This year Woolwich Barracks was the only Armed Forces Day celebration held in the whole of London District. Had I been mobile, I would certainly have gone to this event, but luckily Sue as able to spend an hour or so there on my behalf and took some photographs of the vehicle display.
I am hoping that I'll be mobile enough to go next year.
In order to clarify the relative positions of the imagi-nations featured on my Wargaming Imagi-Nations of La Belle Époque blog, I have drawn up the following schematic:
Please click on the image to enlarge it.
I hope to develop proper maps of each imagi-nation in due course.
A related video can be found on the Wargaming Miscellany YouTube channel.
For some time I have been putting together a blog that will deal with my Belle Époque project. It has now reached a stage when I think that I can make it accessible to blog readers who share my interest in wargaming imagi-nations set during this period of history.
My new blog can be found here. There are no posts as yet, but the Pages might well be worth looking at.
Yesterday I underwent tests on my legs at the Neurophysiology Department of King’s College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London. I had expected that the results would not be communicated to me straight away, but the consultant was sure what the problem was, and told Sue and I that I was suffering from neuropathy (extreme nerve damage) in both my lower legs. He will be referring me to a neurologist for further investigations as to the cause, and that I will probably have to have several blood tests in order to help identify the exact reason for the onset of the neuropathy.
The most common cause is diabetes, but other causes include excessive alcohol drinking for many years, low levels of vitamin B12, physical damage to the nerves, an under-active thyroid, an adverse reaction to certain medicines, a number of infections, and certain types of cancer treatment. As I am almost tea-total, I suspect that the first tests will be to determine if I have diabetes, and if that isn’t identified as the cause, other tests will be undertaken to eliminate other potential reasons for my nerve damage.
Not good news … but it is a move forward in the quest to get me mobile again.
... I hope that I will be at or on my way to the Neurophysiology Department, 4th Floor, Ruskin Wing, King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill.
I was supposed to go there for an appointment last Thursday, but when the patient transport ambulance arrived, the crew of two felt that they were not able to take me. As a result, my appointment had to be cancelled at short notice and rearranged for today.
Since Thursday, one of the senior supervisors from the patient transport company has visited our house and has assured himself that a two-person crew will be sufficient to take me from my bed and to the ambulance ... and to return me home when my tests are over.
The tests I will be undergoing are known as Complex EMG (electromyography) tests and I may also be undergoing Nerve Conduction tests as these are often done at the same time. These tests should indicate how well the nerves and muscles in my lower leg are functioning, and will hopefully help the neurologist to identify the cause of my current problem.
The EMG studies the electrical activity of the muscles, and this is usually recorded using small needle electrodes inserted through the skin and into the muscles. The muscles are then tested whilst they are at rest and whilst they are being used.
I should know the results of the tests within a fortnight, and after that I will hopefully begin treatment so that I can walk again. To be frank, even if I have to use crutches, walking sticks, or some other form of walking aid for the rest of my life, it will be better than being restricted to living in a hospital bed and orthopedic chair 24/7 in our conservatory. I am even resigned to the fact that I may have to use a mobility scooter or wheelchair ... although I would rather that the result is not that drastic.
I have begun work on the next video for the Wargaming Miscellany YouTube channel. I decided that a simple but reasonably detailed blow-by-blow retelling of a Colonial wargame fought using the simple rules from THE PORTABLE COLONIAL WARGAME (i.e. 'The Gatling's jammed ...') would help people to understand how the main mechanisms used in the rules work.
So far I have explained the background to the battle (it was an Anglo-Egyptian attack on the Great Wall of Morobad) and I have reached Turn 4 in my description. I have tried a few new techniques to show the fighting, and whilst the results are by no means perfect, I think that they better than the simple descriptions I used in the Franco-Prussian War of 1810 videos.
I hope to have the whole thing finished by the end of the week, but as I will be spending at least one day at hospital undergoing tests and it is Sue's birthday later in the week, work on the video may have to move to the backburner for a day or so.
I came to Terry Pratchett’s work only relatively recently, but since I discovered his books for myself, I’ve become an avid fan.
The reasons why I had rejected his work was more to do with my perceptions of his fans than anything else. At several points in my life I’ve worked with Pratchett/Discworld fans … and some of them were so fanatical about his work that they made Potterheads (i.e. diehard fans of Harry Potter) look positively non-geeky! One even had a scale model of the Unseen University in his study.
It was not until I retired that I bought a couple of cheap audio CDs of some of Terry Pratchett’s books … and then I was hooked!
Some time ago I bought a copy of THE COMPLEAT DISCWORLD ATLAS, and spent many happy hours reading it.
