- This topic has 18 replies, 13 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 8 months ago by Albert of Winterpig.
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07/07/2020 at 09:35 #139842Russell PhillipsParticipant
My next book will be about the battle for Madagascar in WWII. It will cover the entire campaign, from the initial landings to the final Vichy surrender.
I’m still undecided about the title, so would appreciate your thoughts on these possibilities:
- A Strange Campaign: The Battle for Madagascar
- A Faculty to Dare: The First Allied Invasion, Madagascar 1942
- Let’s Risk Something: The Madagascar Campaign 1942
- Daring in Dark Days: The First Allied Invasion
07/07/2020 at 09:52 #139843deephorseParticipantKnowing nothing about the battle for Madagascar I’m struggling to relate all the pre-colon text to the text that follows it. That said, A Strange Campaign intrigues me the most and would possibly make me pick up a copy at a stand or stall to see what it’s about.
Play is what makes life bearable - Michael Rosen
07/07/2020 at 10:30 #139856Lardy RichParticipant‘A Faculty to Dare’ is a fabulous title.
Rich
Playing the period, not the rules, since 2002
07/07/2020 at 10:55 #139860Russell PhillipsParticipantKnowing nothing about the battle for Madagascar I’m struggling to relate all the pre-colon text to the text that follows it. That said, A Strange Campaign intrigues me the most and would possibly make me pick up a copy at a stand or stall to see what it’s about.
I suspect many (most?) people don’t know much about the Madagascar campaign. The bit before the colon is the main title, the bit after is the sub-title. I tend to go for titles that I think sound interesting, or picked from a relevant quote, then use the sub-title to make it clear what the book is about 🙂
‘A Faculty to Dare’ is a fabulous title.
My wife said it sounded like a Mills & Boon title 🙂 It comes from Churchill: “We must not lose our faculty to dare, particularly in dark days”.
07/07/2020 at 12:19 #139872John D SaltParticipantAnother vote for “A Faculty to Dare”, although I would also quite fancy “Ironclad and Stream Line Jane”.
All the best,
John.
07/07/2020 at 15:19 #139887Jemima FawrParticipantNo.2 for me too.
My wargames blog: http://www.jemimafawr.co.uk/
07/07/2020 at 15:58 #139889willzParticipantA Faculty to Dare: The First Allied Invasion, Madagascar 1942 works for me.
07/07/2020 at 16:19 #139893Mr. AverageParticipantHow about:
Ironclad: The Battle for Madagascar
Streamline Jane: Allied Combined Arms and the Battle of Madagascar
A simple declarative title that’s not tied to an obscure quotation seems more accessible and stronger. The “Obscure Quotation: Battle You Don’t Know About” formulation sounds like a boardgame title, and is a bit played – less is more.
07/07/2020 at 17:30 #139899fairoaks024ParticipantA Strange Campaign: The Battle for Madagascar seems far ahead as the best to me.
the others seem sort of unnecessarily’clunky’
07/07/2020 at 21:23 #139909PatriceParticipantI suspect many (most?) people don’t know much about the Madagascar campaign.
Um, and, I just realise that myself I don’t know anything about it… Thanks for mentioning it.
Perhaps the first title would be more attractive(?) …I’m not a native English speaker but if I was looking through bookshop shelves in the UK that’s the one which would most attract me.
After all that’s how I discovered one of the first Discworld books from Terry Pratchett in a bookshop aboard a ferry from Portsmouth to Brittany many years ago… after that I bought all of them (in English) as soon as published…http://www.argad-bzh.fr/argad/en.html
https://www.anargader.net/08/07/2020 at 10:32 #139937deephorseParticipantDid the campaign have an ‘Operation’ name such as Overlord, Husky, Dynamo etc.? If so, putting that in the title somewhere might be helpful. Couldn’t be worse than relying upon potential purchasers having an encyclopaedic knowledge of Churchill’s utterances.
