Book Review - Napoleon in Egypt: Paul Strathern

A gripping and exciting read.

In a rare instance of books living up to dust-jacket hype, Paul Strathern's book is indeed 'remarkably rich and eminently readable.' (This is from my edition, which is a Bantam hardback, as pictured above.) Several other reviewers have already covered a number of key points of interest in this excellent book, so I'll just mention a few things that struck me as particularly intriguing. For one thing, considered in conjunction with his Italian exploits, undertaken just prior to this Egyptian adventure, these episodes of Napoleon's early life might be taken as a premonitory microcosm of his larger career, a fact Strathern himself reflects upon near the books close.

Having taken on the Mamelukes and put them to flight, bringing Egypt more or less to heel, Napoleon had to deal with the aggravated landlords; Egypt was part of the Ottoman Empire at this point. The 'Turks', as they were then known, had been French allies, but they now joined with England, and even their own traditional enemy Russia, to oust the Republican infidels. The consequent French expedition to Syria, to meet this threat, has interesting parallels with that to Russia, inasmuch as Napoleon's and Berthier's much vaunted organisational skills don't seem at their peak. Just as Napoleon's normal modus operandi unravelled in Russia, so in Syria he failed to see every eventuality. This last fact stands in contrast with the myth of Napoleon's omniscience [1], a facet of Napoleon's genius much trumpeted by many writers, including Strathern himself (as on p 19: 'he learned to consider all the options ...', etc.).

Another image from the Fitzwilliam Museum Napoleonic prints

exhibition, currently on display in Cambridge. This one showing

Bonaparte in Egypt. Apologies for the poor quality of my photo!

However, with an ominous foreboding of what would later happen in Russia, Napoleons's troops, and even more so his horses, were not adequately prepared for conditions in Syria. In what Strathern calls 'a classic military mix up' French forces were finally issued with lightweight clothing, suitable to their initial theatre of operations, just as they embarked on a new campaign, during a change of season and under very different conditions: having sweated it out in the Egyptian delta wearing heavy European cloth, they were destined to endure the cold and wet conditions of winter along the eastern Mediterranean seaboard clad in lightweight summer fabrics!

The parallels with Russia extend beyond mere lack of preparedness in the clothing department, in that the crossing of the Sinai desert, closely followed by the siege of El Arish, found the French running out of supplies. As in Russia, living off the land frequently simply wasn't viable. One anecdote which illustrates this in a way both amusing and horrifying, whilst sounding uncannily like countless 1812 stories, is the mention of a major who, on awaking, discovers his troops have eaten his horse during the night! Everyone was suffering, again just as in Russia, but particularly the luckless equine contingent, whose reward for being long-suffering undernourished beasts of burden would often be to end up as dinner themselves.

The current UK edition looks like this.

Having noted all this, overall the expedition had been going reasonably well, the one major exception being Nelson's resounding defeat of the French fleet at the Battle Of The Nile (the one aspect of the campaign English readers are likely to be most familiar with). Despite this, Egypt had been successfully occupied and largely pacified, with Desaix's campaign into Upper Egypt, a model of success, forming the fascinating core of several chapters mid-way though this superb book. Napoleon's foes were regularly and soundly beaten, a serious rebellion in Cairo was successfully contained and put down. Certainly the clash of two very different cultures, namely Enlightenment-influenced post-revolutionary France, and the Mameluke ruled primitive conservatism of Islamic Egypt, looked very tricky to resolve. This mismatch remained at all times, barely below the surface, threatening to undo anything the French might achieve very rapidly, as ultimately proved to be the case. Had the French held on to this part of their empire longer, who knows what the global geopolitical outcomes might have been?

One of the many areas Strathern does an admirable job of covering, an area one might expect the more military buff type writer to perhaps gloss over, was the role of the 'savants'. Napoleon was inordinately proud to have been elected a member of the Institute of France. So much so that this part of his official title preceded his military rank during this period. Not only is this interesting in itself but, via a passing reference to how Napoleon was modelling his exploits on those of one of his heroes, Alexander The Great, we also learn that Ancient Greek 'natural philosophy' was closer to modern science in some respects than is often made out. A fascinating example is the savants collecting flora and fauna as they move through territories that are being occupied, sending samples back (to Cairo in this instance), much as Alexander had done in sending back specimens to Aristotle. Fascinating!