At the time I gave some thought as to whether or not I could use the information in the atlas as the basis for some imagi-nations … but I rejected this idea as I thought that I would need to buy and paint loads of figures at a time when I needed to downsize rather than increase my collections … and then I saw the Angst-Lesspork 009-scale model railway.
It is set during the late Victorian/early Edwardian period … in other words, the Belle Époque, which is currently my favourite wargaming period!
I did revisit my decision not to create some imagi-nations based on the countries of the Discworld, but after some very serious deliberation, I decided – somewhat reluctantly – not to go down that route. However, the Angst-Lesspork model railway has given me some ideas for my own 009 model railway.
Please note that photographs featured above are © Bernard Pearson and Anst-Lesspork.
The current draft has been proofread by the incomparable Arthur Harman, and it is already ninety-three pages long. It is worth noting that the First Compendium had 108 pages and the Second Compendium had 132 pages.
At present, the Contents looks like this:
I know that there are at least two more contributions in the pipeline, and I hope that the Compendium will be ready for publication somewhat earlier than I expected.
Whilst recently doing some research, I came across a few odd historical facts that I thought might be of interest to some of my regular blog readers:
As of 10.00am US Central time today, 17th June, the PDF edition THE BALKAN LEAGUE: A MATRIX GAME CAMPAIGN INCLUDING THE PORTABLE BALKAN WARS WARGAME RULES will be the Deal of the Day on WarGameVault.com.
The price of the PDF will be $3.29 … a great bargain!
I have just uploaded the final video about the Franco-Prussian War of 1810 to the Wargaming Miscellany channel. It tells the story of the pursuit and destruction of the 3rd Prussian Infantry Division Gap, which is the fifth and final battle of the war.
The video can be seen using this link.
Sue collected the latest issue of THE NUGGET from the printer (Macaulay Scott Printing Company of Welling, Kent) yesterday and now that it has been put in envelopes, she will be posting it out to members at some point over the next few days.
I sent the PDF copys to the webmaster some time ago, and members should be able to read these two issues of THE NUGGET online.
IMPORTANT: Please note that these are the eighth and ninth (and therefore the last) issues of THE NUGGET to be published for the 2023-2024 subscription year.
If you wish to subscribe for the 2024-2025 subscription year, please request a PayPal invoice or the bank transfer information from the Treasurer or follow the instructions on the relevant page of the website.
Some time ago I decided that I was going to concentrate my wargaming efforts of putting together a number of 15mm imagi-nation armies. I chose the historical setting for these imagi-nations to be vaguely ten years either side of 1900, in other words, during La Belle Époque (the Beautiful Epoch).
This was a period characterised by general economic prosperity, colonial expansion, and technological and scientific innovation. Amongst the latter were the development of the motor vehicle, the telephone, early aircraft, and medical advances in the fields of germ theory of disease, bacteriology, and X-ray photography.
It was also a period of change for the various armed forces of the world. On land, the era saw the widespread introduction of magazine rifles with smokeless powder cartridges, the growing use of effective systems to reduce the recoil of artillery pieces, the issuing of heavy, long-range artillery that could accompany armies in the field, the development of more effective high explosives and propellent powders, and the development of automatic machine guns.
At sea, the navies of the world were also undergoing a period of rapid change. This incorporated the move from iron to steel as the main shipbuilding material, the introduction of better armour protection, the improvement in the powerplants fitted to warships, the increased calibre and barrel length of the main armament carried by battleships, the maturing of the torpedo as a weapon of war, the introduction of submarines, and the introduction of quick-firing guns.
These advances can clearly be seen when one compares the characteristics of HMS Trafalgar, which was first commissioned in 1890, with HMS St Vincent, which was commissioned twenty years later.
HMS Trafalgar
HMS Trafalgar.
HMS St Vincent
HMS St Vincent.
This was also the era during which the first practical aircraft took to the skies. It is generally accepted that the Wright brothers made a successful flight of 17th December 1903, although there were several other pioneers who have laid claim to this honour. These include Samuel Pierpoint Langley, Karl Jatho, and Richard William Pearse.
The Wright Flyer was a primitive aircraft, but each subsequent model had improved power, range, and load-carrying.
The Wright Flyer.
By 1910, Louis Bleriot had flown an aircraft that he had designed across the English Channel, Hugo Junkers had obtained a patent for a thick winged, all-metal aeroplane, the Imperial German Navy and the French Army had formed air arms, and experiments had been carried out in the United States and Germany to see if aircraft could be used as bombers or armed with a machine gun.
Samuel Franklin Cody's 1910 Michelin Cup Biplane.1910 Michelin Cup Biplane.