“The bit before the colon is the main title, the bit after is the sub-title.” Yes, I got that, it was the relationship between the two that I couldn’t grasp until you explained the Churchill bit. I suspect that many will be in the same boat and therefore may not have their interest aroused enough to pick up a copy.
Play is what makes life bearable - Michael Rosen
08/07/2020 at 11:37 #139939Guy FarrishParticipantVanquishing Vichy: The Madagascar Campaign 1942
or
Diego Suarez to Ambalavao: The Madagascar Campaign 1942
Failing those:
A Faculty to Dare: The First Allied Invasion, Madagascar 1942
08/07/2020 at 14:31 #139941Thaddeus BlanchetteParticipant“Fossa oooh! The Invasion of Madagascar.”
😉
We get slapped around, but we have a good time!
08/07/2020 at 22:22 #139968hammurabi70ParticipantDid the campaign have an ‘Operation’ name such as Overlord, Husky, Dynamo etc.? If so, putting that in the title somewhere might be helpful. Couldn’t be worse than relying upon potential purchasers having an encyclopaedic knowledge of Churchill’s utterances. “The bit before the colon is the main title, the bit after is the sub-title.” Yes, I got that, it was the relationship between the two that I couldn’t grasp until you explained the Churchill bit. I suspect that many will be in the same boat and therefore may not have their interest aroused enough to pick up a copy.
Wikipedia has some useful information. Most of my knowledge comes from reading about the Commando involvement.
www.olivercromwell.org; www.battlefieldstrust.com
6mm wargames group: [email protected]; 2mm wargames group: [email protected]09/07/2020 at 00:20 #139972Guy FarrishParticipantSee John Salt’s contribution re Op names.
09/07/2020 at 08:02 #139977deephorseParticipantDid the campaign have an ‘Operation’ name such as Overlord, Husky, Dynamo etc.? If so, putting that in the title somewhere might be helpful. Couldn’t be worse than relying upon potential purchasers having an encyclopaedic knowledge of Churchill’s utterances. “The bit before the colon is the main title, the bit after is the sub-title.” Yes, I got that, it was the relationship between the two that I couldn’t grasp until you explained the Churchill bit. I suspect that many will be in the same boat and therefore may not have their interest aroused enough to pick up a copy.
Wikipedia has some useful information. Most of my knowledge comes from reading about the Commando involvement.
Sorry, but my interest in the Madagascar campaign still hasn’t risen above zero. Consequently I won’t be researching it any time soon. 🙂
Play is what makes life bearable - Michael Rosen
09/07/2020 at 10:49 #139985Guy FarrishParticipantIf you buy Russell’s forthcoming book you won’t need to research it, he will have done the hard work!
The landings and taking of Diego Suarez make great wargame/series of games.
I picked up a copy of Christopher Buckley’s ‘Five Ventures’ at HMSO sometime in the early 80s and one of those ventures is the attack on Madgascar. A friend made an excellent map game out of it. I’ve played that and several landing assault figure games – including unfeasibly exciting destroyer dashes to land commandos in the rear of determined French resistance.
I think a book on the entire campaign sounds like a great idea, whatever it is called.
09/07/2020 at 13:31 #139998Russell PhillipsParticipantIf you buy Russell’s forthcoming book you won’t need to research it, he will have done the hard work!
That is the idea 😉
including unfeasibly exciting destroyer dashes to land commandos in the rear of determined French resistance.
Yes, HMS Anthony dashed into the port of Diego Suarez literally under the French guns, landed commandos, and dashed out again, undamaged.
I think a book on the entire campaign sounds like a great idea, whatever it is called.
That’s good to know.
Thanks everyone for the comments. I really appreciate it. I’m going to go through them all (from here and elsewhere) before I make a final decision.
09/07/2020 at 13:52 #140000Albert of WinterpigParticipantI would go with:
Madagascar: The First Allied Invasion 1942
Says what, where, and when.
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