Book Recommendations

"The Key to Berlin"

Russian propaganda poster, 1945.

The victors write history – or so they say. Perhaps it’s true, but in time, even the defeated party might have something to add.

The defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 also signalled an era of European division and the beginning of the ”Cold War”. It was not until the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, that Europe could start to really heal the wounds of WW2 and a united Germany could start to reflect on its turbulent birth. The fall of communism also opened a lot of historical archives in both East-Germany and Russia, casting new light on a dark chapter in history. 

Some of the well-preserved Ostwall defences.

Looks like this piece took a few direct hits.

My friend and fellow historical enthusiast, Uwe Klar, has written two recommendable books about some of those last dark episodes during WW2. With new material from both German and Russian archives (Uwe has lived in Russia for many years), he writes about the desperate fighting in Poland, East-Prussia and on to the Seelow Heights as the Russians tightened the noose on Berlin in 45. 

German artillery position defending the Seelow Heights.

I know from my Google-Statistics that many of my readers are in fact Germans, so I would like to showcase Uwe’s books, and recommend them to all German reading visitors here on the blog.

Brennpunkt ”Ostwall”

The book meticulously documents the fighting on the fortified line of Oder-Warthe-Bogen in the winter of early1945. It narrates in a day by day style, that helps the reader to really understand the desperation of the bitter struggle, as the German army throw scattered Panzer resources into the mix of Volkssturm units and veteran Grenadiers in an attempt to stem the Russian tide.

Brennpunkt “Ostwall”

By: Uwe Klar & André Vogel

Pages: 390

Published: 2015 by Helios Verlag, Aachen (DE)

Price: €32.00 (www.amazon.de)

- * -

Der Schlüssel für Berlin

Again Uwe Klar uses his knowledge of Russian, mixing German and Soviet sources to give as accurate and interesting account as possible on the dramatic battle of Seelow Heights. “The Key to Berlin” as the book is called, covers the background for the battle, organization of the armies and offers a very detailed description of the fighting itself.

Der Schlüssel für Berlin

By: Uwe Klar & Gerd-Ulrich Herrmann

Pages: 240

Published: 2010 by Helios Verlag, Aachen (DE)

Price: €19.00 (www.amazon.de)

Thank you very much for stopping by!

Merry Christmas! - Recap of 2014

Napoleon & Roustam.

The miniatures are from Perry.

What better way to end 2014 than by finishing my first ever command stand of history’s no.1 All Star: Napoleon. In this case the “Corsican Monster” is trotting around the battlefield protected by his mamluk bodyguard, Roustam. I’ll probably do the “sitting on a chair at Borodino” command stand as well. I’ve got the Foundry minis for it since 10 years back, so it’d be a shame not to, but all that belongs in 2015.

View from behind - quite a saber Roustam is carrying around.

Perhaps the Mamluk equivalent of a doppelsoldner!

I’ll skip format and not give you a long write up on old Boney – although my love of all things French is perhaps well known to any regular readers. Instead I thought I’d take a minute to summarize 2014. What projects did I get into, what books did I read and what sites and museums did I visit during the past year. 

PAINTING PROJECTS OF 2014

The Danish Horse Guards, Battle of Lund 1676

The Scanian War: A late 2013 skirmish game project with Michael “Dalauppror” inspired me to read up on the Scanian War period. An interesting and dramatic time in Scandinavian history, with large battles fought between Denmark and Sweden over the supremacy of the North in the late 17th Century. With the great 28mm range from Warfare miniatures to support a larger project, Jesper, Michael and I embarked on a complete battalion based collection for the war. Later during the year, an opportunity arose to go and host a gaming table at the Danish gaming convention, DFFcon, taking place in the historical royal armoury in Copenhagen. Of course this just added to the motivation for painting. Michael, Jesper and I had a great time and the collection will probably expand, although at a lower output, in 2015.

French lignards and chasseurs skirmishing.

The Franco-Prussian War: In my opinion the mother of WW1. A big interest of mine, if not the biggest when it comes to history, and 2014 saw some great additions to my growing collection in 28mm. I also read some great books on the period, and managed to visit some of the key battlefields this year accompanied by my lovely and understanding fiancé. These visits really fueled my inspiration. History comes very alive when you’re standing on the actual spot where a certain charge took place or viewing and understanding the size of an area where a battle was fought.

The 5th French Hussars. 

Borodino 1812: A project started in 2013, with the aim to build a complete French and Russian gaming force for this behemoth of a battle, using my current favorite ruleset - Black Powder. Over the past year I managed to expand my collection with 5 units, of which my favourite would probably be the French hussars. When visiting Salute, I found a suitable model of the Great Redoubt cast in resin by Grandmanner, which I'm looking forward to painting up. At the same time the Perrys are constantly expanding their range, so this project is moving forward with good steam.