Gillray mocks the French savants in Egypt.

Strathern occasionally speculates on aspects of Napoleon's character, sometimes in what sounds like semi-Freudian pop-psychology terms, but fortunately he doesn't go in for too much of this, and what little there is is couched in purely speculative and gently understated terms. Of all such instances, the most striking is when he refers to Boney's annoyance and frustration during the slow-moving attrition of the Syrian campaign, noting that the setbacks he faced didn't undermine his sense of destiny, which, in Strathern's words, 'was his substitute for self knowledge.' 

The massacres perpetrated at Jaffa are horrifying to read about, and went on for about a week, starting with the drunken bloodbath after the initial breach and only ending with three days of systematic butchery, as the remnants of the garrison (who'd holed up in the citadel, and then surrendered to Napoleon's aides, Beauharnais and Crosier) were put to death. In typical dictator fashion Napoleon manages to justify his actions to himself, but many of his compatriots are all too aware that this could not be whitewashed. At the same time the bubonic plague was striking and, in marked contrast to his actions in ordering the massacre, Boney visited his sick troops: 'Is it mere accident that this hazardous and selfless act should have come just a day after he had been responsible for the most cold-blooded atrocity he would ever commit?' [2]

This was a gripping, exciting read. Now that I'm finished I've got a need for more!

Gillray received detailed instructions from his Tory paymasters

as to the composition and content of this incredible image.

----------

Notes:

[1] I don't mean to say in using the term myth that these ideas are totally unfounded, merely that in celebrating heroic charisma they are sometimes overstated.

[2] Strathern comments on what he regards as Napoleon's 'erroneous belief in willpower and ... overweening self-belief', hinting that Napoleon felt himself, as a man of destiny, safe from the contagion of plague. True or not, Bonaparte was both brave and foolhardy to take such a risk.

Book Review: Bonaparte and the British - Clayton & O'Connell

'Museums have exploited Napoleon's fame from 1815 to the present...'

Not only does the British Museum continue the above-mentioned tradition, it also owes its very existence, in its current form, to emulation of Napoleon's cultural legacy. [1] 

Bonaparte and the British is a sumptuously illustrated compendium of Napoleonic-themed visual delights, produced to accompany the show of the same name at the British Museum (the show runs from 5th Feb to 16th Aug, 2015). The vast majority of the exhibits, splendidly reproduced in this very handsome volume, are prints, a medium that was then enjoying a golden age in Britain.

In the background of Gillray's Slippery Weather we see Hannah Humphrey's

print-shop window. As ever an appreciative crowd is assembled to admire the

many topical caricatures, a good deal of which are Gillray's own designs.

The book begins, after a brief scene-setting introduction, with two short chapters about the British and French uses of prints at the time. Their titles, 'The London Print Trade: Commerce, Patriotism and Propaganda', and 'Napoleon and the Print as Propaganda' give you an idea of their general content, as well as signalling an intent to give an even-handed treatment to a traditionally partisan subject. After that the prints and other exhibits, 165 in total - beginning with a print of Napoleon as First Consul, and ending with a plaster cast of his death mask - are grouped into 10 sections, following the chronology of Napoleon's life during the tumultuous period of history which has subsequently borne his name:

The young general

Egypt

Consul and peacemaker

Little Boney and the invasion threat

Emperor

Trafalgar and Austerlitz: triumph and disaster

Spain and Russia

Leipzig and the collapse of empire

Peace of Paris, Elba and Waterloo

After Waterloo 

Canova's neo-classical portrait bust of Napoleon.

I don't know whether it's a change in me, a change in the institution of the BM itself, or something else entirely, but ever since hearing the museum's director, Neil MacGregor, present the absolutely wonderful series A History of the World in 100 Objects [2], I've found myself able to become interested in, even sometimes fascinated by, a far wider range of exhibits than I was before.

In the exhibition and this catalogue there are, as well as the very numerous prints, a number of ancillary objects, such as coins, medals, pottery and suchlike - even some genuine Napoleonic 'relics' - as well as a few examples of the more ordinary categories like drawings and sculpture, which, if you take the trouble to read about them, offer up all kinds of fascinating insights.