Samuel Franklin Cody's name was originally Samuel Frankline Cowdery ... and his family name may well have a similar root to my own in Normandy, France.
One of his great-great-grandsons is the BBC World Affairs Editor John Simpson whose full name is John Cody Fidler-Simpson.
Since last Friday I have been working on the next issue of the PORTABLE WARGAME COMPENDIUM, and its draft is already ninety pages long ... and I know of at least two more articles that are being written for inclusion in this issue.
To date, Mark Cordone has contributed articles about:
Archduke Piccolo's contribution relates the story of his BYZANTIAD campaign and includes an excellent campaign map and campaign system as well as two well-illustrated campaign reports.
I will write further progress reports as and when I can.
Our cleaner presented me with another 1930s cigarette card album yesterday. This one was also produced by John Player & Sons and was entitled THE CORONATION OF H.M. KING GEORGE VI AND H.M. QUEEN ELIZABETH 1937.
Most of the cigarette cards depict the various participant's in ceremonial dress. The list of cards includes the following:
I must admit that some of the offices listed were new to me (for example, I'd never heard of the Marshalmen before and I don't think that Cabinet Ministers ever wear Levee Dress anymore), but all the illustrations depict some very impressive examples of ceremonial dress.
Some 'interesting facts':
One of my relatives was a Waterman and winner of the Doggett Coat and Badge, and would have worn a uniform similar to the one shown above.
The Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George (G.C.M.G.) is often awarded to senior Civil Servants and was once referred to in an episode of 'Yes, Minster' as really meaning 'God Calls Me God'!
Over the past two months the editor of THE NUGGET has sent me the originals of the last two issues of THE NUGGET for printing, and now that I am beginning to recover from my broken leg, I have sent them to the printer. I hope that they will be printed and ready for collection by later this week so that I can post them out by the following weekend.
IMPORTANT: Please note that these are the eighth and ninth (and therefore the last) issues of THE NUGGET to be published for the 2023-2024 subscription year.
If you wish to subscribe for the 2024-2025 subscription year, please request a PayPal invoice or the bank transfer information from the Treasurer or follow the instructions on the relevant page of the website.
I have just uploaded the latest video about the Franco-Prussian War of 1810 to the Wargaming Miscellany channel. It tells the story of the Battle of the Leipzig Gap, which is the fourth battle of the war.
The video can be seen using this link.
Our cleaner's husband died some time ago and since then she has been sorting through his vast collection of books. She has found several that she thought might be of interest to me, and yesterday she gave me the latest of her finds ... a cigarette card album entitled MILITARY UNIFORMS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE OVERSEAS.
The cigarette cards were originally given away with Player's Navy Cut cigarettes, and as far as I can make out, this series was issued in the late 1930s. The pictures and captions are of great interest to me, and supplements my own collection of reproduced uniform cigarette cards.
I can see me using this very useful album as a reference resource, and it is great that wasn't thrown away by someone who had not realised that it might be of interest.
The album includes images of the following uniforms:
Of particular interest to me are the Indian State Forces. These were auxiliary forces raised by the princely states of the British Indian Empire, and they could be deployed alongside troops of the British Indian Army if and when their service was required. They were inspected by officers of the British Indian Army and were generally equipped and trained along the same lines as the regular troops of the British Indian Army.
I have been continuing my experiments with making YouTube videos. This time I used my iPhone to make a 'short', and for the first time I showed my ugly and very hairy face onscreen ... and the camera didn't break!
Hopefully this will not put too many people off and I don't lose too many subscribers to the Wargaming Miscellany YouTube channel.
Ten years ago I wrote the following blog post:
Today marks the seventieth anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy. Over the past few days there has been extensive coverage of the events leading up to the landings, and today there will be ceremonies taking place in France and elsewhere to commemorate this anniversary.
There has been much mention of the fact that this will be the last big commemoration of the D-Day landings as the number of veterans is dwindling. Even the youngest of those who took part is in their late eighties, and each year the number grows less. The media has been recording their memories, and at times it has been hard to watch and listen to these old men and women remembering their part in this great enterprise. For a few brief moments they become young again.
On a personal level, one veteran will be missing ... my father. He died just over a year ago, and even whilst the dementia from which he suffered over his last few years was at its worst, his days as a young soldier were still clear in his mind.
My father served with 53rd Airlanding Regiment (Worcestershire Yeomanry), Royal Artillery right up until the end of the War. He was part of the forward observation team and eventually reached the rank of Staff Sergeant. Today, whilst we remember all those who took part in the D-Day landings and the Liberation of Europe, I (and the rest of my family) will be remembering our father and the part he played.
