Museum Trip... and a New Book

Hello everyone!

Not much more in the way of painted figs, but I thought that y'all might enjoy some pictures that I took this past weekend when I was able to visit a couple of neat museums with my family. I was able to meet with my parents and younger sister on vacation in San Diego, and we took the time to enjoy the beautiful weather exploring the Maritime Museum of San Diego and the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum. I mainly managed to take pictures of ship models (which I've always loved), though I did get a good picture of the Midway's island. A couple of the displays at the Maritime Museum were even Napoleonic themed: how about that?

Anyway, less talk, more pictures (remember to click on the pictures for bigger versions):

A really cool model of the HMS Victory.

A really neat little diorama of the Battle of Trafalgar. Each ship is individually modelled with masts and rigging and labeled. The ships are approximately the size of the Sails of Glory miniatures.

"England expects..."

A ship-in-a-bottle of the USS Constitution, veteran of the War of 1812.

A very intricate ship model.

A model of the Star of India, the ship these pictures were taken aboard.

Another Star of India model.

The Star of India, the world's oldest working sailing ship, and one of if not the oldest iron ships.

A model of the Vasa.

A model of the Mary Rose.

A Dutch warship of the 17th Century.

 

My one picture of the Midway. A HUGE ship and a really cool museum.

(P.S. I took these pictures with my new smart phone, so some turned out better than others. However, I do see some significant potential for my phone and blogging.)

I was also very excited to find that the gift shop at the Maritime Museum had a BUNCH of Napoleonic Era naval books on hand, namely due to the fact that the museum is the berthing for the reconstructed HMS Surprise, which was used in the filming of Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with Russell Crowe (sadly she was not there when I visited; I believe she was undergoing repairs at drydock). I was very thrilled (I "nerded out" according to my mother) when I discovered that they had the entire Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O'Brien and the entire Hornblower series of books for sale, something which I've never run across before. I also picked this up:

A very nice Osprey book with lots of pictures of uniforms, some awesome illustrations, and a bunch of good information on the officers of the Royal Navy during the early Napoleonic Wars.

All in all I had a wonderful time visiting these museums, and was blessed that I was able to do so with my family. So if you're ever in the San Diego area, be sure to check these museums out; there is a lot more to see and do besides look at ship models, with several ships you can get into and explore. Sadly no pictures of these, so you'll have to check them out for yourself!

Coming soon: I think I did a bad... it should be arriving in the next day or so.

Questions, comments and criticisms are always welcomed and appreciated. Thanks for looking!

-Chuck

Great Deal on a New Rulebook Expansion (For Me)

Hello everyone!

It seems like all I do is post more books to this blog nowadays instead of minis... oh well. Another book came in the mail for me... yesterday? I'm pretty sure it was yesterday. Here's Triumph of Nations, the 1809-1815 expansion for Field of Glory: Napoleonic, written by Terry Shaw and Mike Horah.

Triumph of Nations, written by Terry Shaw and Mike Horah

As readers of this blog may or may not know, I picked up the core set of rules, Field of Glory: Napoleonic, back in January for use as a "big battles" ruleset. Triumph of Nations is a supplement to the core rules, establishing army lists for number of different campaigns in from late 1809 through the 100 Days and the final defeats of Napoleon in 1815. Useful to me in particular are the lists for the French invasion of Russia in 1812, which includes both Russian and French/Allied army lists. This is but one of many campaigns covered, however, with lists for the 1809 Austrian Campaign, the British Walcheren Expedition, the Russo-Turkish Wars, the 1813 Campaign, the 1814 Invasion of France, and the 1815/100 Days Campaigns. While I normally game the Peninsula, the 1812 Invasion of Russia and the American War of 1812, a lot of these other army lists make my mouth water a little bit... must resist!

Really the only reason I picked this book up was because I found it cheap. Whilst browsing through the discount section of one of my favorite online wargaming stores, I saw that this one had been added. While normally selling for $34.95 (or so the back cover tells me), I paid a mere $8.74! I couldn't pass up that kind of deal, even if it isn't 100% tailored to what I normally game.

Scattered throughout the book are snippets of information about the campaigns covered, which his handy for any scholar of the period. The quality of the book is excellent; well laid out, nice printing, and nice solid hardback cover. All in all I'm quite pleased with this purchase.

Coming soon: maybe some more French that I started back in May and never finished. I did put the flock on those older bases from when I didn't have Elmer's glue, so I'll post some follow up pictures of those as well.

Questions, comments and criticisms are always welcomed and appreciated. Thanks for looking!

-Chuck

Birthday Book Review

Hello everyone!

It's been a bit since my last post, things have slowed down quite a bit for me as real life has gotten in the way. Also, I really haven't had a lot of things to talk about. That's changed though, so here I am!

Before I left for Navy boot camp back in February I gave my parents a list of books that I wanted for my birthday in June, just in case my duties took me someplace where I couldn't get a list to them in time. So, as my birthday rolled around, I was pleased to get a number of packages in the mail containing the books I had asked for so long ago! They arrived over the past month or so, so I waited until I got all of them in before I reviewed them.

The books I asked for are all concerned with the French Revolutionary Wars and the early Napoleonic Wars. I decided that my personal Napoleonic library was lacking and had neglected the early wars, so I sought to remedy this.

The first book is Marine of Revolution and Consulate by Moreau de Jonnes, a first-person account of a French Marine serving first in the National Guard following the Revolution before transferring to the Marine Artillery, where he served at the Siege of Toulon, against the Royal Navy at sea, at Quiberon Bay in opposition of the Vendee rebellion, in the Irish Rebellion, and finally in the Caribbean. I thought it would be interesting to see the early Revolutionary Wars from the perspective of a French soldier who fought in them.

Marine of Revolution and Consulate, by Moreau de Jonnes

The second book I received was The Art of War of Revolutionary France, 1789 -1802 by Paddy Griffith. This is a historical monograph which covers many different aspects of the French military during the Revolutionary Wars. As a matter of fact, I used this book as a source a few years ago in a paper for my French Revolution class in college. It is an excellent source of information covering the tactics, armies and leadership of the early Revolutionary Wars.

The Art of War of Revolutionary France, 1789 -1802, by Paddy Griffith

Finally, and because I am a sucker for books on uniforms, I received Uniforms of the French Revolutionary Wars, 1879-1802 by Philip Haythornthwaite, illustrated by Christopher Warner. As can be expected of a Haythornthwaite uniform volume, this beautifully illustrated and meticulously researched book is a great resource for miniature painters (like me!). The color plates in this book cover all of the major belligerents and most of the minors ones that fought with or against France during the Revolutionary period. This book is my favorite of the three because of the pretty pictures.

Uniforms of the French Revolutionary Wars, 1879-1802, by Philip Haythornthwaite, illustrated by Christopher Warner

I am quite pleased with all of these books and am glad that they are now a part of my library. Will this mean that I'm going to start painting French Revolutionary Wars figures? Probably not, but I am a student of the Napoleonic Wars as a whole and wanted some books on the early wars.

Coming soon: I'm not sure... not had much painting mojo here lately. I may put the flock on the Kentuckians and French I completed back in May.

Questions, comments and suggestions are always welcomed an appreciated. Thanks for looking!

-Chuck