But the stars of the show are undoubtedly the beautifully reproduced prints. These range from earnestly pro-Napoleonic images, mostly but not exclusively French, via examples of straightforward classical allegory and beautifully depicted battle scenes, to the satirical prints of numerous nations, chiefly - and unsurprisingly given the title of the book and exhibition - British. The works of these British artists, and James Gillray's most of all, show very clearly why this is regarded as a golden age of English satirical printmaking.

The whole of The Plumb Pudding In Danger,

a cropped version of which appears of the

cover of this excellent book.

Gillray is undoubtedly the star of the earlier part of this period, with Cruikshank (son George, as opposed to father Isaac) perhaps taking over this position in the later stages. Gillray in particular, whose life story would make an interesting subject in itself, is confirmed as the master of the satirical print. His memorable images - 'The Plum Pudding In Danger' (above), for example, which features on the cover - are biting and exuberant: masterpieces of invention, design and execution, as well as fascinating studies in the attitudes of the day, they crown both book and show.

The modern notion, an idea that's only really held sway for a tiny proportion of the history of art, in which an artist is not only the maker of their art but the originator of the ideas, is dangerous when applied here. Gillray's first images show sympathy for the Enlightenment ideals of Revolutionary France, but the vast bulk of British satirical prints, including his, are very much the propaganda of the establishment Tory right. 

Whatever artists like Gillray felt personally, they were, for the most part, acting on the instructions and in the pay of the British establishment. Gillray himself, for example, being the recipient of a government 'pension'. This was actually a wage, and not what we think of as a pension: he was abandoned to poverty and insanity in the end! The text of Bonaparte and the British illuminates the close relationships between artists and politicians, with much of Gillray's most political work being very minutely directed by the high ranking Tory George Canning.

Maniac ravings: alas poor Gillray, twas he who

actually went insane, and not 'Little Boney'!

Some of the satirical printmakers lend their talents to polemicists on either side of the political divide, and there certainly were also dissenting voices. It's fascinating to view and read this material and contemplate the interplay between the apparent freedom of the prints to say many diverse and sometimes shocking things, and the reality of control and repression, a story played out in Britain and elsewhere (e.g. Czarist Russia) as well as Napoleonic Europe. [3] 

In some ways the Napoleonic wars are far from over: Andrew Roberts' recent Napoleon The Great seeks to rehabilitate Bonaparte for an English readership that can't quite shake off images - the 'Corsican Upstart' or 'Little Boney' - so assiduously fostered by much of the printed propaganda shown here. Confronted with page after page of the extravagantly exaggerated vitriol known as the 'Black Legend' it's hard not to conclude that Napoleon had become the repository for all the bilious outpourings of anti-enlightenment conservatism. 

Bonaparte's alleged atrocities are rehearsed and recited ad nauseum in many of the prints shown here, alongside frequent evocations of Napoleon as in league with Satan. It's hard not to feel that there was something rotten at the heart of establishment British attitudes towards Napoleon. It was this sort of material that helped turn William Cobbet from a royalist to a reformer: having been appalled at the way Napoleon was being caricatured, he would soon see himself mercilessly lampooned in the works of Gillray and others. 

George Cruikshank: Murat reviewing the Grand Army.

The powers on British right were merciless to their own perceived 'enemies within', such as Cobbett, or the Whig Charles James Fox (see Gillray's Tree of Liberty print, not in this book or show, but reproduced near the end of this post). Napoleon had hoped that he could win over the Ancien Regime powers, and be accepted into their circle, hence his marriage to Marie Louise. 

But ultimately, far from securing a place at the top table, Napoleon evolved into the official and remarkably singular focal point, at first metaphorically and finally, at the Congress of Vienna, literally, for the reactionary backlash of the Ancien Regime against Enlightenment ideas. [4] By making Bonaparte the fall guy, they were able to distract their own peoples from the backward looking autocratic natures of the regimes and social orders those same people were fighting and dying to uphold.

Rowlandson casts Bonaparte as the

spawn of Satan, in The Devils Darling.

A young civic Napoleon, in a watercolour

by Edouard Detaille, wearing the outfit of an

Academcian (This doesn't appear in the book). 

Napoleon's rise to prominence was achieved on the back of his successful defence of post-revolutionary France, so it could be argued that the Ancien Regime powers created him as much as Revolutionary France herself ever did. Who knows if Volney's description of the young Napoleon as 'member of the National Institute, peacemaker of Europe' might not have been a true and accurate description, had post-revolutionary France been left alone? 

