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Merchant of Venice’s Christmas and Holidays Reading List
by Merchant of Venice
Wow, three years. Three whole years. Un, deux, trois. What has lasted less than 3 years? I know, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s prime ministership. We survived longer than a head of a sovereign country! Go us! What else? The war between the Most Serene Republic of (history) Venice and the Napoleonic France lasted barely a year before the treacherous Treaty of Campo Formio ended the glorious republic (1797: never forget). PSY’s popularity lasted less than three years (who is he, I hear you ask). Well, with all that astonishing astonishment out of the way, I will get on with business. Currently, despite it being summer it is raining (at the time of writing), raining rather hard and constantly and so yet again I am thrust in front of a computer screen typing away like an enslaved monkey. And with only a day or two to go until Christmas I am currently both filled with the dreariness that rain can bring, though it sometimes brings an unusual elated feeling (I like indoors), and the charm of the holiday and Christmas season. So skull that eggnog, finish decking the halls with holly, and let’s start AARing (new verb, just invented it).
This year, we’ll have some of our old favourites (they are always worth rereading) as well as some new ones. Not only that, but because you undoubtedly get hungry reading tales of far off lands, I have prepared some food and drink recommendations to match and complement the respective AAR/CW (I got really hungry and thirsty while writing this one!).
First on my list are Alwyn’s two ETW AARs, Éirí Amach: Irish Rising and Kite Pèp Mwen An Ale: Let My People Go (no I’m not sucking up to my editor, why would you think that!). Alwyn’s writing has been much spoken about and praised so what I thought was I could write little about this and just copy and past other people’s quotes (ingenious, I know). For instance about Éirí Amach, IneptCmdr (author of the famous For King and Country) wrote “Great stuff, very engaging. The struggle of a smaller faction lends itself well to a character-driven story”. Hitai de Bodemloze (need I speak more) commented “Really excellent stuff!…..it's nice to have some unique antagonists and they add an interesting angle to the piece”. Ok, I’ll stop just stealing people’s quotes and actually do something (I’m so lazy I was about to steal my own quotes from previous pieces!). Éirí Amach is a truly amazing AAR about an alternate history where the good people of Ireland rebel against the tyranny of the English. It is riveting stuff, edge of the seat story telling as you wonder whether the Irish will prevail or not. I enjoyed every chapter and Alwyn knows his history incredibly well (recurring theme in Kite Pèp Mwen An Ale as well). Not only that but Alwyn knows how to utilise screenshots and pictures to complement his writing. At twenty two chapters, Alwyn’s story doesn’t go on for any more than it needs to. His second AAR, Kite Pèp Mwen An Ale: Let My People Go, is currently in production and so, if you missed following Éirí Amach, you now have the chance to follow Alwyn on his next AAR. Thirteen chapters in, I am loving this tale of Haiti so much, with the tensions between the slaves, the slave owners and the governor of the island. The fight between profit and humanity is a tale which isn’t echoed enough in Empire Total War, the game which covers slave uprisings, two revolutions and the exploitation of thousands. His prose is as excellent as well and there seems like there is so much historical research behind this, every chapter having little notes connecting the events to real life ones. Just go read it!
Complementary Food and Drinks: For Éirí Amach, nothing says Irish like a pint of Guinness and some Shepherd’s Pie. Or just leave the food out entirely to leave room for more Guinness. For Kite Pèp Mwen An Ale, definitely some rum to get that Caribbean feeling going. Keep it in a barrel if you’re going for the real authentic experience. I’m not an expert on Haitian cuisine but considering it is governed by the French in Alwyn’s AAR, I say eat like a governor and try some escargot. If you don’t like eating snails, try something from the Brest region where the de Bellecombe family come from.
I’ve said this before, but when Lortano decided to announce that he was discontinuing The Stormy Skies I was shocked. And then he released The Skymaster’s Shadow and I was apprehensively placated. Now, I’m hooked. The Skymaster’s Shadow is set a couple of decades prior to Stormy Skies in the same fascinating world, one which seems to have placed our world in the 17th century in the sky. Might be why the first was called stormy skies. Also, ever thought that sailing ships were cool but missing something? Lortano has figured out what they were missing. They were missing the ability to fly. Anyway, enough fangirling about flying ships. Skymaster’s Shadow is written fantastically and features some thrilling action scenes. Not only that, but the cast of character is great, with the three brothers from Stormy Skies kept and now just a bit younger. Eight chapters in there isn’t a lot of reading before you catch up and I can assure you, it is well worth the read.
Complementary Food and Drinks: I don’t really know for this one. In the spirit of flying ships I would suggest Red Bulls (ya know cause it gives you wings!) but puns are bad. I would suggest reading Stormy Skies alongside it or before hand, depending on if you want possible spoilers.