WW1 Imperial German Battleship, Friedrich der Große.

WW1 Naval - The Battle of Jutland: Speaking of steam. A late addition to the project list of 2014 perhaps, but a project that really took speed after the Scanian War project was parked after Copenhagen. Inspired by my friend Mark’s collection of 1/285 planes for Check Your 6, I ventured out of my comfort zone of 28mm, and into the wonderful world of WW1 naval modeling, using GHQ’s highly detailed 1/2400 range. This period and scale has fast become a personal favourite in terms of gaming, and I plan to expand both navies for my Jutland project in 2015. Mark is currently working on a US Navy intervention force inspired by the actual 6th Squadron send over to Scapa, and I recommend a visit to his blog – beautiful ships.

SMALLER PROJECTS IN 2014

Spitfires scramble during the Battle of Britain.

Check your 6: Great rules which inspired me to paint up a few Spitfires to pit against Mark’s Luftwaffe collection. We've played a few games during 2014, and I’m hoping we’ll get a chance to play more in 2015.

6 points worth of knights for the Trolle army.

Lion Rampant: Michael hosted a game and got me hooked on these simple and smooth running rules. We’re now a handful of gamers from our local club, each with a12 point army, and running more or less weekly games, mixing up our factions freely in big skirmishes. Great fun and perfect for a 2-3 hrs club night game.

Imperial pike block under the Fugger banner.

Italian Wars: Together with fellow club members Jonas and Michael, I started building a battalion based collection in 28mm for the period around the Battle of Pavia, 1525. I really loved painting the Pro Gloria minis, but was waiting for more releases to build my collection. Pro Gloria just got sold to Warlord about two weeks ago, and it looks like they’ll be speeding up the release process in 2015. Looking forward to picking up this project again when that happens.

BOOKS I’VE READ IN 2014

“Borodino and the war of 1812” by Christopher Duffy

The book really zooms in on the battle and that exact point in history. It gives a great account of each sequence of this great clash of arms, and I took a lot of inspiration for what units to paint from the detailed description.

“The Battle of Jutland” by Geoffrey Bennet

G. Bennet offers and interesting insight to both the tradition and mind set of the Royal Navy and German Imperial Navy. He treats the battle in a very useful step-by-step fashion, giving me as the reader a full understanding of why the admirals did what they did. Also, he skillfully recreates the drama of the initial encounter of the Cruiser forces, the climax of Jellicoe’s T-crossing maneuver and Sheer’s night action. It’s a great book on the battle, treating both navies and their relative gains from the battle with great objective fairness in the chapter “Who won?”. Recommended!

“The Franco-Prussian War 1870-71, Vol. 1; The Campaign of Sedan” 
by Quintin Barry

There are two books in this series. The first covering the initial Imperial part of the war, the second focussing on the desperate Republican part of the conflict. I really enjoyed reading this first book in the series, as perhaps the most detailed account I’ve come across on the war in modern publishing. Q. Barry is a methodical writer and each actions and responsible commanders are carefully analyzed to present an objective and detailed overview. The book also offers useful OrBats for the mayor battles of the campaign.

“Alphonse de Neuville; L’épopée de la défaite” by Phillipe Chabert

The book offers a portrait of one of France’s greatest military painters. It’s in French, but that shouldn't put off any period enthusiast. Even for those who don’t read the language, I warmly recommend it for it’s wonderful imagery on the Franco-Prussian War. The book accounts for Neuville's complete life but focuses on the later part, and his friendship and work with fellow master, Edouard Detaille.

MUSEUMS, CONVENTIONS &  BATTLEFIELDS VISITED IN 2014:

The old cemetery gate known from Neuville's painting of the battle.

The battlefields of Mars-la-tour & Gravelotte-St-Privat: I visited this historic site in mid-May, and the weather was mild and generous for walking the grounds. It was my first trip to an actual battlefield, and these two are really a great place to start. With the 2014 addition of the new museum on the Franco-Prussian War located in Gravelotte, the visit to Lorraine was a real success, and something I look back on as a turning point in my hobby and interest in the Franco-Prussian War. 

Napoleon's field furniture along with the famous grey jack and hat.