Once the brief peace of Amiens ended, when England declared war on France, the perpetual assault on the country viewed as the hotbed of revolution by those Ancien Regime powers was resumed. They never let up until after Waterloo. Apart from a few debacles (in South America and Holland), Britain's active role was limited. Thanks to the audacity of Nelson, which cost him his life, we scored two notable naval successes. But on land our only sizeable contribution, until Waterloo (and even there we were only a small part of a mixed allied force) was the Iberian or Peninsular campaign, which didn't get off to the best of starts.

Gillray's amazing Grand Coronation Procession of Napoleone. Using the Italianate forms of Buonaparte's name was a favourite ruse of Boney-baiting Brit hacks. 

As Napoleon's French media liked to point out, England's chiefly role was as agitator and financial backer (see two prints down). It was the wars France's enemies continually made upon her, funded by British money (the need to fund these wars saw the introduction of income tax here in Britain) that raised Napoleon, and as long as Britain bankrolled successive coalitions - seven formed against France in this period - his gift for swift and decisive warmaking would help him become ever more powerful. So it could be argued that they effectively forced him into becoming the caricature warmonger they had always made him out to be.

On the other hand it has to be borne in mind that he himself said 'Conquest has made me what I am, and conquest alone can maintain me'. But this was, I believe, something he said in his memoirs, when a lifetime of near continual conflict lay behind him. Napoleon also said that 'History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon'. It's interesting that, in relation to the history of his times, the argument rumbles on.

John Bull's Luncheon, another Gillray gem.

I've always felt mystified, even somewhat ashamed, at the way Britain has viewed it's roles in relation to both revolutionary America and revolutionary France: we lost our war with the U.S, and don't talk much about it. But we were instrumental in helping defeat a similar move towards more democratic society in France, and have crowed about it ever since. Of course there were those, from Fox and the Hollands to Byron and Cobbett, who felt at the time that there was something amiss in the caricatured vilification of Napoleon.

Fortunately the book and the show include both the official and the dissenting British views, as well as those of our allies and adversaries. And just as there was here, there was a diversity of opinion amongst the French, from royalists to Bonapartists, and beyond. The image of the British as a 'nation of slaves' fighting and financing wars to prevent the spread of liberty was a central plank in Napoleon's propaganda. This was a view rarely aired this side of The Channel, the or since. It's good that this show doesn't gloss over these other views.

Francois II Partant Pour La Guerre: an anonymous French

engraving shows a fat red-coated personification of Britain

handing Francis II of Austria a bag of money. The figure behind

the curtain talks of conserving British lives at the exepnse of

their allies' populations.

Tim Clayton and Sheila O'Connell have written a clear, informative, and fairly well balanced text. They go further than most British writers in pointing out the multiple readings of these histories that are possible. But it's still, as the exhibition's title says, a resolutely British story. More than the still-vexed politics, which continue to present a conundrum Britain and Europe struggle to solve, it's the pictures of prints and other objects that are the main attraction in this book: there are lots of fantastic memorable images here, as well as some that are less delightful but still very interesting. Gillray's work is what I enjoy looking at the most, even if I don't always like the propaganda he's peddling.

Francois Aubertin, Passage du Grand St. Bernard.

There are also some terrifically beautiful 'straight' prints, such as Francois Aubertin's Passage du Grand St. Bernard, a French print celebrating an early and audacious move by the young Napoleon, or Matthew DuBourg's Field of Waterloo, an incredible work that beautifully depicts a truly appalling scene, the bloody aftermath of the battle that ended Napoleon's career. Dubourg was of French extraction, but worked in England. It's interesting that his mixed cultural heritage resonates with the scene he depicts, in which the various nationalities are reduced to a common suffering. The Field of Waterloo is hardly the sort of triumphalist image that many in Britain favoured. 

Matthew Dubourg, The Field of Waterloo.

Of particular interest to wargamers, perhaps, in addition to the magnificent images by Aubertin and Dubourg (see above), is a series of panoramic Watercolours, painted only days after the battles at Waterloo and Quatre Bras. Rather ghoulishly corpses can be spotted here or there in the fields, and troops and civilians are also evident sparsely populating what had been only days before close-packed scenes of carnage. These watercolours show the battlefields as they were at the time, and would presumably be useful to gamers seeking to recreate the battle and the terrain, as no doubt many will attempt to do this year. [5]

This is a gem of a book, produced to accompany a fascinating show. I already had Mark Bryant's The Napoleonic Wars in Cartoon, which is a fun but comparatively superficial look at much of the same material. This gorgeous volume allows one to explore similar territory in much greater breadth and depth. I love it, and think it's an essential purchase for the Napoleonic history nut.

