Sabres in the Crimea (again?)

So the Sabres are rattling in the Crimea again:

Vladimir Putin has decided that it would be good idea to take back Sebastopol and the Crimea from The Ukraine. The Crimea has been a hotbed of contention for centuries, holding a key position on the Black Sea.

The retoric smacks of Adolf Hitler though: " Lets reunite all the German (read Russian in this context) speaking people of this area." -  Sounds a little like Rhineland, Austria or Sudetenland, doesn't it? 

So I've had a little look at the history of the area:

Crimea is an eastern Ukrainian peninsula (click to map) located on the Black Sea. It’s connected to the rest of the country by a small strip of land. Out of its 2 million residents, about 60 percent identify as Russian. That’s the highest concentration of Russian speakers in Ukraine. Although the territory belongs to Ukraine, Russia stationed part of its Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol as part of a pre-existing agreement between the two countries.

 Crimea hasn’t always been part of Ukraine. Here’s a summary of what’s happened in the region since the Ottoman Empire used the peninsula as a hub for slave trade.

1783: Russia annexed Crimea.

1853: The Crimean War began, lasting three years. Russia lost to an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, Britain and Sardinia. Crimea remained part of Russia. Charge of the Light Brigade, ouch:

( Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War. Lord Raglan, overall commander of the British forces, had intended to send the Light Brigade to pursue and harry a retreating Russian artillery battery, a task well suited to light cavalry. Due to mis-communication in the chain of command, the Light Brigade was instead sent on a frontal assault against a different artillery battery, one well-prepared with excellent fields of defensive fire.Although the Light Brigade reached the battery under withering direct fire and scattered some of the gunners, the badly-mauled brigade was forced to retreat immediately. Thus, the assault ended with very high British casualties and no decisive gains.)

1917: Crimea briefly became a sovereign state before becoming a base for the White Army of anti-Bolshevik forces in the Russian War.

1921: The peninsula, now called the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, became part of the Soviet Union.

1942: Nazi Germany took control of Crimea:

The Crimea Campaign was an eight-month long campaign by Axis forces to conquer the Crimea peninsula, and was the scene of some of the bloodiest battles on the Eastern Front during World War II. The German, Romanian, and defending Soviet troops suffered heavy casualties as the Axis forces tried to advance through the Isthmus of Perekop linking the Crimean peninsula to the mainland at Perekop, from summer of 1941 through to the first half of 1942.

From the 26 September 1941 the German 11th Army and troops from the Romanian Third Army and Fourth Army were involved in the fighting, opposed by the Red Army's 51st Army and elements of the Black Sea Fleet. After the campaign, the peninsula was occupied by Army Group A with the 17th Army as its major subordinate formation.

Once the Axis (German and Romanian troops) broke through, they occupied most of Crimea, with the exception of the city of Sevastopol, which was given the title of Hero City for its resistance, and Kerch, which was recaptured by the Soviets during an amphibious operation near the end of 1941 and then taken once again by the Germans during Operation Bustard Hunt on 8 May. The Siege of Sevastopol lasted 250 days from 30 October 1941 until 4 July 1942, when the Axis finally captured the city.

Sevastapol, the main object of the campaign, was surrounded by German forces and assaulted on 30 October 1941. German troops were repulsed by a Soviet counterattack. Later, many troops evacuated from Odessa contributed to the defense of Sevastopol. The Germans then began an encirclement of the city.

Other attacks on 11 November and 30 November, in the eastern and southern sections of the city, failed.German forces were then reinforced by several artillery regiments, one of which included the railway gun Schwerer Gustav. Another attack on 17 December was repulsed at the last moment with the help of reinforcements, and Soviet troops landed on the Kerch peninsula the day after Christmas, to relieve Sevastopol. The Soviet forces remained on the peninsula until a 9 April German counterattack. They held on for another month before being eliminated on 18 May. With the distraction removed, German forces renewed their assault on Sevastopol, penetrating the inner defensive lines on 29 June. Soviet commanders had been flown out or evacuated by submarine towards the end of the siege, and the city surrendered on 4 July 1942, although some Soviet troops held out in caves outside of the city until the 9th.

In 1944, the Crimea was recaptured by troops of the 4th Ukrainian Front during the Crimean Offensive (8 April 1944 – 12 May 1944) and its three sub-operations:

• Kerch–Eltigen Operation (31 October 1943 – 11 December 1943)
• Perekop–Sevastopol Offensive Operation (8 April 1944 – 12 May 1944)
• Kerch–Sevastopol Offensive Operation (11 April 1944 – 12 May 1944)

1944: Joseph Stalin forcibly deported all Muslim Tatars, a group of 300,000 who had lived on the peninsula for centuries, due to members’ alleged cooperation with Germany during World War II. Many returned to Crimea in the 1980s and 1990s.

