A good watch

On a sunny morning in the Duchy I have just finished watching a splendid new drama (?) on BBC one,but more of that anon. Have you ever tried to get into a novel and try again and again only to discard it? This happened to me with "Johnathon Strange and Mr Norrel" which in the end I passed onto a charity shop and thought no more upon the matter.Until now that is when I gave the tv adaption a go and found it excellent.Who knows I may try the book one day...

1864

Anyone watching this and what do you think?

Dragon!

I decided to use my new dragon (thanks Jim Duncan for your kind gift) to test out some gaming ideas I had been mulling over for some fantasy games to fight the world of Faerie impacting on a medieval kingdom. I used the following ancient rules on a gridded cloth-
http://gatheringofhosts.blogspot.co.uk/2015/05/a-summary-for-summery-test-game.html
with amendments as follows -
The Dragon had  12 (!) strength points,fire breathing- shooting with 12 dice (one less per casualty) and fought with 12 dice too (distributed amongst all units fighting it equally).The dragon could only be hit on a six.
Here he is-

He was opposed by these stout fellows-

In both games the Dragon's breath did nothing hardly- very low dice throws,he failed to get to melee and was shot to bits before he could get stuck in.Perhaps he needs to have a flying move too and be more invulnerable to arrows? I wonder what to tweak next...

Another Chelsea Sunday- with apologies to Marillion...

It's that time of the year again- the Chelsea Flower Show. It's Salute and much more for gardeners. Although we have never been, Jan & I are great fans,read the magazine/newspaper articles and follow the television coverage with great enthusiasm. Coverage begins tonight and we can't wait. Any other wargamers looking forward to it?

Books

I don't know who bought this for me around 1972 for the sum of £1.95. I have had it ever since despite movings and clearing outs of my books . It still sits near my computer as I type, on the shelf beside John Prebble's "Culloden" . I still browse in it regularly-

It introduced me as a lad to  exotic armies ,uniforms and periods of history. My interest in certain armies can be traced directly back to the illustrations I poured over as a lad- vikings in horned helmets and other joys. Jolly 17th century fellows with gunpowder barrels. I lapped them up. If you don't know it you must have a look...

Thanks Rob et al

An email to Rob & a look on the Garrison webpage gave me the answer-

PE11	Scale	25mm
Description:	Phrygian Armoured With Crested Helmet Spear And Shield Attacking

Thanks to everyone who joined in the search!

Long trousered hoplite (?) chaps ?

I wonder if anyone could identify these-

They have long trousers. Can anyone tell me what they ancient soldier ( clumsily worded but you know what I mean) they represent and who made them? Thanks!