English Civil War Logistics book review No. 129 in memory of the late Tony Adams of The Miniature Woodscrew Army one year on May 2024.

I find it hard to believe that it is already one year since Tony Adams passed away (May 12th 2023) and his family posted this touching picture of his Woodscrew Miniature Army in its display cabinet and his hobby work table that he designed.

Tony’s hobby desk is much more organised and tidier than mine!

Tony’s amazingly tidy handmade works desk and display cabinet from his Woodscrew Miniature Army blogpost.

I am a week or two late in this blogpost, as I first heard the original news via checking his website around the 25th May last year, hence the slight confusion of dates in my head.

It’s good to see that his family have maintained Tony’s website blog, so that it continues to be an inspiration to gamers.

I enjoy(ed) not only Tony’s quirky and clever abstract Woodscrew Miniature Army logistics of scratchbuilt wagons and gun carriages but also his 127 eclectic military history book reviews.

He had a special interest in the supply column, horse drawn transport and military logistics. I would sometimes email him with news of new books on the topic or send the odd old army veterinary manual that I had found.

https://manoftinblogtwo.wordpress.com/2023/05/25/rip-tony-adams-of-the-miniature-woodscrew-army/

My first contact with Tony was probably answering a comment email on my blog about helping him rehome some spare Peter Laing figures and wagons that he had bought years before, eventually selling these to other Laing collectors via Ian Dury.

So in the tradition of reviewing logistics books, I reviewed the Fighting the Vichy on Horseback book last year that I had mentioned to him, this being somehow ‘his’ Book Review No. 128.

The front cover illustration is a Spanish garrison leaving Maastricht in 1632. Jan Van De Velde II after Jan Martszen the Younger 1632 (Rijksmuseum)

Here is my next recommendation that I would have made to Tony, book review No. 129, which I look forward to reading over the next couple of weeks.

Fittingly, the book is escorted is a returning supply column of my early 1980s Peter Laing 15mm English Civil War figures and wagons.

This English Civil War period might at first sight have been slightly outside Tony’s history period interests, although in his ImagiNations world map of TIAN, the petrol or oil combustion engine had not been invented and many things still were horse powered well into the twentieth century. There was some form of steam power.

TIAN was / is a long running world campaign played out mostly in Tony’s head but sometimes in tabletop and figures form by some of his blog readers.

Tony’s Imagi-Nations Post No. 1 – MY  PLANET, ITS GEOLOGY AND TECHNOLOGY.

Tony wrote about our email / comments chats in March 2020: “Since the opening of my correspondence last year with Mark of the  ManofTin blog and his introduction to me of a wide range of interesting blogs, I have come across Imagi-Nations as a format for wargaming. Arrogantly it never occurred to me that other people may also create  imaginary countries for their wargaming and modelling, I genuinely thought I was alone in this sort of activity, who else could be that weird ????? It is a great relief to find that I am neither alone nor weird  but in fact share a common interest with many other like minded people.  That said I do have an imaginary world rather than just nations, indeed, my world even has unique geology. It occurred to me that others may be interested in the world that my armies inhabit, their battles and enemies. This idea has separately also been suggested to me by Ian Dury who gave me several ideas for various topics I could write about. Therefore with that encouragement this is the first of a series of posts which will detail my world and my armies adventures in it which will commence by outlining the special geological and technical features of my planet.“

“In a parallel universe exists a planet broadly similar to Earth but with several significant differences. Not least of these is that the landmass is all together in one mega continent with only a few  islands. (Apparently this is very common for Imagi Nation worlds !!!!).  There are only a few  major rivers but although they are shallow in many places they are  broad  with powerful flows  making them very difficult to bridge and more or less inaccessible for ships to sail on. The mountains are much higher than on Earth, over 40,000 feet in many cases making them physically impassable over long distances. Lastly, the processes that have created oil and natural gas on Earth have not occurred on my planet, leaving only vast deposits of coal, which is therefore the only source of energy.“

“In most respects my planet has evolved in the same way as  Earth and has now reached the equivalent of the 1890’s on Earth. At this time however, progress has slowed in some areas. My planet’s development is firmly harnessed to the horse and steam train as the only forms of transportation and apart from the very earliest experiments in coal fired steam generation of electricity, the future holds no prospect of an Earth like oil based revolution.”