1945: After World War II, the autonomous Soviet republic was dissolved and Crimea became a province of the Soviet Union called the Crimean Oblast.

1954: Russian Premier Nikita Khrushchev transferred the Crimean Oblast to Ukraine. It’s often reported that it was a gesture of goodwill from Khrushchev, who had Ukrainian roots.

1991: The Soviet Union collapsed. Many expected President Boris Yeltsin, the new president of the Russian Federation, to take Crimea for Russia. But he didn’t bring it up during negotiations with Ukraine.

1997: Ukraine and Russia signed a treaty that allowed Russia to keep its fleet in Sevastopol. The agreement’s since been extended, so the fleet is set to remain there until at least 2042.

Though Khrushchev’s gesture had unclear motives, it didn’t seem like a problem for Russia at the time, only garnering a one-sentence write-up in the official Soviet newspaper. It became a bigger issue in the region once the Soviet Union collapsed decades later.

So the story of the Crimean Peninsula is long and complicated, to say the least. 

And there could be more news to come as war threatens Eastern Europe. Today, Crimea’s residents are divided on the issue of Russia’s military intervention. Generally speaking, ethnic Russians support Russia’s involvement in the region, while Tatars and Ukrainians express pro-Ukrainian sentiments.

 About 60 percent of people living in Crimea identify themselves as Russian. 

Circum-navigated the globe, now back in the saddle

Back in the Saddle !

I have just returned from traveling right around the globe with my family.

We had a great time: From the tropical beaches to the (almost) frozen north. Our travels took us from the beaches of Thailand to London, Paris, Dublin, to California, Tahiti and home. Tried to soak up as much history as we went, but not always easy if you have 3 female folk who are not particularly enarmoured with military museums and gaming shops.

Had to suffice with the Tower of London, Dark Sphere (see my Fantasy blog and previous post  for details on this), and Hamleys Toy Shop. Struck there again how disadvantaged we antipodeans are by living on a pimple on the backside of the world. Prices are astronomical here, even the humble Airfix kit is overpriced when compared to European and US prices. (Have already had my GW rant on my Fantasy blog)

Did find this ornate gem at the Tower of London:

 

A cannon right out of the Warhammer world. Apparently commissioned for the Knights of Malta in the defense of the Island of Malta.

Had to pass on the Imperial War Museum (Apparently they are renovating for the Centenary of WW 1 anyhow)  and Bovington (Aaaarrrgh!)

The whole of Europe is so steeped in history that you don't have to look far anyhow. You literally trip over history as you walk the Capitals of Europe ! The obligatory bus-top tour gave the kids a good idea of the lay of the city, and also a brief run-down on British History. Equally fascinating was a visit to Kilkenny Castle in Ireland, where the Butler Family held court for centuries, in all accounts a pretty Anglophile family them !

Night at the real Museum

The trade-off with the youngest of my female offspring was to go to the Natural History Museaum, which is a treat for any Paleontolophile anyhow. The animatronic T. Rex was the obvious favourite here.

Paris saw a lightning visit to the Catacombs for Luc and I. A macabre but very tangible connection to history. We were physically able to touch and see what remains of participants in the historical events of old Paris: Strange to see the actual bones of victims of the guillotine and the uprising that inspired Victor Hugo to pen Les Misrables:

The principal events of Les Misérables took place in 1832. The July Revolution two years earlier had put the Orléanist monarchy on the throne, under the popular “Citizen King” Louis-Philippe.  Popular for awhile, that was.  Despite his unpretentious manners and a character that Les Mis author Victor Hugo commended as “good” and “admirable,” the income gap widened and the conditions of the working class deteriorated.  By the spring of 1832, a deadly cholera epidemic had exacerbated a severe economic crisis in France.

In the early morning hours of June 5, crowds of workers, students, and others gathered in the streets of Paris.  The immediate trigger was the death of General Jean Maximilien Lamarque, who had been a friend to the poor and downtrodden.  The crowd had hoped to accompany Lamarque’s hearse before it took the general home to his native district in the southwest of France.  Those mourning and those with a political agenda merged into a mob that numbered in the tens of thousands – some witnesses claimed it eventually grew to 100,000.

