Life is getting a bit too busy at the moment - not a lot of time for wargaming, or the associated activities. I've got quite a bit of DIY to do - starting with more insulation in the loft, which I'm planning to start on this weekend, and then into next week, helped (I hope!) by my lad.
But I am managing to do a little bit, here and there. Today I cleaned up and assembled the castings for a third (and final) unit of Sassanid super-heavy cavalry. This time they're going to be equipped with sword and bow instead of the contus. They'll look similar but different to the other units.
I've just read another book by Harry Sidebottom: Ancient Warfare: A Very Short Introduction. It's a nice little book, and I enjoyed reading it. It probably isn't really a book for most wargamers - a lot of it is concerned with the philosophy of war, and whether there was (or is) really a uniquely 'Western Way of War'. It looks at warfare from angles that I've never really considered, including some discussion of how the ancients themselves thought about war (interesting!), and made me think - which I guess is the aim - and that's no bad thing. And, unlike me, with my focus almost entirely on Rome, and the 'nitty-gritty' of warfare, it does cover ancient, mainly classical, warfare in more breadth than I normally would! There are a couple of chapters on developments in tactics and the like which would make interesting introductions for someone just starting out in ancient wargaming - in themselves those chapters didn't teach me much, but finding the rest of the books on the reading list probably will - happily, I already have several of the recommended titles.
There is also some interesting discussion of whether the ancients really did 'strategy' as we think of it, and a short critique of Luttwak's book (The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire: From the First Century A.D. to the Third). A book that small can't cover much ground in any depth, but it does give a flavour for classical warfare, in amongst the philosophy, and the last chapter, recommending further reading, is pretty good - lots to go at!
I've also just received another three books from Amazon: Osprey Elite 172 "Roman Battle Tactics 390-110 BC" by Nic Fields; "Pyrrhus of Epirus" by Jeff Champion; "The Roman Conquests: Italy" by Ross Cowan - the latter includes the war with Pyrrhus. The latter two are published by Pen & Sword. I haven't done more than flick through them and look at the pictures yet, but they look interesting so far. More when I've had time to delve into them in more detail.