Friday, December 14, 2007
Ancient Roman Superglue
With a strange sort of serendipity, just as I’m using superglue to attach the shields to a bunch of roman legionnaire miniatures, I see this article about how actual Romans used a superglue to attach bits to their helmets ... and it’s lasted for thousands of years:
Dec. 14, 2007—Roman warriors repaired their battle accessories with a superglue that is still sticking around after 2,000 years, according to new findings on display at the Rheinischen Landes Museum in Bonn, Germany.
Running until Feb. 16, 2008, the exhibition “Behind the Silver Mask” presents evidence that the ancient adhesive was used to mount silver laurel leaves on legionnaires’ battle helmets.
Read more here.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Franco Prussian War Battle Report
A couple of weekends ago, our group got together for a Franco-Prussian War mega-game, involving ten players many, many hundreds of 28mm figure. (You can see more photos here)
The game was run by Brad Northrop, who also painted the vast majority of the figures. The rules were a modified version of Fields of Honor, the (sadly) abandoned 19th Century rules set once published by Pinnacle.
The scenario was based on the battle of Froschwiller (also known as Worth), from 6 August 1870. In that battle, German forces under Crown Prince Frederick and General Blumenthal defeated the French under Marshal MacMahon near the village of Worth in Alsace.
From Reference.Com
The German 3rd army had drawn reinforcements which brought its strength up to 140,000 troops. The French had also been reinforced, but their recruitment was slow, and their force numbered only 35,000. Although badly outnumbered, the French defended their position along a ridge at the western outskirts of Wœrth. By afternoon, both sides had suffered about 10,000 casualties, and the French army was too battered to continue resisting. To make matters even more dire for the French, the Germans had taken the town of Froeschwiller which sat on a hilltop in the center of the French line. Having lost any outlook for victory and facing a massacre, the French army broke off the battle and retreated in a western direction, hoping to join other French forces on the other side of the Vosges mountains. The German 3rd army did not pursue the withdrawing French. It remained in Alsace and moved slowly south, attacking and destroying the French defensive garrisons in the vicinity.
In our scenario, the goal of the outnumbered French was to inflict heavy casualties on the Germans before they were able to bring the full weight of their reinforcements to bear. If the Germans were stalled at the beginning, the reinforcements would pile up, create a jam and night would fall before they could get it straightened out.
As the battle opened, Germans used screening forces and the ever present threat of massive reinforcements to pin down the French right. They then turned two thirds of their forces on the French left. With the overwhelming numbers, the French flank collapsed and had to fall back on Froeschwiller, in the center. Meanwhile, the French right held against German assaults, which were reinforced by ever-increasing troops and artillery. Finally, in the last two turns, the French right also fell, buried under a rain of steel from the German guns.
Unless the Germans were incredibly stupid, or the French incredibly lucky, there really was no way.
The rules played quickly with the modifications used. In the original version of Fields of Honor, two sets of dice rolls are used to resolve fire combat. The first handful of six siders rolled determines whether the shots were “on target.” Rolls that indicate “hits” are then re-rolled to determine casualties. After casualties are counted, a morale check is made. Finally, half of the casualties are returned to the ranks.
The design of this is based on the idea that troops will be at their shakiest after taking a volley (or multiple volleys) of fire. Thus, their morale rolls will be made with the full casualty effect. However, after the initial shock, some of those soldiers will discover that they are actually unharmed and will return to action.
In our modifications, the “on target” rolls were skipped, and rolls simply were made for casualties. In addition, there was no return of troops to the ranks. This
made for a much more bloody, quick and decisive game. It’s a modification that was probably needed to accommodate the large number of figures and players.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Human Statue of Liberty
A photo taken at Camp Dodge in 1918:
Friday, December 07, 2007
Victorian Science Fiction Steampunk Gift Guide
For fans of Victorian Science Fiction gaming, here’s your Steampunk Christmas (or anytime) gift guide.
via BoingBoing
Friday, December 07, 2007
Ancient Sculpture Brings Record Haul
An ancient Mesopotamian sculpture of a lioness (above) has sold at auction for a record $57 million dollars.
