Crusader Castles of the Teutonic Knights (2)

by on August 7, 2026 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

The second volume of Osprey’s look at castles of the Teutonic Knights deals with Livonia, and actually covers activities before the Knights got involved.

Namely the stone castle of Uexkull is built around 1185 to support the first bishop of the area. The Livionian Brothers of the Sword are founded in 1204, and eventually dismantled and absorbed into the Teutonic Order in 1237, shortly after they got involved in Prussia.

The general history is fairly detailed for the small space available, and runs most of the book. As can be expected from Osprey, there is a good color map showing the competing political claims over the region of Livonia, and the locations of all the castles (generally a belt from Semgallia to the river Aa).

We get a color plate of Uexkull, and one of Fellin while still a timber construction. Ronneburg gets a two-page spread, with some cut away views, and showing an underground main entrance that I wish they’d talked about. One of existing restored places is a later artillery tower addition to Treiden that has a good color photograph and a cutaway illustration plate. Riga castle gets a decent color plate (used for the cover) that nicely shows the typical exterior features of a well-developed castle, but doesn’t give as much room to some of the landscape around a port fortification as I’d strictly like. And finally, there’s a color plate of Arensburg in a winter siege, and a plate of Wenden being bombarded by the Russians in 1577.

This volume has a larger number of plans for the various castles. Presumably, this was of necessity as fewer of them still exist to be photographed, but I really want both, so I fault the first book for too few plans, while I can’t really fault them for a lack of pictures of things that don’t exist. Once again, the photographs are in good shape, and both the color and black and white ones are clear and easy to read. The one partial exception is of the ruins of Ascheraden, of which an older photograph is used, as the shown ruins are now under the Daugava (part also still survives.

On the other hand, one reconstruction is Araisu, which is a wooden fort in the middle of a lake, which is used to provide just a bit more information on wooden fortresses of the area, along with a photograph of a model wooden wall from a museum. So that end gets a bit more attention.

There’s also three models of castles photographed, one of which is particularly nice. (Wenden castle; there’s also two photographs of parts of the actual castle ruins.)

For a companion book to the first volume, it does feel a little off, simply because the emphasis has changed a little with more plans given, but I think that’s an overall plus. Finally, there’s a catalog of twenty-one sites, giving their current (2004) status should you get a chance to visit them.

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UR1 Federation vs Empire Y162

by on August 3, 2026 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: SFB

As I summarized… over two years ago, I’ve taking out my frustrations over not having an opponent to keep up with a Star Fleet Battles campaign by soloing one by myself. Part of the point is to exercise the ruleset I wrote up, and part is to get some fleet practice in; though with being distracted by playing both sides, it’ll never be stellar play. At any rate, since it’s been eating up a fair amount of the spare time that generates entries for this blog, so I’m going to be putting up more of what’s going on here.

I started while the main group was finishing off Y162 play, so that’s where the campaign started. I went for a classic Federation vs Klingon campaign. Slightly after getting going, I discovered the Federation DDG actually exists this far back, and I’ve swapped out one of the normal DDs for USS Czar Alexander IV. With speed-8/12 drones it’s going to be a lackluster class, though she’ll probably be used as drone defense in fleet battles.

I contemplated swapping out a Klingon ship for a penal variant, with a rule that they always have to have one in service. But, that just means a succession of E4Js, which will probably not see much action so they don’t have to waste the EPV building a new one, so I haven’t bothered. Maybe a rule where they have to keep it in the hull of their current FF slot builds? (E4s now, F5s later, and someday—I should live so long—F5Ws; though I don’t see a FWJ; I do have the F6J….)

After studying what my general format implies for everyone, the assumed budget is 350 EPV per turn up through Y160, after which it goes up by 10/year. There’s a couple empires that temporarily blow this budget out of the water, and if using them, there’d probably need to be adjustments to keep them afloat. As it is, the Federation technically wants a budget of 402 EPV right now, but they do have EPs left over after the required four purchases, so it’s not a real problem; they just have to be cautious about getting new cruisers. On the other hand, Klingon equilibrium is 312 EPV, and they can just about build a battlecruiser per year. But the small ships they’re building are small.

