The Duchy of Tradgardland
The adventures of an 18th century imagination, located in Northern Europe formerly ruled over by joint rulers Duke Karl Frederick and Duchess Liv.Not to mention the American colony of Ny Tradgardland the 17th century Colony of New Tradgardstadt and the newly restored territory of the Shetland Isles. Featuring a supporting bill of gaming in a diversity of times,places and scales.Hopefully something to interest all who pop by...
Friday, 7 August 2026
The sea , the sea
Had a day out to the sea yesterday with my daughters yesterday. We took a train from Edinburgh to North Berwick, somewhere l think l have only been once or twice ( and that over thirty years ago) since childhood. We arrived during their “ Fringe by the Sea” which added to the day.
Charming building on the walk from the station.
There were a number of these about.
An excellent coffee shop . https://www.steampunkcoffee.co.uk/
The view from the cofffee shop .
I really liked these dotted around the town
The sea, the sea , the beach and some characterful houses.
There were loads of little gardens, plus bigger ones, planted up with themes and signage.
The harbour at low tide.
A most enjoyable lunch. https://lobstershack.co.uk/
Splendid view across the sea
The coloured doors are a remnant of the Lido which opened in 1900 and closed in 1995.
More views and evocative signage showing something of the history of the place.
A pool for paddling possibly swimming. A couple of boys had boats and we were treated to an excellent display of stone skimming.
A photo, in a shop window, of the Lido in its heyday.
We were in loads of excellent shops, selling very tempting prints plus an Open Studio but all l bought was this magazine from 1960 . I was taken by the cover. I look forward to seeing the contents later today.
Needless to say l am totally bowled over by the town and wondered why on Earth I haven’t been before now. I will remedy that by returning very soon…
Wednesday, 5 August 2026
Game on
Finally getting a chance to try these rules out-
The Roman point of view. Four skirmishers, three spear, one archer and one mixed camel/infantry counting as infantry. Officer commanding with spear unit.The view from the side lines.
The rules by J from here. https://pampersandp.blogspot.com/
Tuesday, 4 August 2026
Indebted
I am indebted to a reader of this blog who kindly brought the magazines from which the below articles come from. He brought them for me to photograph at Claymore. Thank you. I post them here so you all can enjoy.
Monday, 3 August 2026
Blog recommendation
Do pop over to this recently created blog-
https://ratspikeandrenegades.blogspot.com/
Full of interesting reading and visual delights, not to mention the promise of fascinating posts to come…
Sunday, 2 August 2026
Claymore
Enjoyable visit to Claymore in Edinburgh followed by an excellent BBQ .
The blurb from an excellent 18th century game.Lovely Imperialist.
Excellent Ottomans.
A public participation game. Liked the use of a full sized shield plus background info.
Gask ridge towers and Romans were most effective.
A charming TYW scratch built fort.
Figures from the above game in 15mm , great effect en masse
Battle of Linlithgow in 15mm
They also did it in 28mm , l think, with Wofun flats.
I do enjoy seeing a Napoleonic naval game.
A Border Reivers skirmish which looked fun to play.
My only purchases. Rules from the folk putting on the 15mm TYW game, love the name of them! Book from Balkan Dave who was putting on the excellent 18th century Turks v Imperialists game.
Lovely bbq and catch up with friends and family in the late afternoon /evening. For the first time ever a seagull attempted to take food from the bbq whilst it was cooking!





























































