New Sharpe Book coming

[Inkpaduta]

There is a new Sharpe book, Sharpe's Assassin, coming out in September. Set 2 days after Waterloo.

Wonder how many here got started in Napoleonic because of Sharpe books.

[traveller]

Thanks for the heads up. I have read them all so I guess I have to have this one as well 

[Cat]

SPI got me started on Napoleonics, which shifted to miniatures as soon as I could afford them on a student's budget.  Read a few of the Sharpe books, but got bored with the writing.
 Might give them another crack. 

The DVD series I've watched several times, and it's about due again.  Makes excellent background watching while painting minis. 

Curious viewers want to know:
Will they bring back Bean?
Will Cornwell dare to kill him off?

[3Fingers2]

Books an the series on tv .

[vtsaogames]

Cornwell wrote the first Sharpe novel in 1981. I began playing Napoleonic battles in the mid 60s.

[Baron von Wreckedoften]

Airfix and the film "Waterloo" got me interested.  Cornwell damn near put me off.

[Grumpy Gnome]

Mrs. GG and I like Sharpe and a number of Cornwell’s other series. Glad to hear there is another Sharpe story coming.

http://www.bernardcornwell.net/sharpe-is-back/

[Patrice]

I have never read the Sharpe books (although I did read a few Hornblower books) and when I discovered the TV series on internet a few years ago I must say I was fascinated; they had never been shown on French TV, not even translated in French for obvious reasons.

The first shock I had was the discovery that Boromir and Ned Stark had been fighting Napoleon in their youth. 

I very much appreciated to listen to the accents and slang (although obviously not so bad for TV that it probably was between soldiers, but anyway).

Of course I noticed things that could be criticised... but at least most of the uniforms did not look too bad (those at close view).

...and, last but not least, we French telespectators had been plagued for so long by sad clowns as Christian Clavier that watching Sean Bean running around in Rifles uniform seems an enjoyable refreshment.

[Cat]

...and, last but not least, we French telespectators had been plagued for so long by sad clowns as Christian Clavier that watching Sean Bean running around in Rifles uniform seems an enjoyable refreshment.

I just finished watching that 2002 Napoleon miniseries the other day, I appreciated that it focused more on the politics and family life than the battles.  It was great seeing Fouché and Talleyrand, plus Josephine et al developed nicely.
 
Given a choice between the original French (without any subtitles or dubbing) or the English dub (with terrible voice-actors), I got the French DVD.  It would have been nice if it at least had French subtitles so I could pick up more of the dialogue.  I wound up alternating between watching the French episode and then the English on YouTube to pick up more of the nuances of what was going on than I could follow in French.  Talleyrand was superb in both though, that actor provided his own English dub — and John Malkovich really stole every scene he was in!

[has.been]

and the film "Waterloo"

On one of my (too few) visits to Peter Guilder's
Wargames Holiday Centre, he asked who was
going to play Napoleon in the Waterloo game.
Someone pointed to one of our group & exclaimed,
"It's got to be HIM. he looks like Rod Steiger!"
 

[Leapsnbounds]

 I believe it was the articles in Strategy and Tactics by Fred Vietmeyer that got me started in Napoleonics and Airfix plastics to do the rest.

[Patrice]

I just finished watching that 2002 Napoleon miniseries the other day, I appreciated that it focused more on the politics and family life than the battles.  It was great seeing Fouché and Talleyrand, plus Josephine et al developed nicely.

Um, I'm probably biased against Clavier... 

[Battle Brush Sigur]

....
...and, last but not least, we French telespectators had been plagued for so long by sad clowns as Christian Clavier that watching Sean Bean running around in Rifles uniform seems an enjoyable refreshment.

I'll admit that I haven't seen the miniseries since its first run on TV (I think I saw the first part a few years later again), but overall I liked it alright. Rosselini in pretty dresses helps of course. Also: Clavier rode a horse up some stairs IIRC. That was pretty good. AND we saw Austrian soldiers and all.

Anyway, I have to admit that Sharpe helped getting me into Napoleonics. Didn't know anything of course because Sharpe doesn't run on Austrian or German TV (they did dub Sharpe's Challenge though. Runs under the title Die Scharfschützen on TV once or twice, and that's what the DVD is titled as well. I got that DVD at a sale once and it was a great find, because it's got Sean Bean and O'Malley commentary, and they're having a lot of fun with that.).

I learned about Sharpe via the excellent Meeples and Miniatures podcast, then watched the tv show in youtube and enjoyed it a lot. Later I got the DVD boxed set at a ridiculously low price (12 quid or something like that). Very anachronistic war-adventure stuff. Good fun, good cast. I read two Sharpe novels as well, and they were alright, but there's just so much British-centric Napoleonic fiction a non-Brit can take.

What really got me into Napoleonics though was the plain fact that I had to. I'm a figure painter, a gentleman who's VERY well versed in Napoleonic wargaming hired me to paint figures for him. I had no idea of the period really (Sharpe and some 28mm figures I painted aside), so painting very specific (25mm minifigs) figures in a very specific way AND a very specific formation (Polish Lancers of the Guard) felt a bit like getting pushed into the deep end of the pool. But eventually I got the task done, got more familiar with the period (and the Duchy of Warsaw mostly), and - as Stockholm syndrom has it - got into it.

Also, from the outside Napoleonics just look and feel very wargamer-y, don't they. It's the period that wargaming was made for. You got the uniforms, the interplay between infantry, cavalry and artillery, you got a whole host of nations, there's endless supplies of scenarios and excellent sources in all sorts of languages.

Anyway, good to hear that another novel's coming up.

[Mason]

Having read the Sharpe series a few times, and currently reading them all again now, I have always resisted the urge to do Nappies.
The uniforms, with all those straps, buttons, bits and whatnots scare me off every time!

[Cat]

I read two Sharpe novels as well, and they were alright, but there's just so much British-centric Napoleonic fiction a non-Brit can take.

This thread did get me to re-read Sharpe's Rifles last night. i might read a few more; but I'm sure I'll bog down and not do the whole series.  But it did get me wondering if there's any equivalent Napoleonic light fiction in French?

My reading level in French is OK, but not great  – the vocabulary in Verne is impenetrable, even Dumas is a bit of a struggle, but I do greatly enjoy Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac (hmm, should re-read that one again, it's been awhile).  I'm looking for cheesey novels, not literature!
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