it became an annual in 1989*. I have been collecting it ever since it was first published, and its volumes occupy pride of place on the section of my bookshelves that are dedicated to naval history and warship design.

This issue was edited by John Jordan, and contains the following article:

• Editorial
• The beginnings of Soviet Naval Power: The 1927 Flotilla Leaders by Przemyslaw Budzhon and Jan Radziemski
• The challenge of Operation 'Tunnel', September 1943 – April 1944 by Michael Whitby
• The IJN Carriers Sōryū and Hiryū by Kathrin Milanovich
• The Development of the Small Cruiser in the Imperial German Navy (Part III): The Gunboats by Dirk Nottelmann
• The Battleship Jauréguiiberry by Philippe Caresse
• Postwar radar development in the Royal Navy by Peter Marland
• After the Sovetskii Soiuz: Soviet Battleship design 1939 – 1941 by Stephen McLaughlin
• The genesis of the Yokosuka Navy Yard by Hans Lengerer
• Esploratori of the Regia Marina, 1906 – 1939 by Enrico Cernuschi
• Modern European Frigates by Conrad Waters
• The Australian Bathurst-class Minesweeper Corvette by Mark Briggs
• C65 Aconit: France's prototype ocean escort by John Jordan
• Warship Notes
• Ship medallions of the Regina Marina by Enrico Cernuschi
• The Royal Navy and national names by Kenneth Fraser
• A's and A's
• Reviews
• Warship Gallery
• The scrapping of HMS Agincourt, New Zealand, and Princess Royal at Rosyth, 1923 – 25 by Aidan Dodson

There is a lot of interesting stuff in this year's annual and it is impossible to pick out one particular article that stands out as being more interesting than the others. This looks like being a book that I will return to many, many times in the years to come.

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WARSHIP 2022 was edited by John Jordan and published in 2022 by Osprey Publishing (ISBN 978 1 4728 47781 2).

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* The original quarterly published books were softbacks. After 1989 they were republished as hardback volumes, with each volume containing a year's worth of quarterlies. I replaced my original softback quarterlies with the bound volumes as and when the opportunity arose ... and my finances permitted!

A trip to the seaside

When we woke up yesterday morning, it looked as if we were going to have good weather … so Sue and I decided to go to the seaside!

It took us less than one and a half hours to drive to Herne Bay, Kent, ...

... and we parked in the town’s main car park at about 12.45pm. After a short visit to a local homeware shop – Busy B’s – to buy some floor mats, Sue and I walked along the High Street until we reached the local branch of the NATWEST bank. We crossed the road, and then went down William Street towards the seafront road – Central Parade – where went went into MACKARI'S restaurant/café/ice cream parlour to have a lunch of fish and chips.

After a very nice meal, we returned inland, and walked along the town’s main shopping street, Mortimer Street. The local shops gave us the opportunity to do some retail therapy. Sue bought a new pair of shoes, and I purchased a large bottle of clear PVA glue from the local branch of THE WORKS.

We then returned to the High Street, where Sue bought some bits and pieces from a small haberdashery shop (HEIDI'S CRAFTS & FABRICS) and we ended our visit at the local branch of ALDIs – which was located next to the car park – where we bought some bedding plants, fruit, and coleslaw.

Our drive back to Southeast London was uneventful, and we got home just before 4.30pm. We had had a great day out and being in the sunshine by the sea really helped to raise my morale after the recent visit from my Black Dog.

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The maps are courtesy of Wikipedia and the Ordnance Survey (© Crown copyright).

Nugget 345 ... plus a free game!

I collected the latest issue of THE NUGGET yesterday, and I will post it out to members later today. In the meantime, members can read this issue online.

A free game designed by Russell King is also available as a downloadable PDF with this issue. It is entitled 'Mais où sont mes poissons?' ('Where have all my fish gone?') and can be played with just a couple of normal D6 dice.

IMPORTANT: Please note that this is the ninth and final issue of THE NUGGET to be published for the 2021-2022 subscription year. If you wish to re-subscribe using the PayPal option on the relevant page of the website, you can use the existing buttons as the subscription cost has not changed.

Living with my Black Dock

Yesterday, the pressure of coping with my prostate cancer - along with a couple of domestic crises - finally took its toll. Almost without any warning, I found myself having to deal with a visit from my Black Dog.

I don’t know what triggered it, but I was sitting in my armchair when everything around me seemed to go dark, and I suddenly lost any motivation to do anything. A feeling of profound sadness engulfed me, and my head felt as if someone had put a metal band around it just above my eyes … and was tightening it.