Musée de l’Armée; Les Invalides: Recently renovated to boast some great new technical details like multiple 80” screens in the floor telling the story of certain battles or conflicts. The rich history of France is carefully presented with a HUGE collection of uniforms, historical artefacts like Napoleon's uniform, hat and field furniture, and offers the visitor a complete coverage from pre-historic weaponry to WW2 and the liberation of France. It’s well worth the 10 Euro entrance fee. In fact, I admit I’d pay that just to gain access to the museum’s book shop.

The fields around Woerth bore many scars of war.

The battlefield of Woerth: Set in the beautiful hilly countryside of Alsace, only a short drive from the German border, this battlefield was really a fantastic place to visit. The post war German remembrance work on the big Franco-Prussian War battles, had seen the construction of a tall panoramic tower in the middle of the battlefield, offering a great overview of the complete area. The local townspeople were very friendly too, and we fell in conversation with an old lady in Woerth, who fetched the local church keeper to open the door at the village church, in order for us to view the memorial plates hung there in honor of all the fallen soldiers. Apart from an interesting history, Alsace also offered some great food and wine. All in all I think it's one of the best, and most overlooked, regions in France to go for a holiday.

D-Day display at Salute - huge and very very impressive.

SALUTE 2014: This show just seems to get bigger and bigger each year. This year I did myself the service of pre-ordering all my purchases, but with the huge amount of minor/new traders present, I must admit to a certain degree of spontaneous shopping as well. Most memorable from this year Salute was probably the unusually high quality of the gaming tables on display. A wonderful weekend in London, and something which will be repeated in 2015.

Beautiful WW1 table with 1/300 bi-planes from Shapeways.

DFFCON 2014: A great little convention held inside the Royal Danish Armory. There was about 10-12 different games of high quality, all open to participation. I got to try out some Samurai skirmishing, walk a tour in the museum, plus we enjoyed great interest in our hosted Battle of Lund table. As an added touristic bonus, Jesper and Michael got to try the Danish open sandwich specialty - Smørrebrød, which was consumed with much approval by the Swedes.

With that summary of 2014, I wish you, dear reader, a merry Christmas! Hope you’ll all have a great one, and find time to sneak away for an hour or two of peaceful solitude at the painting table during the holidays, I know I’ll be!

Thank you very much for your support and readership in 2014!

WW1 naval fever & childhood nostalgia

Chas Stadden 30mm WW1 

Early German Infantryman.

Admittedly the last months of painting output and quite a few of my recent blog posts have been circling around the Scanian War and the showcasing of the Battle of Lund 1676 at the coming gaming convention in Copenhagen in a week's time from now. 

In need of a change and inspired by fellow blogger Jonathan’s post on his first wargaming memories, I decided it was time to go up to the attic, and break out some of the boxes with my childhood hobby collection.

Chas Stadden 30mm WW1

Early French Infantryman.

So with autumn holding a firm grip on a yellow and red-leafed Stockholm, I found myself up under the roof, surrounded by a mountain of old books and 1/72 Seven Year’s War boxes, flipping through the very same 1994 Revell catalogue that I used to study for hours without end as a kid, planning my next purchase (Dare I say some things stay the same – the internet have not made that less of a habit). I used to paint a lot of these small soft plastics when I first got into the hobby. Revell was the brand of choice then. Loved those figures and still do. There is actually a really nice 1/72 plastics site here for those interested.

1/72 Revell Seven Year's War Prussian Infantry.

At the bottom of one box I found an old cigar box with a few metal figures inside.

I had completely forgotten about these, but as I picked them up, I remembered it all again. I had been given these miniatures by my father when accompanying him to Copenhagen on a business trip in the early 90ies. Apparently his meetings went well, because I remember he wanted to get me something, and took me to the very best hobby shop Copenhagen had back then – Smith’s Hobby in Kompagnistræde. 

Charles "Chas" Stadden 1919 - 2002.

Sculpter, painter and collector.

It was a small crammed basement shop, with expo windows glittering of glossy Tradition and Stadden metal figures. I got a 54mm Frederic the Great by Tradition and a bunch of beautiful 30mm Chas Stadden WW1 figures.

The 30mm Stadden minis are very nice sculpts indeed.

Beautifully proportioned and with a good level of details.

As I already had a healthy sized lead (or rather plastic) pile back then, the Stadden figures went into oblivion after a while. Now, almost like time transported, they came out of a cigar box in an attic in Stockholm some 22 years later. After a closer study, realizing the top quality of the sculpting, and admitting to a small smite of WW1 fever, I decided these minis had to go directly to the painting table.

Found this old classic in the attic as well.

