An audible feast

There was a poll recently on the Society of Ancients forum about whether members listen to wargaming podcasts while they are painting. Curiously enough - and perhaps proving once and for all that we are indeed crusty, cantakerous old coots - most of us said no, or not much.

I suspect that if the question had been more general - do you listen to podcasts of one type or another while painting, say - the answers might have been different. 

For myself, I don't listen to wargaming podcasts at all. When it comes to wargaming, I prefer the written word. I also enjoy the occasional accompanying map, illustrative graphic, apposite picture, or short, sharp, how-to youtube video, but for me reading works best: it allows me to control at what pace and level I engage with the content. 

Listening to wargaming chat (unless one is taking part in it) strikes me as a bit boring and a bit distracting. I don't think I could listen to it properly while painting, nor paint properly while listening. 

I've tried history podcasts, and had the same issue. Either the inner critic engages or else I switch off and then come to finding I can't remember what they've been talking about.

What has worked for me in the past is lectures. I had a great series on noteable Greeks and Romans that I would listen to on repeat while painting. Sadly, the format I had them in is no longer current (and besides, it was in another country). 

But what does work for me at the moment is the marvellous Mary Beard. I signed up to Audible a few months ago, found it to be not really my medium, and exited. But I had a few credits to use before I left, so on a whim I grabbed a couple of Mary Beard audible books. 

I have of course seen some of her documentaries and read SPQR, but I hadn't thought about her being a good accompaniment to painting Greek light horse.

Well, I started listening to the audiobook version of her Emperor of Rome the other night while doing the dishes. You have to love Mary - she reads the book herself. It turns out I could listen to her all day, part of the evening, and even when I paint.

If you don't know her, I would recommend checking her out. She is an absolute treasure. Quirky but carefully considered narrative structures capture your interest, and she presents familiar material in new ways, finding parallels you hadn't thought of, or approaching things from angles which surprise. You shouldn't expect military focus, but you will get great, thoughtful storytelling. 

Anyway, consider her Prufrock-endorsed!

  

Book buying spree

Now that NZ has come out of full lockdown and into a 'managed' normal, it was a great relief to see that my favourite (though sadly only) secondhand bookshop in driving distance has reopened. It was only right, meet and good to go there and splurge in votive thanks as soon as I was able.

Fortunately, there were three cracking coffee-table hardcovers with Prufrock written all over them:

1) Peter Connolly's Greece and Rome at War
2) Peter McIntyre's Peter McIntyre: War Artist
3) Barry Cunliffe's Rome and Her Empire

All three have some sort of sentimental value for me, and were swiftly snaffled. The first because it's a classic that I did not have in the collection, the second because I used to read it at my grandfather's house (and he'd fought in some of the places and actions depicted), and the third because I remember looking it over admiringly at the library as a youngster.

A good lunch-break's work, I think.

A prize, some work in progress, and a few books

In the mail today came a prize from the USA (via Magister Militum in the UK): Jonathan of Palouse Wargaming Journal recently had a competition on his blog, and as the wargaming gods would have it, yours truly was lucky enough to win a prize.

To cut a long story short, there are now four more 15mm Carthaginian heavy chariots for me to paint up, which will be just brilliant. Since Jonathan is a master of painting chariots, these will also be a nice reminder of who they came from, and of the kindness of wargamers.

Thanks Jonathan!

Another thing that has been happening the past few days is some paint work on Forged in Battle Seleucid elephants. I'm doing a review for Slingshot, and have been enjoying beavering away at them in the hobby room. Here's where we're at so far. I can see I've been a touch heavy-handed on the drybrushing, but the old magic wash ought to sort that out later!

Lastly, over the last ten days or thereabout some books on matrix wargaming have been dribbling into the letterbox from the Book Depository. It's a form I'd like to learn more about and play around with because of its educational applicability. I've already written a little about using games in the ESL classroom, and would like to experiment more.

A couple of good book scores.

There haven't been too many additions to the library of late, but I was quite pleased to recently pick up both an old favourite and a bit of a rare treasure at a secondhand bookshop in Richmond (Richmond, New Zealand, that is).

