You can download for free on the top right column clicking on the cover… it would take a minimum of time (about 3 minutes) because of the original colour pics (BTW the captions of them are silly printed at the end of the book… I do not know why but in 2016 it seemed a good idea!).
To cut a long story short one day I read you could edit and publish a book quite easily! (autoedit a book using createspace)… just on the point of ending my professional life as an architect I decided to write a book about my experiences with Toy Soldiers (my daughter counseled that better than writing about urban planning&landscape because I would hurt less people).
So I did, for a while I sold copies through amazon.com and amazon.co.uk (and even a Spanish version in amazon.es)… guess that I sold around two or three hundred copies including the kindle version. So far so good.
Then the IRS started pestering me about my supposed benefits… the correction of the English version costed far more that the pitance I got from the book returns… and I simply retired the copies from createspace. No vanity after all… it was fun for a while.
Then one day I asked my eldest son (a computer engineer with a doctorate and several masters I do not know how to explain myself…) if it would be possible to hang in this present webpage a downloadable free copy… and he said yes no problem!
So, there you have it!… the first drafts date back to 2006 or 2008… it was first written in Spanish (my maternal language)… and I assure you nobody was interested in Spain at all!… LOL… So I translated it myself to English (where the hobby still exists… I thought!) with awful results (the black cover first edition) and then once the critics in amazon said it was good intentioned but ilegible… I decided to put a remedy and then I paid for the services of a profesional corrector (something the IRS does not take account for). and there you have it.
BTW I pay my taxes in Andorra dutifully!
What happened after 2016 is in the Facebook Group under the title (obviously) MY TOY SOLDIERS AND ME…and this webpage/blog.
Many days without talking about books, without them the hobby would not exist… it is as simple as that. Get a view of what I have just finished or I am reading today… Nowadays you buy books either for cover&description or to get something you already know (meaning sometimes you read as you have written the thing yourself!), a well trodden path they say… I simply will not discuss Little Big Horn books (Custer at the end dies with all his battalion… not the complete 7th… sorry for the spoiler!)… I was fortunate enough to get Bill Rini’s article about Keogh’s fight from the author himself (excellent what if!)… all tales about Custer are WHAT IFS…
OK, nor more digressing… I am now reading HURRAH FOR THE LIFE OF A SAILOR! if I still could review in amazon (not that I am banned at all) I would gave it something like four stars… Interesting to a point… but I expected much more and less “chaff”. STILL RECOMMENDED MIND! (In fact it gets better once past the first chapters…)
On the table also a 5 stars book which is an oldie THE OXFORD HISTORY OF THE BRITISH ARMY… dense, full of data, hard to read quickly, you have to digest a lot of things specially from 1910 onwards. RECOMMENDED.
Allan Mallinson is best know for his works of fiction… but he wrote a cracking History book THE MAKING OF THE BRITISH ARMY… with some little holes in it. A solid 4 stars. How he can “pass” from INKERMAN is a puzzle… and his colonial African pages are not the best of the book… but a very good read. Also RECOMMENDED but if you have to choose get the anterior.
I am not a great reader of “Biographies” mainly because of the embellishments and down right lies on them or even search of sensationalism… but Churchill is a subject that has always fascinated me… THE LAST VICTORIAN AND THE FIRST LILIBETHIAN… I guess I found his early years much more interesting than most. If you like the man get it.
On a more dedicated (and to the point of this Blog) subject… an homage to Donald Featherstone his book BATTLES WIT MODEL SOLDIERS (5 stars and reedited) would have avoided me the trouble to write one myself if I had read it beforehand!… simply unavoidable for wargamers (specially NOSTALGIC!).
There, you can not expect much more on a Sunday morning!
Enjoy!
PS: I just bought THE GUARDS BRIGADE IN THE CRIMEA in amazon.es
Not a marvel… but quite down to earth… have too few books about the Royal Navy.Actually reading this one… very good.Not perfect but well written…Interested in his early years as a subaltern… but will read through to the end…Just finished… wish I have read it on the early eighties… a crack book!I added this excellent pic from The Vault as a Bonus!
Since seeing “The Four Feathers” (1939 version if you please!) film as a child the idea of a British “square” formation has been ingrained in my brain (not that it appears in the film at all but vaguely the idea is there when the Fuzzy-Wuzzies attack at dawn the lone company of Captain Durrance -already blinded by the Sun- and Burrows and Willoughby of course!
The reading many years later of SMALL WARS revealed to me nothing “new” but it is a book I recommend because it is a compendium of “obvious things to do” (but easily forgotten)… it took me a long time to read and digest (meaning that since begun I read and finished a lot of other books) because it was interesting and meticulous. It has been a long time since I recommended a book!
So today I chosed some old pics from my personal Vault to illustrate the point. Maybe when I get the remaining 16 figures from DORSET (sorry IMPERIAL MINIATURES nowadays) I will indulge in a new series with Khaki clad warriors.
Maybe you already have seen them but anyway…
Enjoy!