Following the Chas Stadden figures down from the attic came an old book that John, my scale model-interested uncle, once gave me for Christmas. It’s an amazing resource on the WW1 navies. Battleships of World War I by Antony Preston, published by Galahad Book New York in 1972. Each country’s fleet, the commanders and naval traditions are described along with the main ship building wharfs. Then follows a complete run through of every important ship-class of every mayor navy participating in WW1. 

The Preston book contains beautiful and detailed

technical drawings of each ship-class.

This childhood reminder of my love for WW1 naval warfare and dreadnoughts (I’m born and raised in Jutland) quickly got me searching for suitable models and rules for a WW1 naval project. 

The Battle of Jutland 1916.

The Royal Navy's Grand Fleet clash with the Kaiserliche Kriegsmarine.

I settled on GHQ and their 1/2400 WW1 range – which to me has the level of details suited to a painting style using washes and high lighting. Fellow blogger and Stockholm wargaming club member, Mark, recommended the Naval Thunder rules which he has for WW2. Thus the “Clash of Dreadnoughts” variation of Naval Thunder was subsequently purchased along with some “Kaiser-class” and “Iron-Duke-Class” (God I love those names) ships from GHQ, now presumably crossing the Atlantic on their journey to my painting table. Can’t wait to get started on these.

Thank you very much for reading!

Liebster Nomination

Jonathan at The Palouse Wargaming Journal has been so kind as to nominate my blog “Black Powder Games” for the Liebster Award. I hereby thank Jonathan for this truly pleasant surprise, and for his support on the blog as a regular follower and commentator.

The idea of the Liebster Award is to raise awareness of new or smaller blogs with fewer than 200 followers, using the link between bloggers and readers alike. As a nominee, you’re expected to answer a few questions about yourself, your blog and hobby, and naturally give credit to the blog nominating you as well as putting forward your own candidates of good blogs for nomination, offering thus a chance for readers to discover new blogs.

The work station - many units have marched across this table.

These are the rules as kindly described by Jonathan:

 #1 Copy paste the award on your blog linking to the blogger who has given it to you.

#2 Pass the award to your top 11 blogs with less than 200 followers 

by leaving a comment in one of their posts to notify them that they are nominated.

#3 List the nominees on your own blog as well.

#4 Sit back and bask in the warm fuzzy feeling 

that comes with knowing that you’ve made someone’s day!

#5 There is no obligation to pass this onto someone else, 

but it’s good old Gandhi karma if you do so.

My weapon of choice, the Foundry 3-step paint system.

Below is the list of questions put forward by Jonathan:

1: Why did you start blogging?

My good wargaming friend Micke has a very well run blog. Encouraged by Micke’s work and inspired by a desire to document my painting projects and further to write small historical write ups, the blog took its shape and direction.

2: If you could change one thing about the wargaming hobby, what would it be?

I quite often find myself wishing that the Perry Twins would one day wake up and decide to re-make a modern sculpted range of Franco-Prussian figures.

3: Do you read Battle Reports and what makes them inviting to read?

I do from time to time, mainly if it’s a large historical battle were history can be tinkered with. By nature I’m more the painter than the gamer, so for a Battle Report to really catch my eye, it would have to contain a lot of visually appealing pictures.

4: Is figure painting a chore or pleasure?

It’s been a pleasure and a way to relax for me since I was 12 year old, starting back then with Revell’s 1/72 Seven Years War range. I paint almost daily and often find my self deeply engulfed in a particular period surrounding myself with books, audio books or pod casts etc. as I paint.

Nothing beats a good pod cast while painting.

BBC4 have some fantastic shows on history, science and philosophy.

5: Napoleon once was quoted as saying he preferred a general who was lucky over skilled. In gaming, are you lucky or skilled?

Well, I’m superstitious like Hell! For instance I only play my Rebel ACW collection with a certain set of grey dice. When playing I try to look for creative and unexpected moves. When these sometimes pan out, I can claim to be skilled, when not – simply unlucky :0) Not sure this would qualify me as a “Bonne General.”

6: Could you limit your gaming and collection to one period and one size? If so, what?

What a painful thought! In terms of size I’m definitely a 28 mm. No debate. I’ve tried smaller and bigger, but for painting and subsequently basing units I really enjoy 28 mm.

To restrict myself to only one period is really hard, but my largest collection is Franco-Prussian and right on the heels comes my Napoleonic collection for 1812 Borodino, so these are perhaps the core.

The Valhalla of retired brushes. 

Tend to stick to either Kolinsky or LaVanche.

7: How do you deal with burn out?

I have a defined range of projects with adequate figures purchased for each. I’ve got 6 projects at the moment, with periods ranging from Antiquity to the World Wars. I then focus on the short-term goal, for instance finishing this or that unit rather than a complete army. After each finished unit, I let my inspiration dictate where to go next on the project list. Sometimes I stay with a certain war for a few units; sometimes I jump around on the list.