----------

Notes:

[1] P. 197:  'Earlier museums had been based on the personal collections of monarchs and aristocrats... Napoleon introduced the notion of a collection of treasures as a public asset that conferred prestige on the nation. The desire to emulate Napoleon's Louvre was at least part of the motive for parliament's support of the development of the British Museum...'

This particular image is not in the show or the book, but it

depicts a view of the British. popular in Napoleonic France,

as badly dressed and unable to relate properly to their

harridan womenfolk.

[2] This utterly brilliant series is available in several formats. Here are a few useful links:

--- The book (paperback from Amazon) - paperback

--- BBC podcasts (my favourite format!) - podcasts

--- And finally, here's a link to the BM page for AHOW - british museum

[3] France and the other European nations had their own traditions of printmaking and satire, and the balance between freedom and censorship outside the British Isles shows, in both similar and different ways, how Napoleonic France, its empire, and these other nations dealt with similar issues. But obviously the focus here is mostly on Britain and France, with other nations, Russia and Spain for example, being treated in a subsidiary manner.

Gillray's The Tree of Liberty: Whig politician Charles James Fox

earned the undying emnity of the Tory right for his liberal views.

Here he's taken on the guise of the Satanic serpent, tempting

John Bull. This is another image not actually in the book or show.

[4] There were those, from Lord and Lady Holland, to the poet Byron, who loved Napoleon. And even those critical of 'Jacobinism', like William Cobbett, found the excessivly propagandist vilification of an obviously enlightened man distasteful and dishonest. The book illustrates some Napoleonic 'relics' that once belonged to Byron, and quotes his anti-Wellingtonian views as expressed in Canto IX of Don Juan:

'The World, not the World's masters, will decide,

And I shall be delighted to learn who,

Save you and yours, have gained by Waterloo?'

[5] Does anyone know if the observation derrick (behind the French lines) pictured in one of these images was erected before of after the battle?

Book Review: Masters in Miniature - Alan & Michael Perry

I don't know this for a fact, but I suspect twin brothers Alan and Michael Perry may just be the most prolific of miniature figure sculptors known to history. 

Starting with Games Worskshop as freelancers in their teens, before going full-time (for the same employer), they have also produced loads of ranges for Wargames Foundry, the historical gaming cousins to the predominantly fantasy and sci-fi Games Workshop lines.

They've also worked on the Peter Jackson Lord of The Rings figures (there was a Citadel LOTR range years back, but that was possibly - I have no idea!? - the work of other hands), and more recently have been making larger figures, including a stunning array of 54mm sculpts for a WWI Museum diorama in New Zealand, funded by Jackson. Whether these will be made commercially available I don't know, although I'm sure the demand will be there.

Anyway, to matters in hand: Masters In Miniature is a landscape-format book of roughly A4 dimensions running to about 160 pages. An hardback, printed in sumptuous colour (by Atlantic Publishers, who publish Miniature Wargames magazine), it is basically a de-luxe coffee-table picture book, illustrated with an enormous number of - nearly 400 - excellent photos, taken by the Perrys themselves. One staggering thing to bear in mind is that all the figures in these pages are from their own range, Perry Miniatures. These are produced in their spare time... when not at the day job sculpting for Games Workshop!

Medieval period action. Beautifully colourful!

The book was published in April 2014, just in time to be sold at Salute, the big London wargames hobby show run by the South London Warlords club. I bought my copy at this years Salute (2015), on its first anniversary, from the Atlantic publishers stand. This fact gives me the chance to air my first gripe about a book I'm otherwise filled with praise for: at the show I paid £25 for it, which seems reasonable (RRP is £29.95). Online at the Perry's own website, and on Amazon, copies are selling for around £40 a pop. That seems too much to me! [1]

Anyway, that aside, let's get onto to the reasons for buying it, i.e. the all important content. Well, there's a short foreward by Rick Priestley [http://rickpriestley.com], fellow Games Workshop employee (and creator of Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000), a very brief introduction by the Perrys themselves, numerous chapters which I'll detail in a minute and, finally, a six-page feature called 'The Perry Twins', by Henry Hyde (editor and publisher of Miniature Wargames, as well as this book itself).