(Image nabbed with thanks from M. C. Smith's interesting blog 'Puttering in the Study' here.)

I first read this on loan from Lord Pat of Kobe, and have been looking for a copy since. This was a very good price for the hardcover, and it's in pretty good shape.  The book itself has probably dated a bit, but I like it.

(Image grabbed - again with thanks - from White Lotus Press, here.)

This one was a real find for an ancients enthusiast: it's expensive even through Abe Books, and I could never quite justify the cost, but there it was, hardcover, in good nick, staring at me on the shelf. I almost gave the chap double for it as a slightly better reflection of its value online, but then remembered the reason I hadn't bought it previously was because I couldn't justify paying online prices, and didn't.

Instead I helped out with his rent by buying a poetry collection that no other person in their right mind would ever purchase!

Incidentally, it was quite sad to see that this was the last secondhand bookshop remaining in the Nelson region. Four years ago there were about five, two years ago there were three, and now there's just one. It's a shame; secondhand books and used records were always my favourite objects when I was a student, and it's a pity to think that future generations will have far less opportunity to grow to love such things.

But that's just the way it goes, isn't it?

Caesar

For a project I have on the go I've been dipping back into Caesar's commentaries. Once again, I am struck by the immediacy of the observations, the depth of information, and the quality of the insights. Such a pivotal figure in history, and we are lucky enough to have accounts of his campaigns, and in his own words. It's just astonishing.

Picture from here.

As works of history they are invaluable; as works of literature they are brilliantly composed; as persuasive, case-building and legacy-securing texts they do their job to this day. They are an astounding achievement.

The man was of course a butcher in a time of butchery, but he was not a spiteful one. He preferred to win loyalty and exercise clemency when he could. By comparison to the murderously vengeful Sulla who came before him and the callous and devious Octavion who came after, he was an honourable man.   

But that's not really my point: my point is that when you read Caesar you begin to understand on both an intellectual and a visceral level the kinds of things that an ancient commander had to deal with. You see what he had to take into account before a battle, during a battle, and after the fight was over. You see what went into a successful campaign. You see what led to failure. 

Anyway, whenever I get back into reading him I am always made forcibly conscious of how fortunate we are that the commentaries survived, and how much poorer our understanding of the man and the era would be if they had not.

Wargaming Regrets (I've had a few)

I'm sure we all have a few of them, but was just thinking this morning of one of my biggest hobby regrets.

It goes way back to when I was at university. I was a repressed wargamer at the time and a post-grad student - the two may in fact have borne some relation to each other - but however that was, being a graduate student had certain privileges, and I found out on a particular Friday what one of them was.

We were greeted this morning with a note in the common room inviting us to visit room X on the Xteenth floor of the university library that afternoon.  It turned out that a retired professor from the university had passed away and bequeathed his enormous collection of books to the university library. Those that could not be used were to be given to the graduate students, and so we were allowed to go and look over the collection and take from there any books that we might want.

When we arrived we saw a room absolutely chocker-block with books. It was like the best used book store you've ever seen: literature, history, classical studies, languages, religious studies, reference materials; it was a goldmine of the humanities. I found a banana box and spent a memorable hour or so wandering around and filling it up. When I was about ready to leave (and sweating under the weight of these glorious gifts), I saw on one shelf a complete set of the Cambridge Ancient History.

It looked a bit like this:

I had used the CAH a lot during my undergrad years and it was an amazing resource. I thought about it, but decided not to take them. Although I was still doing some classical study at the time, I was more of a literature man by then and felt it would be greedy to take them all and that someone from the Classics department would no doubt get better use out of them than I would.

Still, it was with a slightly sorrowful step that I turned away and went out the door.

Well, fast-forward eight years to 2005 when I was becoming a proper wargamer focused mainly on the Roman Republican era and eager for any information I could find, how I kicked myself for not having picked that set up.

But the thing that's haunted me most about it was that unbeknownst to us the unclaimed books from that lot were to be chucked away, and I don't know if the Classics students even got a chance to have a look through.

 I do hope that someone somewhere saved them from the fire!

A little something in the mail...

Just had this beauty arrive in the post today and am looking forward to getting into it on the train tomorrow. His first book was very good, and this looks to be possibly even better.

