THORAKITE

Thorakite -heavy infantry with mail body armour. 10mm figures by Magister Militum.

INTERESTING READS

Two interesting reads about infantrymen at war.

House to House by David Bellavia and John Bruning details the experiences of a staff sergeant in the US army during a crucial period in Iraq. You may not agree with it but it is still worth a read.

Sniper on the Eastern Front - The memoirs of Sepp Allerberger by Albrecht Wacker. First hand account by a German sniper of life and death on the Eastern Front during WW2.

SELECUID PHALANX

The core of the Seleucid army were Hellenistic units, many of which were descendants of Alexanders Makedonian troops. The phalangites were armed with a long pike (the sarissa) up to 21 feet in length and balanced with a heavy bronze butt spike. They wear linen or similar body armour and carry a small shield called a pelta. Officers and front rankers may have wore metal cuirass body armour. Phalangites continued to wear the bronze or iron Macedonian style helmets.

Figures 10mm Magister Militum.

FRENCH INDIAN WARS

British gunners and canon ford a river.

Silent shapes glide through the trees, Huron and Algonquin Indians prepare an ambush.

British troops engage Compagnies franches.

A recent club game from the French Indian Wars. A British column comprising British regulars and American militia are ambushed by Indians and Compagnies franches. Following the initial surprise the British rallied to see their enemy drift away with the onset of night fall.

Figures 10mm Pendraken.

SELEUCID CATAPHRACTS

Seleucid Cataphract cavalry - heavily armoured cavalry. The mounted warrior was armed with a lance which was carried in both hands. The figures are 10mm Magister Militum.

AXIS AND ALLIES

Free resources including maps and rules for the classic board game Axis & Allies can be found at Board Game Geek (see link below). The game simulates the entire scope of World War II. Players can choose armies representing the Allies: United States of America, United Kingdom and Russia or the Axis: Germany and Japan. See under the section files for resources.

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/10093

IN OUR TIME - POD CASTS

On November 14th 1854 The Times newspaper reported on a minor cavalry skirmish in the Crimean War:

“They swept proudly past, glittering in the morning sun in all the pride and splendour of war... At the distance of 1200 yards the whole line of the enemy belched forth, from thirty iron mouths, a flood of smoke and flame through which hissed the deadly balls. Their flight was marked by instant gaps in our ranks, by dead men and horses, by steeds flying wounded or riderless across the plain”.

This is the Charge of the Light Brigade, an event of no military significance that has become iconic in the British imagination. It helped to provoke the resignation of a Prime Minister, it profoundly changed British attitudes to war and the soldiers who fought in them and it inspired Alfred, Lord Tennyson to sit down and write “All in the Valley of Death rode the six hundred”.

This and other historical subjects including:

THE ART OF WAR
THE SASSANIAN EMPIRE
ALFRED AND THE BATTLE OF EDINGTON
THE JACOBITE REBELLION
THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR
THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE

Are discussed on BBC Radio 4's programme IN OUR TIME. You can listen again to these programmes by going to the link below. Well worth a visit.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/inourtime_history.shtml