The Klingons start with 16 EPV left over from the starting budget, 370 income, plus 100 OPV starting budget (shorting the recommended total by a lot to help setup, especially since I’m doing both sides, but not as badly as the early years campaign with Mark, where there was no OPV starting budget), and 37 income.

The Klingons considered using their extra budget for a D6S heavy scout to combat Fed scouts and bases, but then I remembered wonderfully flexible D6D. They’re also looking at the looming transition to speed-20 drones, and will concentrate on getting everyone drone funds over the next few years. For now, they’re just taking the extra cruiser, and letting the income go up a bit more while relying on basic speed-8 drones. T-bombs will continue being distributed among the fleet, with command ships taking priority. (They are also the priority group for drone upgrades, since they aren’t saddled with F-racks.)
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Library of the Sapphire Wind

by on July 30, 2026 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

Three young, and slightly desperate people perform a summoning for help. This is something that is a known idea in this world, and especially at Hettua Shrine, which will bring you the person most capable of getting you exactly what you ask for.

We don’t get any other examples, or full explanations, but it seems like this is generally someone already in this fantasy world. The rushed ceremony performed by our three produces three people from… elsewhere. Earth, actually. And while you might expect some sort of action hero, they get a trio of ladies from about 50-70 years old, who had just been sitting down to a book club.

I’ll point out here, that Lindskold is indulging a in a bit of self-insert here, and I’m sure Meg, Peg, and Teg are all directly expressing facets of her own life, as well as people she knows. At any rate, it’s well done, and the three of them are our viewpoint characters for a portal fantasy adventure. And, yes, their learning and life experiences are indeed what is needed by our three summoners, despite their unusual nature.

For this is world of… well, near-furries. Most of them are more in the Egyptian god model of a human with an animal head, though the ‘animal’ traits carry beyond just the heads in some cases. Humans are entirely unknown to them, and a big shock.

We get a couple chapters of both sides getting over the initial shock and introductions… and our three ladies accepting the call to adventure. It’s hard to keep something like this from dragging out a bit, but Lindskold keeps it all moving, and even at those points where there’s a feeling of “okay, I get it already,” things are moving fast enough that you know it won’t drag out.

The adventure itself is well done, and there’s plenty going on for external and internal issues, especially once the main leg is done, and we get the major twist of the story. However, this is part one, and while some major things get sorted, instead of things ending at that point, we pick up the next major thread, and get a “to be continued” as that gets going. I don’t mind a series, but the break is at an odd place.

At any rate, it’s a fun book, I’m more than happy with it, and I need to get to book two.

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Two Rounds of Sotium

by on July 26, 2026 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: CC:Ancients

After Patch managed to take back Hatten again, we went to the usual between-bigger-games round of Commands & Colors: Ancients, this time with a scenario from Expansion #2. Sotium features an interesting mix of scattered terrain, and both sides are a bit scattered at start, with each side’s left near the baseline.

I had the Gauls the first game, and started with a Mounted Charge, wiping out an Auxiliary (four greens!), with momentum doing three blocks to a Medium, who did two blocks to my MC, who immediately retreated to the baseline. A Light tried to stand up to LC, but took two banners, and the LC retreated back to the baseline, going down to one block, after failing to finish off the Medium. I got a Roman MC as well, but only after it did three blocks across to LC, and my MC retreated back to the line after doing two blocks to a Medium. Patch Ordered Two Right and finished off a LC.

I Ordered One (Heavy) to bring up an Auxilia, and Patch Ordered Three Left, doing a hit to an Auxilia with his HWM. I used Line Command to bring up three units on my right to do a block to a MC and drive it back to the baseline. Patch Ordered Four Left to move up, and I Darkened the Sky to get two hits on a Medium. Patch Ordered Lights to do a block to an Auxilia, forcing it two hexes back, and making another abandon their hilltop. I Double Timed on my right, only doing one block, but forcing the HWM to evade, and taking two hits each on two units. Patch used Line Command to rework his left, finishing off an Auxilia, doing three hits to a Medium, and taking two in return. Leadership Any Section let me continue in there, finishing off two Mediums, and forcing a Light to evade.

