Catch up...

....time for a catch up now I'm back from holiday....  😏

 First off - I know I'm late for putting up a battle report for the last One Hour wargame scenario I posted about a few weeks ago..  truth be told it was a bit of a damp squib - either my tactics, or incomplete knowledge of the rules, or something else - but the game was over within 5 moves and a resounding victory for DG and the French defenders...  poor dice throwing definitely compounded the issue (failed morale throws and squads disappearing off the table left right and centre...)  DG is coming round again for a game this week so we may have to reconvene if he can face it...  he wasn't happy with a skirmish level set of rules that didn't allow units to go prone (or we didn't see where it said they could!) Either way - a work in hand...

Second - my first wargame show of the year this weekend (which is why DG is down) yay, it's "Warfare" time...  having missed "Colours" because I was in Paris, and "Salute" because I just couldn't be bothered (it's a bit of a trek to the Excel, and I'm less bothered to go now DG has decided it's not for him - part of the pleasure is the banter and chat...) I am more than a little looking forward to the show as I have felt the need for some time of needing something to pump prime the engines and get them firing again...  I shall take cash and let's see what takes the eye...  something ECW I hope as the project is floundering a bit....

Third - the holiday reads were every bit as enjoyable as I'd hoped....

	£1.99 well spent - I'd forgotten how good this was despite having read it at least 2 or 3 times over the years - set against the background of the Philadelphia Campaign under British General William Howe, this is an excellent account of the campaign, and the difficulties the British faced in America during the Revolution - the British would have needed an army ten times the size of the one they had in order to suppress the colonists and Parliament didn't have the cash or the inclination to do it...  as it was they only ever had enough men to hold three area's and with the French entry to the war, too many area's to hold...  an excellent story while providing good historical background..  cracker...  9/10
	Latest from the master story teller and I'm quite excited to read something that isn't about Uhtred..  also a bargain on Kindle at the moment only £7.90 for a book only just in print...  still reading this one but it's already gripped me - this is a story about Shakespeare told from the perspective of his brother..  more when I've finished reading it...
	I had mixed feelings about this one - happily this was a marked and considerable improvement over the previous one (see book reviews). For one, Kydd actually features in the book (which is more than he did in the previous one) but also there is fighting and battles on the high seas (the Baltic again) and although the ending is a little far fetched - Kydd ends up married...  good one 8/10
	A new series set in Restoration period England by the author of the superb Robin Hood series...  what a cracker...  the series is based round the experiences of Holcroft Blood, the son of Colonel Thomas Blood, he of the Crown Jewels theft...  the background is superb, the conspiracy theory as to why Blood attempted to steal the jewels is thought provoking (and entertaining) and along the way you get vignettes of Barbara Villiers, Charles II, the young Churchill/Marlborough, and others...  excellent - very much looking to the series as it progresses in his career as an artillery officer under Churchill in the Wars of the Spanish Succession....  9/10
	This is the first (published) novel by fellow wargamer, Blogger, and Miniature Wargames columnist, Conrad Kinch... followers of his current written efforts will know that he is entertaining, and a not a little witty, so I was hoping for much from this little tome...  set in Japan at about the time of the Edo Period (think approximately "The Last Samurai" period) when the European and American global powers are beginning to make trading inroads to Japan, and the samurai class are not always happy about it...  the story is about a young American called Robert Hood, and a Japanese samurai called Otaro. Hood is ex-cavalry (it mentions his services in the Plains Indian wars, and Mexico), and handy with a weapon, and languages; Otaro is a Japanese master swordsman and magistrate. Hood is in Japan looking for commercial opportunities for his family (who are merchants), his family have suggested he travel with otaro to learn more of the country. either way, both characters are likeable, and on the journey to Otaro's first case they come upon evidence of bloody murder, and the book is about the background to that..  I enjoyed it very much, lots and lots of period interest and colour, details on the Japanese sword schools/styles was fascinating, and the story fairly rips along without being unbelievable...  it reminded me (very favourably) of Henty..  recommended! 9/10