Book infusion

Well, the holidays are over and we are back at work, but what a fine set of holidays it was. Some cracking weather, six games played, one umpired, and good family time as well.

Hobbywise there is some painting to do but for the moment I need to be getting my work face back on.

Fortunately, the Christmas period brought in some good reading material, which I will smuggle in to read on short breaks and at lunchtimes.

Wargaming books.

Two I'd been looking out for and one that was opportunistic. These were purchased from a chap on TMP, and were kindly brought over from the USA for me by a friend.

Charge has real nostalgia value for me; I still remember borrowing it from the public library as a kid, being awed by the battle reports, writing out various sections by hand, and buying coloured pins and a cork board to play games on of my own.

WRG books.

These two were purchased via Abe Books following a tip off from Mike of Satrap Miniatures blog. I've been wanting these for yonks and was very happy to find them in good condition and at a price I could justify to myself.

Ospreys and a history.

I'd grabbed these (mostly) for my 100 Years War project before I found the WRG books. I probably wouldn't have got so many of them if I'd done things the other way around, but these will be quite useful, so I'm glad things worked out as they did. I might have to look at picking up a couple more of Seward's offerings - this one is almost finished already!

So, time to hit the books...

On the reading table

There has not been a lot of 15mm miniatures painting action here of late, but one thing I have been chewing through is the books.

I've been particularly enjoying Alan Moorehead's The Desert War. He gives an excellent overview of the campaigns and his easy style, combining personal observations with broader commentary, makes for an engrossing read. He has a couple of standout passages on the effect of war upon the men. See this, for example, regarding life at the front:

One lived there exactly and economically and straightly, depending greatly on one's companions in a world that was all black or white, or perhaps death instead of living. Most of the things it takes you a long time to do in peace-time--to shave and get up in the morning, for example--are done with marvellous skill and economy of effort at the front. Little things like an unexpected drink become great pleasures, and other things which one might have thought important become suddenly irrelevant or foolish. In a hunter's or a killer's world there are sleep and food and warmth and the chase and the memory of women and not much else. Emotions are reduced to anger and fear and perhaps a few other things, but mostly anger and fear, tempered sometimes with a little gratitude. If a man offers you a drink in a city bar, the offering is little and the drink still less. You appreciate the offering and give it more importance that the drink. At the front the drink is everything and the offering merely a mechanical thing. It is never a gesture, but a straight practical move as part of a a scheme of giving and receiving. The soldier gives if he can and receives if he can't. There is no other way to live. A pity this is apparent and imperative only in the neighbourhood of death. (p.92)

An ebook I have on the go for the first time is Les Miserables. I'd always associated it with high school musicals (which right from my first exposure to them I've always found very annoying), but it's actually quite good.

Rosemary Sutcliff's Arthurian trilogy is another I've been dipping into when I have a spare ten minutes. I got it to read to the kids, but it's a bit beyond them yet. You tend to think of RS as a young person's author, but her books have a lot going on in them. It makes her more valuable in that  people just don't write like she does anymore. There is a dignity to the pacing of her stories but she can pull out some marvellous imagery and action sequences when she has a mind to. I must keep an eye out for more of her books when I'm browsing second hand stores back in New Zealand next.

One other I'll mention before I sign off is a collection of short stories called The Burial of the Guns by Thomas Nelson Page. The stories are set in the American South, mainly during or after the Civil War, and although the stories are sentimental they are well crafted and worth reading through. Again, he writes in a style that you don't see these days. As a bonus, the book is available free from the internet archive, as is an audiobook version of the title story.

Cover image from here.

Cover image from here.

List of formative books

I was idly thinking the other day about how I used to have an excellent memory for books read, but that years of teaching ESL, getting older, enjoying the odd beer and not sleeping enough seem to have whittled much of that memory away.

I have no doubt that the books I read as a child (I was one of those geeks who would sneakily read during boring lessons at school...) have had a significant influence on my interests, my ideas of right and wrong, my character, and my later interest in literature and history. They were, in short, formative.

Anyway, as an exercise, I decided I'd try to remember some of the books that were influences on me as a kid.  Of course, on this blog, when I say kid, I really mean kid-as-future-wargamer!

