Thursday 29 February 2024

Pillbox ?

 I had a meeting this afternoon in a part of Dunfermline l had never had occasion to visit before. Afterwards I walked past this-



Looks like a pillbox to me. Anyone know what kind?

Wednesday 28 February 2024

Making plans for Nigel, sorry Tradgardland

 The Duke of Baylen asked what l was doing with it, ie the George Gush book so I thought it might be time to say a little.


Yesterday whilst volunteering l had a minute to myself and scribbled very simply on a handy post it. It was to remind me of my recent hobby musing. On returning home I popped the post it with my current reading. Just to add too or maybe not…

My recent game with Ronnie and subsequent rebasing has given the 1790 project impetus. Yes the rebasing is fiddly and l am getting stuck to metal and acrylic but the results are pleasing me and worth it. So as l glue l ponder and am beginning to see what may occur next. Being an imaginations project l have free rein what to do but I don’t want to not go completely wild. Sadly no armoured bears with bardiche axes, yet! 

The plan is use the Tradgardlanders to fight against external opposition and themselves. West Tradgardland is effectively Copenhagen in appearance but with Swedish uniforms for this period ( Tradgardland 1807 is almost identical to Denmark 1807 in uniform) as I am a sucker for the chocolate box look. North Tradgardland is effectively Norway allowing snow, ski troops and maybe the odd troll. East Tradgardland is what I am currently working on. As well as the 1790 troops l hope to add what I call a more traditional element to the force. This will be troop types from 17th century Muscovite forces. Probably Strelsi or town guard and maybe cavalry. I have always liked the vibe of renaissance Russia and want to add this as representative of a backward looking and traditional element in East Tradgardland society. I have read too much over the years, watched Andrey Rublev , liked the GW Kislev not to feel a strong desire to field Mother Russia in some form. I would also like to add the Russian syw artillery into the mix eventually. So currently working on some Lead Adventure civilians and the Assault Group Strelsi. The George Gush book was being consulted for uniform and flag details. 








Tuesday 27 February 2024

Old friend

 Consulted this old friend whilst painting yesterday-



Monday 26 February 2024

Rebasing continues

 Rebasing continued this afternoon ( Sunday)






Also the tents l got off eBay arrived on Saturday-
Very heavy but I think they work well.
I assume that they are made of some sort of plaster. They came painted btw.




Sunday 25 February 2024

Last Week’s Charge battle.

The Duke of Tradgardland and the Duke of Albion mustering their armies-





The initial disposition of the armies -


The armies advancing-

Tradgardlander forces advance over the hill and light troops guard the flank.
The Duke and his faithful hound steady the troops.
The Duke of Albion has some North Albion troops in his army, light infantry with sword , shield and musket.
A contested field , the subject of intense interest to both armies.
The Tradgardland troops take up postion near the bridge .
To be continued…


Go West

 Went West today and as ever was met by interesting buildings-









Friday 23 February 2024

Ahhh, better

 Had a super game of Charge yesterday. Here are my figures , before the game,unpacked-


Oh the dissonance, white bases on green cloth, nooooo! It was too much. Not to mention the far too big ( to my eye anyway) bases I had used!An excellent game later l returned home to ponder this. So rummaged in the base box and found these-

Acrylic 40mm square bases, which are clear.

The unit rebased beside the old bases for comparison.

Finally the same unit in Winter and Summer-




The clear acrylic works for both, causes no dissonance and offence. Ahhh better. Now just the rest of the army to rebase in a similar way…


Thursday 22 February 2024

Airfix conversions

 I was fascinated to see these Airfix figures in a magazine at Ronnie’s. I was particularly intrigued to see the conversions of the cavalry figures. They look like they are based on the US Cavalry set.




I am interested in what others think.

Wednesday 21 February 2024

Forthcoming game

 This is a colourised engraving of the forthcoming battlefield for the encounter between Tradgardland and Albion-


Does it look familiar to you?

Tuesday 20 February 2024

Crossfire trial game

 Set up the table for a Crossfire trial game-






Will use 1930s Swedes and Norwegians until l can paint more appropriate figures . Inspiration-