Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Napoleonic Christmas Gifts!

 Every year for at least three decades, we have a "pre-Christmas" with our good friends, the Hopkins family. Both Cindee and Bob are teachers (Cindee, English and Social studies, Bob Mathematics and Statistics). in our local regional school system. Indeed, both of my daughters had each of them as teachers. Although they are largely retired now, Bob still teaches a few classes of remedial Math and Bio statistics at nearby Western Connecticut State University. Bob took advantage of semi retirement and nearly free tutition as a faculty member at WCSU to get a Master's degree in History, just because he wanted to; he wrote hos thesis on the role of electricity in World War 1. Both of them love history in much the same way that I do (and the Empress does not; the dogs are her thing!).

    Anyway, it is always a "pre-Christmas", because Bob's birthday falls on Christmas Day. Knowing my love of both history and books, they almost always give me books for Christmas. Indeed, Bob has been know to check my library to see what I don't already have! I always look forward to their gifts especially, and I never know what they will find. This years items were especially apt...


Another biography of Napoleon?  yes indeed. Reading the preface and the last few pages suggest that Zamoyski is likely to give about a balance account of this complex man and his life as it is possible to achieve.; I look forward to reading it... most likely on vacation!


These books were a complete surprise. While I have excellent references on the Austrian Army already, browsing the pages shows that they still have things to offer me. I believe these have been translated (quite well) from Italian;p the first edition printing was just in September, 2018. This volume has extensive information on the organization of the Austrian Infantry, large color blocks illustrating all of the Austrian facing colors, and a stylized illustration of the uniform of each and every regiment. It does not give details as to the variations for NCO's, officers, or musicians, though. It lists the huigh ranking officers of each unit, a campiagn history foer each, and also has colorful maps illustrating the recruiting district(Kreis) for each uinit. There are even a few illustrations of Tyrolean Rebels!


Once again similar in format, this book includes many illustrations of the uniforms of various Landwehr, the Erzherzog Karl Legion, Freikorps, and Hungarian Insurrectio. Also included is the initial Order of Battle for January 1809, at which point the decision to go to war with France had been made. Unfortunately, like its companion volumes, there is neither illustrations nor description of any flags or standards. 


Similar in format to the infantry volume, the uniform of each and every Austrian Cavalry unit is illustrated... including each of the Hussar regiments. There is also a section on the rebellion in the Tyrol, and a listing of the composition of the Grenadier battalions (necessary if you want to worry about the facing colors within each battalion. Curiously, neither book illustrates or discusses the back of the Austrian Grenadier bearskins, a controversial subject. The technical support arms are especially well covered and illustrated, which is very welcome. 


    In summary, these books (each 100 to 115 pages long) make a worthwhile addition to the library of a wargamer interested in the Austrian Army; ion particular there is information about the irregular forces that is lacking or hard to find, and abundant if stylized uniform illustrations (as well as some color prints from Knoetel and Ottenfeld). I personally wish they chose to include a lot less minute organizational details, and instead covered the uniforms in more detail as to the dress of other ranks, as well as including flag information. Also, why not cover the whole of the era from 1792 or so to 1815?  It probably would have taken another volume, but have made the work even more useful. 

Publishers website:  http://www.soldiershop.com/index.php

Is in Italian, and showing a focus on Italian subjects; well worth a browse as it seems likely more an more titles will be translated into English like these. 




20 comments:

  1. Thoughtful gifts, indeed! I really enjoy Soldiershop Publishing's Soldiers & Weapons series. As good or better than many Ospreys.

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  2. Having all of the Osprey Austrian titles, I'd say the same thing. Just a bit different in emphasis, material covered, and of course style.

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  3. Peter, I was just watching a YouTube video by a group called Little Wars. They were reviewing Snappy Nappy. At the end of the video, they credited your blog for them finding out about the rules, and also commended your reviews of the rules. Great new additions to your library too. Dean

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    1. Yes, Barry tipped me off about their Marengo Campaign video, and I commented on it, and they responded that they'd be mentioning my blog in the SN review. It's a great channel, and I thought they did an excellent job on the Marengo video. I am now a "subscriber". :-)
      I think we may try doing another "Campaign in a Day" event at Historicon 2030. we'll see. We have to decide about doing an event in Manchester CT this spring before long, too. Meanwhile, I am starting to scratch build some Tyrolean houses...

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  4. Great looking Austrian army books,I'm at the early stage of research and I have found information on the irregular forces harder to come by so I will remember these!
    Best Iain

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    1. Between the Osprey on the suibject abnd these books, you'll be pretty well set. I'd also humbly suggest my own series of 4 blog posts on the subject. I have files for most of the flags I made for my Landwehr, etc.

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  6. Congratulations on the "shout out" on Little Wars TV.

    John

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    1. It was unexpected, but nice. They have done a great job with their channel. I am not sure where in the US they are based.

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  7. What a nice selection of gifts. The unit history and where they were engaged sounds like it could be quite useful.

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    1. Yes,m and with all of the officer names, if you're looking for authentic Austro-Hungarian (etc) names, there are literally hundreds of them in these books!

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  8. Lovely gifts! Have a great year, Peter!

    Best,
    Aaron

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    1. Thanks, Aaron, and Happy New Year to you as well.

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  9. Those are some really neat books, Peter. I'll have to look into them. Happy new year!

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    1. Happy new Year, Scott. They are useful adjuncts to the Ospreys, Funken, et all. The facing color blocks, which look like they are derived from the "spanner and the Yank" and other sites, really help with the best approximations of what stahlgrun, Paperlgrun, kaisergelb, etc looked like.

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  10. I hope you enjoy the books Peter, you can never have enough. I currently have 8 in my waiting to be read list! Happy New Year, I look forward to seeing your wargaming projects in 2019.

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  11. Yes, I do love books, especially military history, biography, and uniformology!

    Happy New Year to you as well. It's great to have you along for the ride, and to follow your own excellent blog as well.

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  12. Great books, likely little new for you there I imagine but always interesting to compare! :)

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    1. Yes, Mark, nothing revolutionary, but of interest none the less!

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