Luckily, over the years, I have developed strategies to deal with this situation when it arises. Whilst the irrational part of my brain is urging me to either cry or go into fight or flight mode, the rational part of my brain keeps reminding me to stay calm, breath regularly, and avoid doing anything that requires concentration. I know that by following these simple rules, it will pass … and after a couple of hours, it did.

This afternoon I have an appointment at the local hospital for a pre-operation assessment. Assuming everything is all right, I will be undergoing a surgical procedure next week that should mean that my prostate will begin to function normally, and I will no longer need to wear a catheter and bag.

Once that has happened, my case will be passed from the Urology Department to the Oncology Department, who will then deal with the cancer. This might require further surgery, radiology, or even chemotherapy … but the decision as to which of these courses of treatment is chosen will depend upon the results of tests on samples taken during next week’s procedure.

I am feeling far more positive today than I did yesterday. The visit by my Black Dog is over … and I hope that it will not return again soon.

Nugget 345

The editor of THE NUGGET sent me the latest issue yesterday, and I will be sending it to the printer later today. I am hoping that they will manage to print it by the middle of the week so that it will be ready for posting out to members by next weekend.

IMPORTANT: Please note that this is the ninth and final issue of THE NUGGET to be published for the 2021-2022 subscription year. If you wish to re-subscribe using the PayPal option on the relevant page of the website, you can use the existing buttons as the subscription cost has not changed.

The Army of Khyberistan

I have been playing around with the figures that I have available, and the Army of Khyberistan will comprise:

• Emir’s Bodyguard
• Emir’s Bodyguard Regiment
• 1st Fortress Artillery Battery
• 2nd Fortress Artillery Battery
• Infantry
• 1st Infantry Regiment (The Red Turbans)
• 1st Infantry Regiment Supply Column
• 2nd Infantry Regiment (The White Turbans)
• 2nd Infantry Regiment Supply Column
• 3rd Infantry Regiment (The Cream Turbans)
• 3rd Infantry Regiment Supply Column
• Artillery
• 1st Field Artillery Regiment (The White Turbans)
• 1st Field Artillery Regiment Supply Column
• 2nd Field Artillery Regiment (The Cream Turbans)
• 2nd Field Artillery Regiment Supply Column
• Generals
• Emir

The Emir's Bodyguard forms the garrison of the Fortress-Palace at Kalabar. The Bodyguard Regiment is well equipped, but the guns of the Fortress Artillery are obsolete and difficult to move in the mountainous terrain of Khyberistan.

The main body of the army is mobile, with each unit having modern equipment and its own supply column.

Back to the Belle Époque

Back in the early 1990s I painted a number of 15mm Pathan figures manufactured by Irregular Miniatures, I have used them on and off since then, and I have decided that I am going to renovate, varnish, and rebase them so that I can add them to my Belle Époque imagi-nations collection.

The working name for the imagi-nation whose army these figures will become is Khyberistan. The army will be made up of several tribal infantry regiments supported by two tribal artillery regiments. Each tribe has a different coloured turban (red, white, and cream) and each infantry and artillery regiment will have its own supply column.

Kyhberistan will be a mountainous country and will be ruled by an Emir who is based in its capital, Kalabar. (For those of you who haven’t realised yet, I am drawing heavily on CARRY ON UP THE KHYBER for my inspiration1)

Two more books are now available in PDF format

I have added another two books in PDF format to the list that are currently available from Wargames Vault. They are:

A Winter-ish War

Trouble in Zubia

This pretty well concludes the process of migrating PDF editions of my wargame books over to Wargames Vault. I may add HEXBLITZ and LA ULTIMA CRUZADA at some point in the future, but I am unsure when that might be.

Three more book PDFs are now available

I have continued to add further titles to the list of book PDFs that are available to buy from Wargames Vault.

The books are:

The Portable Napoleonic Wargame

The Portable Colonial Wargame

The Madasahatta Campaign

The PDFs are US Letter size rather than A5 size, and as it previous books, the text and illustrations have been adjusted to to make the best of the increased page size. In the case of The Madasahatta Campaign, recently drawn coloured versions of the campaign maps have also been added to the text.

Nugget 344

I collected the latest issue of THE NUGGET yesterday, and I will post it out to members tomorrow morning. In the meantime, members can read this issue online.

IMPORTANT: Please note that this is the eighth issue of THE NUGGET to be published for the 2021-2022 subscription year. If you have not yet re-subscribed, a reminder was sent to you some time ago. If you wish to re-subscribe using the PayPal option on the relevant page of the website, you can use the existing buttons as the subscription cost has not changed.

