I have been to ... The Historic Dockyard, Chatham, Kent

As I mentioned in a recent blog entry, I paid a visit to The Historic Dockyard, Chatham, Kent last week. I visited it some years ago, and the whole site has undergone continued development since my last visit, and further changes are planned for the 2016 season.

I parked my car in the car park (which is located inside one of the old covered slipways) and made my way through the ticket office. (The entrance fee was £19.00 ... less 15% because I am a member of English Heritage. The ticket allows me to return as often as I like for the next twelve months for no extra charge.)

My first stop was at the building that currently houses the 'Hearts of Oak' experience. This tells the story of the construction of wooden-hulled sail-powered warships at Chatham Dockyard using a number of tableau and interpretation techniques.

This exhibit will be closing in September of 2015 and will re-open in March of 2016.

The large square outside the building afford an excellent view of one end of the Historic Dockyard.

My next stop was No.1 Smithery, which is used to house temporary exhibits (during my visit this was WAR GAMES) and examples of models from the National Maritime Museum's and Imperial War Museum's model ship collections. (No photography was allowed in the latter exhibit, and there was a tantalising view of some of the models that are not of display through a window into the main collection storage area.)

I was allowed to take one photograph in No.1 Smithery ... of a crane that was used inside the building.

I then made my way over to HMS Gannet ...

... after which I walked around HMS Ocelot ...

... and HMS Cavalier.

(I will be writing more extensive blog entries about these ships as and when time permits.)

Once past the Railway Workshop (which is now a play area and attendant café) I came across an old Police Box (but no attendant strange doctors!) ...

... which was located outside the former site of the Kent Police Museum. Next door is the Nelson Brewery ...

... which was having a delivery when I was there.

I passed some restored examples of the railway rolling stock that was used within the dockyard ...

... as I walked towards the Victorian Ropery.

Because my time was limited, I did not go in to see how rope was (and still is) manufactured. Instead I made my way to the building that houses the 'Steel, Steam, & Submarines' exhibit.

This exhibit tells the story of the dockyard up until it closed, and contains numerous models of ships that were build or refitted in Chatham.

(I will write a separate blog entry about the models in the 'Steel, Steam, & Submarines' exhibit as and when time permits.)

I then walked back towards the main entrance, but on the way I paid a visit to the covered slipway that is now called 'The Big Space.

This currently houses some of the larger vehicles from the collection of the Royal Engineers Museum, Gillingham. (I will write a separate blog entry about the vehicles I saw as and when time permits). The next-door building houses the Royal National Lifeboat Institution's Lifeboat Collection ...

... which seems to include examples of every lifeboat design ever used by the RNLI.

The Siege of Harfleur

Today is the six hundredth anniversary of the start of the Siege of Harfleur, and to mark the occasion I am quoting the King's speech from HENRY V, Act 3, Scene 2:

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
Let pry through the portage of the head
Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it
As fearfully as doth a galled rock
O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.
Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,
Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit
To his full height. On, on, you noblest English.
Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof!
Fathers that, like so many Alexanders,
Have in these parts from morn till even fought
And sheathed their swords for lack of argument:
Dishonour not your mothers; now attest
That those whom you call'd fathers did beget you.
Be copy now to men of grosser blood,
And teach them how to war. And you, good yeoman,
Whose limbs were made in England, show us here
The mettle of your pasture; let us swear
That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not;
For there is none of you so mean and base,
That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'

It is – in my opinion – one of the most stirring pieces of text that I have ever had to read ... or to learn.

I have been to ... the Firepower through the Ages Event at Dover Catle, Kent

Sue and I visited Dover Castle in May, and we returned on Saturday to see a 'Firepower through the Ages' event that was being held there.

The event is being held two days (we went on the first day) and five different displays took place twice each day:

• Ballista and catapulta demonstrated by the Roman Military Research Society (11.00am and 1.30pm)
• Trebuchet (and archery) demonstrated by the Medieval Siege Society (11.30am and 2.00pm)

• Early gunpowder cannons demonstrated by The Kynges Ordynance (12.00pm and 2.30pm)

• Seventeenth century cannons demonstrated by the Sealed Knot (12.30pm and 3.00pm)

• 3-inch anti-aircraft gun demonstrated by English Heritage volunteers (1.00pm and 3.30pm)

I managed to video some of the demonstrations, and hope to make these videos available on YouTube at some point.