I think its a beautiful piece of work, and the top of the sculpture at least, would look good in one of those Wargods of Aegyptus armies. The article is below:
NEW YORK (AFP) - A tiny and extremely rare 5,000-year-old white limestone sculpture from ancient Mesopotamia sold for 57.2 million dollars in New York on Wednesday, smashing records for both sculpture and antiquities.
The carved Guennol Lioness, measuring just over eight centimeters (3 1/4 inches) tall, was described by Sotheby’s auction house as one of the last known masterworks from the dawn of civilization remaining in private hands.
“It was an honor for us to handle The Guennol Lioness, one of the greatest works of art of all time,” Richard Keresey and Florent Heintz, the experts in charge of the sale, said in a joint statement.
“Before the sale, a great connoisseur of art commented to us that he always regarded the figure as the ‘finest sculpture on earth’ and it would appear that the market agreed with him,” they said.
Five different bidders, three on the telephone and two in the room, competed for the sculpture. The successful buyer was identified only as an English buyer who wished to remain anonymous.
The sale easily broke the previous record for the highest price for a sculpture at auction, which had stood at 29.1 million dollars and was set just last month at Sotheby’s in New York by Picasso’s “Tete de Femme (Dora Maar).”
It also beat the 28.6 million dollars paid for “Artemis and the Stag,” a 2,000-year-old bronze figure which sold also at Sotheby’s in New York in June and held the record for the most expensive antiquity to be sold at auction.
Described by Sotheby’s as diminutive in size, but monumental in conception, The Guennol Lioness was created around 5,000 years ago—around the same time as the first known use of the wheel—in the region of ancient Mesopotamia.
The piece was acquired by private collector Alastair Bradley Martin in 1948 and has been on display in New York’s Brooklyn Museum of Art ever since.
Keresey described the work before the sale as “one of the oldest, rarest and most beautiful works of art from the ancient world.”
“This storied figure, in its brilliant combination of an animal form and human pose, has captured the imagination of academics and the public since it was acquired by the Martins in the late 1940s,” he added.
The figure depicts a standing lioness looking over her left shoulder, her paws clenched in front of her muscular chest.
Experts have speculated that the figure may have played a role in some ancient belief system or mythology in Mesopotamia, which today lies in parts of modern day Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran.
The proceeds of the auction are to go to a charitable trust formed by the Martin Family.
I hope that the high price of the auction doesn’t encourage even more looting of ancient archaeological sites.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Is The Ark of the Covenant In Ethiopia?
A Christian sect in Ethiopia claims to have the Ark of the Covenant. For an article for Smithsonian Magazine, reporter Paul Raffaele travels to Askum, Ethiopia to see the temple where it’s allegedly housed and covers the basics of the story:
According to the First Book of Kings, King Solomon built the First Temple in Jerusalem to house the ark. It was venerated there during Solomon’s reign (c. 970-930 B.C.) and beyond.
Then it vanished. Much of Jewish tradition holds that it disappeared before or while the Babylonians sacked the temple in Jerusalem in 586 b.c.
But through the centuries, Ethiopian Christians have claimed that the ark rests in a chapel in the small town of Aksum, in their country’s northern highlands. It arrived nearly 3,000 years ago, they say, and has been guarded by a succession of virgin monks who, once anointed, are forbidden to set foot outside the chapel grounds until they die.
This isn’t the first time I’ve read that the Ark is in Ethiopia. The connection seems to be between the son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, named Menelik. Late in Solomon’s reign, Memelik returned to Jerusalem to visit his father. Solomon gave him a copy of the Ark, along with the first born sons of Israel’s elders to take back to Ethiopia. The first borns, however, did not want to live away from the original, however, so they pulled a switch. It was not until they got to Ethiopia that Menelik discovered the ruse.
He had to be a bit worried, considering the Ark’s reputation as a weapon. But when he wasn’t destroyed, Menelik decided to keep it. The Ark then remained in the keeping of the Ethiopian royal families down through the ages. The last Emperor of Ethiopia was Haile Selassie. Interestingly, his official title was “His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, King of Kings of Ethiopia and Elect of God.”
On a Miniature Wargaming note, there’s a lot here for a pulp adventure in Ethiopia.