A nice AWI spread.

The central attraction of the book however, is the rich collection of myriad marvellous battle scenarios and the like, arranged and photographed on superb terrain by Alan and Michael themselves. These are arranged in chronological order of the periods which each respective range of figures portrays, covering about a millennia of historical warfare, as follows:

The First Crusade (1096-1099)

Agincourt to Orleans (1415-1429)

The Wars of the Roses (1455-1487) & European Armies (1450-1500)

Samurai Armies (1550-1615) & Choson Korean Army (1592-1598)

The English Civil Wars (1642-1651) and the Border Reivers of the 1580s

The American War of Independence (1775-1783)

Napoleonic Armies (1809-1814) & Napoleonic Armies (1815)

The First Carlist War (1833-1840)

The American Civil War (1861-1865)

The Mahdist Uprising in the Sudan (1881-1885)

World War II (1939-1945)

According to info on the Perry's website this represents 6 months of work in terms of photography alone, and years in terms of the painting of the figures. They modestly refrain from anything further, but clearly the superb quality of the figures themselves is the result of decades, or more precisely two lifetimes worth of artistic skill, that's been constantly honed and developed in very productive careers.

ACW action, including some colourful NY Zouaves.

Each section has a brief intro from one of the twins, which says a little about the period and how it came into being as a figure range from Perry Miniatures. It's surprising how much info the tiny little introductory sections pack in, some of it about the era, and some about the Perrys work in relation to it. They give generous credit to their numerous painter chums, and the makers of the scenery (some of which they make themselves). The pictures are, for the most part, wonderful. There are a few instances of visible 'Photoshopping', such as the hail of arrows in the Agincourt pictures, and some retouching of scenery and backdrops. Where I could spot this it was a minor irritant to me, as I think the figures and terrain as they are look sufficiently fabulous. 

But this brings us on to another important thing about this book: these collections are described by Rick Priestley as being real wargaming armies. And no doubt they are. But they are presented and photographed here more as if they were dioramas. This is not a complaint from me, just an observation. In fact it's a strength of the book; I love it! But obviously these are not pics of an ordinary wargame in progress, where one sees bases, rule sheets, dice, gamer's arms, etc., or the backdrop of a club or a show [2]. 

What I hope to one day achieve in my own wargaming is, effectively, a movable diorama kind of look. That's the approach they've employed here, only tidied up so that any clunky features of the gaming aspect are airbrushed from view. This is kind of a double edged-sword, inasmuch as whilst it's all undoubtedly very impressive and highly inspiring, it could also leave one feeling disappointed with ones own efforts. Rick Priestley acknowledges this in his foreward, when he says 'Whilst we may not all have the same eye for detail, or the boundless creative energy, of Michael and Alan, we can all admire and be inspired in our own efforts in our own individual way.'

Gordon of Khartoum, etc. Not a period I'm

normally drawn to, but it looks good here.

All of the periods covered are, or certainly become, in the hands of the Perrys and their accomplices, highly interesting. There's the obvious danger that to you'll be seduced into raising new armies in scales and periods you weren't previously involved in. As a kid I collected Napoleonics in 15mm, and now I'm doing the same in 6mm and 10mm, and I still consider, even with the advent of plastics, which the Perrys have been intimately involved with pioneering and developing [3], 28mm Napoleonics as (currently) beyond my means. But such is the seductive beauty of their work that I'm slowly amassing a collection of their Napoleonics, despite my efforts to resist! 

There are some obscure periods or theatres covered here, from the more obviously unusual, like the Carlist Wars and the colourful Choson Koreans, to off the usual road-map moments, like the inclusion of Neapolitans vs. Austrians in the 1815 section (which one might've assumed would be purely Waterloo-focussed) or the 'Battle' of Baltimore scenario in the ACW section. And there are also all the old warhorses, like the ECW, the AWI, the Napoleonic era, the ECW, and WWII. In my musical tastes I may pride myself a little on occasionally pursuing, alongside mainstream tastes, a few more obscure avenues. But in wargaming, I must admit I'm slightly surprised to say that I'm entirely content to remain fixated by several of the most mainstream eras.