The 30-year-old Victor Hugo was nearby, in the Tuileries Gardens, writing a play.  Then he heard gunfire from the direction of Les Halles.  Instead of going home to safety, he followed the sounds of gunfire through the deserted streets. He was unaware that the mob had taken half of Paris, and the barricades were everywhere in Les Halles.  Wikipedia reports that Hugo headed north up the Rue Montmartre, then turned right onto the Passage du Saumon, finally turning before the Rue du Bout du Monde (if this street still exists, it has a different name now): “Halfway down the alley, the grilles at either end were slammed shut. Hugo was surrounded by barricades and flung himself against a wall, as all the shops and stores had been closed for some time. He found shelter between some columns. For a quarter of an hour, bullets flew both ways.”  Three decades later, he would write about this unforgettable experience in Les Misérables.

The catacombs hold some of the bones of those unfortunate enough not to live to tell the tale. And many others...

Dark Sphere and back: Circum-navigating the globe

Dark Sphere and back: In NZ again after 30 days' circum-navigating the globe

Back to blogging: I am back at the keyboard after 30 days of travelling the world, many great experiences and addition to the ever growing pile of un-built models.

 Luc and I are now working on our lists for the NZTC Warhammer  Tournament (Team Champs) coming up in March. He plans on fielding an Ogre list, and I am working on my Dark Elves (No surprise that, eh, with the great new rules and models)

Our trip took us around the world, from NZ to the land of cheap electronics (Malaysia), beach paradise no 1 (Koh Lipe, Thailand) The land of affordable Warhammer models and Anglophile history (UK), the land of Guiness beer, whiskey in a jar, and folk music (Eire), the land of great cheese, foi gras, garlic and red wine (and things Napoleonic) - France, to Tinseltown (US), and finally to beach paradise no 2 (Moorea, Tahiti) before winging our way back to Aotearoa (NZ)

One of the highlights of our trip was a visit to Dark Sphere, London's biggest gaming store, now in Lambeth, London. They recently moved, and are now situated a stone's throw from the Imperial War Museum. This shop just cannot be missed! We arrived at this gaming cornucopia after a visit to the Natural History Museum. (Trade-off with Lisa, as she didn't want to go to the IWM, and they are renovating for the 100th Anniversary of WW1 anyhow.

The bulging shelves of the right hand side of Dark Sphere's new home.

The purveyors of joy at Dark Sphere were still unpacking, having just moved into the new premises. Boxes of models were piled up to 3 metres high in places, and it took great discipline to stay within budget.

Needless to say being free of the mark-up we endure in NZ made the experience all the sweeter. We had to tear ourselves away, as it was getting late, and as usual when games meet we fell into taking about our hobby.

Looking forward to the next year of gaming the two of us had to discipline ourselves severely to stick to the agreed budget. We ended up buying a DE cauldron/medusa, warlocks/dark riders, scourge runner, Ogre fire belly and a unit of ogre bulls, an ironblaster (yes, Luc needed more ogres and another blaster!), Gor Rok, and a Carnosaur/Trogothingy, and board game that retails for $120 here, for the grand sum of 150 pounds ($300) Would have been even cheaper had we ordered it online beforehand.

I had to refrain from getting more Chaos Daemons and Empire stuff, as we still had 2 weeks of travel ahead of us, and resolutely looked past the racks and racks of Privateer Press, and almost any other model maker you could imagine. Yes, Battlefront was also there, but with price equity in NZ. Only Plastic Soldier Co was absent from the racks, and some of the more obscure brands, such as Wargods of Hyperborea (Crocodile games, which I had hoped to find there)

I have just calculated the cost of our GW haul if we had bought it here - $563NZ! (Not counting the $120+ board game, which would have brought the cost to $680+ had we bought these here)  We are talking almost a 100% mark-up. Surely this cannot be justified on transport costs alone.

Anyhow, we got the expected scolding from mommy dearest when we arrived back at our accommodation with 4 bags bulging with models and games. We swiftly de-boxed the models and posted them back to NZ for the princely cost of 15 Euros when we got to Dublin. (26-28 NZ$).

WW2 Japanese 122m long Super-sub found by Divers

Sen-Toku Super Sub Discovered off Hawaii

Scientists plumbing the Pacific Ocean off the Hawaii coast have discovered a World War II era Japanese submarine, a technological marvel that had been preparing to attack the Panama Canal before being torpedoed by US forces.

The 122-metre Sen-Toku class vessel - among the largest pre-nuclear submarines ever built - was found in August off the southwest coast of Oahu and had been missing since 1946, scientists at the University of Hawaii at Manoa said.

The I-400 and its sister ship, the I-401, which was found off Oahu in 2005, were able to travel one and a half times around the world without refuelling and could hold up to three folding-wing bombers that could be launched minutes after resurfacing, the scientists said.

The accidental discovery of the 1-400, an aircraft-toting I-400 mega sub, on the rock- and debris-littered ocean floor, about 700m feet beneath the surface, has solved the mystery surrounding a ship long thought to be further afield.

"We came upon this as we were looking for other targets ... It is like watching a shark at rest," said Jim Delgado, a researcher aboard the Pisces V deep-diving submersible which traveled to the wreckage.

The US Navy captured five Japanese subs, including the I-400, at the end of World War Two and brought them to Pearl Harbor for inspection, the scientists said.

"It was torpedoed, partially collapsed and had sunk at a steep angle," said Delgado, an archaeologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which helped to fund the dive.

US forces sank the submarines and claimed to have no information on their precise location, in an apparent bid to prevent their technology falling into the hands of the Soviet Union, which had demanded the ships be returned to Japan.

Other mega subs have been found in waters off Oahu and in the Sea of Japan. One in the submarine class remains missing.

The discovery of the I-400 was announced after NOAA had reviewed its findings with the US State Department and Japanese government officials, researchers said.


- Reuters

Elevenses: 11 111

WW II 11 111

Opened my blogger dashboard today to find that my visitor counter had reached no 11 111 today.

With Armistace Day coming up and the significance of 11am on 11/11 it almost seems prophetic.
Lest we forget...

(That was 2008).

So I googled an image for 11 111 first:

This is what I got



OK...not that inspiring. How about WWII 11 111?
Apart from garbage and irrelevant images, the first image was

Messerschmidt 163 Comet

Israeli 90 mm gun mounted on a Sherman Chassis

11 111 WW2?

Swap or Sell Miniatures: KWC Swap Day 20.12.2013

We want you! 

For the 

Kapiti Wargames Club 

Swap Day

20.10.2013

Unwanted or unloved Miniatures?

The Annual Kapiti Wargames Club Swap Meet is on again!

Sunday 20 October 2013

10.00 to 16.00

Paraparaumu Community Centre

Nga Hina Street, Paraparaumu



Entry Gold Coin Donation at door


Bring all your unwanted bits and models: Warhammer, 40K, 

Warmachine, FoW, Military, Napoleonics, Ancients, Moderns, 

28mm, 20mm, 15mm

 ...any scale, any condition. 



Missing bits, complete or partial kits...all comers welcome! 

Your trash is likely someone's treasure!

Sell or swap!

(Most likely there will be some gaming too)

Sad news for Wargamers: Don Featherstone Dies

Sad News for Wargamers

Donald Featherstone has died after a fall and a brief sick-bed. Was it not for him I would not be a gamer today.
One of the Godfathers of wargaming, he died at the age of 95.

If you play any wargame, you have been touched by this man's work, energy and passion - his "Skirmish Wargames" was one of the inspirations for Necromunda and he invented the saving throw.

He lived a full and productive life of considerable achievement. He went on the BBC TV in the 1960s & 70s to popularise wargaming as a hobby, at a time when it was virtually unknown.

His energy was such that he was still responding to letters from fans (always carefully typewritten and then signed) in 2013.

Today spare a thought for a pioneer of gaming and raise a glass in his honour.
To Donald Featherstone!

Wikipaedia:

Donald F. Featherstone (born 20 March 1918) is a British author of more than forty books on wargaming and military history. He wrote classic texts on wargaming in the 1960s and 1970s.
Featherstone was born in London.

During the Second World War, Featherstone joined the Royal Armoured Corps; an account of his war experiences can be found in his book Lost Tales
Originally a physiotherapist,[Featherstone was first introduced to wargaming by reading HG Wells' Little Wars and his first opponent was Tony Bath in 1955. In 1960 the two of them began editing the UK version of the War Game Digest, a seminal wargaming newsletter started by Jack Scruby. Disapproving of a trend towards articles that were "attempting to spread an aura of pseudo-science over what is a pastime,"

Featherstone started his own periodical in 1962, the Wargamers' Newsletter. While in discussion late one night with Dr. Paddy Griffith (the well known military historian), Don had a Eureka moment when he came to realise that the hobby of wargaming could considerably aid understanding of military history .Featherstone appeared on the BBC to promote the hobby. In 1966 he organized the first UK wargames convention.

His extended bibliography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Featherstone_(wargamer)

I blogged on my own roots and introduction to wargames last year, using his rulesets, which are probably the basis of everything we use today, including FoW and WHFB:

http://wargamesobsession.blogspot.co.nz/2012/10/blast-from-past.html