200th Anniversary of Waterloo

This weekend marked the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo.  I have not been painting much in the right genre to post any miniatures for the period, nor have I been able to game much in that tie either recently, but it would be remiss of me to let this historic even pass without comment. A friend of mine posted this quote on facebook, that I liked, and thought I would share with you all.

From a memoir of Brussels just before Waterloo, by an English military officer on furlough from his regiment in Ceylon (source):

"This city is filled with British and Hanoverian troops. Their conduct is exemplary, nor is any complaint made against them. The Highland regiments are however the favourites of the Bruxellois, and the inhabitants give them the preference as lodgers. They are extremely well behaved (they say, when speaking of the Highlanders) and they cheerfully assist the different families on whom they are quartered in their household labour. This reflects a good deal of credit on the gallant sons of Caledonia. Their superior morality to those of the same class either in England or in Ireland must strike every observer, and must, in spite of all that the Obscuranten or Chevaliers de l'Eteignoir and others who wish to check the progress of the human mind may urge to the contrary, be mainly attributed to the general prevalence of education a la portée de tout le monde. Wherever the people are enlightened there is less crime; ignorance was never yet the safeguard of virtue. As for myself I honour and esteem the Scottish nation and I must say that I have found more liberal ideas and more sound philosophy among individuals of that nation than among those of any other, and it is a tribute I owe to them loudly to proclaim my sentiments; for though personal gratitude may seem to influence me a little on this subject, yet I should never think of putting forth my opinion in public, were it not founded on an impartial observation of the character of this enterprising and persevering people. A woman who had some Highlanders quartered in her house told me in speaking of them: "Monsieur, ce sont de si bonnes gens; ils sont doux comme des agneaux." "Ils n'en seront pas moins des lions an jour du combat," was my reply."

In other Waterloo related news, I thought this article was fun. I want one of those 2,5 euro coins now! 

Signal Boost: American History Too

I would very much like to draw your attention to American History Too, a thirty minute podcast, coming very much from an academic stand point, being of direct use to students studying history at University, particularly Edinburgh University, but of course, learning and discussion are by no means the preserve of mere students, some may even say they're even wasted on students.

As a further gaming link, as if one was needed, you may have heard of one of the podcasters before in gaming circles. Dr Malcolm Craig, is a real renaissance man, as he is also the Writer/Creator of both Cold City and Hot War, two excellent indie RPGs that I can thoroughly recommend to those of you who play RPGs.

One criticism I would make, they need to work on their logo, but hey, I'll let them off since they're just setting out.

 

Go check them out, they now have a whole two episodes for you to listen to.

Upper Canada Village

As newly minted Canadian Citizens, we get a Canadian cultural pass. This allows free access to a whole host of attractions and parks across the country, as a way of helping new Canadians to see and access the country. One of the places we can get into for free is the Upper Canada Village. This is only about an hour and a half from Montreal.

I can remember going to somethign similar as a kid, with the Canadian branch of the family on one of our many visits to Toronto as a young 'un (I think it may have been this one), but I can't remember a thing about it, other than some pigs, people in costume, and it being really muddy. Fortunately, that was not the experience we had today (the blistering sun for one kept the mud at bay). Furthermore, there were two added bonuses to the visit. First off, they were holding a Medieval Festival today, replete with vikings and jousting (not at the same time) amongst a host of other events. This we knew of before going, and was one of the reasons we went today. The second bonus was that the village is sited right beside Crysler Farm, that of 1813 fame.

Firrstly, some pics from the Medieval part of the day.

...and got to try out some others

We got to see all these warmachines in action...

Big'un gets to go for a ride on the knight's horse.

Full contact jousting.

A dragon and minstrel show.

Vikings marching to battle. I was surprised how easily the lil'un followed the chevaliers!

I was sorely tempted by the one with the wings!

Then it was back to the 1860's era village. A great mix of buildings with many roles within the village. Unlike a lot of this type of place, where you just look in and see old stuff, each one of the buildings had a volunteer playing the role of the owner of the building, and each one had very interesting stuff to pass on, as well as was able to answer any questions we had. The last little surprise, was, when looking at the map of the village, I noted one of the homes was named the Robertson House. Made me feel right at home! If you're in the area, I cannot recommend this place more highly.

In the end, the three things in one place was too much for one visit, and we didn't make it round the farm memorial site, so no pics of that. That plus the gorgeous weather all day left those of us with a soft northern complexion in need of retiring back to the air conditioned car before sun-stroke set in. The good news is that there was enough of the village still to see (and a train we didn't manage to go on), that we plan to come back another time (as it's still free for us for the rest of the year), at which point I intend to get a look at the site.

Book Review: All the Countries We've Ever Invaded

All the Countries We've Ever Invaded.

