Away

 Back last night from a brief visit to York- one night and with my middle daughter.

View from M and S cafe showing a panoramic view of rooftops.

The Christmas Market.

Warped, twisted and atmospheric house. York has so many.

The market again with a wide range of stalls.

Dawn from the hotel bedroom window.

The famous mirror downstairs in Bettys.

Explanation of the mirror from Bettys.

Railway museum, currently undergoing big changes.

I am a sucker for streamliner train.

You can’t beat the Mallard!

Fascinating training aid for the teaching of signalling.

A great museum, enjoyable trip , must do York again soon…

News from somewhere

 The 1470s 28mm German project moves forward. I now have almost all the figures, many are assembled and some are finished. I am looking forward to seeing these on the table after many years of planning and false starts. I decided to go down the route of an army based on a temporary alliance of some towns, the main being imaginary others real. I have commissioned banners from David ( https://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.com/ ) has produced the stunning 1780s Tradgardland ones. 

Now for some gratuitous 15th century art-

The banners will be based on the foundation story of the , as yet unnamed town. They are currently being designed by David and I have seen some “ in progress “ artwork which look great. I will add some extra banners from allies based on period originals . Hopefully it will all move forward nicely with a little and often painting regime.

The project has already produced a spin off. ..

I had the first and second editions of Warhammer but really didn’t play them much nor collect lots of the figures. I was later interested in Mordheim but wasn’t collecting fantasy at that time. I subscribed to White Dwarf from the first issue for a couple of years when it was a rpg journal as l played quite a bit of DnD at the time. I never bought into Warhammer in the 90s apart from a copy of The Empire army book. I have always enjoyed aspects of The Empire and enjoyed the illustrations.  So on a whim l recently bought from eBay  some  Warhammer Empire plastic figures, really liked the sculpts and painting them. I have had an aversion to painting landsknechts as they never turn out right for me. These WH plastics are working out and are fun to do , so much so that l continued to paint them during the Vitual Wargames Club last night. 

I want to collect enough to do some skirmishes and One Hour Wargaming taking my unnamed city into the sixteenth century.

Knowing the weather to come yesterday l went to the shops in the rain at 80:10 in the pouring rain and was back home by 09:30 thru slush which turned to snow.

A good day of wrapping, painting and tv watching ensued, just the thing on a bitter day.

One hour skirmish Wargame rules

 I forgot to post this link to a video l found a great introduction to the rules. Here it is -

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FQndt7Jk9wo

And now for something completely different

 My regular opponents were over day and I decided that we would try something different-

Vbcw skirmish games were the order of the day. The rules were new to us all but were soon picked up.

The games underway with a deck of cards per player  and a small command.

Inspite of cover casualties were high.

Cards played were as bad as dice thrown normally. Aces are low in this game!

All in all most enjoyable. Next time we will add further complexity now we are getting used to the system.

Later on tonight did a little work on these eBay arrivals-

I do like the paint job but broken hands need replacing. 

Falcon

 Here is today’s memory-

I am looking for a 28mm falcon and falconer for a current project. Any suggestions? Also birds of prey in 28mm I can use in conversions…

M & M etc

 First M is for matchbox. I pleased to see folk want to join Mark MofT and myself in our matchbox challenge. Great to have you on board. If you haven’t decided or started yet there is plenty time still.  In order not to burden folk with a hobby chore at this busy time of year l suggest we aim to have our match boxes ready to show Anytime In December. How does that suit people?

Secondly a picture below of a Middenheim skirmish game set up. Hope to play it in the coming days.

Finally l have been progressing the 1470s ish Germans in 28mm. Quietly, quietly catchey late gothic pikemen and friends, as the proverb puts it so eloquently. I hope to keep moving this forward with a view to getting them on the table for New Year…

Hmmm , matchbox thinking..

 Hmmm, now here’s an idea…

A slinger's career started very young, and involved some rather spartan training during their upbringing. One notable method involved placing a child's food out of reach, which left the child with two options: knock the food down with a slingstone, or go hungry. 
Later on they would graduate to sending stones through small hoops placed at various distances. 

Eoten !