More book PDFs are now available

Yesterday I managed to add three more titles to the list of book PDFs that are available to buy from Wargames Vault.

The books are:

The Portable Wargame

Developing the Portable Wargame

Gridded Naval Wargames

The PDFs are US Letter size rather than A5 size, and the text and illustrations have been adjusted to to make the best of the increased page size.

Testing time

I spent a large chunk of yesterday at University Hospital Lewisham having a bone scan. Sue came with me to keep me company … and to drive me home afterwards if I felt unwell afterwards. My appointment was for 9.30am, and thanks to the heavy traffic on the South Circular Road, it took us over an hour to drive the four miles from home to the hospital. Luckily, we had left enough time to allow for holdups, and I was in the Nuclear Medicine Department just before 9.30am.

I was intravenously injected with a small quantity of radioactive material … and then told to come back at midday for my scan. This was to allow time for the blood to circulate the radioactive material around my body, particularly my skeleton.

As Sue and I had not eaten breakfast before leaving home, we made our way to the hospital’s coffee shop, where we each had a bacon roll and a café latte. This took until just after 10.00am, and as the weather was quite pleasant, Sue and I went out of the hospital’s rear entrance, which led us into Ladywell Fields. This is a large open space that is bordered on one side by the main line railway from London to Hayes, Kent, and on the other by the River Ravensbourne. Besides areas of grass where people can walk their dogs and children can play ball games, there are a number of tennis courts, a children’s playground, an athletics track, and a small cafe.

Sue and I wandered around the park until 11.30am, at which point we returned to the hospital’s main entrance. As we still had about twenty minutes until I was due to have my scan, we went across the road to have a look at the local war memorial.

Next to the main memorial was a smaller memorial to those local men who won the Victoria Cross, and each of them was further commemorated by an individual paving slab.

I was back at the Nuclear Medicine Department by midday, and my scan took just under an hour. I then went out to the car park, where I had arranged to meet Sue. She had used the time I had been having my scan to have a walk around the local area, and after searching the graveyard of the nearby Church of St Mary the Virgin, she had discovered a short row of local shops. Amongst them was a proper bakery, and rather than go straight home, Sue suggested that we might go there to buy something for lunch. We did ... and each of us bought one of their home-made Cornish Pasties as well as a cake, which we took home to eat.

I expect to hear the results of my scan in about a week’s time. In the meantime, I am still undergoing hormone treatment that is supposed to stop the cancer growing any further.

Nugget 344

The editor of THE NUGGET sent me the latest issue last weekend, and I have sent it to the printer today. If they manage to print it as quickly as they usually do, it should be ready for collection by the end of this week, and I will then be able to post it out to members by the beginning of next week.

IMPORTANT: Please note that this is the eighth issue of THE NUGGET to be published for the 2021-2022 subscription year. If you have not yet re-subscribed, a reminder was sent to you some time ago. If you wish to re-subscribe using the PayPal option on the relevant page of the website, you can use the existing buttons as the subscription cost has not changed.

A short progress report

I have been working on converting the remaining PORTABLE WARGAME books into PDF format. I have changed the page size from A5 to US Letter size as this can be printed in A4 size as well, thus meeting the requirements of players across the world.

Doing this has given me the opportunity to make a few changes. These include increasing the size of some of the illustrations and correcting some of the grammatical errors and typos that I missed when the books were first published.

I am currently working on converting more books into PDF format

Although both Sue and I seem to have come down with colds, we have been keeping ourselves busy. She has been sorting out her collection of dolls houses, and I have been working on converting more of my books into PDF format.

I am taking the opportunity to correct some of the more obvious mistakes as I go through the conversion process, and I am changing the size of the books so that they are going to be US Letter size rather than A5 size. This will make them easier to print out as there will be few pages and they can be printed out in A4 size without any difficulty ... or so I am informed!

I will make an announcement on my blog when the books are available in PDF format ... which I hope will be by the end of the week at the latest!

A game of vignettes? Using the Fast Play 3 x 3 Portable Wargame to fight larger battles

Some years ago, the late George Jeffries experimented with a system that he termed the Variable Length Bound. This is defined in the current edition of the Wargame Developments Handbook as follows:

Variable Length Bound

The technique to adjusting the time interval of a game to critical events e.g. If it is obvious that no contact will be made for a period of 12 hours, when the time in the game will be moved on by 12 hours and the tactical situation reassessed there, rather than repeat a standard 1 hour game turn 12 times in a row. A difficult concept to grasp and adopt, because it implies ignoring those units out of contact and moving the elements of a force direct to their critical events, despite the fact that some of these events occur at different times. Best used with a "standard" time slice, but with ways of incorporating multiple slices in a single turn.