Patch Ordered Lights, finishing off Warriors, doing a hit to a Medium, and killing their leader, while taking two hits. I Out Flanked, finishing off an Auxilia after three attacks (including momentum; the first attack was three helmets with now-leaderless troops…), and taking a hit in the process. Patch used Mounted Charge to finish off a MC and force a leader to evade off-board, and finish off a Warrior. 5-6

For the second game, Patch started with Order One (Heavy) to move an Auxilia into woods, and I used Leadership Any Section to come into contact with him, forcing two retreats, while the HWM forced a LC to lose a block on a retreat. Patch Ordered Lights to move his Auxilia up and do two ranged hits (one on the HWM). I used Mounted Charge to move into contact on the left and middle… doing one hit in return for two each on a pair of MC. Patch launched a Coordinated Attack to kill a weak MC, and force two others to evade. I tried another Mounted Charge, this time wiping out a Warrior and leader, doing two hits on another with momentum, and losing the weak MC, also taking out a MC and forcing Adiatuanos back to an Auxilia, who took a hit on momentum.

Patch Ordered Two Right to form a small line, and I used Line Command for most of the left and center, though only one unit came into contact. Ranged fire chased off an Auxilia, and close combat forced a Warrior retreat. Patch used Line Command at the junction of his center and right, and did a block to an Auxilia. I Ordered Lights and did no more than force two Auxilia to retreat. Leadership Any Section got Patch’s left into contact, taking out an Auxilia. I Ordered Mediums to bring a solid line up there, and advance on my left, trading five blocks to four in hills and woods, and knocking out a MC.

Patch used Clash of Shields to do two hits a Medium, but lost his Auxilia, finished off a Medium, did two hits to another, and one to a Light. I Ordered Mediums to press forward and took out an Auxilia in two attacks. 6-4

Afterword

The terrain and setup make this an unusual scenario. It’s a lot of fun, with a good mix of units and position. Neither side has a solid line, so using Line Command and Double Time is a challenge. I spent much of the start of the second game just getting rid of moderately useful cards, because I didn’t have any section cards to force an area with. Patch pointed out how I kept everyone moving, which was good, but I was constantly at the whims of the cards, and knew it was going to end soon.

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Lincoln’s Lieutenants

by on July 22, 2026 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

This is a decent book with good high concept. However, it did not entirely grab me.

The major problem is that Sears is trying to keep track of nearly everyone in the Army of the Potomac from brigadier general on up. While that’s not a large population, it is still a decent number of men, and most of them don’t leave a strong impression. Worse, there are places (mainly after large battles) where we get paragraphs that are very dense with names, attempting to describe who was dead, who was wounded, who was shifted around; it’s very hard to get through these lists, and not, in isolation, nearly informative enough.

But, that is in service to a better goal. In a way, this is a history of the eastern theater of the ACW; it is a history of the Army of the Potomac, which touches just about every other Union army that campaigned in the east. There’s no real attempts to get the soldier’s eye view, instead, this is looking at the upper echelons, as commanders order men into the fray, or—often—are ordered to, and don’t.

And that is valuable; the interplay of the men at top determines a lot of what happens. There is a lot of men leading from the front, and often getting wounded or killed. There’s just as many occasions of commanders not being present at all; sometimes drunk, and always not providing needed direction. A look at some of the staff work to go along with this would be good, but outside of the scope Sears decided upon.

Another valuable thing is that Sears does pay attention to the evolving organization and leadership of the artillery and cavalry, especially just how little attention was paid to both at first, and how long that persisted with the cavalry. He also points up the breakdown of logistics under Burnside after Fredricksburg, and its recovery under Hooker. Sadly, this is not a consistent theme, and it probably should have been.

So, this reads as an overview, but it’s trying to concentrate on a particular subject. Doing that at the level of a single campaign isn’t hard, but that wouldn’t get at the changes over time that he’s trying to show. The book ends up with too many separate threads of different personalities, and other than the top command, it’s hard to keep track of them, and that’s with some of them being familiar to me.

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