Winter on the Penedredfel Light Railway

 

The bear has decided to hibernate amidst the leaves on the line. A bewildered railway worker looks on. He hopes the bear may wake and look for better accommodation elsewhere.Meanwhile the paint on the roof seems not to be standing up to the weather.

Exhausted men napping after an arduous leaf clearing session. The train driver is deep in thought but about what?

Fox beside the luggage catches the eye of  someone working in the station. Clear off he shouts and the fox departs rapidly , forgetting that which he saw in the man’s eyes.

 

Using the Fourth Portable Wargame Compendium

 Working towards this whilst listening to the Ashes this morning-

Painting some figures and scenery for a Sci - Fi skirmish…

Two teams of around eight figures each.

The rules l was keen to try out from the aforementioned compendium.

Divided the chess board into 16 squares and marked them with a red pen. In other words each Square consists of four chessboard squares. Works perfectly well for a try out.

The game under way with me controlling both forces.

Close up of board with cork high ground and cover is provided by a ruined wall in the square. I will play the games to a conclusion tomorrow. It is a fun, simple set of rules easy to learn but very tactically interesting. I can recommend it with enthusiasm to everyone who wants an enjoyable skirmish game. Would work well too in 54mm instead of 28mm . Now where did I put those Airfix sf figures…

So Art Deco

 In Edinburgh yesterday for lunch with an old friend from my youth who l have reconnected with. We met here https://www.victorhugodeli.com/ in the Meadows. Thoroughly recommend it btw. En route l popped into an interesting antique shop filled with tempting old toys. I had passed it often but never found it open before. Most interesting Composition figures of British soldiers and scouts. Big , tempting but l resisted. Passed this too , a splendid Art Deco building by Sir Basil Spence. Took a couple of photos and here is an original drawing-

The other Summer of 69…

 In this case AD 69 when Gaius Julius Civilis ( a German chieftain and Roman Officer ) led a revolution against the Roman Empire. This was the background to yesterday’s game using DBM rules. 

I was one of the Roman commanders. As the auxiliaries were deemed to be unreliable in this time of revolt our army consisted of mainly legionnaires, a few archers and some Numidian light cavalry and infantry..

A view from behind our lines showing ourselves and the enemy- a heady mix of German Tribesmen and Roman auxiliaries that had join the revolt. One of the German tribes were the Chatti, and were led by a chieftain I called Alan Carr , Chatti man.

The revolting Auxiliary cavalry attempt to make a flank breakthrough, they are held back by some Numidian cavalry who made some excellent dice throws.

Facing the enemy from within the Roman ranks…

German cavalry about to make a breakthrough on the other flank , a few legionnaires stand in their way..

A there we left it until next time, it had been an exciting game. Full of bad jokes and awful dice throws.I look forward to finishing the game. For information on the real Batavian revolt and the larger than life Civils , follow the links below-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolt_of_the_Batavi

https://www.ourcivilisation.com/smartboard/shop/tacitusc/histries/chap14.htm

https://www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2024/02/julius-civilis-the-bavarian-prefect-who-rebelled-against-rome-to-create-an-independent-kingdom-uniting-gaul-and-germania/#

December

 

A excellent read after a busy day’s volunteering, just the thing with a coffee. Highly recommended btw.

Traditional Advent calendar made in Germany.

That was the week that was

 

Plugging away at the Minoans…

60mm chariot is pretty big…

The force gathers…

Wee outing to see Anton du Beke at the local theatre with a friend.

Catch up in Edinburgh for lunch in a very festal National Portrait Gallery.

Beautiful dawn to start Wednesday.

Ancients in 60mm scale

 

 Working on some Ancients currently, Bronze Age and Minoans to be precise, 60mm size figures and in resin.On the workbench, love the cow hide shields they carried.

An interesting talk to listen to as l worked away.

Archers drying on the radiator. They will function either as a unit alone or be part of one containing long spears too.

Paint pot and 28mm figure for size comparison.

Unit based . Foliage needs to be added and the bronze spear tips painted.

Size comparison again.

Another photo of the spear unit , notice different shaped shields representing the personal choice of individuals within the same unit.

Mixed spear and bow unit. 

Some books from the Ducal Library on the subject. Some were bought 1990 or earlier and the one standing up at the back was bought a couple of years ago. Fascinating details contained within its pages.

I am hoping to to use the figures with the Neil Thomas rules, Midgard and l would like to have a go at writing a simple fun period specific set, one side of A4 at longest.

Other figures are primed and ready on the workbench …