Carisbrooke Castle

 One of the best sites we went to in the UK was Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight, a place known to anyone who has ever played Kingmaker. The full history can be found here but key moments of wargaming interest are:

• Successfully fought off a French siege in 1377 (hurrah for the home team).
• Rebuilt with Italian bastions in the 16th century and used as a base in case the Spanish armada landed.
• The gaol of Charles the first prior to trial and execution.

Photos from our visit.

Medieval walls in the background, Italian bastions in the foreground

The Gatehouse

There was a late 17th century reenactment group on site.  Looked like a good show, but we only saw them from afar.

Redcoats, floppy hats and big cuffs, what's not to love

The wall walk was in pretty good nick.  In the first half of teh 20th century the Castle was the home of Queen Victoria's youngest Princess Beatrice who did it up nicely. 

Looking down on the height of 16th century military engineering.

There's donkey powered well on site, with several donkeys to work it.  They weren't at work when we were there due to the reenactment event, but we got to meet a couple.

The view from the top

No need for the stair master, we had our leg workout.

Well worth a visit if you're on the Isle of Wight.  It's good place to drag the family too, kids love castles and donkeys and there's non-military history to boot.

Visit to the UK Summer 2024

I am late on posting this of course, but my wife and I traveled to England for a couple weeks in July and August.  It was family centred visit, for a family week at a Caravan site on the Isle of Wight.  This is essentially the UK equivalent of renting a cabin at the lake for the week, but for us involved long flights and expensive airfare.  Three were 20 off family members there at the peak, and we were glad that we went as it will almost certainly be the last of the annual caravan vacations (we ended to go every second year our so due to cost and other plans etc).

On the whole a great visit but it was a short due to the heat of a strike by my faculty union (resolved just before we left).  My wife came down with COVID while on the Isle but I waited til we had been back home for two days before getting it.  On the whole a lot better than our trip two years ago, which involved me upchucking all over a Waterstone's bookstore, spending the night in Casualty, missing our flight and having to rebook and then fighting an insurance company for months to get reimbursed.

We spent a few days in London either side of our caravan trip.  Highlights included poking around, a visit to the London Transport Museum and seeing Hello Dolly with Imelda Staunton (Delores Umbridge from Harry Potter).  It's a great musical and well recommended.

It being the UK you can't go anywhere without running into history so I'll post some shots of some sites of wargaming interest in the next few days.

AAR Seven Years War With Maurice

Last month at Curt’s request I ran a test game of Maurice using my SYW collection.  We had the French attacking the Anglo Allied army defending a hill, based on Scenario1 from Grants Programmed a wargame Scenarios.  It was a long affair ending after midnight in a narrow French victory.  Photos are in no particular order.

The French close on the allies.  There is a series of hills on the right.

Advance!

The expected Sylvain flanking manoeuvre 

Stacy advances the French lights on his left.  I needed to amortize my windmill investment 

Sylvain makes plans for an Anglo Allied counterattack 

French command and traffic control 

Early on, Stacy advances the French light troops.

Maurice has a number of innovative ideas, many of which I quite liked.  Overall, they won’t be the go to SYW rules.  They weren’t Toy Soldierish enough and some commands spent a lot of  sitting while other commands were activated.  I think with more games we’d get the hang of getting all the cylinders to fire in sequence but it might be too much work for a Friday night.  Still, worth a look for diseases and flavour.
 

AAR Picts Vs Late Romans

It's been three months since my last post and 6 weeks since this game, but better late than never!

Back in early May I ran a game using To The Strongest (TtS) and my Pictish and late Rom an armies.  The scenario was the Broken Ground scenario from this classic with the Picts defending and the Romans attacking.  The Picts held a line of hills and the Romans needed to capture the two passes between the hills, best accomplished by defeating the Pict army.

Can't recall all of what happened, but I do know that.

• It was a close game, with both sides down to their last victory medal and the Romans eking it out after both sides missed opportunities for the kill.
• Stacy and Sylvain took the Late Romans, Curt and I led the Picts.
• The Pictish combination of Spears, skirmishers and mounted troops make for an interesting change from the bog standard war band barbarian hordes.
• We'd played a lot of WFB type armies which don't field many light troops so it was a bit of a learning process.  The one hit units were a challenge to face and field.
• Sylvain tried his usual wide flanking move with cavalry on their right flank (Pictish left flank in the photos), which we managed to mostly counter since he opened a gap from his centre.

