Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

by on October 10, 2019 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

So, we’ve got a few different things going on here. Jack Weatherford is an anthropologist who has spent a lot of time in modern Mongolia, and has a much better grasp of Mongolian culture than anyone else who will write in English. Along with modern, full, translations of The Secret History of the Mongols (which was, despite what he says, available to the west in various partial translations from the 19the Century on, and Lamb’s 1927 biography also references it, though with a lot of definite differences), this is probably the best biography of Genghis Khan we will ever get.

And this volume is great at getting into his motivations, and how he thought about a lot of things, where his tactics came from, etc. It isn’t just a biography of Genghis himself, and goes into his heirs, and the unstable state that was established until it finally breaks up for good in the mid-14th Century, with lots of help from the Black Death. There is some talk about the finances of the empire, including the strain of funding everything through commerce instead of looting. Sadly (understandably, but sadly) there’s not a lot of detail here, though there are some interesting observations that the various Mongol leaders were kept financially dependent on each other, possibly to counteract the political strains between them.

Much of the later part of the book goes into the ‘making of the modern world’; showing how Mongol-sponsored trade, and their habit of appropriating anything that looked useful spread plenty of inventions and ideas from China to Europe and back. He contends, with good reason, that this made some of the Renaissance possible, and Europe benefited from many inventions spread by the Mongols throughout Eurasia.

However, he at no point goes into how much of a demographic and cultural disaster the Mongols were. He mentions cities that were destroyed as an example to others, of populations rounded up and forced to assault another city in front of the Mongol army. He mentions artisans being valued and saved out of the populations… and sent back to Samarkand to work there. At no point does he look at just what all this did to the populations involved (and admittedly, in most places its overshadowed by the Black Death), nor contemplate just what happens to a culture who’s just had all its best skilled people, especially artisans, forcibly removed from it.

So as an account of what happened, its good, and is excellent on Genghis’ early life, but it gets overenthusiastic on other subjects.

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Fool’s Mate

by on October 6, 2019 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Boardgaming

Jason came by on the 14th of August, and after some discussion, we had decided upon another stab at Pursuit of Glory. I was starting to contemplate the best way to pack up at the end of the day if it went long (and a full game isn’t something we can really fit into one day), but that turned out to be unnecessary. After my victory last time, we decided to switch sides, as the CP tends to give me more trouble.

Jason used the normal Russo-British Assault, and while I managed to Withdraw in Mesopotamia, I lost two cavalry divisions to the Russian offensive. Things went fairly normally after that, with both of us hitting 4 War Status on the first turn. I played Persian Push, and got into northern Persia to take VPs, and also took Van, though I didn’t have anything to keep the area with if he got active there.

As it turned out, that was the beginning of things going wrong. However, turn 2 is when things really happened. We had both lined up on the Suez Canal, and I got Liberate Suez. I had taken the Senussi tribes already with plans of picking off weaker British units (like the Royal Navy Armored Car) before causing trouble in Khartoum, and this allowed me to use one of the OPS on that. However, I noted that Ismalia was looking weak, and activated two spaces to attack that as well. I burned a CC card on that (and later used Sandstorms to cancel a counterattack back into Suez, so I was low on cards) and advanced across the canal. Jihad was already at 6, so I got the first Egyptian Revolt roll I’ve seen in a while (‘1’…).

The rest of the turn naturally concentrated on Egypt, as I worked to capitalize on my luck there. I took Suez and Cairo, and managed to keep supply open even though Jason retook Ismalia. The Senussi occupied Alexandria and Khartoum, and out in Persia I kept my little forces moving, taking Isfahan, Eastern Persia, and Central Persia. While the Bawi occupied Ahwaz. All of this drove VPs up to 20 just in time for the end of the turn.

Neither of us would have been in good shape for a turn 3. We’d been too busy for RP plays, and the Russian front had been slowly shredding on me before attention was forced elsewhere. Jason had spent a round on Churchill Prevails (the threat of invasions is just too important), but didn’t get a single fort. There were a few things Jason could have done about the VP situation (occupying Van, for one), though they had some of their own costs. Jason has a renewed appreciation of the need to get more troops into Egypt (by SRing from India).

After lunch I introduced him to Sekigahara, giving him Tokugawa. As usual, teaching went well; it is a nicely streamlined game, and the reference card has just about everything on it. I had a slow start, not getting any hands that worked with my armies for the first half of the game, and slowly lost blocks. But I managed to keep things together, and started retaking the initiative.

