On the Road...

Well Andrea and I have made it into Georgia. A couple of weeks ago though we were in Istanbul and took time out of the city to travel down to Gallipoli. It was a very interesting and moving experience. I have never been on a battlefield tour, this one being my first and it gave me a real sense of what happened and how the soldiers must have felt. I didn't realise that 250,000 Turkish soldieers lost their lives defending their homeland from the Allies - mostly through disease. The Allied cemeteries are kept immaculate by the Commonwealth War Graves Association and the Turkish government have also ensured that the entire site is kept to a high standard. So many Aussies and Kiwis make the pilgrimage to this site. I explained to someone on the trip that what the Somme was to the British, Gallipoli is to the ANZACS.


The tour lasted three hours as we were bused around the various sites at Gallipoli. I also bought a map of the campaign, which is very interesting to look at and is memento of the afternoon.

Update on the War of the Roses Project

Even though I am far away from home (Bulgaria at the moment) I have finally found a sound internet connection! On checking my emails last night I received an email from my friend telling me that the Perry order has finally arrived. I now have all the models I need to put together enough contingents for both sides of this English conflict.

When I eventually stop moving around on my 'Walkabout - come Honeymoon' I will settle down to some serious nights of building and painting.

Until then....

On the Road

Well, Andrea and I are finally on the road to Australia, Darwin and then we head straight for New Zealand. For now this blog will lie 'slightly dormant.'

However I have been to Salute and met up with various people and wished them well. I also went and picked up a copy of Hail Cesaer, I'll have a read of that in the future when we get settled.

It was quite liberating going to Salute as I couldn't take anything with me!

Cheers for now,

Richard

Married!

On Saturday 2nd April 2011 at 1pm I married Andrea in St. George's chapel at Gorey Castle. It was a truly magical day and fantastic to see so many family and friends there to share it.

Old Miniatures Part 4 and Richard III Billmen

Well I have managed to complete some old Foundry bowmen I had stashed away. I have painted them up as levy archers with sympathies lying towards Henry Tudor. They have taken longer to paint than I expected, too many individuals! But I am reasonably pleased with the end result.

Here is my first stand of miniatures for my Bosworth Project. I am using orbats published by Terry Gore (Saga Publishing) for my Bosworth project. For Richard III's contingent I'll need to build and paint two more bases like the one shown below. I will need to complete the basing but I will do this at a later stage when I have more of the army completed.

Old Miniatures...Part 3

I have had the opportunity to do a little more work on the old miniatures I found in my lead pile. They are mostly Foundry miniatures, so they'll blend in well with the Perry miniatures. They are not taking to long to 'spruce up' either.

More Reading Material

I have just finished reading on the texts I bought recently on, The War of the Roses by Trevor Royle. The first half of the text discussed life in England prior to 1455. The story begins with Richard II before moving onto Henry IV and Henry V. It is during the times of these three kings that the seeds of disruption are sown. Had Henry VI been older (much older) when he ascended the throne then the story would have been very different.

I have two more books coming my way, Richard III and the Bosworth campaign by Peter Hammond and The Red Rose and the White: The War of the Roses 1455 - 1487 by John Sadler. Both of these books are more geared to the military campaigns fought during this 'First English Civil war.' I am about to start Lancaster and York by Alison Weir.

War of the Roses Update

Well I have nearly finished the first batch of Perry miniatures. I have completed painting three men at arms and seven bowmen. The bowmen have been painted with a blue and murrey livery. Unfortunatley for these archers their livery colours are the wrong way round! We'll excute the tailor later.

I used the Foundry paint system to paint these models. I used Deep Blue (20A/B/C) and for the murrey I used Deep Maroon (64A/B/C). I wanted to distinguish between red and the murrey, hence why I have gone for the deep maroon colour.

I am also not sure about the finish on the bows - I may change this at a later date. I hope the phjotos are okay. I will hae to remedy the photographing when I finally settle into a new house...sometime in the future.

As for the bases I have used bestial brown (Citadel colour) as a basecoat and then applied Army Painter scatter (Brown Battlefields) before adding some static grass, a mix of scorched grass and winter dead grass (both Citadel products). I have finally added a touch of the Army Painter Snow. At the moment I am only applying the snow to the skirmish models. When I eventually get round to paint the full armies I may leave the snow off their bases as most campainging was conducted in the summer months.

Old miniatures don't fade..they just get repainted

I found these miniatures in the bowels of my lead pile. With a bit of sprucing up they'll be as good as new.

More Re-enactment photos

Here are some more pics of the re-enactment event which took place at Mont Orgueil Castle back in 2006.

War of the Roses Re-enactment

My brother and I put together a small retinue for the re-opening of Mont Orgueil Castle(Jersey) in 2006. I have managed to get the full set of pictures off my brother and I will be posting a few up here.

The event took place on a Sunday afternoon. We were there from 9am till about 6.30pm. It was a memorable day. Two years prior to the event Jersey celebrated its 800th year anniversary of its 'special' relationship with the British monarchy. Over the course of that weekend the castle saw about 7,500 visitors. On the occasion of the re-opening of the castle 4,500 visitors walked through its gates between 1pm and 5.30pm. There wasn't much time for ale!

Update on the War of the Roses Project

I have been looking through the rules of Medieval Warfare by Terry Gore. I have only played one game so far, and that was awhile ago now. I do like the rules and on reading them again things are clearer.

I have also done a little more painting, but only a little. I might be able to get a day in next week - half term approaches!

Little by little...

Here are some part painted models. I am quite happy with this Man At Arms. I may yet add a little brown ink about his feet and legs, armour never stays that pristine in a fight!