Ten years ago the world seemed to be a less dangerous place than it is today. The number of veterans of the Second World War in general and D-Day in particular are fast dwindling, with most being in their late nineties or centenarians. Perhaps today would it be a good idea for us to remember all those who served during that war, to think of the sacrifices they made, and to pray that today’s conflicts can be concluded as soon as possible so that more lives are not needlessly wasted.
As to my father … my memories of him and my mother (who lived and worked in London during the war and who predeceased him by eleven years) are still as strong today as they were ten years ago, and they will certainly be in my thoughts and prayers on this special day.
For some reason, whilst I was writing the penultimate paragraph shown above, the words in the concluding chapter of H G Wells’s LITTLE WARS came to mind.
I could go on now and tell of battles, copiously. In the memory of the one skirmish I have given I do but taste blood. I would like to go on, to a large, thick book. It would be an agreeable task. Since I am the chief inventor and practiser (so far) of Little Wars, there has fallen to me a disproportionate share of victories. But let me not boast. For the present, I have done all that I meant to do in this matter. It is for you, dear reader, now to get a floor, a friend, some soldiers and some guns, and show by a grovelling devotion your appreciation of this noble and beautiful gift of a limitless game that I have given you.
And if I might for a moment trumpet! How much better is this amiable miniature than the Real Thing! Here is a homeopathic remedy for the imaginative strategist. Here is the premeditation, the thrill, the strain of accumulating victory or disaster—and no smashed nor sanguinary bodies, no shattered fine buildings nor devastated country sides, no petty cruelties, none of that awful universal boredom and embitterment, that tiresome delay or stoppage or embarrassment of every gracious, bold, sweet, and charming thing, that we who are old enough to remember a real modern war know to be the reality of belligerence. This world is for ample living; we want security and freedom; all of us in every country, except a few dull-witted, energetic bores, want to see the manhood of the world at something better than apeing the little lead toys our children buy in boxes. We want fine things made for mankind—splendid cities, open ways, more knowledge and power, and more and more and more—and so I offer my game, for a particular as well as a general end; and let us put this prancing monarch and that silly scare-monger, and these excitable "patriots," and those adventurers, and all the practitioners of Welt Politik, into one vast Temple of War, with cork carpets everywhere, and plenty of little trees and little houses to knock down, and cities and fortresses, and unlimited soldiers—tons, cellars-full—and let them lead their own lives there away from us.
My game is just as good as their game, and saner by reason of its size. Here is War, done down to rational proportions, and yet out of the way of mankind, even as our fathers turned human sacrifices into the eating of little images and symbolic mouthfuls. For my own part, I am prepared. I have nearly five hundred men, more than a score of guns, and I twirl my moustache and hurl defiance eastward from my home in Essex across the narrow seas. Not only eastward. I would conclude this little discourse with one other disconcerting and exasperating sentence for the admirers and practitioners of Big War. I have never yet met in little battle any military gentleman, any captain, major, colonel, general, or eminent commander, who did not presently get into difficulties and confusions among even the elementary rules of the Battle. You have only to play at Little Wars three or four times to realise just what a blundering thing Great War must be.
Great War is at present, I am convinced, not only the most expensive game in the universe, but it is a game out of all proportion. Not only are the masses of men and material and suffering and inconvenience too monstrously big for reason, but—the available heads we have for it, are too small. That, I think, is the most pacific realisation conceivable, and Little War brings you to it as nothing else but Great War can do.
Over the weekend, Nick Huband published a number of photographs of his recent Case White* Portable Wargame on the Portable Wargame Facebook page.
He used the rules from my DEVELOPING THE PORTABLE WARGAME and figures from his extensive collection of original and converted Peter Laing figures and vehicles. The game looks very impressive and shows just how effective the late Peter Laing's figures look.
* Case White is the codename given the the German invasion of Poland.
Please note that photographs featured above are © Nick Huband.
I spent quite a lot of Saturday working on the Third Portable Wargame Compendium, and to date it now has three articles.
One of these was written by me and re-examines six wargame scenarios that were included in three of the first wargame books that bought ... H G Wells’s LITTLE WARS, Brigadier Peter Young and Lieutenant Colonel James P Lawford’s CHARGE! OR HOW TO PLAY WAR GAMES, and Donald Featherstone’s WAR GAMES. I have drawn suitable square and hex gridded maps for each scenario and included both the original Orders of Battle and suitable PORTABLE WARGAME Orders of Battle.
The other two articles were written by Arthur Harman and are entitled:
I have several other articles in the pipeline and hope to publish the latest Compendium by September.