 Been musing about a mythical element to my Midgard games. I have enough for two opposed seventh century Saxon armies each of around 11 units plus heroes of course. I thought it might be fun to imagine each army has mythological allies . A little low key extra fantasy elements to be bolted on or not as the mood takes. With that in mind l looked out these giants, charming old school figures from BloodyDay / Vendel. 

Looks fun to me , probably with a smaller depth base. Now what else to add…

I bought an Anglo Saxon bestiary the other day which is fascinating but not quite providing the “fantasy” element I am after. Probably ought to dig out my copy of Grendel next…

Only a wargamer

 I was in Edinburgh today to have lunch with my youngest, her boyfriend and his parents. As I was early I popped into the recently opened Christmas Market. This stall caught my eye-

All l could think about was what excellent terrain features for the wargaming table the buildings would make!

No time for swanning around!

 Mark, M of T and I are currently engaged in a fun, friendly challenge. For details see his post here-

https://manoftinblogtwo.wordpress.com/2024/11/16/wargame-in-a-wee-matchbox-challenge-accepted-1/comment-page-1/#respond

In a nutshell it is about creating a game where all necessary components fit into a matchbox, traditional not cook sized btw. I looked around the house and found these-

The top box is the current matchbox used to light candles here in the Duchy now we are approaching winter and need the cheery glow and scent of an evening. The bottom box was handed out , I think, at the Chelsea flower show this year and is a great example of what can be done with a matchbox in terms of message and content.

So thinking cap on and let the challenge continue…

 

Friday

 Up early and so started to rebase my 7th century Saxons for Midgard-

Got so caught up I nearly missed my train! Arrived at my friend’s house ready to fight on in the game we started last week…

My knights about to engage the Burgundians when I came under bombard fire…

A crow’s eye view of the hotly disputed centre of the field.

All that remained of my left wing when l conceded the game!

The right flank just prior to the annihilation of the French!

All in all an enjoyable game where the hedges added to the tactical deliberation greatly.

Arrivals

 Each year l set aside a day to go to Edinburgh with the express purpose of starting Christmas shopping. I start at the West End ( Charity Christmas Card market in St John’s, Paper Tiger etc) and go East. It is always a relaxed , enjoyable kind of day. No hurry , no worry just wander. Yesterday was this year’s day-

Day began with doing some reading towards my 15th century Project.

 Crossing the Forth on the bus on a glorious morning.

Shops l wanted to begin with opened at 10:00 so as I was early there was time for a quick coffee and army list creation to see roughly the points value of my force.

A successful morning was had and l heard/ saw the gun salute from the castle.

Later back home my pre ordered copy of Midgard arrived. On initial glance it is full of inspirational photos and excellent period flavourful art . The layout is accessible and the rules read well on my brief perusal of them. More on them later…

Today sees the finishing off of my 15th Century game from last Friday. Things are not looking good for my French Ordonnance but time will tell if they can hold out against the Burgundian enemy…

In Glasgow yesterday

 In Glasgow yesterday for my art history course, this week was DaDa and Surrealism. Saw these-

Powerful advert , sadly much needed l believe.

A building I have never noticed before. I was near Central station meeting a daughter for lunch. Former cinema?

Mural art in the back alleys. Glasgow has much of this to share with locals and visitors alike.

Scribbled away in cafe to come up with an army list for my late medieval Germans. It is coming along nicely. I have come to the conclusion that the way to tackle this army is through imagineering. I planned around the Seige of Neuss and also Frederick the Victorious, Count Palatine but now will create an imaginary German City as background which will give a flavour of the times without the need for slavish replication of an actual army.

Paton: from Dunfermline to the Royal Court

 Recently l went to this exhibition in Dunfermline Library and Museum. It tells the tale of a local chap who went on to be Queen Victoria’s artist in Scotland and was a friend of many important artists of his age. The exhibition was  most interesting, including activities for children and families, presenting the life and work of a man I knew little about. He was interested in many things amongst which was collecting old arms and armour. I will let his work speak for him now-

I was fascinated by the detail in his paintings.

Again this evocative detail when looked at close up.

Models of his house made by a modern artist.

For more info-

https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/artists/sir-joseph-noel-paton

https://www.onfife.com/exhibitions/josephnoelpaton/

Well worth a visit if you find yourself in these parts.