My (most recent) d’oh! moment

[Tony S]

So, when I was young, I used to love the book “Naval Wargaming” by Barry Carter.  I have no idea how many times I got it out of the local library.  I was so inspired, that I’d photocopy pages from the Jane’s (also in the library, but in the non-borrowable reference section) of the various warships and rush home and build the ships from balsa wood, like Mr Carter did.   I still even have a few.

Anyway, a few years ago I found a used copy and instantly bought it.  It was just as good as I remembered.  Just charming.

Once in a while, I’ll pull it off the shelf and reread it.  Which I did last night.  I was rereading the WW1 Adriatic convoy scenario (my favourite part of the volume) and suddenly I realized that the Central Powers side consisted of both German and Austria-Hungarian surface ships.   And the question arose; how the hell did the German cruisers get there?  The answer, of course, is they didn’t.  A few minutes of research revealed that those particular vessels spent the entire war in the North or Baltic Sea.

I don’t know how many times I’ve read those pages without realizing that!  The really funny thing is that for some reason, that makes this old book even more charming!

The book is now available from John Curry, and I highly recommend it.  I’m strongly tempted to buy that edition, since it has a couple more chapters that the publisher editted from the original edition.

[Andrew Beasley]

Spooky – I was just reading about this book and Fred Jane’s wargame!

I wish I had the skill my grandfather had with wood so that I could make some ships along the lines of Bob Cordery as seen here

 

[jeffers]

My local library in Virginia Water had both volumes of Funcken’s ‘Arms and Uniforms’. It covered Ancients to the Present Day (1960s) with a very (at best) patchy accuracy, but I had them out on near permanent loan. What they did was open my mind to periods not covered by Commando books, so for that alone they were worth their weight in gold. I managed to pick up a set at the Chalke Valley History festival a few years ago and I can see why they blew my mind as a seven year old, even if I wouldn’t refer to them today. Although clearly Airfix had a copy of volume 1 to hand when they designed their Romans…

More nonsense on my blog: http://battle77.blogspot.com/

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