Looking at this anew, it struck me that what he was trying to do was to fight wargames where there was an emphasis on the important or crucial events of a battle rather making players recreate its entirety ... including all the boring bits where very little happened!

It further struck me that the Fast Play 3 x 3 Portable Wargame (FP3x3PW) provided a potential way of doing the same thing, with each crucial event being fought out as a vignette within the battle using FP3x3PW.

I looked around for an example of how I could do this and decided upon the Battle of Waterloo. It splits nicely into the following vignettes:

• The attack on Hougoumont
• The Grand Battery opens fire
• The first French infantry attack (including the attack on La Haie Sainte)
• The charge of the British heavy cavalry
• The French cavalry attack
• The second French infantry attack (including the capture of La Haie Sainte)
• The Prussian attack at Placenoit
• The assault by the French Imperial Guard

Each of the above could quite easily be fought as separate FP3x3PW battles, thus giving players the ability to refight Waterloo without having to invest a lot of space, time, and money to do so.

I am sure that other battles (e.g. Gettysburg) could be refought in a similar fashion, and this is an idea that I might well look at in great depth over the coming months. It might even make for an interesting chapter in a SECOND PORTABLE WARGAME COMPENDIUM!

Seventy-seven years ago today …

Seventy-seven years ago my father was in Wismar, Germany. He was serving with 53rd (Worcestershire Yeomanry) Air landing Light Regiment, Royal Artillery, which was part of 6th Airborne Division. They had arrived there on 2nd May 1945 … just ahead of the Russians. He was eighteen years old and had been called up on his birthday in 1944. He remained in the army after the war ended, serving in India and Burma before he was demobbed in 1947.

Thanks to my current medical problems, I’ve been thinking a lot about my parents over the past few weeks. Had they still been alive, my mother would have been ninety-four years old, and my father would have been ninety-five. In fact, he would have been ninety-six on 17th May.

Whatever my future holds, they gave me a great start in life. They both came from humble working-class areas of London (my mother came from Lambeth and my father cane from the East End), but they worked hard to give their children the best that they could. We were encouraged to be as successful as we could be in whatever fields our talents took us into. My brother and I went to the same secondary school (Palmers Endowed School for Boys, Grays, Essex) and both left with good qualifications that enabled us to choose the careers that we wanted to follow.

From my mother I inherited a creative streak (she was a very talented artist and worked for Warner Brothers as an airbrush artist) and from my father I inherited a love of mathematics, particularly geometry (he became a gunner because of his talent for trigonometry and geometry and became an accountant after leaving the army). Thanks to their nature and the nurture I received, I can look back on what I think was a successful career in education and forward to a career as a writer and wargame designer.

Making PDF editions of books available for sale online

I was surprised at both the speed with which Wargames Vault was able to make the PDF edition of THE PORTABLE WARGAME COMPENDIUM available online and the volume of sales it has enjoyed. As a result, I have now made PDF editions of the following books available via Wargames Vault:

The Balkan League

¡Arriba España!

The Portable Pike & Shot Wargame

Restless Natives

With the exception of RESTLESS NATIVES, which is priced at £2.50, the other books are £5.00 each.

As time permits, I may well add further PDF editions of my books to the list that is on sale at Wargame Vault.

Looking at the Portable Wargame grids

Whilst sitting in hospital on Friday waiting for my appointment with the Endoscopy Department, my mind turned to thinking about the standard 8 x 8 PORTABLE WARGAME square grid ...

... and its 3 x 3 FAST PLAY version ...

... when suddenly realised that it was quite possible to overlay one on the other if one was willing to compromise a little.

This is more obvious if I overlay a red version of the 3 x 3 square grid ...

...over a grey version of the 8 x 8 square grid ...

... thus:

I must admit that I am amazed that I hadn't noticed that this was possible before last Friday. As to the compromise ... well the size of the Reserve Areas and Flanks are reduced in comparison with the size of the 3 x 3 grid squares, but as a lot of players seem to favour larger grid squares for their 3 x 3 battles, this seems to me to be a minor compromise.

PS. The need to compromise on the size of the Reserve Areas and Flanks disappears completely if one uses a 10 x 10 square grid for one's 'standard' PORTABLE WARGAMES, thus: