Terribly Obscure Battles, Wars And Revolutions 2 (B)

Burmese-Chinese War of 1765-69

Burma under the reign of King Hsinbyushin followed an aggressive expansionist policy. Having recently invaded Siam and even capturing their capital in 1767 (but failing to bring them to peace) Hsinbyushin then started to raid the Chinese boarder. China's Emperor Ch'ien Lung launched a major invasion into Burma. This caught the Burmese somewhat by surprise as the vast majority of their troops were fighting in Siam. Fortunately for Hsinbyushin the Chinese expecting a rather easy campaign had committed mostly untrained troops to the invasion and the greatly outnumbered but superior Burmese defeated the invaders. The second invasion was no more successful as more troops were committed by both sides to a slowly expanding conflict.

By the time of the third invasion the boarder conflict had become a full scale war as more and more Burmese troops were taken from the Siam front and thrown into defence against the massed Chinese armies.

Elite Manchu Bannermen

The third invasion (1767-68) was the most successful as it used the Elite Manchu Bannermen as the main part of the invading fore. China being so much larger than Burma had the forces to keep up the pressure on the Burmese and could replace lost troops far faster than the defenders and after winning a series of battles and smaller engagements were within a few days march of the capital (Ava). This was as close as they were to get. Each battle had cost the Bannermen high in casualties. The jungle was not neutral, many more soldiers were to die from disease or starvation as supply lines were cut by smaller Burmese units operating to flank and rear of the Chinese battling forwards. Momentum was lost and the remains of the army staggered back to china. King Hsinbyushin well aware of how close a call it was stripped Siam of most of his remaining troops and reinforced his border posts.

The fourth and final invasion was also the largest as Ch'ien Lung determined to bring the war to an end in his favour was bent on battering his way into victory. The invasion soon bogged down and the more mobile Burmese forces soon had the Qing forces surrounded and a truce was organised between the opposing commanders in December 1769.

Both sides kept an heavy presence on the boarder for about ten years but no more attacks were made by either side. China also held a trad embargo for 20 years with Burma but in 1790 Diplomatic relations were reinstated. China claiming this as a victory against Burma. Estimates of Chinese losses vary greatly between 20,000 and 70,000. What can not be disputed is that some of the cream of China's army was lost in the third invasion. Siam was the real winner, with the main war effort shifting from there to China they were able to claw back the lost territory and settle on good terms. Another example of fighting wars on two fronts just not being effective.

American Sniper Reminder Additions.

The Sniper Project is doing fine. I needed a few more Yanks due to one guy wanting a figure with netting on his helmet. I had only one of these which had already been picked so needed to get another pack. This pack had two guys with the netting so it worked out well in the end. Again these are dressed in Greatcoats which come out really well with a wash. The above photo was battling the natural light through the window but it gives a fair idea of what they look like. Again I used Artisan figures. These tend to be more stationary than Bolt Action but that works with the whole one figure with a board game thing. Though the Japanese I am just basing up mostly have a hell of a lot more movement (Bolt Action) and will look great when finished.

 Close up of the two with netting. I found the figures fun to paint up and much quicker than the Japanese which will be shown at a later date. In fact the Japanese have been rather a pain to paint up and now I have the extra work that the jungle base provides. Oh Joy.

The Tufts are the ones I bought directly from MiniNatur and as you can see I went a little overboard with them, but it adds to the look.

Here is a close up of the Company B decal. Given the extra practise I have had with them I have managed a better job (not that I was unhappy with the first). The decal wraps round the shoulder really well and the transparent edges disappear once the figure has been varnished. Prior to that it was easy to see. I add the decals post ink wash  so they remain crisp.

Terribly Obscure Battles, Wars and Revolutions A-Z (and back again?)

OK a new series to go along with the ECW history stuff. I will try and pick out battles and wars that may not be mainstream and give a bit of detail of them. It's not meant to be in depth or long, just a bit of an interest read for you.

Typical troops of the period.

Abbasid Revolution of A.D.747-50

Northeastern Persia was controlled by the Ummayyad family but the Abbasid's who claimed to be descendants of Addas, Uncle of The Prophet Muhammad and led by Abu Muslim (they were Muslim Arabs) openly revolted in 747 and seized the strategically important City of Merv that sat on the silk roads. Marwan II the last Ummayyad caliph tried to smash the rebellion but suffered defeats at the battles of Nishapur, Jurjan, Nehawand and Kerbela. Up to this point the rebellion was contained in the province of Khorasan but with these defeats the revolt spread across other provinces in the Muslim empire. A further and decisive battle was fought at the Great Zab River in 750 which ended the revolt in the Abbasid's favour with Abu al-Abbas as-Saffan proclaiming himself  the first Abbasid caliph at Kufa, a Mesopotamian city near the Euphrates River. As for Marwan he fled to Egypt but was soon murdered.

Competition Fever

This last two weeks has seen me enter not one but two competitive games. Given that it's something I just don't do a great deal of (yes I play very competitively but not in competitions). Does that mean I have changed my spots? Will I change my style? And just what exactly am I playing?

Well anyone who has ever played this game will know exactly what I have signed up for. I joined the waiting list for this game about 4 -6 months ago in one of the few paper zines that still seem to be in existence in the UK. I have managed to get my second choice in Germany and so am ready to roll. My only concern is that Austria has no e-mail address which could effect how well we work together. For those who have not played the Diplomacy, Germany and Austria really need to work together for either to do well. If one falls the other tends to follow. Signing up for a postal Diplomacy game is really signing up for the long haul, unless you get knocked out early then games can run on for years. We have an international set of players and as such it should be rather interesting, I will report here on my progress (or lack there of) but if you want to follow all the other games or join one or more take a sub of Fury of the Northmen or FuN as it's also called. Games currently being played, Chess, Britannia, Diplomacy (now two games) and waiting lists for Chess and Diplomacy. Get in touch with me and I will supply Colin's address for you.

The other game is in fact a league. Committed through the rest of this year but I am sure I will play in following years as well. This is the ASLeague, a play by mail ASL League that has three month deadlines to play a scenario. Live play is allowed so you can hurry a game along if required but for the most part it is played out via VASL. It has received a great deal of interest and we have three Divisions this time round with over 70 players. Next year these Divisions will be seeded to an extent so the better players will get a chance to lock horns. This year will only have three rounds but regular years will have four. My first game is already well under way and I have just had a really rough turn, losing two Sherman's to a hidden SPG. On the bright side I have made good forward progress with my infantry. It really is still very open and any ones game.

I have cut down the map but have crossed half the boards, I am the tan (British) and need to control the Church and the woods hex. Casualties do not count against me. The pic shows me half way through my turn 3 move out of 8 turns. I am already flanking the top German unit, a half squad and hero. At this point we both have a lot of units Concealed (marked with a ?) this is mainly because we are fighting in Bocage so gaining concealment is easy. My units at the bottom have a few issues not the least in losing the two tanks but Ken my opponent has problems of his own with not enough forces forced to cover to much ground. The scenario AP33 Second Cristot has a reputation for being very well balanced based on reported playings (about 40 wins for each side) so it's set to be an excellent game.

As for how I intend to play them. Well just the same, play all out to win but have lots of fun getting there. But no that's the total sum of competitive play for now. The ASLeague just allows me to play a few other players that's all.

Kardrakes Are Go!!!

Kardrakes Looking For Trouble

WRG 6th gave me 100 Kardrakes, that is 100 JLS/Bow armed troops that really rocked. 4 Units (2 x 24 and 2 x 26) and it was rare that I did not field them when I played. But under FoG these are replaced by a far more sedate Crescent Shielded Medium Infantry armed just with a spear. Now looking at the army list it's fair to bemoan the general loss of missile troops. I mean this is a Persian army it's supposed to be stuffed with bow armed troops but in reality you really don't get much and I think the main reason the Kardrakes became bowless was that they would be so very tough. I kept the odd bow firing troop in the mix to keep the original look even though the new army only allows 72 figures so I plan to rebase the rest and off to E-Bay they will go.



What An Ugly Lot

Originally painted in the late 80's I think. A mix of Essex, Museum Miniatures and Chariot. I really like the mixed look of the whole unit. I still have some more to rebase for this army and the ones I will sell. I also gave them a quick wash in Devlan Mud whilst I have some left. Again Cath took the photo and she has done well including the vines in the background.



Ready For Battle

Not as well painted as I would do in this day and age but if I remember rightly I was rushing them to get them ready for a game in the hope that the extra firepower would give me an edge. Looking now and seeing the bow cases straps unpainted I blush with embarrassment.



Lost in the Grapes.

Rather than wait for the next battle I thought I would take the opportunity to show off the vineyard in this photo shoot. Not sure if these guys are waiting in ambush or waiting for a tipple. Lee popped over last week and said rather nice things about the vineyards so once I have eaten more grapes I will be back into production.

No Salute, But It Did Not Stop Me.

Me Bitter? Twisted? Need you ask? Well having never been to Salute I really don't know what I am missing which possibly is a good thing. I think most of all I would have liked to meet up with fellow bloggers but maybe next year etc etc.

What I did manage to do though was spend a bit of money and commit some more. Both to a new project mentioned recently, that of my 1/72 Numedian army.

Yes I know what your thinking, Dacian? Why Dacian. Well being plastic they convert rather easier than metal and I plan to do a fair bit of cutting and gluing until these Dacian's look more like Numedian Light Infantry. I bought two boxes and these are the first edition before the re-tooling  and are supposed to be superior to the new versions. Each box was just under £5 with free postage from Drum and Flag. The rest of the basic army will run to about £25 and I will use the Romans I already own as Roman Deserters so total cost for a whole army will be about £45 and will be based for Impetus. The biggest challenge once painted will be learning how to fight with it as it's got a lot of light troops! I fancy playing at Maelstrom Games to take advantage of the larger tables!

I have to admit to being rather excited now that I have started to get it together and with some of the units being very basic in dress they should paint up really quickly, but I have said that before. My only issue is how to glue the riders to their mounts, after all I have a mass of glues but none of them like medium consistency plastic. Anyone want to help me out here?

Of course there is also the new TYW/ECW 15mm/10mm project waiting in the wings, Triples will hopefully help with the final decisions on that one but I don't plan to just sit back and wait. I plan to rebase at least one foote regiment in 15mm to see what it looks like. Ideally I would like to stick to 15mm as this would mean far less work but ironically could work out costing much more which is a issue given the £££ situation right now.

Well I am close to finishing off my Japanese Sniper Reminders, the figures were finished last night after painting them on and off through the afternoon and evening. Just need varnishing and then on to basing which is a fairly large task in itself. Then it's on to the Australians. After that I plan to major on figures for me for awhile as it seems that I am missing out on painting my armies.

All The Talk Of Lists

OK I am not going to Salute but all this talk of lists has got my juices flowing. Earlier today I committed to raising a 20mm Numidian Army for Impetus, though truth be told I had already committed to it over a month ago, I had just not owned up to it. This I expect to be a fairly slow progress though I expect to get all the figures at the same time as they will be plastics so it won't break the bank. But after Lee's visit two days ago I have also been thinking about the re-basin my 15mm ECW. I really do not like the regimental make up of the foot. 8 pike and 12 musket over 6 bases. With the Standard in with the pike you also should would have the officer and drummer. This means you end up with 5 pike and a flag, not that imposing. You could put the officer in with the musket and forget the drummer but again I don't like the look of it. The last option would be to drop the officer and drummer which seems all wrong but possibly the best choice. The thing is I am used to seeing 30 figure regiments and as mentioned before it means cutting to pieces a number of regiments to make it work and lots of left over figures whilst the Cavalry were about 10 figure strong will now be two figures short. Lee agreed that possibly selling most of it and starting again was the best option, hoping to get casting price back (lots of old Essex in helmet for musket does not bode well). But today I had a thought. It's not the bases that's the issue it's the number of figures being represented. So how about dropping a scale to 10mm and loading the bases with extra figures. This would give the appearance of a regiment rather than a forlorn hope, still be big enough to be attractive to paint and looking at Pendragon rather a budget way of doing it. This would also help with Lee being more interested in Thirty Years War as we can both raise armies for this (though I could also double standard them for ECW use. The only question would be, do I sell up all the 15mm ECW (my first ever army) or do I keep them and try other rules? My gut says keep them till I am sure 1. I like FoG:R and 2. The idea pans out. I also have to consider that Matt still has 15mm Parliament army so we may end up going head to head with these. Lots to ponder, if Lee gives the nod for 10mm then I will buy a few packs at Triples, paint and base them up to see what it's like. Meanwhile I do think that I will still break up a couple of regiments in 15mm just to see what they look like. The other option is to also buy Matchlock mini's or similar and start to replace the old boys.

Beyond that I am struggling to think what to buy, my Persians could do with more Cavalry to max out the list and the Macedonian Army is not complete but I have plenty to paint yet without buying more (though I might max out the Companions). I won't buy for the Seleucid just yet, well except for them bloody camels! Maybe it's a good job I am not at Salute tomorrow.

God's Executioner, Book Review

OK lets start with a bit of a moan. The full title of the book is God's Executioner: Oliver Cromwell and the Conquest of Ireland. So I think it's fairly reasonable to think that the book will be about, well Oliver Cromwell and the period of time that he was in Ireland with a section covering the period prior to Cromwell's direct involvement and another following his return to England to deal with the pesky Scotts. I suppose in fairness this is more or less what you get but I can't shake the idea that Cromwell's name was used more to sell extra copies than his being a central character within the book.

Dr Micheal O' Siochru does a good job of setting the scene and comes across at the start as being able to write up a historical vision without taking up either sides cause. As I got further into the book though I found that he came across as being Partisan to one side then the other almost like he was arguing with himself or really was not sure who was right. This is really the crux of the book though, at times it could be confusing what conclusions the author was coming to but he does make one thing very clear, that neither side could hold there heads up with pride for how they conducted themselves. The Catholics seem to have been doomed to failure due to internal power struggles. a lack of a clear purpose and intervention from Rome that forced the Irish into a no win situation. What made the situation worse was that it was not as simple as two sides, within the Catholic camp you had Old Irish and New Irish (often two generations of what was English Catholics) and Rome, whilst set against these you had English Settlers of the New Prayer Book bent, English troops under command of Ormond (Loyal to Charles I), troops under command of Parliament and troops and settlers that were Scottish. At any one time many of these factions could be working together or against each other and loyalties were more than a little blurred.

Drogheda and Wexford are commonly known as Cromwell's worst cases of excess and you will get few people who will defend his actions here. Though O' Siochru is bold enough to question the level of deaths at Drogheda and I personally think you can run parallels to the Atomic bombs dropped on Japan, the argument that such actions saved other lives as many Towns surrendered before a storming in fear of what would follow, even after Cromwell had left Ireland. The other side of the coin was the killing of Irish by the Irish and burning of Villages within Parliament control by the Catholic forces, especially after the field armies had been defeated and large scale resistance had been replaced by a more Partisan style resistance movement with Catholic forces taking refuge in the peat bogs and sallying out to attack any venerable Parliamentary garrison or body of marching troops. Indeed whilst this would never gain Ireland's freedom from the English Parliament it did more damage than any of the armies that had taken the field.

By the very nature of the conflict it is confusing to follow, but O' Siochru did a fairly good job of helping you understand the events. By the end of the book I could not help but feel sorry for the Catholic people of Ireland, the Gentry come across as self serving, the Church as Manipulative, Rome as just uncaring but the people, well they just suffered no matter who or what happened. As for Ormond, well I already knew of his incompetence but was not aware of how desperately he clung to power for his own sake rather than that of the two Charles. Whilst Cromwell is cast as the villain of the times I can't help but feel he was the most honest of them all. Same for Parliament, yes at times it was underhand but given the double dealings of the rest it came out the better looking of the lot. As such it was a fascinating book that has increased my interest in Ireland during the 17th Century so as such has achieved it's goal.

From a wargaming perspective I have to say that it's a bit of a damp squid. Few large battles occurred and what did were very much one sided so no conversions to Irish regiments required. What could be done though would be skirmish games with 10-30 odd figures per side based on raids, ambushes and rustling. Makes it almost worth buying some 28mm's and giving it a go.

Of Olives and Grapes

Lee and myself agreed to split up the terrain pieces for FoG between us. Off he went and bought most of his agreed bits, oh and lots of other bits we did not discuss (roads, rivers hills.....) I think he thought we were playing in Sherwood Forrest judging by the number of trees he bought. Note to self, must pick a forest in the next game, don't want to see a grown man cry!!!)

My plan was a little more reserved, I planned to build some pieces so all I had to pit against Lee was a few bits of Plasticard! Well time marched on and due to the painting challenge I decided to put the idea on hold whilst I concentrated on getting the lead out. Not that it stopped the idea's flowing and the prep. At last I started with just the one test piece. First up was the vineyard (which also doubles as olive groves), we are allowed a max of 4 of these and I plan to do 6-8 bases as these also act as open fields or can be made into rough ground with markers. The base is simple enough and no reason to buy them. I will also make a few with walls around them to act as enclosed fields as well. The vines (which make better olive trees) are a simple modeling clay bank (DAS terracotta) mounted on lolly sticks that I have stuck cut down grape storks into. The grape storks need to be very well dried out (put in the oven as it cools after Sunday's joint has been removed) or like me just allow to dry out over a few months. These are rather tough and really look the part. Look great as 6mm dead fall and shattered trees. I then painted the banks and lolly stick base, I did this with Vallejo Saddle Brown but a little on the thin side as it allowed the red of the clay to come through which made it look a lot more earthy. I have mixed colours of Woodland Scenics foliage and just cut it into strips and bunches and stuck to the limbs and allowed to dry. When I flocked the base I also added flock around the base of the banks which hides the stick and any gaps that are caused by the shrinking of the clay.