A Napoleonic spread. Still my favourite era! 

My absolute favourite remains the Napoleonic period. And it's so nice to read Alan Perry saying this: 'I had already produced a fair number of Napoleonics for Foundry over fifteen years, before we set up Perry Miniatures in 2001, which hadn't dried up my enthusiasm for the period. Twelve years on and I'm still making them!' The Napoleonic era is represented here by two sections, one covering 1809-14, the other just 1815. 

In conclusion, whilst this book is not, like most of life, entirely perfect, it is, unlike a lot of life, predominantly very wonderful indeed. As Rick Priestley says in his foreward, 'long may [they] continue to amaze and delight us all.'

----------

My thanks to Henry Hyde for permission to use the colour spreads shown here.

NOTES:

[1] Signed copies are available from the Perry's own website at the slightly higher price of £42.50.

[2] The backdrops used here are very effective, mostly being of the vaguely cloudy skies type. Occasionally a photographic element is included, and sometimes the Photoshop touch is detectable. Photographing beautiful games at shows is often really hampered by the fact that a beautiful view across a gorgeous terrain populated by fabulous figures terminates in a backdrop of a room full of middle aged men with beer guts.

[3] The Perrys brought out the first hard-plastic Wargames figures in 28mm, with their ACW I set.

Boney's Bicorne - A new scoring system for my reviews!

Hello, I've decided to add a scoring system to my blog reviews.

For now I've designed a simple little 'Boney's Bicorne' image. As with Amazon's system of five stars, there are five bicornes available to score with. But unlike Amazon's system, where the lowest score is one star, on my system there is also the 'no bicornes' option. Hopefully I'll never need to use it!

Here they all are:

---------------------------------

Boney's Bicorne, the real McCoy.

The above pic was the model for my image. As it's scaled down a lot I exaggerated the curves a bit. Pictured below are a couple of screenshots of how it looks on a couple of my previous book-review posts. Let me know what you think!

A five bicorne review...

... and a four bicorne affair.

I may do a five 'balkankreuz' system for rating WWII AFV models and the like. If/when time allows!

Duxford Dioramas Pt I - 1/76 Normandy 1944

Duxford Dioramas Pt I - AB/MAFVA Normandy 1944 Diorama, Duxford IWM Land Warfare Hall.

Mobile, HQ: officers gather round a map on the bonnet of a jeep, as

tanks, armoured cars and artillery head west, for the Front and Berlin.

I think this is what they called the bocage.

I love this tank model. I think it's a Churchill AVRE with a fascine [1] bundle. It's a pity about the reflections from the glass case housing the model.

I'm no expert on Allied tanks. Is this a Churchill AVRE with Petard mortar?

I doctored the above pic, for the banner pic of this post (see very top of post), substituting some (genuine) Normandy 1944 sky for the innards of the Duxford IWM Land warfare hall. Does it work?

Like I already said... I'm not so au fait with Allied materiél of WWII: is this

a British vehicle, or a bit of lend-lease from FDR and Uncle Sam?

Old news this, for me, really...

But... back in October 2012 my wife and I visited Duxford Imperial War Museum. I took tons of pics of (almost) everything that caught my eye. But one of the things I was most keen to photograph was a Normandy 1944 diorama, built by members of the London branch of the MAFVA (Miniature Armoured Fighting Vehicles Association), using AB figures, many sculpted especially for the diorama, by one of my figure-sculpting heroes, Anthony Barton.

I believe this is a Morris C8 Quad and 25 pdr artillery

team. Stopping for a well-earned lunch break.

Tony Barton's figures are just fabulous. So naturalistic!

One reason I haven't posted this until now was that I've been meaning to contact Duxford and see if I can arrange a visit to take some much better pictures. My pics were taken with a selection of devices, none of which (our digital camera, a Canon IXUS something-or-other, and my iPad, chiefly) are that good. I also took the pics of the model as it is, under glass and poorly lit.

Looking East, from the formerly German-held end.

Looking west, towards the ruined building on the high ground.

