Terrain 14 dark age/medieval buildings

 I had to  get some additional buildings on smaller bases done rapidly for my battle of Barnet game and as I had already stuck some laminate underlay to some pound shop buildings (laser etched birch,complete with glitter!) I rapidly knocked them out to be both a basis for a dark age  village as I was embarrassed by what I had to use in my dux Bellorum game and also useful additions to my medieval stock and possible Lithuanian stand ins?

Not bad,I've tried to make each one different and big enough without being too big. In their unpainted state,I got a base coat on everything ,dark thatch, dirty cream walls and base before the game. 

So I went back to my post on open air museums from a while back and tried to apply it to these pound shop buildings, obviously there are compromises but overall they're pretty successful. There is an argument that I could have just made more accurate buildings from foamboard and maybe I will further down the line but for now these will do.

Next up,probably another war of the Roses After action report( which these buildings featured in) not many figures getting painted, more being assembled, games being played and too much football on the TV!

All the best Iain 

Pendennis Castle

 Lockdown was meant to be finished , I was going to finish my contract, my daughter had finished sixth form and my wife could adjust her work, we were all set and booked a holiday!

Of course lockdown hasn't ended but we did have a holiday in Cornwall and I managed to squeeze in a visit to a castle, Pendennis 

Splendid castle that was in use from Tudor times right up till the 1950s . I did like the disappearing gun and the two WW2 6" guns,although obviously the Tudor castle is more photogenic! I've included the later moat and glacis and stonework of the Vauban style additions ( and the 18th century entrance) for nundanket as he is in the process of building his own Vauban fortress, definitely recommended, a fun day out for all the family! 

Next up, dark age buildings or another Hertfordshire War of the Roses battle report. 

All the best Iain 

War of the Roses 3 The battle of Barnet with Hail Caesar

 Finally a face to face game with my nephew, we dug out our war of the Roses figures and I dragged up some 25mm hundred years war archers, we also ended up with Warwick and Oxford playing on both sides as I have collected both sides whereas Des in a typical display of Lancastrian prejudice only collected the Lancastrians. I set up originally with Barnet and Monken Hadley and realised I didn't have enough buildings so on the morning of the battle I quickly built and based coated 4 more meaner buildings with smaller footprints, in the end we changed the set up but it's given me most of the dark age village I've been planning for a while!

We set up with three battles on each side Oxford on the Lancastrian right,Montague in the centre and Essex on the left all under Warwick,with Monken Hadley on the Lancastrian left and Old Ford Manor House on their right.  The Lancastrians were heading south towards Barnet, the plucky Yorkist under Edward were heading north with Clarence in the centre, Gloucester on the right and Hastings on the left. We were using a warhammer ancient battle scenario I had found years ago and printed out, so that there was a  special rule for fog and treachery. 

The Yorkist side had the  first go,Hastings battle declined to go Clarence's veered off in the fog Gloucester's left most unit failed to identify who was in front of them and attacked and caused casualties to the bill and bow unit who returned the favour, it wasn't going terribly well!

 

 

We both advanced as much as we could, shot arrows and (largely ineffectualy) cannons, I initiated a  number of actions that I  came off worse with and found I needed to support my rock hard men at arms or even they didn't last long, lost my left flank,almost destroyed the other flank but by then it was too late! It was great fun,  in retrospect we got a lot wrong but Hail Caesar is forgiving enough to give us a decent game in spite of that! No doubt the new buildings will feature in a blog post, however I have 1st St Albans to think about next ,another Hertfordshire War of the Roses battle,at least I  have enough buildings!

All the best 

Iain 

Napoleonic 6, French dragoons 28th Regiment

 We have another Napoleonic French dragoon unit ,multipose plastic from Perry Miniatures, lovely figures which I've enjoyed painting. 

Same as before, primed black and then painting the colour as a highlight. I painted these horses and 36 others in an evening with a kind of wet brushing, fast and dirty and then clean the tack up with black at a later date, thought that might be of interest to you Keith as I know you have one or two horses to do!

The close ups are pretty harsh but I'm happy enough with them, this takes me to three dragoon regiments, red,yellow and orange facings so far, I think I will do one more,probably pink but not for a while, I have Austrian Napoleonic cavalry on the painting table but some French Napoleonic hussars have swaggered onto the painting tray. I'm also assembling lots of Austrian cavalry and infantry, mostly plastic, so a little less painting but all still hobby time!

All the best 

Iain