Patreon newsletter #10 (Patreon)

Dear Patrons,

Welcome to the latest round-up of Epic History news - it's Newsletter Number 10!

Production updates

We currently have no fewer than 4 videos in edit. They are, in order of proximity:

The Battle of the Nile (ETA 1 week)

Final edits and audio design are taking place on episode 2 of our Nelson's Battles series. If you thought Cape St.Vincent looked good, we've made some improvements to our 3D models and animations since last time - plus fighting against the backdrop of a golden Egyptian sunset certainly helps the visuals!

This whole series will remain a Patreon/Nebula exclusive for several more weeks. It's not an aggressive subscriber drive - we're just learning a lot as we go, and think we might be able to make Cape St.Vincent even better before we release it.

Venice - A Complete History (ETA 2 weeks)

"...the most miraculous city of Venice, rich in gold but richer in fame, strong in power but stronger in virtue, built on both solid marble and the harmony of its citizens, secured more by the harmony of its citizens than by its surrounding seas."

Some may remember this glorious Petrarch quote from the original Venice video - proposed by Patreon supporter Mike here FIVE years ago! Well, finally, we're just a couple of weeks away from completing the story. We're going to release the entire thing as one, new, long video - a very fast-moving affair covering everything from the Battle of Lepanto to the Siege of Candia and the final fall of the Republic at the hands of you-know-who...

The Marengo Campaign Part 1 (ETA 4 weeks)

Napoleon is master of France, and he's crossing the Alps back to his old stomping ground of Northern Italy. But despite this masterful opening gambit, the Marengo campaign is far from plain sailing for the First Consul of France - in fact, it's nearly a complete disaster. Patrick and Mike of PMF are hard at work on episode 1 of our two-part Marengo series, which takes us right to the brink of the famous battle.

The Battle of Trafalgar (ETA 2 months?) 

This promises to be the dramatic climax to our Nelson's Battles series, and Harry's already hard at work animating the European and tactical maps. As part of our research and storyboarding, he's also made what I think might be the best static map of the battle out there...

And what's happened to World War Two? Well, in between this lot, I'm spending as much time as possible doing background reading for the early episodes. For anyone interested in the path to war in Europe, I highly recommend Tim Bouverie's Appeasing Hitler, a lucid and fascinating account of the period, with great sketches of the major characters. Which brings me to...

One Cool History Thing

Just a quote this week, from Appeasing Hitler.  British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin in 1935, explaining why he refuses to have Winston Churchill in his government:

"Anything he undertakes he puts his heart and soul into. If there is going to be a war - and no one can say that there is not - we must keep him fresh to be our war Prime Minister."

It was meant as a joke - but of course, that's exactly how it panned out.

As ever, thank you for your amazing support. We'll be back next week with the world premiere of the Battle of the Nile!

Toby