So this is what I came up with (I've left out Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit on the grounds that they are a given). I would be interested to hear if readers also enjoyed any of these, and if not, which books were formative for you.

The Machine Gunners - Robert Westall

I remember thinking up stories and games of my own after reading this. It was a haunting book for me. I don't recall details, but seeing the cover online after all these years brought some of that back.

The Windswept City - Henry Treece

This was one that someone gave to me. I would read it every so often when there was nothing else on the shelf that appealed. I remember the illustrations being particularly depressing, and as a realistic rather than romantic treatment of the Troy legend, it burst a few bubbles.

The Gauntlet - Ronald Welch

I remember finding it quite thrilling. Aside from that, I don't recall much else.

Sun of York - Ronald Welch

This one I loved. The description of Warwick's death I found particularly vivid at the time and it was easy to imagine oneself a squire caught up in the fog of Wars of the Roses battle.

The Lantern Bearers - Rosemary Sutcliffe

I don't recall much about the story but Rosemary Sutcliffe novels were a library book staple for me.

Ivanhoe - Sir Walter Scott

Read this many times, and I loved how it combined so many interesting characters, including getting Robin of Locksley in there as well!

The Wallace - Nigel Tranter

I really enjoyed this one, getting it out of the public library and reading it through several times. I was always upset at the ending.

The Eagle and the Raven - Pauline Gedge

Another one I had on the shelf and would read over and over again. Caractacus made quite an impression, so much so that I named a character in an online game 'Arviragus'!

Here be Dragons - Sharon Penman

I read this when I was a little older. It started an interest in Wales and things Welsh, and led me to Penman's Sunne in Splendour, which was a brilliant novel

Men of Iron and The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood - Howard Pyle

I enjoyed both of these, but the Robin Hood book was my bible for a few years. It also piqued my interest in studying English, introducing me to thee, thy and thou!

Gifts from the Past in the Colliers Encyclopedia Junior Classics set

I devoured this book. It had it all, but the story of Roland and Oliver was my favourite.

Morte d'Arthur and Ulysses - poems by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

These poems were very cool. I actually memorized whole sections of them, such was their appeal!

The Cruel Sea - Nicholas Monsarrat

This book was given to me by Laurie, friend of the family and very gracious fellow. He was a bookseller, writer and ex-merchant navy man, with an anchor tattoo on his forearm and a strong Christian faith. The Cruel Sea is a gripping story, but I was especially touched that Laurie would care enough to remember a conversation we'd had about books and then ferret through his collection to find the one he thought would be perfect for a boy of my age and interests.




Among the books lost in the fog of time were many Arthurian tales that a friend lent me. There were so many that I can't remember which ones we read and which ones we didn't, but my favourite was quite a dark, unromantic take on the Arthurian legend. I wish I knew the title.

So there we are; these are the ones I could remember. Thanks for reading, and please feel free to comment and add formative books of your your own if you should so desire.

Useful readings on the Hannibalic War

I'm doing a spot of research at the moment and have been giving the Second Punic War collection a bit of a time off the shelf.  This is a list of what I've been using.

Please feel free to comment, and extra points are yours to command if you add in your own favourite sources for this period!

Hannibal's War by J.F. Lazenby.  Excellent overview.  Gives his sources and is not controversial.  As far as I'm concerned is still the starting point for all investigations.

The War With Hannibal by Titus Livius.  An excerpt from Livy's history.  Essential, along with Polybius.

A History of the Roman World by H.H. Scullard.  Good source looking at the wider context. Not as in- depth for this period as Lazenby, but worth checking to see what he has to say.

Roman Warfare by Adrian Goldsworthy.  General coverage of the Roman approach to war.  Summarises rather than presents.  Has decent suggestions for further reading.

The Fall of Carthage by Adrian Goldsworthy.  A good single book history of the three wars against Carthage.  Very readable and includes copious notes.  This and Lazenby are the two books most focussed on the Hannibalic period.

In the Name of Rome by Adrian Goldsworthy.  Again, another readable book from Goldsworthy.  Gives military biographies of quintessential Roman generals.  Includes Fabius, Marcellus and Scipio Africanus from our period.