The Pict centre

Our camp.  The Pictish stone came from a local "If it's not Scottish it's Craaap" shop. 

Roman flanking attempt finds itself flanked. 

A wider view of the same situation

View from the Pictish right.

First class pointing from Stacy.

The centres close.

Infantry scrum!

Typically confused state late in the day!

I take solace for our loss with the Pictish Warhound.

AHPC XIV Post 12 Pict Chariots and The Library Cart (85 points)

 Second post this week and it includes figures that I've been working on intermittently since December, a unit of 2 Pict chariots.  These are Crusader figures although the chariots themselves are 4Ground mdf kits.

The rider in red is comes from the Irish Warriors pack, note the base under his feet.

Back last summer NorthStar had a sale on these and I picked up 4 blister packs of Celtic chariots.  Although clearly modeled for Caesar's Gallic Wars or the Claudian invasion of Britain, I figured a Celtic chariot is a Celtic chariot.  I tried to stick handle around most of the anachronism with paint work (taking away trousers and adding beards) and subbed in an Irish warrior in one case.  I also made a lot of mistakes early on and got myself tied in knots a couple of times.  Finally after a couple of rebuilds and being put aside for other pieces a number of times, I've got these completed.

  

Next up is a solitary Bad Squiddo figure of Noor Inayat Khan to let me take Sarah's Library Cart to the Biography Section.  Khan was an SOE operative in France during the Second World War who was best known as a radio operator.  She was a very brave woman who deserved a much better fate than being betrayed, tortured and executed.  She would make a fine Biography topic herself, but she happened to be the female figure that I had ready on the day. 

I have acquired a number of Bad Squiddos Women of WW2 range.  I don't plan on doing any gaming with Landgirls, Lumberjills or Spies.  I just like the figures and want to support Annie for developing the range.   They are universally well researched, sculpted and posed and have bags of character.  they are also a joy to paint.  IN this case Door's "briefcase" holds her radio equipment.

I kept the colour scheme to follow the example on the Bad Squiddo web store, because I know that they've done the research.  I am pretty happy with the folds in her outfit but no sure about the skin tones.

Photographic evidence of me taking the Library Cart.

I believe that these chariots don't count as vehicles (I least my Pict general's didn't last year).  The point tally goes like this

• 4 horses and 4 chariot crew in 28mm @ 5 pts/each =40 + chariots = 60
• I female spy in 28mm =5
• Library Cart bonus =20
• Total 65 85

My challenge map now looks like this...

AHPC XIV Post 11 Late Roman Archers and Epic Halberdiers [Gift Shop] (120 points)

 This is the first post from me this week, a unit of 12 formed archers for my Late Romans.  My wife flew off to Phoenix for the week yesterday and I've been left to deal with a blizzard with up to 40cm of snow expected.  So I am left at home with lousy weather, the Briar (national curling championship) on TV and some free time...

Shields are made up, based on pictures in the Notitia Dignitatum

This was not a planned unit, it just kind of happened.  I bought a pack of Victrix Late Roman Archers and Slingers over the summer mostly for the slingers, but also thinking that I could use the bow arms for Pict archers.  It turned out that the 2/3 of the figures are archers with composite bows that look out of place in the hands of Picts.  So there were 24 archers and I felt I needed to do something with them...

These are nice figures and there are lots of variant arms and heads.  I like the variety of loading, shooting and admiring one's last shot poses.  I included an officer and a musician who is likely over armoured but was fun to paint.   

My previous Roman archer units had been light infantry and I'd filled my quota under the TtS army lists, hence the formed bowmen unit.  I've given them the title Sagittarii Nerviorum. There are three units listed as Nerviorum under the Dux Britanniarum in the Notitia Dignitatum.  The name comes from the Nervii, a Belgic tribe from Northern Gaul as I continue to try and butter up my Belgic minion.  Other Nervii units served in Northern Gaul, Spain and even as an elite Auxiliary Palatina unit in the Eastern Empire.

The officer and musician come from the Armoured Infantry kit.

No Challenge bonus points, but I will claim the points on the Legions of the Empire Side Duel.

Also counting for the Legions of the Empire Side Duel are these Epic Empire halberdiers.  I am also going claim the the "Gift Shop" bonus points because Curt told me I could when I Voluntold me to paint these.

Curt has been running a Old World themed TtS! Campaign using these Epic scale figures and I've been running the Empire side.  More like the Sacrificial Offering giving my skill at these games.  One thing that I've finally figured out is that the bog standard grunts like these Halberdiers and pretty darn useful (and cheap to boot). 

Curt has a sizeable Empire contingent which looks lovely in a mostly blue and yellow livery.  To mix things up I went for a Crimson and White livery, which I believe means that these lad don't follow any of the Official liveries.  I will note that I've left their based un terraformed as Curt will want to base them according to his own system.

I had more fun painting these than I thought I would once I figured out a system.  By system I mean going with a wash technique and not worrying about the small details.  The flag and a couple of shields are free handed to kinda look like Imperial Eagles if you squint hard and have had enough wine.

Points wise I make it

• 12 archers in 28mm @5 pts each =60
• 36 halberdiers in 10mm @ 1 pt each = 36
• Giftshop bonus =20
• Total 116 points.

This takes me over my 500 point Challenge Target.

Finally since Martijn's been suggesting books, I have a book suggestion for him Buried by Alice Roberts.  it's a survey of archeology over the first 1000 years CE, looking at a number of specific burial sites.  She's got two others in the series dealing with the BCE and medieval eras (just out now in Canada).  The first two have some great history about the archeology in Britain and challenge a lot of ideas.

AHPC XIV Post 10 With View Halloo Pursue the Gnu (70 Points)

 Second post from me today.  First up is a straightforward points grab for the nature shelves in the form of a 28mm Gnu (ok it's a wildebeest but Gnus are way more fun) from Ray Partha. This figure has been kicking around my spares bin for 20+ years and was picked up for a potential Southern African colonial project.

I think this needs a Wild Kingdom vignette with Marlin Perkins safely in the Landrover while his sacrificial offering assistant attempts to hog tie the gnu.  Sadly this was beyond my resources.

While others may look to use the Gnu as the basis for cheap puns, I instead will use it to reference a much higher art form, that of Poetry.  I present Good Gnu (A Vignette in Verse) by P.G Wodehouse.   This poem comes from the story Unpleasantness at Bludleigh Court in which Mr Mulliner's nice Charlotte (an animal loving poet) comes under a blood lust spell while visiting family friends.  She is most put out when Animal-Lovers' Gazette rejects this poem as seen at 18:00 of this clip Wodehouse Playhouse.

When cares attack and life seems black,

How sweet it is to pot a yak,

      Or puncture hares and grizzly bears,

        And others I could mention;

But in my Animals "Who's Who"

No name stands higher than the Gnu;

      And each new gnu that comes in view

        Receives my prompt attention.

 

When Afric's sun is sinking low,

And shadows wander to and fro,

      And everywhere there's in the air

        A hush that's deep and solemn;

Then is the time good men and true

With View Halloo pursue the gnu;

      (The safest spot to put your shot

        is through the spinal column).

 

To take the creature by surprise

We must adopt some rude disguise,

      Although deceit is never sweet,

        And falsehoods don't attract us;

So, as with gun in hand you wait,

Remember to impersonate

      A tuft of grass, a mountain-pass,

        A kopje or a cactus.

 

A brief suspense, and then at last

The waiting's o'er, the vigil past;

      A careful aim. A spurt of flame.

        It's done. You've pulled the trigger,

And one more gnu, so fair and frail,

Has handed in its dinner-pail;

      (The females all are rather small,

        The males are somewhat bigger).

In other gnus, I have another unit of 4 Pict Light Cavalry.  These are 28mm figures kit bashed from three Gripping Beast plastic kits. They are pretty much the same as the last two units that I have previously posted.

Note to self - I need to fix the labels which got lifted up during posing.

I think it's 5 points for the Gnu, 10 each for the cavalry and 20 for the Nature topic for a total of 65 points.

With two rooms ticked off today, my updated may looks like this.