“Small quantities of oil for lubrication purposes and a little gas are becoming available as by products from steaming of coal for the production of coke for iron smelting but these are still very infant technologies. However, radio technology has advanced a little faster than on Earth and is at a level similar to that on Earth in 1918. In addition the telephone and telegraph are in widespread use and general industrial capabilities are very close to those on earth in the 1890s.”

Tony wrote: “The next post will include a map and discuss the general history of my civilisation , the characteristics of the various nations, their  history and  relationships with each other. If you have any questions or comments on the above please let me know, it may well help to inform my future offerings.“

https://thewoodscrewminiaturearmy.blogspot.com/2020/03/imagi-nations.html

Tony went on to write another 47 interesting highly individual posts on TIAN and Imagi-Nations.

It shows how inspiring a dip in for ideas and inspiration this very niche “plough your own sometimes lonely furrow” of a blog could be and still remains.

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So back to the logistics book which is next for review:

Soldiers, Civilians, Transport and Provisions: Early Modern Military Logistics and Supply Systems during the British Civil Wars 1638-1653 by Glenn W. Price (2023) is published by Helion Books ‘Century of the Soldier’ series available in hardback only, priced at £35.00.

Tip: it’s a bit niche as a subject, so sign up for the Helion emails or newsletters and you might get a good discount in their regular sales, as I did.

https://www.helion.co.uk/military-history-books/soldiers-and-civilians-transport-and-provisions-early-modern-military-logistics-and-supply-systems-during-the-british-civil-wars-1638-1653.php

The book covers four major areas – Land Transportation, (Coastal and River) Water Transpiration, Recruitment and Provisioning – that obviously still have an effect on where battle takes place, targeted provision and supply area.

Land Transportation covers wagon / wagons, carts and packhorse along with the seasonal state of the road network.

The 260 page book is illustrated 21 black and white contemporary woodblock or engraving print illustrations and 4 black and white maps. Many of these black and white images scaled up and coloured would make fine 2D cutout Paperboys type paper soldiers or inspire some figure conversions. You can never have enough mules and packhorses for your supply train.

Logistics and Supply Chains – Yawn?

I remember at short notice a few years ago as a college / industry partnership being asked to cover part of a Further Education Business Studies unit that no one else wanted. This featured amongst some slightly more interesting topics the apparently dull subject of ‘stock control’ and stocktaking (alongside ‘store design’ to avoid shoplifting). We are now in the age of ‘just in time’ logistics, when we want stuff ‘fast, cheap or good’ – you can usually have only two out of the three options.

Amongst the visual aids I used on screen was the more extreme example of a US Military or Navy stock record card for rockets and ammunition and the related stock process or procedure flowchart, which meant that you had enough of what you needed at the critical point someone ordered you to project power or defend yourself with the crucial ability to go BANG!

Arguably this BANG! was even harder to achieve successfully when you had the old Artillery train of horse, waggon and cannon on 17th Century roads and fields …

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Although I didn’t buy the book specifically for gaming, more for background history, it does inspire gaming scenarios such as the Asquith classic perilous logistic rescue mission one that I played as a tribute to the late Stuart Asquith – the Broken wagon wheel.

The ‘Provisioning’ chapter for example covers a variety of themes – food, quartering, magazines and marching supplies, purchase, plunder and requisition – which probably didn’t change that much until the mid to late 19th Century (Tony’s Imagi-Nations world is set roughly in an alternative 1890s) and arguably beyond, living off the land.

I will post a fuller book review in the next few weeks’ time.

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The 2019 gift from Tony Adams of some spare Airfix 1960s figures continues to throw up new ideas or flesh out tiny skirmish games. There are some unusually painted white and blue uniformed OOHO Airfix Guards that the recent rerelease by Airfix of these early 1959 figures makes it now possible to create a whole ImagiNations unit.

Another possible new unit amongst these “waifs and strays” – Blue trousers, white jackets, blue or black ‘busby bearskins’ [sounds like a choreographer!) – summer uniform for the Danish Blue Guards maybe?

https://manoftinblog.wordpress.com/2019/08/02/a-1960s-airfix-owl-pellet/

I miss my occasional or odd email / comments chats with Tony!

Tony Adams and his Woodscrew Miniature Army and TIAN ImagiNations world, Remembered one year on from his passing. Still inspirational.

My roughly drawn Bronte version of Gondal, the Bronte sisters’ Tropical Pacific Yorkshire ImagiNations world, not dissimilar in spirit to Tony Adams’ TIAN ImagiNations entire World?

Blog post by Mark Man Of TIN, 23/24 May 2024