380th anniversary of this crucial battle between king and parliament and in this battle the Scot’s Covenanters made the difference.
Here are some more castles or rather famous palaces, Roman Pompei and yet more medieval bastions….Cassini and Naples today.
Here is one castle that fell under eye of the giro pro cycling helicopter. A classic hilltop location. It still has some nice details especially the main gateway area.
Late Spring sees the first of three top pro cycling events – the Giro d’Italia which are helicopter televised from start to finish.
This means you get about 4000 km of Italian countryside.
And with Italy that means castles.
Categories
The Painting Pedestal
It’s summer! And my brushes have scarpered again.
Categories
Intermission 24b
Categories
Beware Greeks bearing gifts
My recent painting blast over winter had dried up with the end of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge XIV. It broke my preoccupation with the mid 19th century.
The Danes and Germans are sat there in the various painting queues but making no progress.
Green-shoots anywhere?
something different maybe?
yes!
It is a case of returning to an old favorite. Ancients.
In fact two threads emerged from the languid waters I found my wargaming boat resting in. One followed the other.
The first, which I will cover in another post was partly prompted by Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy recent magazine running a Bronze Age theme: I have lots of Bronze Age figures for a long abandoned project.
But the impulse here was mainly due to Curt’s Trojan horse entry for the analogue hobbies painting challenge 14.
http://thepaintingchallenge.blogspot.com/2024/03/from-curt-last-post-of-challenge-xiv.html?m=1
The second concerns DBA. DBA got me back into the hobby after an almost 20 year break. It also propelled me into 15mm scale at the time – the late 1990’s. Those armies had since lain unused for years as 1/72 and 25/28mm tempted me back to bigger figures.
I dug them out – quite a mixed bag – could I run a campaign using the 1st or 2nd Editions 6 nation offering. I mulled this over before the figures went back into a slightly more accessible store and the unpainted ones joined the paint queue jostling with mid 19th century Danes and Germans.
And then I went to York one weekend for the annual open studios tour. Somehow somewhere I came away with the urge to craft. Note – not paint.
The next minute I was cutting card and with drawing pens to hand inking DBA bases. I had picked a campaign and lacking the right figures thought I would simply play empty bases. I have done this many a time and its a very enjoyable digression. And then I remembered all these 2mm armies currently in vogue plus that crafting itch had not been sated fully. And so out came some discarded HEAT board gaming counter sheets! minus the useful counters. Maybe I could use these “blocks” to suggest groups of soldiers?
And there we have it instant 2mm armies for a 6 nation DBA Bronze Age campaign: The Thracian’s might make a guest appearance!
The Royal Danish Army of 1848 was characteristically mid 19th century in dress. It still had a napoleonic uniform as such, yet things like the peaked cap and Hungarian kepi had begun to change the look. Pantaloons were noticeably full length and trouser like.
At the start of the war infantry uniforms were red tunics and bright blue trousers. Uniform regulations for 1848 planned a change to essentially all dark blue clothing complete with a bright blue kepi.
The regulations crept in although the kepi was so popular – soldiers often threw away their bell shaped shakoes in the field.
Other elements of the army – Artillery and Engineers kept the older kit for longer.
The Cavalry had largely reduced to the Dragoon in combless metal crested helmet (a fashionable trend) while the Hussars wore a small tapered shako. Dragoons wore red tunics and bright blue trousers, the Hussars wore all pale blue.
Never one to resist a metaphor or comparison my recent encounter with project hesitation prompted me to look for a parallel. For some reason my usual mountain climbing examples in my head sat a bit oddly. Oh yes I think many of us wargamers probably try and climb many Munros* at the same time. And fail to reach any summits – unless its those super wargamers with unlimited talent, production skills to match and boundless energy.
*munros are Scottish mountains in excess of thousand feet in height.
Then it came to me going downhill might be a better metaphor than ascending when it comes to the wargamers hobby.
So where have I been and where am I now?
In recent times (i.e. since Covid struck) – back in 2019 I was quite taken with Normans in the North and South. It remains a work in progress so you could say a meandering river then and an oxbow lake now is the order of the day.
And then I discovered the mid 19th century and a fair torrent of water cascaded down the wargamers hillside.
There have been the odd side flows such as my nearly mechanised 20th century warfare explorations – now also several oxbow lakes or should it simply be a mountain col?
And what of my recent diversions during Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge? I certainly think that was several small torrents which then ended in a hanging valley leading to a small lake with no apparent exit.
And right now where am I – well it feels like the wargaming is still in flow but very much winding through some extensive marshlands – languid.
Descriptions of water seem far more apt for my wargaming than my previous mountain climbing parallels.
The question is where will those languid waters lead me to next?
The Wargaming Erratic 