8: If you could only buy from one miniature company from now on,
which one would it be?

Perry Miniatures. Large collection, excellent if not the best quality out there.

And - My Liebster Nominee's are....:

The Great Italian Wars

Pete is a fantastic painter and designer of some beautiful Italian War flags.

Forgotten & Glorious

Paris based Forgotten & Glorious Miniz offer some of the best French WW1, Napoleonic and ACW figures on the market. F&G Miniz have a growing range and is definitely “one to watch”.

Conflict of Interests

A local gaming friend here in Stockholm, and very talented painter. Jonas’ blog offers great imagery and very cool minis.

Janner's Jaunt

Stephen is a talented painter and has a nice blog covering a wide historic frame. You’re bound to find something of interest.

Ådalen Figures

My friend Björn’s miniature range of Swedish infantry focussed on the inter-war period with a cool “what-if “approach to this period of political unrest.

Chris Figurines

Chris’ blog in my opinion offers some of the most beautifully painted renaissance figures around.

Gewalthaufen

Fantastic and very inspirational work, I still marvel at the water diorama.

Northern Wargaming

Very talented stuff posted here, ranging from SAGA to the Napoleonics.

Lastly, a special tip of the hat to the man who inspired me to pick up blogging:

Michael at Dalauppror. His blog passed 200 followers a long time ago, so I’ll simply put him up here as a suggestion, should you have missed his excellent and regularly updated blog.

Thank you very much for your interest in my blog so far,
without your visits and comments there would be little point in this work.

Lilian & Fred Funcken's uniform plates

Porte-Aigle
Plate from "L'uniforme et les armes des soldats du premier empire VOL 1"

A recent business trip to Paris offered me a welcome chance to scour the historic city’s maze of small streets for antique bookshops. After the obligatory visit to Les Invalides (fantastic collection of uniforms, arms, and historic paintings) I made my way through the 6^th arrondisment via Rue Saint-André des Arts. 


Librairie Historique Clavreuil

Store front as seen from Rue Saint-André des Arts

Here I found the most fantastic little gem. Librairie Historique Clavreuil. It was just like walking into a scene of The Ninth Gate. Beautiful antique leather bound books with gilded letters packed on shelves from floor to ceiling, set in a dark old atmospheric antique books shop, all specialized in history.

Warelephants from antiquity
Plate from "Le costume et les armes des soldats de tous les temps VOL 1"

Librairie Clavreuil, founded 1878, offered and large collection of rare historical works, and interestingly also original state documents from the days of Napoleon. Up for grabs were the original educational plan for the Prince of Rome (Napoleon’s son with Marie Louise of Austria), or handwritten documents from French staff secretaries as the Grand Armée retreated from Moscow through the snow in 1812. 

After a careful look into this magical world, I found what any wargamer can’t get enough of – books with uniform plates. And these weren’t just any old uniform plates, these were something quite out of the ordinary. Thought I’d share a few plates with you.

Russian Cuirassiers
Plate from "L'uniforme et les armes des soldats du premier empire VOL 2" 

The books are a series of uniform books from the 60ies published by the Casterman publishing house in Belgium. Same publishing house that launched Tintin back in the days. Casterman themselves are also historic, first founded in Tournay in 1776.

Infantry of Louis XIV
Plate from "Le costume et les armes des soldats de tous les temps VOL 1"

14th Century knights

Plate from "Le costume et les armes des soldats de tous les temps VOL 1"

Landsknechts & arquebusiers
Plate from "Le costume et les armes des soldats de tous les temps VOL 1"

French Infantry, Franco-Prussian War
Plate from "Le costume et les armes des soldats de tous les temps VOL 2"

The plates are from the period before Macs and Photoshop, everything is painted by hand, and it really is visible in the quality of the work.

Illustrators were the very productive couple, Lilian and Fred Funcken. Liliane previously did some writing on Spirou, and had met Fred while working on Tintin. She’d be inking and coloring up his sketches. Together they would do magic for uniformology. After a first corporation on Tintin in 1956, their marriage was also the start of a long range of historical publishings through the 60ies, 70ies and 80ies ending in 1988 with the very beautifully illustrated “Les Soldats de la Révolution”.

Lilian & Fred - while working on their illustrations

Sadly Fred passed away about a year ago in Bruxelles, age 91. I hope this blog post will serve as an acknowledgment to Lilian & Fred and inspiration for others to discover their work. What a fantastic legacy they leave behind.

Thank you for reading!