Jason took Gifu early, and it passed back and forth later. Later, he took Ueda and Aizu. A couple weeks in, I finally took Miyazu, and late in I retook Gifu, and moved south to take Anotsu and stand on Kiyosu. As the eastern force made its way west, I had to abandon much of that position, and then counterattacked in Week 7. I managed initiative, and went last, expecting to make a final bid for points. But in Turn A, we had another battle in Gifu, which I managed to win, and forced him to lose Tokugawa, and the game.

Overall, it was a good day. I’m certainly happy to have finally introduced Jason to Seki, though his immediate reaction was more tepid than I’ve been used to. Our next two-player day will be PuG with the same sides, so Jason can fix his mistakes.

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The Empty Chair

by on October 2, 2019 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

I’m glad I came to the later part of Duane’s Rihannsu series late, as there was a six-year publication gap between the middle part (the previous pair of books) and this one, with it picking up just as things get dangerous with a state of war being declared between the Federation and the Romulan Empire. It’s also ~400 pages and allowed to be one book, thankfully.

There’s plenty of action this time, with several large actions as the war escalates. In fact, this novel is unusual for Star Trek (especially original series) in depicting fleet battles instead of smaller engagements. Kirk gets to actually act as more of an admiral for once, managing things instead of charging straight into the middle of the action. There’s a fair number of macguffins around some of this, more that I prefer to see thrown around in one novel, but at least they all fit with each other.

At the same time, the plot more revolves around finding a true way forward. Oppression and rebellion are coming even without a war, and in fact, war with the Federation is a distant thing for most of the book, which concentrates on the internal troubles. The large cast of character really shines in this type of story, as there’s no real way to present all the important facets without them. The conclusion follows very naturally from much of what has come before, and is the satisfactory ending all of this has has deserved.

There’s an attempt to paper things over at the end, to give an out to The Next Generation‘s bit where the Romulans have cut themselves off from the rest of galactic society for decades. It feels forced, and is a squaring of the circle that just wasn’t needed. But that’s a minor problem in a strong conclusion to a series that does a great job with its material.

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Two Rounds of Paraitacene

by on September 28, 2019 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: CC:Ancients

After finishing up our latest ASL game, Patch and I spend a couple weeks with our usual between-games round of Commands & Colors: Ancients. This time was the Battle of Paraitacene from Expansion #1. Both sides have a core of Heavy Infantry, and Eumenes has plenty of supporting infantry (and the Silver Shields), a little cavalry and two Dlephants, while Antigonus has only one Dlephant, and a decent cavalry force. A few hill hexes are impassible, constricting one flank, and both sides are at 5 Command with Eumenes going first in a long (7 banner) battle.

Patch led off with getting a couple units up, while I Ordered Lights to get into archery range, and did one block to an Elephant. Patch Out-Flanked to move forward, and did a ranged banner to my Elephant, who didn’t damage the one adjacent unit before retreating. Move-Fire-Move let me position a little better, did a block to a Light, and drove off his LC and forced an Elephant out of his line (two banners), who did a block to the Silver Shields.

Patch engaged with an Order Four Left to do a block to a Light, drive off an Aux, and three blocks to another Aux. Battle back did a block and banner to his Elephants, who did a block to his MC before leaving. I used I Am Spartacus to order a Light, Aux and and MC on my right, and a Medium and LBC on my left, driving the Elephant back two hexes, doing a block to a Light, and drove off his MC after a failed First Strike. Patch Ordered Lights to drive off my MC, and lost a block on his LC. I Ordered Three Right to bring up heavier units, while Patch used Coordinated Attack to knock out my weak Aux and do a block to my LBC.

Line Command finally shifted my center away from the baseline, and I knocked out a LC and did two blocks to a Light. Patch Ordered Two Left to move out his Light, and pick on my Aux, who took two hits and eliminated his MC. A second Line Command let a Heavy engage, doing a block and three banners to an Aux, while also forcing the wounded Light to evade. Patch Ordered Mounted to do a block to a LC, and his Elephant did one block to my Heavy (!), while the battle back got it. Leadership Any Section, followed by Mounted Charge, moved my right up and finished off his wounded light, then wiped out an Aux (forcing a leader to evade off-board), while my Elephant wiped out a Medium, and did three hits on a Heavy on momentum, but was eliminated on battle-back.