...and a Few We Didn't Get Round To.

Stuart Laycock.

This is the first of two books I bought at Heathrow, when last passing through. The We in the title refers to the British, hence buying it in the UK, however, the title of the book remains unchanged for the North American release of the book.

For the purposes of this book, invaded also includes disputes and incursions in the territorial waters of a country, pirate/privateer activity, as well as the incursion of armed explorers, as long as they working under the approval of the government.

For a brief resume of the countries we have not invaded (obviously the shorter list) there were a couple of newspaper articles that appeared when the book was released. This one in the Telegraph has a handy map, and a list at the bottom.

Clearly, though, as wargamers, we're much more interested in the ones we did invade, and that's where this book comes into its own. Every country in the world is listed, and under each entry a quick run down of how the British (or English, if pre-union) army has been involved there. This obvioulsy includes a great deal of our Colonial past, as well as giving a more rounded apprecition of the many theatres of opperation during the two world wars.

The book is also a wealth of little gems that, when researched a little, should give wonderful historical gaming scenarios. For example, that time in Vietnam, after the war, where British and Indian Troops, and an attached Japanese Batallion, took on the communist Viet Minh forces. Or that other time, when Royalists and Parliamentarians duked it out in the Carribean (Barbados stayed loyal to the Crown, so Cromwell sent an invasion force). The book is full of such little tid-bits.

The book is laid out as an alphabetical list by country, and therefore is easy to pick up and put down whilst reading. It also means that it works as a reference book (there is also a full index).

Sound like your kind of thing? Go look it up. I think it's worth the money.

Get it here on amazon.ca.

The Second World War in 7 Minutes

I'm not a huge fan of World War II gaming, but that doesn't preclude me, as a history enthusiast, from enjoying this little video. A great video, that shows, per day, how the borders of Europe changed during the war.

Taken from here. Thanks to Yaum for the heads up.

Battle of the Plains of Abraham

This one of of local interest, as it's the battle that decided the fate of the Province that I now live in. Today is the 254th anniversary of the Battle of the Plains Of Abraham, which happened on the 13th of Seoptember, 1759. An historic event indeed, in wich both leaders were mortally wounded during the battle.

So, to commemorate this battle, and the war of which it was part, I have a few of links of interest.

From the Warpath to the Plains of Abraham, a virtual museum.

A Soldier's account of the Seven Years War.

Wolfe and Montcalm. A short film (1957).

A link to a previous post on my blog, which, amongst other links, has a Black Powder scenario for this exact battle. I have yet to dabble with the scenario myself.

The Canadian Military History website, with lots of nice colour images for use as inspiration for painters.

Stewart Museum

There's a fort, just across the water from my house, that I have been meaning to go to for a long time. In fact, it has been a threatened Father's Day trip for the past 3 years. However, as the kids are a little too young, and would likely be really bored by it, it hasn't happened.

A few weeks ago, they did have free tickets for families, so we finally went along to see the place. There's not too much there, but I do plan to sneak over by myself one afternoon and really get a look around. There's plenty of inspiration for the historical wargamer and amateur historian to be picked up there.

Meanwhile, here's some pics of the trip to the Stewart Museum.

Map of the fort.

Some better pics can be found here.

RLS and Wargaming

Everyone and their dog who knows anything about wargaming these days knows that one of the fathers of the hobby, was H. G. Wells. His publication Little Wars is of course can still be picked up on Amazon in eBook format, for all to share and enjoy.

What I did not know, and I think I am not alone in this, but that I recently found out, was that famous author and Scotsman Robert Louis Stevenson, he of Treasure Island fame, was also a wargamer. True Story! As is evidenced by this article from Scribner's Magazine, published in December of 1898. True Victorian Wargaming.

I have yet to read the whole article, but I plan to do so this evening. I will however, leave you with this ode to our little men, as was printed at the end of the article. Yes, that's right, a poem by RLS about wargaming. What's more, it seems very little has changed since RLS's day, and he himself suffered from Shinybloodyitis!

A Martial Eligy for Some Lead Soldiers.

For certain soldiers lately dead,
Our reverent dirge shall here be said.
Them, when their martial leader called,
No dread preparative appalled;
But leaden-hearted, leaden-heeled,
I marked them steadfast in the field.
Death grimly sided with the foe,
And smote each leaden hero low.
Proudly they perished, one by one:
The dreaded pea-cannon's work was done!
O not for them the tears we shed,
Consigned to their congenial lead;
But while unmoved their sleep they take,
We mourn for their dear Captain's sake,
For their dear Captain, who shall smart,
Both in his pocket, and his heart,
Who saw his heros shed their gore,
And lacked a shilling to buy more!

 Cheers to Morgue for the link