Napoleon in Egypt - Part 1

Napoleon in Egypt - part one - uniforms

"Napoleon's Egyptian Campaigns 1798-1801" by Michael Barthorp  Osprey MAA 79 Pub: 1978 - reprinted 2002

"The aims of this book is to provide an outline of the campaigns and to examine in greater detail the armies which marched and fought amid the desert sands and the relics of earlier civilisations."

It concentrates on the French & British - the Ottomans get 5 paras (roughly one page), no plates and two, dedicated, black & white illustrations.

I didn't expect too much from this book(let) - good job - as it is in dire need of updating/revision.

For more uniforms (especially Ottomans) I suggest looking at this blog:
http://miniaturasmilitaresalfonscanovas.blogspot.co.uk/
(scroll down on the right to Egipto Napoleonico)

The colour plates need no explanation but an earlier series has text in French which is beyond my limited linguistic abilities.

A few more Ottomans here: 

https://www.ottoman-uniforms.com/1657-till-1845-egyptian-army/

Finding any more uniform info will require purchasing a number of books - don't know if I can justify the outlay for a side project....hmmm!

Weekly Roundup

Saturday 20th January 2018 - WDW - a big game of "To The Strongest".  I missed the club practice a few weeks ago but still got drafted into the inter-club game (v York).  It was a three-table scrap between Yorkists and Lancastrians (Wars of the Roses) and the 'home' side won convincingly.  OK first the gripes - far too many mounted knights on the table.  Classified as 'later knights' they were far too strong (WoR knights are always rated as Inferior in other rules and mostly fight dismounted).  Perhaps they should have been counted as 'raw'!  On the plus side it was an interesting introduction to the rules which have similarities to 'Square Bashing'.  Even though there are no dice our Lancastrians managed to pull more than their fair share of Aces.

Wednesday 23rd January 2018 - finished reading a Dr Who book "The Price of Paradise".  Had this nagging feeling that I had read it before but I couldn't remember the plot.  There are some advantages to a failing memory then.....

Purchases & Delivery

Sunday 14th January 2018 - Halifax

Another visit to Halifax Modellers World - my two purchases:

Strelets M127 - Arab Foot Rebels

A new period that I am investigating.  Lawrence of Arabia and all that in WW1. 
PSR ref: http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/FirstLook.aspx?id=2581

Some of the figures are suitable for earlier 'colonial' periods such as the Rif Wars.  Might even be able to make up a force of arab slavers.  Need to make a list of late 19th / early 20C conflicts.

HaT 8098 - Napoleonic British sailors and Marines
http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=644
A quick look at the PSR review made me think that the marines could be used for the Haitian fight.  What I didn't expect was so many ships' cannon and crew (really - 8 per gun!!!).

Thinking a bit more I remembered that I had once considered making a Pirate force for DBA-RRR.   Orion, Mars and LW make pirate sets with the former providing the best figures.  If I ever see any I will purchase. Until then  half this box is destined for the storage crate.

Monday 15th January 2018 - WDW

DBM: Hsi-Hsia v Sung Chinese - lots of Bw(X)/(O) - our central command broke on the last bound.
Lion Rampant - Siege of Wakefield (again) - seems to have been a better game this time with holes in three walls.


Wednesday 17th January 2018

This slim volume finally turned up from Wordery - it was ordered before xmas - not good service.  Only features French & British troops - no Ottomans!


Thursday 18th January 2018

Found an alternative DBR Buccaneer list and started to convert it to DBA-RRR.  So far it splits into 2 x English, 2 x French & 1 x Dutch.  Will return to this subject later (hopefully next week).

Trials & Tribulations

Monday 8th January 2018 - WDW

DBM - Later Pre-Islamic Arabs v Later Carthaginian - another boring draw.
Square Bashing - Germans v Brits 1914
Small Star Empires (tile game) x 3


Weekly Round-up

(a)  Monday 18th Dec 2017:
DBM - Philistines v Later Mycenaean (draw)
Hitler's War (boardgame)

(b)  http://regles.wargames.monsite-orange.fr/index.html
Some free rules - Ancients, Victorian & 20thC in English
Also some flags for ACW.

(c)  Still waiting for my Napoleon in Egypt book.  Latest email gives apology for the delay. 

(d)  Next Monday I will be using Hsi-Hsia from the v2 DBMM army lists.  Working on a viable list while my cat is looking for attention - sigh!

(e)  No central heating so freezing my socks off.  Engineer yet to turn up today.  Not looking forward to the bill or the results of my MOT. 

A New Year

Tuesday 2nd January 2018

A new edition of "Wargamers Notes" is out:

 

CONTENTS:
Basing Points to Ponder
Eureka Stockade - Part 2
Configurable Ship Models - ‘multi ship’
Simplicity and Brevity in Wargame Design – 
A Statistical Third
Quick Tips - Memories and History on eBay
Suggestions on How to Add Value to Your  Hobby Experience
Hannut May 1940 - a Rapid Fire Game
Winter War Basing

I really like this on-line magazine with it's eclectic mix of articles. Contact:  wargamersnotebook@gmail.com


WEEKLY ROUND-UP

In future I will be putting all non date-specific items here.


(a)  3 more DBA v3.0 videos from Tony Aguilar & Co:

Middle Imperial Roman East vs. Palmyran DBA 3.0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OvM4Gja7xc&feature=youtu.be

Early Imperial Roman vs. Nabatean DBA 3.0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbzX51jUD9U&feature=youtu.be

Tibetans vs. Umayyad DBA 3.0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1G2SPrukvE&feature=youtu.be

(b)  "Napoleon's Overseas Army" by Rene Chartrand & Francis Back
     [Osprey 211 reprint]

I purchased this, thin, book as a supplement to my Napoleon in Egypt project (the other Osprey book has yet to arrive).  It looks promising as an introduction to other theatres of war for my languishing plastics.


(c)  Much (on-line) discussion on changes to DBMM army lists with their second additions.  Books 1 & 4 seem most affected.  Obviously WRG will not provide errata / update sheets as they want to force people to buy 4 more expensive books.  If I ever get around to purchasing them myself I will post updates to the WDW site.


(d)  Read the last two articles in Slingshot 315 - both re-fights of Arsuf.  "DBA & HotT" was ok whilst "Sword & Spear" was more interesting (in spite of me knowing nothing about these rules).  Overall I would give this issue 6/10.