A watercolour sketch, by Dan Taylor and Malcom Mayes,

used in preparing the layout of diorama. [2]

But when I started researching the model, I discovered this very interesting article:

http://www.militarymodelling.com/news/article/normandy-diorama/3299#

... which tells a lot about the building of this excellent diorama. And the pictures of the finished model in that article, clearly taken using flash are (no offence to the photographer), even worse than mine! So I thought what the heck, I'll post and be damned. Though I have to confess, I do still harbour a deep desire to go back and get some much better pics. This fab diorama definitely deserves better! The pictures directly above and below this section of text are from the Military Modelling website, and are offer a wonderful glimpse into how the model was designed and executed.

MAFVA member Bruce Harron

works on the terrain, in situ! [2]

Thanks to the Military Modelling article I learned that the scenario depicts an imaginary scene from the Normandy campaign, set in 'a period of post D-Day, but just before Operation Goodwood, the theme being 'Components of an Army'. In this case for 'components' read vehicles.' It's also fascinating to learn about the planning and time-frame involved. I've always loved dioramas, and long harboured the desire of building one. But the closest I've ever got, so far at any rate, was owning an Esci diorama kit (never finished) and the Airfix Hougoumont set, as a kid!

This project was conceptualised in 2002, and commissioned with a brief to be finished by 2004, for the 60th anniversary of the Normandy campaign. Given the general eastward thrust of the Allied movements against the Germans I'd assumed that this would also be, excuse the inevitable pun, the axis of the action on this model. But it turns out it's actually a north/south alignment, shown lengthwise. If you like the pics here, you really must read the Military Modelling article, which is highly enlightening.

The hub of the action: what a great diorama! So much

going on. And the real feel of a campaign underway.

The foot soldiers slog slowly past vehicles that are

starting to pile up in a picturesque bocage traffic jam.

It ain't all fun and games. Here we get a

glimpse of the cost of combat.

Since returning to model-making I've begun to go back to those youthful dreams of occasionally doing it as a possible source of income. Idle speculation, perhaps? Well, it looks and sounds like a dream job to me, although I expect for most who do it supplements other and better more reliable incomes. Still, I smiled when I read this, in John Rulton's article: 'With a need to achieve a realistic view a short holiday in Normandy proved beneficial.' [3]

Due to the nature of the commission, which was designed in part to contextualise some of the vehicles that the Duxford IWM collection has in the Land Warfare Hall, within a scene of British troops behind the front line, the Germans aren't so well represented on this diorama (whilst they are in the collection of real vehicles). What little German content there is is limited to some abandoned materiél and a few hapless prisoners, all that remains of the once triumphant Whermacht in this part of northern France.

Not so much 'Achtung, Panzer!' as 'Kaput, Sonderkraftfahrzeug!'

An abandoned 88mm Flak gun, with the bogies detached,

and a nice mess of empty shell cases lying strewn around.

The 'master race' subjugated. The indignity

of it: even my pic of them is crap!

It's fascinating to read the scenario that's envisaged by the team that built this superb model, and the various processes involved in realising it. I discovered that most of the vehicles were made using commercially available kits, almost all of which were souped up considerably. But there were also some scratch built elements, from the beautiful farmhouse, by Dan Taylor, to a Fremch farmers cart, and even some of the vehicles; for example John Rulton did the Morris C8 Quads, which were then cast in resin by Milicast. 

I didn't know this initially, as I thought all the figures were AB, but the MM article says there are also a good number by Milicast. There are about 400 figures on the diorama in total. I haven't counted the number or listed the types of vehicles. But I think I might try and do so on my next visit! The model itself is 8 feet by 4 feet, and was made in four 4' x 2' modules. When time allows I'd like to fill in a bit more detail about the model and the scene it depicts. But for now I hope you might enjoy the pics.

An MP directs another artillery team into a field.

A close up of the beautiful figures in the officers area, 

a couple of dispatch riders chat to an MP.

Loading the ambulance. Are those the dead on

stretchers at rear, respectfully covered?

The beautifully built destroyed farm.

Damn those reflections!

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NOTES:

[1] It's from this same Latin term for 'bundle of sticks' that we also ultimately derive the word fascist.

[2] Thanks to Robin Buckland and Military Modelling for permission to use these pics (and one or two helpful pieces of information about the content of some of them as well!).

[3] Destinations in current 'research' itinerary: Waterloo (Ligny, Quatre Bras, etc.), Smolensk, Maloyaroslavets, most of Austria... and now New Zealand, so see the Peter Jackson / Perry Twins Chunuk Bair diorama!