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Post by gregorius on Jun 11, 2020 23:34:52 GMT
Finished the first chapter of Muslim Spain and Portugal by Hugh Kennedy. This book is a gold mine of information that will certainly be of use for future campaigns. Interested in this, but at over £30 a copy on most websites, I think I’ll leave it for the time being 😱😭 P I just checked in Amazon to see if it was available for Kindle and thus cheaper. But no, AUD52.00 😱! Cheers,
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Post by ammianus on Jun 13, 2020 21:46:45 GMT
Just received: Alaric the Goth: An Outsider's History of the Fall of Rome by Douglas Boin
#NOT recommended.
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Post by nikto on Jun 14, 2020 16:34:58 GMT
Reading "Jacob the Trumpeter" by Robert Barclay, a fictional account of a military trumpeter's life in the 1600s, but very rooted in real historical facts, events, and places. Jacob Hinze himself was a real person whose actual trumpet was found on a nail in an old church in Germany. That trumpet was reproduced and a cd was made. A very interesting story all around.
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Post by macbeth on Jun 14, 2020 23:33:17 GMT
Early Saturday morning (pretty much before Wf(X) and the (not so) little warbands emerged I had finished 'Blood Rites' a fascinating analysis of the origins, evolution and psychology of war. I doubt I would have bought it had Beyond Q not had to close.
Now I am just over 2/3 of the way through 'Empires of Bronze: Dawn of War' by Gordon Doherty. This is a historical fiction set during the time of the Hittites and Egyptians. Doherty does tend to produce characters only barely 3 dimensional and plays fast and loose with time and distance in a pre fast communication world. But that said, the setting is exciting and with Gasgans, Sherden, Assyrians, Hittites and Egyptians all playing a part and the hint of Mycenaeans and Trojans to come in future books, I am happy to push on.
Cheers
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Post by macbeth on Jun 15, 2020 23:52:34 GMT
So this morning I finished off 'Dawn of War' and I have mixed feelings. Doherty continued to be very fast and loose with the time and distance as he has done with previous novels. Our heroes face hardship over a long period of time trying to avoid the pursuing Egyptians but whole Egyptian Armies can just get to the points to block them (I guess) without facing the same obstacles. The time to travel from Hattususa to Ugarit is given as a long time when our heroes travel as part of an embassy, yet the villainous Sherden who is masterminding the evil plan for Egypt is very well informed about what is going on all the way back in the Hittite capital and uses that to taunt our hero. The final climatic battle seems contrived, as the heavily outnumbered Hittites try to break through the enemy only to be forced back, then a single chance accident that destroys one Egyptian Chariot creates the gap that the Hittites escape through. Still, the setting and the overall plot seem to be worth reading, and it is interesting to read a story where the Hittites are cast as the good guys and the Egyptians as the bad. The first chapter of the next book (Thunder at Kadesh) is given at the back of this one - and seems to gloss over the 18 year gap between Dawn of War and the lead up to Kadesh. Given that both sides have sworn eternal vengeance after the myriad deaths of major supporting characters, that is a surprising break in the action. I will almost certainly pick this one up should Doherty push it out but if some of the issues above would offend a reader's sensibilities - caveat emptor. Cheers
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Post by macbeth on Jun 16, 2020 5:10:30 GMT
I am now reading 'The Shadow Pavilion' by Liz Williams, the fourth in her Detective Inspector Chen novels - I am loving the story so far.
Cheers
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Post by nangwaya on Jun 16, 2020 10:01:13 GMT
So this morning I finished off 'Dawn of War' and I have mixed feelings. Doherty continued to be very fast and loose with the time and distance as he has done with previous novels. Our heroes face hardship over a long period of time trying to avoid the pursuing Egyptians but whole Egyptian Armies can just get to the points to block them (I guess) without facing the same obstacles. The time to travel from Hattususa to Ugarit is given as a long time when our heroes travel as part of an embassy, yet the villainous Sherden who is masterminding the evil plan for Egypt is very well informed about what is going on all the way back in the Hittite capital and uses that to taunt our hero. The final climatic battle seems contrived, as the heavily outnumbered Hittites try to break through the enemy only to be forced back, then a single chance accident that destroys one Egyptian Chariot creates the gap that the Hittites escape through. Still, the setting and the overall plot seem to be worth reading, and it is interesting to read a story where the Hittites are cast as the good guys and the Egyptians as the bad. The first chapter of the next book (Thunder at Kadesh) is given at the back of this one - and seems to gloss over the 18 year gap between Dawn of War and the lead up to Kadesh. Given that both sides have sworn eternal vengeance after the myriad deaths of major supporting characters, that is a surprising break in the action. I will almost certainly pick this one up should Doherty push it out but if some of the issues above would offend a reader's sensibilities - caveat emptor. Cheers I am really glad you mentioned this author and these books.
To read stories set in that time period, suits me just fine, thanks!
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Post by Baldie on Jun 16, 2020 15:21:54 GMT
Currently reading the DBA forum thread on threat zones, it is leaving very little time for anything else.
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Post by martin on Jun 16, 2020 16:29:00 GMT
Currently reading the DBA forum thread on threat zones, it is leaving very little time for anything else. Is it one of a trilogy? Would you recommend other works by the same author? 😶
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Post by menacussecundus on Jun 16, 2020 17:25:33 GMT
Currently reading the DBA forum thread on threat zones, it is leaving very little time for anything else. Is it one of a trilogy? Would you recommend other works by the same author? 😶 A radical, multi-authored post-deconstructionalist art form, martin. Not sure there'll be a sequel though. However, from my personal lock-down library, I can recommend Pat Barker's "Silence of the Girls", which led me to re-read the Iliad after a gap of around half a century and follow it up with the Odyssey, which I had never read (and, to be honest, didn't greatly take to). Having now finished this, I am contemplating going back and reading Ulysses again. Happy Bloomsday!
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Post by Baldie on Jun 16, 2020 17:39:27 GMT
You wait I hear bases are about to be changed to round and you get command points to make re rolls.
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Post by macbeth on Jun 20, 2020 3:24:50 GMT
So today I have just finished 'The Shadow Pavilion' - the best of the Detective Inspector Chen novels so far. I have just one more 'The Iron Khan' to read, it arrived by post on Thursda- so I'll be diving in sometime today Cheers
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Post by macbeth on Jun 21, 2020 23:24:18 GMT
Currently reading the DBA forum thread on threat zones, it is leaving very little time for anything else. Is it one of a trilogy? Would you recommend other works by the same author? 😶 The next book in the series is already unfolding.
Sequels there will be many a Decology might be in the works
Cheers
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Post by martin on Jun 22, 2020 16:14:47 GMT
Is it one of a trilogy? Would you recommend other works by the same author? 😶 The next book in the series is already unfolding.
Sequels there will be many a Decology might be in the works
Cheers
I’m struggling to get past page two 😶
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Post by paulisper on Jun 22, 2020 16:36:03 GMT
About 3/4 of the way through Dan Jones’ Crusaders and, like his other work, it’s a cracking read - highly recommended 👍
P
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