Cavalry Operations in the Ancient World by Robert E. Gaebel.  A very interesting look at the development of cavalry warfare.  Not especially necessary for the Second Punic War however.

Warfare in Antiquity by Hans Delbruck.  Dated but still formidable.  Spends a lot of his time savaging contemporaries and pointing out flaws or inconsistencies in the ancient evidence.  Still, worth referencing as a strong, opinionated and perhaps instructive voice.

Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars by Duncan Head (drawings by Ian Heath).  The ancient wargamer's bible.

Soldiers and Ghosts by J.E. Lendon.  Quite an unusual treatment.  Contends that warfare in a Greek and Roman context was an emulation of heroic myth or legend and an embodiment of cultural attitudes.  I don't agree with everything he says but it's a brilliant and imaginative re-interpretation.  Again, not essential reading as far as the Hannibalic period goes, but not off-topic either.

Lost Battles by Philip Sabin.  Gives good overviews of the main clashes including troop numbers, terrain, and general course of the fighting.  Also touches on some of the scholarly debates around the battles themselves.



I've been using some online sources as well - Polybius especially (and wikipedia when I'm cheating) - but it's nice to have hard copies in front of you. So much time is spent on a computer these days it's almost relaxing to go back to pen and paper for a spell!

Anyway, that's me done.  Feel free to comment and add to the list.  It's always good to be introduced to new books on this topic and on ancient warfare in general.

Thoughts on the hobby and my top ten wargaming books

One of the appealing things about wargaming as a hobby is that there are so many facets to it.  For starters, there is the purchase of figures, rules and boardgames, and the research that attends these activities.

As an aside, I don't know about others, but I can spend hours looking at figure lines and still come away without having come to a final decision on whether and in what quantity to buy.  If that is not in itself pathetic, knowing that I will come back and do it all over again three months later certainly is!

Then there is the late night painting or prepping of figures and the weekend modelling of terrain.  And when you are tired of dragging a brush over lead or plastic or cleaning up after experiments with flock, white glue and sheets of polystyrene, there is the reading and testing of rules to turn to, the checking of details online, the first tentative steps solitaire.

And there are still other interesting distractions: the writing and reading of blogs, discussions to follow on internet forums, the creation of rules, variants, scenarios and campaigns.  There are reviews and battle reports to compose, painting, washing and dipping methods to chronicle, opportunities to submit articles to hobby journals or games magazines, and for those of a more artistic bent there is also game-related photography to pursue.

In short, if you've had a gutsful of one thing or another, there is always something different you can turn to without needing to abandon the hobby altogether.  The chances are that concentrating on something else for a while will freshen you up, recharge the batteries, and perhaps provide a new idea or two.  If you've done as much painting as you can reasonably handle, it can be a fine thing to play a few games; if you have no clear and present enthusiasm for gaming, you can write a blog post, think about your next army, research figures, browse the internet forums or pick up a favourite book. 

In fact, even if other aspects of the hobby can temporarily lose their appeal, I find that the last mentioned, books, never do.  Whereas I can go for long stretches not wanting to look at a paintbrush or a prepping file, I visit the wargaming library at least once a day, and no matter how jaded I might be feeling there is always something there to spark my interest.

My library here is by no means extensive (most of my books are in New Zealand, unfortunately!), but there are ten books in particular that I find - for various reasons - to be essential.  So what follows is a list of those ten canonical texts.  These are the ones I'll pick up before bed, take on the train, put into the travel bag or smuggle into the toilet (that's right - don't borrow any of these books from me!).

- Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars, by Duncan Head.

This one is chockablock full of essential information for the ancients wargamer.  Army tidbits, tactical details, references to primary sources, battle overviews and - most useful of all - drawings and information on the various troop types wargamers need to know about and paint.  I don't know how I managed to get by without it for my first few years in the hobby.