The end result is a little rough and ready but I felt looks the part well enough. From a gaming distance they actually look better. The vines bases are not glued in place so can be moved around to allow figures to move through them. In fact I will use one less bank per terrain piece as it is a bit too crowded. I did mean to add some 15mm figs for scale but forgot in the rush to get Cath to snap them. Wait till we get a game in and I will make sure they feature.

Time wise it took much longer than I expected but I did a lot of it whilst I was ill so that will have slowed it down a fair bit. I will do the rest in one go once I have reloaded on the storks, it takes up more than you would think.

Blog Giveaway Arrives!

Yesterday Mr. Postman dropped my prize from http://www.onemanhisbrushes.blogspot.co.uk which was great. Dave runs an excellent blog and paints great looking figures so if you don't follow him have a nip over and I am sure you will like it.

It was great to win something and I had chosen Zulu as it's been ages since I last watched it. It now sits next to the TV waiting for the kids to go back to school so I can watch it without the Dad.............. etc.

So Thanks Dave, and get behind the sandbags chap's

6mm Napoleonic Reinforcements

I bought these Baccus figures at Derby last year. In fact I bought rather more than these four Regiments and have been working my way through the Cavalry already. I don't feel bad about only just getting round to some of the infantry given the other projects that I have on the go but I was really looking forward to painting these so finally pushed some of them onto the table.

I have already been surprised by the detail of the Cavalry, remember the pigtails? Well as you would expect the Infantry also are super detailed, such as the detail on the Shako's, though I ended up not painting the cords as they looked just to big (I painted some then over painted). I normally undercoat in black for 6mm but tried white and then washing in black to pull up the detail. This worked very well and will be my preferred method from now on. I still paint 6mm just like I paint 15mm, as in to the edge rather than area paint. This means it takes a lot longer to paint and whilst it looks no better when fighting a battle, close inspection does not make me blush.

These Regiments are made up of 24 figures and in the case of 3 Regiments a 4 man skirmish force out front. A total of 108 figures and took about 8 sessions to paint up. In truth I was unhappy with the look of them until I added the facings then they seemed to come together and now fully finished I am happy with them. My only gripe is the skirmish figures, just two poses, they are significantly larger than the rest and are poorer sculps than the rest. I am hoping these will be some of the figures that Baccus are planning to resculp for the French.

Close up of the one regiment without a skirmish line. The flag is also Baccus and was fairly easy to work with, just cut out, slap some PVA on one side and work round the Eagle. Whilst wet I used tweezers to rumple the flags (this is possibly the worst example LOL)

Regiments marching forward. The original plan was to base two regiments per base but I felt they filled out a base well enough on their own. I already have 20+ regiments in line so will continue to do column's for the time being. I will also do a couple moving from column to line and probably a few squares just for effect. All I need to do is crack on with the rules and possibly try another set or two as well.

I am really pleased with the colour of these units, they will really stand out against previous efforts, art of this is the white base coat but adding the red facings really lifted them. The shear colour of the Napoleonic period is what grabs me the most. I don't see me adding much to my Prussians but the French have a long way to go. I know Barry intends to add to his Brit's and Lee will just go into overdrive with his once we get playing, though he also has the Brits. Matt has the Russians and these are based the same so I can see a fair bit of action for my French, Huzzah!!!

As I was buying the 6mm Tufts for my other scales I felt compelled to buy some 2mm Tufts to try out on the 6mm bases. I have to say I really liked them, I went far heavier that would on the 15mm figures, after all I did buy the large pack! This was the right way to go but I originally thought the large pack would last me out, err, no it's just a place to start! I will go back to the other bases and add tufts to these, such is the lot of a wargamer.

March In Review

I was more than happy with March. The best Month for blogging for me with 22 posts. More than double that of the previous months and much helped by the final month of the painting contest as well as the better weather allowing me to be almost pain free for a couple of weeks Yippeeee!

I also picked up a few more followers which is always good and have continued to do so since so very pleased. The other gauge of outward success is hits. Every month has shown an increase in hits but last month jumped from 748 for February to a massive 1376 for March. This really blew me away as I have maintained a high regard for such things. The comments have come a lot thicker than previously which I also welcome.