The seventieth anniversary of VJ-Day ... Victory over Japan Day.

Today marks the seventieth anniversary of VJ-Day ... Victory over Japan Day.

The day has been marked by a number of events across the UK, including a drumhead service on Horse Guards Parade and a flypast by the last airworthy example of a Fairey Swordfish torpedo bomber.

Even the youngest of the veterans is now in their late eighties, and it is doubtful if more than a handful will still be alive in 2025 when the eightieth anniversary comes around. We will not see their like again ... and it is important that their heroism must not be forgotten.

---

Had he still been alive, my father-in-law would have been one of the veterans who could have attended the anniversary celebrations ... not that he would have done.

He had joined the British Army soon after the outbreak of the war, and after serving as an infantryman on the south coast on coastal defence duties, he had joined the Royal Signals. He then spent time in Scotland installing and repairing telephone wires for the Army before being posted to India. The unit he was attached to took part in the fighting around Imphal and Kohima, and he was wounded. He also suffered from a serious dose of malaria, coupled with shell-shock. After he had spent time in hospital and in a convalescence facility, he was retrained as a cook (a trade that he had been unofficially fulfilling whilst in the Signals). He eventually became the cook for Rear HQ SEAC (South East Asia Command) in Dehli, where he prepared meals for - amongst others - Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten.

After the war he returned to civilian life, where he became a postman ... a job he remained in until he retired in 1980. Because of his experiences during the war, he never claimed the medals he was entitled to.

War Games: A temporary exhibition at The Historic Dockyard, Chatham

On Wednesday I paid a visit to The Historic Dockyard, Chatham, Kent, and whilst I was there I made a point of visiting the temporary exhibition that is taking place there entitled WAR GAMES. (The exhibition is housed in No.1 Smithery building, not far from the main entrance and visitor car park.)

The exhibition has been set up by the Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood, and features exhibits from their collection and several private and public collections as well. Because of copyright issues I was unable to photograph individual exhibits, but I was allowed to take the following photographs of the space in which the exhibition is taking place.

All-in-all it was a very interesting exhibition, and I saw examples of early wargames that I had not previously seen ... BUT ... it did not – in my opinion – tell the story of wargaming as I would understand it. There was no mention of Robert Louis Stevenson's wargame, nor of H G Wells’s book LITTLE WARS, or of SHAMBATTLE, or of any of the wargames that John Curry has republished as part of his 'History of Wargaming' project. It struck me as being an exhibition of artefacts put together by design historians and not by military historians or wargamers.

That said, the exhibition is well worth visiting (it will be on until 20th September), and it was reassuring to see that two of Neil Thomas's books were on sale in the entrance to the exhibition.

The Waterloo Project: A Grand Review

Now that the original Waterloo project is complete, I have staged a Grand Review of all the varnished and based figures in the collection. The armies are listed below – by nation – in ascending order of size.

Brunswick

• Infantry: 18
• Total: 18

Hanover

• Infantry: 24
• Foot Officers: 3
• Total: 27

Dutch-Belgians

• Infantry: 18
• Cavalry (Carabiners): 8
• Mounted Officers: 1
• Foot Officers: 2
• Total: 29

Britain

• Infantry (Guards): 18
• Infantry (Highland): 18
• Infantry (Line): 24
• Rifles: 8
• Cavalry (Life Guards): 4
• Cavalry (Dragoons): 4
• Cavalry (Hussars): 8
• Artillery (Foot): 8
• Artillery (Horse): 2
• Mounted Officers: 5
• Foot Officers: 4
• Total: 103

Prussia

• Infantry: 78
• Cavalry (Dragoons): 8
• Cavalry (Hussars): 4
• Artillery: 10
• Mounted Officers: 4
• Foot Officers: 3
• Total: 107

France

• Infantry (Old Guard): 18
• Infantry (Young Guard): 21
• Infantry (Line): 42
• Infantry (Light): 42
• Cavalry (Horse Grenadiers): 4
• Cavalry (Carabiners): 8
• Cavalry (Mamelukes): 4
• Cavalry (Cuirassiers): 12
• Cavalry (Lancers): 4
• Cavalry (Hussars): 8
• Artillery (Foot): 18
• Artillery (Horse): 6
• Mounted Officers: 6
• Foot Officers: 15
• Total: 208

Vive L'Empereur: The French Officers

After varnishing and basing the French Cavalry figures in my collection of Del Prado pre-painted 25/28mm-scale Napoleonic figures (which I completed over a month ago!), I finally managed to complete work on the French Officers. They included Napoleon (the Emperor/Tyrant/Monster: please delete as applicable!) and several of his Marshals (all of whom were mounted) ...