Rome first met elephants when fighting Pyrrhos in Lucania, and these "Lucanian oxen" made a great impression at Heraclea.  Trying to work out how best to deal with them, Rome first experimented with gimmicks, like the wagons used at Asculum (see figure 180), squealing pigs, or incendiary javelins.  These were no great successes, the most effective weapon in the Pyrrhic wars being the javelin fire of the camp guards at Beneventum.  Regulus at Bagradas tried to meet the elephants' charge with a deep formation in the hope of standing up to it; this failed miserably.  Thereafter, Rome reverted to relying on javelinment, who wounded and picked the beasts.... (p.61)

- Lost Battles, by Philip Sabin.

As an ancients enthusiast I can pop this book open at any page and spend a profitable ten minutes reading around it.  It's usually a first port of call when I want to research a particular battle or think about rules issues.  As in indicator of just how tragic I am, I have three copies of this book situated in various strategic locations throughout the house and school.

Although Xenophon (Hell. VII.5.21-2) does emphasize how surprised and unprepared the allies were in the face of Epaminondas's advance, their established blocking position means that it is better to give them the first move as at Leuctra.  Epaminondas can then focus his attack where he chooses, and use his superior command to reach the centreline first while the allies are still coming back into their battle positions from the wood where Hammond suggests they may have been sheltering from the sun.  As at Leuctra, the Thebans concentrated against the ....  (p.123) 

- Wargames, by Donald Featherstone.

One of the first wargaming books I read when I got it from the library as a youngster.  I don't have Charge! or The Wargame (yet!), so this is a placeholder for the classics of that earlier era.  It was given to me by a friend, and out of respect for him this one does not go into the toilet with me, just in case he ever wants it back!

It must be confessed that the question of how to fight a successful action with natives against disciplined troops has yet to be completely solved by the writer.  One method allows the natives to move a longer distance than the troops, or to time the moves and have the disciplined troops on movement trays so that they can move as one whilst the natives move individually in a rabble.  Another means lies in having low morale ratings for natives when the situation arises that the morale of both or either is in question.  A compromise can lie in having....  (p.59)

Honourable mention for Scenarios for Wargamers, also by the Don.

- A Guide to Wargaming, by George Gush with Andrew Finch.

I found this in a second hand shop in New Zealand a few years ago and it was a score.  It contains a history of wargaming, numerous sets of rules, and a discussion of approaches to game design that are still relevant today.  If I had thirty minutes to evacuate the house this is one book I'd save.

A New Era

Reverting to the miniatures game, the next 'great leap forward' undoubtedly came on a Saturday evening in summer 1957, when Southamption physiotherapist Don Featherstone read an article in his local paper about a certain Tony Bath, a local wargamer unable to find an opponent.  Don had played games based on Little Wars as a boy before the Second World War.  He now, on impulse, fixed a meeting with Tony....  (p.31)

- Armies and Enemies of Imperial Rome, by Phil Barker.

As with Duncan Head's book, this one is filled with very useful information about the period and its actors.  Again, the real gems are the illustrations and notes on troop types.

44, 45, 46 and 47.  Roman Infantry Officers

Up to the 1st century A.D., Centuriones may have been dressed and armed pretty much like their men except for their crest and greaves, but there is no definite evidence to confirm this.  From then on, they seem to have been allowed some latitude in dress and armour, as a number of different outfits are depicted on monuments.  Alternatively, this may represent differing regimental practices.  (p.77-78)

Honourable mentions also for Armies and Enemies of the Crusades and Armies of the Dark Ages, by Ian Heath, and also published by WRG.

- The DBM army lists, by Phil Barker and Richard Bodley Scott.

First-class resource for information about armies.  If I'm thinking about beginning a new army this is the first place I turn to.  You get proportions of troops, an potted history of the army and a good starting point for further research.
    
This list covers the period of the initial revolt against the Seleucids until the death of John Hyrcanus.  The varied classification of the guerillas reflects the initial difficulty in obtaining an adequate supply of weapons, and the rapid shrinking of the army from 3,000 to 800 men on sighting the enemy at Elasa, contrasted with a generally high state of morale fostered by religious enthusiasm.  The course of other later battles implies the presence of more solid troops.... (Book 2, p.39)

Honourable mention to other army lists such as those of Field of Glory, Armati, DBA, Warmaster Ancients, Warhammer Ancient Battles and Hail Caesar.  None of them quite compare to these though, to my mind.