A Major (later Colonel) in the Artillery… and specially useful if you are a colonial wargamer or buff. Not the edition I’ve got… but that’s the one!A variation of my first one with Perry’s added to my Old Minifigs.The 54 mm version (aka ULUNDI times)I even did it with customized Playmobils (75mm).Not forgetting 6mm BaccusI used those well known pics on the cover and backcover of my Spanish Second Edition (unavailable because of the I.R.S. that was pesting me every year!… I am not American you kow… and I pay my taxes in Andorra!) So I deleted the books from amazon and that put an end to the harassing.The second and final English Edition (try ebay if you must)
Paul Watson’s Own… quite delightful if you ask me.
Sometimes, but not always, I ponder about the futility of it all… I mean what’s the real (or imaginary) purpose of this web page?… to keep you entertained? (I mean people I do not know but surely have the same interests as me)… so, you have your daily ration of Toy Soldiers from me?… surely not… Is it me?… meaning do I have such a boring old life nowadays that I feel the need to communicate with the rest of the world to “justify” my last days giving away my experiences?… LOL (It has been a hot night damn it!). Summer is prone to those divagations… so I better end in a positive note… gonna try to finish reading the OSPREY: THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG 1863 (1) (they have promised two more volumes)… and for once they have nailed the text , the info, and AT LAST! the illustrations (and I mean the new art in colour) the old photographs we know by heart!… A book I can recommend without reservation.
The guidon is wrong in colors and number… but a nice impression overall. Seen in Facebook.Much much much more realistic… as seen in Facebook too!
25th of June… LBH day… so many different approaches to it in a long lifetime… at seven years of age I would have followed Errol Flynn anywhere (Custer or the real Custer was not important at all). As so many others I was hooked on THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON… great Hollywood historical fiction… that Anthony Quinn (Crazy Horse) would end as a Catholic Pope on the flick THE FISHERMAN’S SHOES is not here not there… But I digress…
The Little Big Horn has a pathos of their own… we in Europe have Leonidas and the Thermopylae… Americans have Custer… If you read about a hundred of books on the matter (as I did) you will discover that Custer will die no matter what… and that he put himself and his battalion in a NO WIN-NO WIN situation.
The best books in my collection are those by Frederick Wagner III… you do not need to read much further than those. But there are other more general that are a good read too.
Must read… specially second from the left.
Of course at Seventy I would not have enlisted in the Seventh Cavalry in the first place… that is how time changes your perspective!
Honour the death (on both sides) of what will become the native american’s swan song…
Incidentally over the years I have build the 7th Cavalry in 15mm (MINIFIGS), 28mm (FOUNDRY), 75mm (PLAYMOBIL) and finally in 6mm (BACCUS proxies). A long life wargaming obsession…
Tired of seeing this one?… every year I am afraid… Riding to posterity (if not “glory”)
Sadly I di not take pics of the impressive 15mm lot… a pity perhaps… sold them long time ago… if 15mm is your thing there are no better “Injuns” in the market than MINIFIGS… the 28mm FOUNDRY are the most “historically accurate”.
Last Stand Hill in 28mm
and last but not least the man himself (quite idealized I agree)
Andrea Miniatures (54mm) I guess…
I will not resist the temptation and I adjoint my Playmobils too!
It finally has evolved in a long post today… but probably something in it would interest you (if you have read so far!).
Smacks of P.C. Wren… or BEAU GESTE to be more precise. The world is divided in two big groups those who have read it and those who do not care…
A book that is “different” in such a way… that the “lessons” you learn are not the same at 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 or 70 years of age. I know because I have read it at those ages and the perspective changes a lot. A critic would accuse Wren of racism, xenofobia, antisemitism, prejudices, mysoginia, white (anglo-saxon) supremacy, his phobia about “mixing races” etc etc etc… but he penned a masterpiece about “the decent thing to do”. It’s a fictional novel but with “morals”, it is a novel of adventure (boy’s own) but only in the surface… it is a Police Mystery novel (a “polar” the French say) but not quite… is it a “love story” (only in a way)… it is a Military novel and the abuse of power… (not at all but it served me right when I did my compulsory military service in the Spanish Army when the Sahara was still in Spanish hands… 13 months of boredom… so I know what “le cafard” is first hand)… I recently gave copies of the book to my grandchildren… would they ever read it?… I do not know at all… but I have passed it away anyhow…
Hope they do a lavish edition for the Centenary of its first publication.
Scot’s Greys on foot… he loves them!The hardback copy (must get one pronto!)
Somewhere else in this collection of posts I have already mentioned his great contribution to Toy Soldier literature (specially Britain’s), and still consider his book COLLECTING TOY SOLDIERS “the” reference book. Of course he advises Auctions and has a job connected with buying and selling items… but this is not here not there. He has (still) a fantastic collection (much revised and streamlined if you know what I mean). So he deserves a Post of his own. Enjoy.