... as well as a number of Officers who were on foot.

This marks the end of my Waterloo project ... or at least it should do. I have to admit that I have enjoyed doing this project so much that I have bought some additional figures via eBay, and I hope to add them to my collection over the coming months. I have also realised that I have quite a few unvarnished and unbased figures left from my original collection of Del Prado pre-painted 25/28mm-scale Napoleonic figures that – with a little work – could be used to form additional units.

The Waterloo project is complete! Long live the Waterloo project!

Maybe it's because I'm a Londoner ... that I became a wargamer

Nature vs. Nurture?

Whilst I was training to be a teacher back in the early 1970s, the debate about whether or not nature or nurture was the main driving force behind a child's success in the education system was in full spate ... and I suspect that the jury is still out with regard to which of the two is the most important.

A recent comment by one of my regular blog readers brought this debate back into my mind ... and I'll leave other blog readers to decide if nature or nurture is what turned me into a wargamer.

Nature:

• I come from a family that has had several members who served in the military.
• My paternal great-uncle served with the Hampshires and was killed during the Gallipoli Campaign.
• My maternal grandfather and my father were both Gunners during World War II and both reached senior NCO rank during their service.

Nurture:

• I was born in the General Lying-In Hospital on Addington Street at one end of Waterloo Station.

• I spent many hours as a young child wandering about the Imperial War Museum, which was located very near to where my maternal grandmother and great grandmother lived.
• I was exposed at an early age to numerous 'soldiers tales' from the adults that surrounded me.
• The first toy I can remember being given as a Christmas present was a toy fort with a garrison of soldiers.

This is the evidence ... so which was more important in making me a wargamer ...

Nature or Nurture?

The bump that became a hole ... is back!

My concerns about the quality of the 'repair' that was made to the road outside my neighbour's house were totally justified. The new road surface has already cracked and begun to bulge ... and water and mud are oozing out of the cracks.

I intend to report the problem (yet again!) to the local council (the Royal Borough of Greenwich) and to our local councillor. In the meantime I have set up a Facebook page about the hole in the hope that growing public interest will influence the local council and/or Thames Water to actually sort the problem out.

One Hour Wargames

I reviewed Neil Thomas's ONE-HOUR WARGAMES: PRACTICAL TABLETOP BATTLES FOR THOSE WITH LIMITED TIME AND SPACE (published by Pen and Sword Military in 2014 [ISBN 978 1 473822 90 0]) back in October of last year ...

... and at the time I wrote:

The rules in the ... book are simple – possibly too simple for some wargamers' tastes – but I think that they should prove fun to use, especially if they cover a period that one does not usually wargame. The scenarios appear to be very useful, and I have already spotted a couple that I might well try out in the not too distant future.

Since then I have used some of the scenarios to fight a three-part Operation Barbarossa mini-campaign ...

(See here, here, and here for the battle reports.)

... but I have not as yet used the rules.

I suspect that this situation is about to change.

The reasons are quite simple:

1. I read the rules very thoroughly whilst I was on our recent cruise ... and liked what I read.
2. I have had conversations and emails with people who have used them and who say that they are excellent ... and who cannot understand why I have not tried them yet.
3. I have read several blogs that extol their virtues.
4. I have joined the relevant Yahoo Group and discovered some very simple variants that I want to try for myself. (I am particularly interested in the ONE HOUR HEX WW2 RULES written by Martin Rapier and the 1 HOUR WW1 NAVAL WARFARE rules written by John Armatys and Martin Rapier.)

Hopefully I will be able to try our Martin's World War II rules sometime soon, especially as it seems an age since I last fought a wargame.