- Ancient and Medieval Wargaming, by Neil Thomas.

This is another modern classic that harks back to the golden age of wargames publishing.  Containing simple rules modified for different periods, army lists, battle reports and information about figures, it is a good starting point for those new to the hobby or for veterans who like to take rules sets apart and put them back together again after their own fashion.

With the onset of turn 6, the stunned Saxon general had more decisions to make.  Having just eliminated its opponents, one of the Saxon nobles (unit 2) had three options.  Firstly, it could head for the edge of the table, and exit on turn 7.  This option was rejected on the basis that to do so would expose its flank to cavalry assault....   (p.193)

- The Gallic War and The Civil War, by Caesar.

While these were not written specifically for wargamers, we could be forgiven a certain solipsistic conceit, as it's impossible to go two pages without finding something of immediate import for an ancient wargamer.  It's not an exaggeration to say that every time I pick up Caesar I find something else I would like to underline, highlight, or shout about on some internet forum.  Absolutely essential.

But the Roman citizens quickly defended themselves by constructing wooden towers, and since their resistance was weak because of their lack of numbers, and they were enfeebled by the many wounds they suffered, as a last resort they set free all the adult male slaves, and cut of the hair of all the women to make artillery.  (The Civil War, III.9)

Honourable mentions go to Arrian, Appian, Polybius, Livy, Herodotus, Xenophon and Thucydides.

- Simulating War, by Philip Sabin.

The newest book on the list is likely to be regarded in future as a classic of the genre.  If you want to learn more about studying and designing wargames, this is excellent.  It contains a nice mix of theory and practice, and includes eight simulation games that illustrate some of the principles Phil Sabin espouses.

The drawbacks of a simple combat resolution system such as the one I have just outlined are that its outcomes are rather unidimensional, it can involved lots of die rolling and it often embodies the same unrealistic assumptions as in Lanchester's flawed model (which the system here would mirror faithfully if continued over several turns of fighting).  Hence, most wargame designers instead construct one or more 'combat results tables' (CRTs) to streamline resolution procedures and to give them the flexibility to....  (p.93) 

Honourable mention goes to Board Wargaming, by Nicholas Palmer.

- Warfare in the Classical World, by John Warry.

An illustrated history of classical warfare that is good as a surprisingly detailed overview of the period.  I don't always agree with all its conclusions, but it is a very useful resource despite that.  It has plenty of information about particular campaigns, tactics and equipment which have proved of great help at various times.

Punicus is the Latin for "Carthaginian".  The first Punic War was provoked by those perennial troublemakers the Mamertines who, based on Messana (Messina), appealed to the Carthaginians against Hiero II, the Greek king of Syracuse.  Their object achieved, the Mamertines wished to be rid of the Carthaginian garrison which had protected them, and they appealed to Rome.  (p.114) 

So, there we have them: the ten most essential books in my wargaming collection.  I'd be interested to hear what readers' top wargaming books are, so please feel free to talk about yours in the comments section - and many thanks if you made it this far!

Six Nations

It was disappointing to see such a lot of error-ridden and boring rugby in the opening two games of the Six Nations tournament last night. The endless aimless kicking makes for a poor spectacle, and to have attacking play succeed only when one side is down to 14 men doesn't say much for the state of the game. The rules-tweakers at the IRB really need to un-tweak a few things before players forget how to run effectively with the ball in hand...

But, on a more positive note, it was good to watch a bit of rugby again, warts and all.

On another positive note, I was in town on business today and with three hours to kill between appointments went for a browse at a local mall. At the entrance there happened to be a table full of books in English, all at 70% off. That's my light reading for the plane trip to NZ taken care of!

Author of the month

My author of the month is Shelby Foote. I recently finished his three volume treatment of the American Civil War and found it very impressive. It's not often these days that I will finish a book and feel a sense of loss. Foote comes across as a decent and humane man who writes with wisdom and learning. I believe he is considered to have a bias towards the South, but it seemed to me that he was fairly catholic in his sympathies. The trilogy is a lot of reading, but it was the best thing I've read in quite a while. Grant's memoirs are next on the Civil War reading list (after Bloody Crucible of Courage) though I still have to get around to actually ordering them.