Quite by chance yesterday I finished reading the Bruce Catton’s book on the ACW on the anniversary of Lee’s surrender -and the subsequent end of the ACW war to all purposes- I could quote from this concise (and to the point) resume the courage and bravery of the soldiers on both sides but as it is a well known fact there is not need. It is probably the best single book about the ACW I have ever read (do not search in it “Ride on you Wolverines” details…) it clearly puts on writing that it was a NO WIN NO WIN situation for the South from beginning to end… but it showed spirit and incredible feats (both faces: brilliancy and incompetence)… I have read Shelby Foote Trilogy and even him acknowledge the fact that the Union would have prevailed in the end no matter what. It is a recommended read that would leave you wanting for more… Enjoy
My paperback edition.
Incidentally yesterday was also the Shiloh anniversary.
Multitude of versions black&white, silent, Technicolor… you name it… it has been done seriously, for fun, with songs… whatever really… so here it is a small tribute…
The Three Musketeers as seen in FaceBook… again Militay Modeling quality.
After taking a peek at the Outro of my book I guess it is time to say that 6mm won. The decade or so that I toyed with Playmobils is gone forever, mind, it was FUN and no dealing (well a bit) with paints and rigid figures (lead toy soldiers have a definite “position” and you can not change it) was a novelty for me -of course I could not resist painting some extra details on them- but what was really amusing was to dissemble them and do other figures exchanging parts- that way you could get the soldiers Playmobil never produced (even if they produced the parts!).
The more convoluted and complicated conversions/customizacions I ever did with Playmobils. Now in the Armies of my grandchildren!
So, the movements Up & Down in scale after a deep crisis with my beloved for years 25/28mm ended with an exclusive dedication to 6mm. I sold or gave as gifts to my grandchildren the vast majority of Playmobils and kept some for good old times sake. Currently in my office Cabinets there are only the Trooping of the Colour set, and the complete 7th Cavalry at the Little Big Horn (1/5 aprox scale)
Baccus 6mm has won the contest without doubt and it is a scale I am really satisfied with for wargaming purposes. Gone are the days of detail obsession, fear of derision at doing something wrong on the painting scheme (never painted “eyes” on my 25mm), the ever present search of the perfect set of rules, and other aspects that were nagging me as the lack of room to maneuver, the always secure flanks, the difficulty to present the tail of an Army, Lines of Communication and so on. There were intelligent tricks to represent all this on the tabletop in the larger scales… but got fed up with them in the end: dice to see if that flanking troops arrive!; dice to see in which place of the table!; take a chance card! etc. It was becoming Monopoly.
Maybe I should have explained earlier that for me not all the fun comes from winning a wargame, not anymore, it is equally interesting the disposition of forces in a marching Column, its movements, the scouting ahead and the flanks and rear, and the correct orders and ways to attack or pin down and flank an enemy position that a battle head to head so many times done in 25/28mm. I can move troops in 6mm! Suddenly couriers and vedettes have a meaning, where the troops “are placed” also, and moving them around is a serious business I enjoy. This of course is mainly done in small Colonial periods aka Punitive expeditions in the NW Frontier, Desert warfare in North Africa with the XIXth Corps (French you know), Tamai affairs (Osman Digna), Custer’s Battalion movements (an interesting mystery), Doomed Charges of Cavalry (or not), they all have the BONUS of space in my old tabletop. Of course that not exclude big battles as in the ACW period but are today less of an obsession and not the only target.
So, to sum up and end this post 2016 actualization:
1) I have a nice -for me- 54mm traditional New Toy Soldier Collection on display and add items to its themes very very slowly and carefully!… It is real interesting when I find a firm as Replicametalsoldiers&models (Andrew Stevenson) who can do “special things” on demand. No change of main themes in the offing, but toying of with my own version of A GENTLEMAN’S WAR with 54mm… will keep you posted about that (a 2020 project).
2) Playmobils are in my past. But I still skirmish or parade them when my grandchildren are in the mood… not often enough.
Naval battles no more…
3) 6mm is my actual passion, I keep saying to myself: This is the last order… this is the last parcel to the painters… I have to write down some really good rules for 6mm just in case my brother turns up unexpectedly and we have a game like in the good old days… only reason why I built those ACW Rebels!.
4) The old Boardgames of my childhood have new figures (METAURO has Baccus 6mm), and Little Big Horn has kept the only 25/28mm figures I own today a mix of Dixon’s for the 7th and Old Tradition of London for the Native Americans… Nowadays waiting for the release of the Hostiles by Baccus to get even another possible way to game the LBH outside the limits of the old boardgame. Incidentally I must mention that I have over one hundred books about the LBH alone… quite obsessive about it! And even a couple of Hex based Boardgames like my brother enjoys!
And I hope that makes clear what I am up to at the beginning of 2020!, finally decided to build a 54mm force to “play with” NOT a cabinet display unit… jus a FUN purpose game. Blame Mr. Howard Whitehouse book “A GENTLEMAN’S WAR”.
For old Napoleonic good times sake let me recommend to you those imprescindible books by HEIMDAL… The French Line Infantry is due in May 2020. Still wondering if I will indulge on the period again… OMG!.
