Forthcoming Helion Conferences

 These are coming up later this year and are usually well worth a day out if you can get there.

More reading on the Great Procession part 2: Men of Warre from Helion review.

One of Helion’s ‘from Retinue to Regiment’ series’ most recent publications is this vastly informative book by Jenn Scott. ‘The Men of Warre. The clothes, weapons and accoutrements of the Scots at War 1460-1600’ crafts a comprehensive description of the composition of Scots armies throughout this period, the impact of French aid in terms of men and equipment, and importantly how the Scots, whether Lowlander or Highlander, nobles or commoners, were armed, armoured and dressed. Warfare to many of the men who served in these armies was a cultural phenomenon, whether this be pitched battles, where they invariably came off second best against the English, or cross border raiding, or ‘reiving’, to carry off livestock and hostages, murder rivals and burn settlements, essentially turning inter-family feuds into a way of life. Indeed my favourite sections of the book relate to this ongoing border warfare rather than, say, the battle of Flodden.

The book is well illustrated with eight pages of lovely original colour plates, each with a detailed commentary, and a good number of black and white images, largely of existing items of arms, armour and contemporary carvings depicting among other things ships and cannons. There is also a comprehensive glossary which will be of interest to many readers and an extensive bibliography.

In addition to the obvious interest this book will garner among historians and military enthusiasts the author also weaves in many elements relating to the social history of the Scots, and I can happily recommend this new book on that basis.

ISBN 978-1-804510-07-0. Softback, 114 pages.

New collection begins with these

 A three in the morning purchase 🤣 75mm

I plan to hide them in the garden as a surprise for my mother in law 🤣🤣🤣

Eagles over the Alps

Readers of this blog will be aware that this campaign is one that I was drawn to many years ago, and I now have rather a large/enormous collection in 28mm. Of all the late Christopher Duffey’s many books this is by far my favourite. Helion are steadily going through Dr Duffy’s back catalogue and offering reprints back into the market. Given that many of his books now attract prices in the hundreds of pounds sterling this is a great move by Helion as it brings many of his masterpieces to the notice of a new generation of military historians, history buffs and wargamers at an affordable price.

Helion’s edition of Eagles over the Alps. Suvorov in Italy and Switzerland, 1799 has been available for six months or so but its appearance might have passed some potential readers by. For me this is the go-to English language book on the subject and remains in my humble opinion the most readable and interesting account of a pretty miraculous campaign, under the command of the veteran, talented and legendary Alexander Suvorov.

The book begins with a discussion on Suvorov and the composition and structure of the Russian army he commanded, the long march to Italy and the campaign against the French, who were defeated time and again and almost driven from Italy completely. An invasion of France from the south was suggested by Suvorov but the idea failed to win favour with the Czar and his council, so the long withdrawal through Switzerland to meet up with another Russian army on the Upper Rhine began. The story of the almost constant rearguard actions and attacks is told in great detail, all supported by many excellent maps and photographs of the actual ground being fought over. Suvorov led his men to safety, maintaining discipline throughout, despite the dreadful weather, the treacherous terrain, severe losses of men and material, and several French forces determined to cut off his retreat and destroy his army.

This is a well written and researched account of what was a relatively minor episode when taken within the context of the greater Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars but it is presented as a great adventure against the odds in much detail. Anyone interested in the French Revolutionary Wars should find this book invaluable in understanding the campaign, be they military history buffs, wargamers or both. Highly recommended.

More 1866 Minor German States

My obsession with painting up units from the minor German states involved, or even not involved, in the War of 1866 between Prussia and Austria continues, with these two new additions both of which I completed today (although I’ve noticed just now that the white arm bands the pro-Prussian states’ troops wore have been overlooked).

This is the Hamburg Battalion which so far as I know didn’t see any action, but formed part of the 2nd Reserve Corps along with other units from the Hanseatic towns. These are spare Prussian jäger figures from Foundry. I have used Warlord Games’ speed paints although I’m not entirely sure how much speedier it was to finish the unit. I’ve used a Napoleonic Hamburg flag from Maverick Models in the absence of any other information; perhaps they didn’t carry a flag but they are now.

Brunswick fielded two infantry battalions, a regiment of hussars and a battery of cannon. I already have a battalion of Brunswickers, and here is the second. My understanding is that they could well have still been using their old Waterloo era flags. In the absence of any other info that’s what I’ve used. The miniatures are rather nice Steve Barber Saxons from his Franco-Prussian War range, and their headgear makes them a near perfect fit for the Brunswickers. The flag is another from Maverick.

Both units together.

I can’t say these are anything other than adequate paint jobs but they will do for me and can now march off to join the rest of their division in barracks until they are called up for some tabletop active service sometime in the near future. I already have a half battery of Brunswick artillery and their hussar regiment is on the painting station about a quarter done. Hopefully I will get them done before I go off on holiday next week but no rush. 

Tsar Alexander’s Second War against Napoleon

Author Peter Phillips has translated another official Russian history of the Napoleonic Wars, this time giving us Tsar Alexander’s Second War with Napoleon 1806-1807. Originally published in 1846 by Alexander Ivanovich Mikhailovsky-Dailevsky, who was commissioned to write Russia’s official military histories. This is the second such volume published by Helion, and covers the period from the defeat of Prussia to the peace treaty agreed at Tilsit in 1807 which brought the war to an end, for a few years.

