Edinburgh- the dérive

 Was in Edinburgh yesterday for a model railway show. Really enjoyed it but also really enjoyed walking from Haymarket station to the show via Holy Corner and back via Gorgie Road. Sunny day with the end of summer meeting the start of Autumn, lovely. Some pics

Interesting sculpture as part of signage.

Excellent info boards en route.

Saw “Snow white and the seven dwarves ” here as a small boy. I hid behind the seat when the Queen was on! 

Tynecastle ground and school  looking much more dapper these days.

The Union Canal . I used to walk the canal path to and from the centre of town.

The venue for the model railway show. Pictures from the show in the next post.

Saw this in Morrison Street, what a wonderful, practical idea. Fantastic!

On the march

 The Ottoman forces are on the march again. Screened by light cavalry the army is on the move …

I have really enjoyed Balkan Dave’s book on the wars between Austria, Russia and the Ottoman Empire in the 1730’s . The book is an excellent overview of the armies, the battles and the war. It is full of fascinating characters and incidents and reminds the reader that there was another kind of warfare on the fringes in 18th century Europe and beyond. I have been adding muskets to Minifigs, repainting and rebasing. Using what I have and not buying more figures. Great fun . Mainly Minifigs with a tiny smattering of Dixon .

When September starts

 The garden as September begins.

Publishing issues

 My attempt to leave comments anywhere is not working . Anyone else experiencing this? It says publishing and goes on and on never coming to completion.

Done

 Figures finished.

Addition of a hound to the group.

Wearisome winter warfare.

The whole group sans hound who has forged ahead.

Finally the two highlighted figures from the previous post.

Thank you everyone for your supportive and thoughtful comments in the previous post, they were greatly appreciated by me.

Jan’s anniversary and a follow up post

 Today is eleven years since Jan died. I think the below  is an appropriate post for the day. Firstly it is a kind of follow up to this-

http://tradgardland.blogspot.com/2024/12/gift-thirty-years-on.html

Some new recruits came in from Steel Fist Miniatures recently to the Duchy

Two of the figures are based on my favourite illustrations from the book in the post in the link . I have always found them fascinating and always felt they should appear on the table top, l thought by converting.

I was amazed to see these when browsing through the Steel Fist Miniatures pages recently. I just had to buy them! This l duly did and l was delighted to say the very least .

Here is a size comparison with another SFM  ( they are heroic scale as some call them) alongside a Citadel or Perry ( ?) pair of figures.

So today l will work on the aforementioned two figures, think of happy times shared with Jan and see the girls later. I will post a picture of the figures in due course. Along with other from SFM , yet to be bought, they will be part of a wee side skirmish project set in the period of the Burgundian Wars.

Memories of ‘34 etc

 

Finally got this armoured car ready for the table . I went for a “toy tank” vibe to fit in with the glossy figures or is that an excuse for my painting of it ?

The armoured car will swell the forces of Morava against their bitter foe Ostmerk.

Now to set up a game for the coming days. I finally found a copy of Brian C’s splendid rules “ Memories of ‘34 “ which I printed off. It was like rediscovering an old friend. I look forward to reacquainting myself with them. Thank Brian for these. .

Whilst uptown I bought the above magazine, it has an interesting article about a layout set in an imagination. Lots of other inspiration too.