Double Time let Patch protect his wounded Heavy and get the Silver Shields into action, who promptly eliminated a Medium. I Counter Attacked to bring my Heavies into contact, and eliminate the Silver Shields in two attacks, after they nearly wiped out another Medium. 7-3

My opening was nearly identical to Patch’s, while he Ordered Three Left to hit my flank with cavalry, and shift his leader from a LC to a Medium, and did a block to my Elephants. Order Three Center got me into archery range, and I did a block to his LBC. Patch moved up with Order Lights and drove off one of my Lights, and did a banner to my Elephants, who did a block to my LBC on rampage. Inspired Left Leadership got that flank in motion, with everyone protecting my Elephant there, and I drove off his with a banner. Patch advanced with Order Four Right, eliminating a Light for one block. Order Lights drove off one of his LC and did a block to an Aux, while Patch Darkened the Sky to do a hit each on two Lights and a MC, and did a banner to the Elephants (who did another block to my MC before retreating). I Out Flanked to pull back and re-form that line while driving off a LBC, and force a LC to retreat (losing a block at the baseline).

Patch Coordinated Attack to bring up another LC who forced a skirmishing Light back (losing a block when his retreat was blocked). Line Command got most of my army forward, and I drove the LC back to the baseline, as well as a hit to an Aux. Patch Ordered Lights, and that LC charged my flank to be sent back to the baseline on a banner again, while he caused a block by another blocked retreat of one of my Lights. I reworked my center, and Patch Ordered Mediums to finish off a Light.

I Ordered Heavies and the Silver Shields drove off a Med with two losses, and my Elephant finished off an Aux and then completely muffed a momentum attack on a Heavy (two banners, and he could ignore both); the Elephant only took a banner, and did nothing in four rampage attacks. Patch then Ordered Heavies to infiltrate my broken up flank, and his HC did a block to an Aux, forcing it to retreat, and advanced to take on my weak MC who First Striked for two blocks before he killed it. His Elephant did nothing to mine, and I Ordered Two Left to move my leader (from the MC) to my Aux who forced the HC to evade away.

Double Time got most of his Heavies in play, and he knocked out one of mine and did two to another and a block to a Medium, but he lost a Heavy in return as well as two hits to another. Clash of Shields ordered four units, and I did a block to a Light, two blocks to a Heavy (also forced to retreat), and my Elephant finished off his HC, but was killed during Momentum, as well, my LC took two hits while trying to attack his Elephant. Line Command moved him up, and I lost a block on a Medium on another blocked retreat, but they finished off his Heavy; an Aux did a block to the same unit, who then did three back and forced him to retreat. He also did two blocks to the Silver Shields, who did one back and forced a retreat.

Line Command brought me center back into contact with his, and ranged brought a Medium down to a block. I did a block to an evading Light (which also got his leader out of range), I then finished off a two-block Heavy and his one-block Medium. 7-5

Afterword

It’s an interesting battle, as both sides have Heavy Infantry and Elephants, but the rest is fairly different. It’s certainly one of the better, and more even battles, but between seven banners, and the fact that both armies start fairly close to their baselines, it will take longer than normal.

Patch had very poor cards the first game and couldn’t really use his center and right. In the second game, I started with First Strike and Clash of Shields, which while nice, meant I was playing with a three-card hand for the first several turns until they could become useful. I made decent use of what I had, but I couldn’t put together anything coherent at first.

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Defending Heaven

by on September 24, 2019 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

The Mongols, and their conquest of an exceedingly large chunk of Eurasia is a subject well known in history. Their conquest of China regularly gets good coverage in books talking about this in general, but there’s few, if any, books in English about just that. Waterson concentrates especially on the conquest of the Song Dynasty by Kublai Khan. This is looked at largely from the Song point of view, largely to prevent it from just looking like a focused version of those other books.

He starts with the formation of the Song Dynasty, and how it shaped a desire to acquire northern lands that they felt had been ‘lost’ to the Liao. This becomes part of a pattern of blindness in a fairly dysfunctional government, and the loss of northern China to the Jin. Initial Mongol conquests were against the Xia and the Jin, with the Song helping. The Song regained three important cities… and we enter the biggest focus part of the book

The Mongol campaigns against the Song took twenty years to really break the dynasty, and it was a decidedly hard slog for the Mongols the entire way. Waterson then goes into the Yuan Dynasty (Kublai’s effort in becoming a Chinese, rather than outsider, government), and how its various problems turn into a sense of ‘everything was better under the Song’. He finishes up with rebellions against Yuan rule and the founding of the Ming Dynasty.

I’ll admit that while I found the book well written, argued, and structured, I am at more of a geographical loss. Maps are limited, and on the Kindle app, flipping back to them is inconvenient; my knowledge of Chinese geography is quite limited compared to what I’d like to follow some of the action. Still, I enjoyed it, and plan on looking up his other works as well worth a read.

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