Now we journey to the ravaged lands of Dark Ages Italy with Lugotorix’s acclaimed AAR, Trapstila Vandalarius. I have to admit, I myself haven’t read through the entirety but from the first few chapters that I have delved into, I can tell that Lugotorix has a real knack for screenshots and epic tales. The AAR tells the story of the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy. Some sections are fantastically gory, suiting the barbaric atmosphere of the time. I think the biggest praise that can be lauded on any AAR is that it makes its readers play the game because the AAR presents it as so appealing. And judging by some of the readers this AAR has certainly done that (even to me it makes Attila look worthy of playing and CA and I have serious trust issues). It’s on my reading list for the holidays and so should definitely be on yours too.
Complementary Food and Drinks: I would suggest some fine northern Italian wine to accompany this AAR. After all that’s why all the barbarians were fleeing towards Rome, they wanted all those nice Italian vineyards. Be a bit more barbaric though and maybe chew on a leg of some spit-roasted animal.
Back to the 18th century for none other than IneptCmdr’s most famous AAR, For King and Country. For King and Country is the epitome of the history book style AAR, great battle descriptions accompanied by absolutely stunning and well-crafted screenshots and descriptions of political manoeuvrings it reads like a history book (and in a fun way!). Speaking of making readers want to play the game, IneptCmdr has seemed to make readers want to write the game and it is hard to ignore its influence on the sort of revival the ETW has seen in the past year or two. Containing sixty five chapters (!) it truly is an epic and is still not finished.
Complementary Food and Drinks: With all the warring going on in India in this AAR, I think it is only appropriate you sip on a Chai tea so you can appreciate the warm feeling of colonial oppression (no I’m not saying colonialism was good, please don’t kill me). But be warned, if you decide to add pumpkin spice to it or actually, just buy it from Starbucks, there is no place on this planet for you.
Let’s take a trip to Feudal Japan, well technically semi-industrialised Feudal Japan, with everyone’s favourite detective/monster/historical hybrid Yokai by the one and only (seriously we tried cloning him, there is only one) Hitai de Bodemloze. Despite Hitai going on about how its prose was the worst and how he was just writing it for fun and how the last chapters are pieces of horrible writing, I still maintain he should stop being so modest. The first chapters of Yokai read like a detective story but the second book reads more like an adventure story and I love all of it. Seriously, Yokai is one of my favourite AARs (though it still hasn’t got to the campaign part…..) but I’m going to stop myself because I will probably start spoiling it. Please just read it.
Complementary Food and Drinks: Some really strong sake. Like strong strong. Stuff that is as hard hitting as Yokai’s plot twists. Couple with whatever Japanese dish you like.
Lastly, I’m going to knock you out and magically teleport you to that cold, frosty province we all love, Skyrim, for Caillagh’s AAR, A Long Way From Home. Caillagh’s main protagonist appears in this strange, medieval-like world without a clue how he got there. Caillagh’s writing is superb and so are the screenshots to match it as well but what I love most are the little twists on familiar Skyrim things he includes. Yannick views Skyrim as an outsider and doesn’t have any clue what is happening or why it’s happening and it proves continually humorous. A Long Way From Home has proved to be one of this year’s best AARs and it is always a great enjoyment to read the next instalment.
Complementary Food and Drinks: Can’t go past some Nord Mead, preferably Black-Briar (though some say Honningbrew is better). Couple with something warm, to ward off those cold Skryim blizzards.
Now for some newer pieces. Currently, I’m enjoying reading and following Seven of Spades’ The Scepter of the See, a tale about the (seemingly never-ending) conflicts between the Papal State and the not so Holy Roman Empire. One should definitely check it out in the M2TW section. Also, two Shogun 2 AARs which I’ve been following have been waveman’s For Honor or For Glory? and The Touch of Fear by SanyuXV. Two very talented authors and two very exciting and potentially great AARs. Shank seems to have restarted his CW piece, Of Souls, which has a really cool premise about a thing called “soulsmithing”. Also The Eastern War by Teabagger69420 is a really good AAR by a newer writer, focusing on the Kingdom of Sicily’s struggles against the Byzantine Empire, something I can relate to as a Venetian. Lastly, you can’t go spending your holidays reading without dabbling in some of McScottish’s work. I highly, highly recommend The Sun Never Sets, McScottish seems to be at his absolute best when talking about Scottish people. It’s a great story accompanied by McScottish’s usual wonderful prose. I suggest consuming some Scottish Whiskey to get the full affect.
Lastly, a shoutout to the classics which I won’t cover this time because I’m sure I already have. If you haven’t already, or not for a long time, you should definitely read these, especially if you’re a writer. I would definitely suggest Takeda by Robin de Bodemloze, Quinta Macedonia Legio by Senior Batavian Horse, Julian, the Saviour of Rome? by Knonfoda and Primus Inter Pares & The Wolf Among Dogs by Radzeer.
Well that’s it for this year. I hope you all have a very merry Christmas and a fun holiday season full of doing nothing. I hope if you’re a writer that inspiration be ever with you and if you’re a reader, that those bloody lazy writers start writing. And please, readers, read every AAR you can, support newer writers, they might just turn out to be the next Radzeer or Robin. And I hope next year will bring even more writing goodness to our wonderful corner of TWC.
Back up the chimney I go,
Merchant of Venice
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