The other more personal scale of success is the level of enjoyment you get out of writing the blog and this is only something you yourself can work out. I have to say that all the plus marks in followers and hits have helped but really it's been such great fun and shows no sign of dropping off. I've been frustrated this last ten or so days as sitting in front of a PC has been a no no. So what can you expect from the rest of April and beyond?

More Painting, I managed to finish off some 6mm before being struck down, I also have yet more Yanks to base up and then they are up for display. Unable to paint I have had enough hand control to make up a test piece of Terrain that should be finished before the weekend so will throw that on. A couple of book reviews and I will continue the ECW history bits as it seemed to be popular. Hopefully I will get a few games in in the next few weeks if I continue to progress and who knows what I will get up after that. May brings both Triples and Partisan shows though I don't think I will get to both so looking at Triples as being the event.

Ah it's good to be back.

A Short (hopefully) Delay

Just a quick note to you all out there. I touched on this on Sunday regarding being ill. Since then I have got worse and now whilst I am fairly sure I am the start of recovery it will be weeks if not months before I am back to March levels of energy and health. Just a bad cold was enough to cause the problems and as things stand looking at a computer screen is extremly tiring so I do not see me doing much blogging in the next week or three. Keep an eye out and you will see.

Oliver Cromwell, Amazing Facts. April Fool

Everything below is true except the Circumcision and converting to Judaism. Shame no one took the rise LOL

In a way you could think 17th Century England meets Da Vinci Code. Cromwell still to this day elicits strong reactions from many people. But what is not really known about him is that he was far less radical than popular opinion would have it and a lot of his great works have been either ignored or made to be the work of others. For instance whilst Cromwell did not forge the New Model Army he was the one who made it a Continental success. The New Model was required to keep order in The Three Kingdoms (Wales was not seen as a Nation) but still saw action in several European Countries. Also not known by many was that our overseas colonies were not a Napoleonic idea but troops were sent out to Jamaica during the Protective. The Royal Navy? Well say thank you Oliver as he made it a priority to out build both the Spanish and the Dutch and through commanders such as Blake was to win important battles that made England master of the waves and something we never let go . With Charles II gaining the thrown he simply took over the navy, renamed the flagship to something more Regal and away he went.

But all this cost money and after the Civil Wars had stripped the land of men and trade the country was struggling. It is firmly believed that Cromwell invited Jews back into England on a purely financial basis. This has a strong argument but does not fully stack up. First of all he was a sucker for Liberty of Conscience and whilst he eventually violently put down the army revolts he only did so once the discussions went from religious to political. Under Cromwell Catholics had more freedom of Religion than under Charles I, so long as they kept their meetings to the household. Cromwell for all this was seen as a zealot, great Victories such as Dunbar he put down to the Glory of God, but it seems he protested to much!

Paxton Hood in his book Oliver Cromwell mentions in his 1st Edition that Cromwell was very close to Judaism and visited their elders more than necessary. Now what is interesting about this was it was removed in the 2nd edition and then on. Several seditious pamphlets were released during the civil wars and after defaming Cromwell and not a few equated him to the devil. But late in his reign a couple linked him to Judaism either directly such as "Cromwell, the Devil and his unholy Jewish Alliance Uncovered". But you just can't trust 17th Century pamphlets as stand alone evidence. It is also clear that Cromwell was in fact a very devout Christian right up to the day he fell from his horse. This brought on another bought of Malaria (picked up in Ireland). By this point Cromwell was a broken man, subject to fits of depression and knowing the Protective was doomed to failure he even picked his successor to be his weak son Richard Cromwell knowing this would speed up the decline and bring about the Restoration. But he did something else as well. He converted his faith and became a Jew. This was very secret (obviously) and all involved had a vested interest in keeping this secret. When Cromwell was exhumed to be hung drawn and quartered he was found to be circumcised and was not in the usual shroud but dressed as that of a Jew. Whilst this was fantastic propaganda for the fledgling King he was forced to suppress the revelation as he was more cash strapped that the Protective and the Jews keen not to be linked any closer to Cromwell were prepared to pay handsomely to keep the secret. And so it has been more or less ever since. The truth has come to light at times but each time it gets light it is driven back in the dark. Even now it seems that Cromwell's conversion is not for open discussion.

Napoleonic Help. April Fool.

OK I am confused. I am in the process of adding the finishing touches to my Baccus French Infantry and am stuck. I have three contraditing sources for buttons. Black Enamel (which I am discounting) wooden and Tin. Anyone know which one is correct so I can finish the figures off?

47 page views but no bites, hope you all had a good day.