What I´ve been up to

January has been a bit of a quiet month for this, with holidays and new week schedule messing up my rythm. A backlog of sessions and reviews built up, frustration set in. But I'm finally getting back on track of more frequent postings.

All this doesn't mean I've been idle. On the contrary, I've done a lot of reading, among which a great master thesis on the French cavalry in the 1813 campaign which challenges the current consensus that Napoleon's shortage of cavalry was a problem of supply. Included is a very useful explanation of the Napoleonic system of acquiring horses and its success to rebuild the army after the catastrophy of 1812.

Picked these up last week. On the left book on the Dutch revolution.
Yes, that's right. Before the French one

I've also read one or two articles on the Dutch army of the Batavian Republic (1795-1806), continued in Lieven's Russia Against Napoleon and started in Zamoyski's Rites of Peace. I've gone more than halfway now in a few day because it's such an pleasant read.

I've also played Manhattan Project and 7 Wonders last weekend, so I'm even occasionally enjoying my games.

Prize of the auction: a stack of Al Qadim expansions for AD&D

My club organised a very successful auction, where I picked up a few miniatures. Afterwards we had a drink with our new roommates from Societé La Grande Armee, another miniature wargames group that has lost their home. They might move on to a new location, but there´s also a chance they´ll join us for good in a few months. It was a lot of fun getting to know each other, and talking to people we hadn´t seen in a while.

Furthermore, my reading of stuff on the 1812-15 period makes me eager to game that period as well. I've seen some beautiful 28mm Prussians from Calpe Miniatures and some excellent rarities from Westfalia. These are both small, parttime initiatives with high quality sculpts and I feel good about supporting them, even though a box of plastic Perry or Warlord would be cheaper..

Westfalia Prussian medical team, pic from their website

I've given in to temptation on the understanding that all I'm going to do is a bit of skirmish, so I can limit my purchase to around 50 miniatures. The Calpe Landwehr are excellent and having Westfalia's Prussian doctors around will make that complete. I´ll worry about painting later. There's no rush

I noticed last week that I´ve passed the 10,000 hits barrier, which is still a miracle to me. I´m still picking up new followers, so that´s good too. Thanks to all of you, reading and commenting.