Works translated from other languages into English are often rather clunky and sometimes hard to follow, especially when the original was written in ‘mid-nineteenth century speak’.This is not the case with this volume, which like its predecessor volume, has been rigorously and sympathetically translated, the end result being a genuinely readable and informative account, an account which is by no means perfect or even wholly honest, but is still an incredibly important and detailed record of the war. Readers should note that these volumes were published for the Tsar, who had complete editorial control, and bear that in mind.

I will avoid listing all the many chapters within the book; suffice to say the campaign is described in great detail, beginning with the defeat of the Prussians at Jena-Auerstadt to the Treaty of Tilsit (and beyond). The author contends that the Russian army and the Russian leadership and its many rising stars benefited greatly from the war, in which they fought Napoleon’s seemingly invincible army to a stand still on numerous occasions, albeit sometimes with the assistance of the dreadful weather and incurring an equally dreadful number of casualties, but only actually lost one battle, at Freidland.

The chapters describing these battles are comprehensive and make especially good reading, and are accompanied by clear and easy to comprehend maps showing troop disposition and the topography of each battlefield. There are other very helpful, more strategic ‘theatre’ maps, showing the movements of the corps and armies which again are easy to follow; so often contemporary maps are insufficiently detailed or incomprehensible so it is a bonus that these have been produced so clearly. The book concludes with three appendices containing the orders of battle of Bennigsen’s, Buxhoeveden’s and Essex’s corps. The fourth appendix (actually appendix 1) is a representation of the number of men needed from each oblast to furnish the requisite number of Opolchenie (militia), amounting to a staggering 612,000 men!

This is an excellent book and is guaranteed to be of interest to historians, researchers and wargamers alike, and deserves its place in my library for sure. I am already working on an early/mid Napoleonic army for the Russo-Swedish War 1808-1809, and have since taken the plunge and over the course of three Foumdry Christmas 25 percent off sales have purchased rather more figures than I would ever need for the battles in Finland. I have ended up with about 30 battalions plus assorted artillery and cavalry, so all I need to find is somebody with an appropriately large enough 28mm French army. At a pinch I could temporarily reflag some of my late Revolutionary Wars French but I’d rather not.

ISBN978-1-804511-93-0 soft back, 232 pages.

On another note entirely, if anyone is wondering, yes there are some obvious benefits in me reviewing books for Helion (they kindly send me them every now and then). However the main reason I do this is because Helion are a growing and important presence in our hobby (in my opinion at any rate) and the range of mainstream and also rather eclectic titles is amazing as is the prolific number of books published across all their series every year, and are fortunate in having a deep pool of knowledgeable authors from both the UK and Worldwide to make the most of. They certainly surpass the likes of Osprey in terms of subject matter and the quality of the content ( again, that is my opinion based on my own comparisons between the two publishers) as I have found many recent Osprey’s to be very superficial despite the often nice colour plates. 

The German Peasant’s War 1524-1526.

Helion’s latest in their ‘from Retinue to Regiment’ series is another masterpiece, in the shape of Douglas Miller’s ‘The German Peasants’ War 1524-1526’.

I didn’t know a great deal about the popular uprisings which became known as the Peasants’ War prior to reading this book, my knowledge being limited to two of the author’s other books. Having done so now, I am amazed at the level of detail Mr Miller has included in what must be described not only as arguably the definitive English language book on the subject but also a labour of love.

After a helpful discussion on warfare in general at the turn of the sixteenth century, including the impact of the decline of the heavy cavalry an and the rise in the use of gunpowder weapons, we are launched into a detailed description of the military organisation of the various peasant armies and ‘bands’, modelled loosely on that of the Landsknechts. It did not surprise me to read that many of the latter sided with the peasant armies. The author has gone to great lengths to help the readership understand the peasant armies, their leaders, composition despite the label, (by no means all the armies were made up of peasants, but also townsmen and ex-soldiers), motivation, logistics, armaments and of course their objectives in rising up in rebellion against their overlords.

The war itself is described clearly and comprehensively over two chapters which in page terms take up the bulk of the book. First the initial phases and actions of the uprising in 1524, then the full blown rebellion in 1525-1526. Both chapters give detailed information on the chronology of events, and more interesting, the organisation of the many regional armies or bands and their enemies, the armies of the Swabian League and local German princes who opposed the uprising. This was an incredibly violent war, as indeed all civil uprisings tend to be, with atrocities committed on both sides, leaving tens of thousands of dead across a region devastated by war.

The book boasts some lovely colour plates depicting the appearance of the troops involved together with five pages showing examples of the various Peasant banners. There are also several colour maps showing the strategic and political situation in Europe at the time. Particularly useful are the black and white maps focussing on some of the major battles, sieges and engagements that took place during the war.

I can wholeheartedly recommend this book to anybody interested in German military history during the early sixteenth century; indeed there are many aspects of social history that are also covered in this remarkable publication.

It is worth noting that, as alluded to earlier, this book is a companion to the author’s ‘The Army of the Swabian League 1525’, also published by Helion in this series.

From a wargaming perspective this book should carry a ‘health warning’ as it has masses to offer should anyone fancy raising their own peasant band. By some happy coincidence (I think not…) both Steel Fist and Artizan have recently released what I hope will be the start of two excellent ranges in 28mm. I picked up a few of the former and they really do look the part. Tempted? Oh yes.

ISBN 978-1-804512-02-9, Soft-back, 190 pages