Historical Wanderings - Hardknott Roman Fort

While in the Lake District I walked the 5 mile round hilly journey with my brother up to Hardknott Roman Fort which stands next too Hardknott Pass.  It rained.  Correction; it rained a lot, and we got fairly wet.  Luckily it was still relatively warm, and the effort was worth it for the stunning views and interesting site.  The fort itself is small; the information suggests that a cohort of Dacians was based here for much of its use, and it was meant to protect the trade route from a hostile population.  The route ran from the sea, and the Roman fort, bathhouse and port at Ravenglass (approximately 10 miles away), up over the pass.  

Standing in the rain it really felts like you must have annoyed someone to get posted there at the time; wet, remote, hostile territory, and with only a bunch of sheep to keep you company.  The remains of the fort includes the outlines of walls, corner towers, the commandants quarters and the central HQ building.  For comfort a small bath house was just outside the gate on the roadside of the fort (cold room with plunge pool, warm room, hot room, and even a sauna - they were way ahead of us!), and a parade ground of naturally flat land was a couple of minutes walk through boggy ground just above the remains.  Unsurprisingly the fort had the characteristic 4 entrances, at least one of which was out onto a cliff side.

For those who don't like walking you can drive up and park in a lay by by the fort, but its a challenging drive with 25% gradients, and the Wainright walk we followed was very rewarding.  I took a few pictures, although the scale of the views and site is difficult to convey.  There are also some pictures of the best way to get there - the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway!

Inside the fort looking up at the pass.

North (cliff) side.

Centre of the fort - stepped up with the land.

Two very wet foolish people laughing - this was the second attempt at taking this picture, the laughter is caused by the camera being blown over by the wind first time out!

Looking back on the return journey the road up towards the pass can be seen.

Douglas Ferraria.

Wroxham Broad.

Hercules.

Work In Progress........August 2014

This month I've spent most of my painting time on the 3 units (36 models in total) of Wars of the Roses bowmen and billmen.  The second bowmen unit has nearly finished the painting stage, and once that’s done I can move onto the Dipping, Flocking and Matt Spraying stage and my painted total will shoot up a bit further just in time for the end of my painting year.

In terms of gaming I actually missed 3 weeks in August due to a holiday in the Lake District, a social event on a Thursday evening at Chirk, and not arranging a game in time – for the latter I was also feeling a bit of gaming burnout/disinterest which comes over all of us at some point.  Fortunately a few weeks off and I’m rather keen to get back into the fray.  Before the time off I played Will at Carrcassone (a great board game, and one I will definitely get a copy of), and afterwards joined Aidan and Luke in trying out Gates Of Antares (Darleks vs humans!), and put in a late appearance at a good English Civil War game in Frodsham.

A slight alternation to my Purchased/Painted total due to Pete very kindly giving me 3 halftracks for my Flames of War Germans.  These, added to the number of seated personnel to go in the others, are being stored ready for a massed halftrack making session at some point.

Purchased: 27

Painted: 126

English Civil War - The First Battle Of Frodsham

With my days work finished by 11am (the price; a 5am wakeup call) I took a drive to Frodsham where Aidan had organised a big English Civil War bash to give our armies an outing, amazingly their first since their Gauntlet appearance over a year ago.  I came late, with the other 8 participants having arrived, set up, and already reached turn 3.  Things were already going badly for the Parliamentarians, with several regiments having already quit the field, and my own collection was split, with the bulk being spread amongst the weakened Parliamentarian left and centre while I retained a horse and small foote brigade as I joined the Royalists.

The Participants:

My fellow Royalists were as follows - Andy; fighting a sluggish battle around the church and amongst the village buildings on the Royalist left.  Secondly Chris, whose large horse brigade had already rampaged through the rebel centre, those Parliamentarians who wished to survive had retreated into hedgehog formations.  Finally Luke; whose foote regiments were now putting the screw upon the remains of the Parliamentarian centre and holding the star fort on the Royalist right.  My own limited forces supported Luke.

The Parliamentarians had an Ian (Hedley) on their left facing me and Luke, an Ian (Shaw) next too him loosely holding the centre but still shell-shocked from Chris’ onslaught, and to their right Michael (still bemoaning his lack of Swedes – banned by the umpire due to their justified reputation!) who was controlling the Parliamentarian right along with David who both faced Andy across the village.  Aidan’s name is absent as he was acting as an umpire for the day, and had designed the scenario at the last moment – the key objectives for each side being to capture the others redoubts.

The Battle In Short:

Or perhaps in Very Short because my wide position on the right meant I missed much of the action on the left, and Aidan has done a report too.  The Parliamentarians poor luck with dice continued to dog them throughout; Ian H’s infantry, and in particular his storming parties, being very reluctant to advance.  It felt very much like 1643 with the Royalists able to do little wrong and the rebels struggling.  Chris’s horse were joined by Lukes and then mine in further devastating the rebels centre and mounting a brief (and unsuccessful) assault on the rebels main redoubt, while Luke and Chris also sent forward infantry.  Andy, David and Michael found themselves in a stalemate before a tremendous amount of damage was caused in the last couple of turns.

Pike blocks engaged across the battlefield as Michael and David’s troops finally stormed forwards, Lukes men pushed into the two Ian’s foote regiments, and my sole foote regiment clashed by the star fort.  Ian Shaw’s command practically ceased to exist, and foote units vanished across the field.  The powder supplies (a special rule in use) having run out this was the only way to cause damage!  With time up it was left to the umpire to declare a win, and although the Royalists hadn’t managed to claim the rebels redoubts the enemy had never come close to the King’s ones, and had suffered numerous casualties in the process.  Victory to the Royalists.

Aidans Report: http://rgmb.forumatic.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=445

The Eye Candy:

I spent more time walking the table looking at the lovely models than paying attention and taking pictures that showed the progress of the game.  The size of the battlefield swallowed the huge armies in use – I actually had to ask Aidan and Michael if they had brought their entire collections because there were still spaces.  Ian Hedleys vignettes provided most of my highlights because I hadn’t seen them before, and they were well worth spending some time studying – adding class and character and period feel to the board.

The battlefield at 12:30pm when I arrived.  The star fort on the Royalists right is in the foreground, and the Royalist left in the village right at the top of the picture.

The star fort defended by Lukes troops.

Lukes Royalist foote going forwards to clash (successfully) with the two Ian's foote around the windmill.

Some of Ian Hedleys lovely Parliamentarians.

Note the rampaging Royalist horse.

Vignette time - the war on the Royalist left seem to have been held up while both sides watched this.

Pig on wheels.

Royalist alcoholic supplies. 

One of Ian H's storming parties.

The rebel left which had been battering away at the star fort with no appreciable effect.

Rebel commanders.

The Royalist horse attack in the centre.

Foote closes to short range in the centre.

My horse help break Ian (Shaw) infantry centre.

Sheep stop play as the Royalist attack is held up by the woolly bunch.

Push of pike on the Royalist left.

The village and church.

Cannon and toilets.

Rebel encampment.

The Royalists have the heights and the advantage.

Historical Wanderings - Stokesay Castle

I don't seem to get round to 'blogging' very often at the moment, I blame early starts at work for bringing early bedtimes and general tiredness throughout the day.  One thing I get to do even less however is visit historic properties nowadays, so today with an unusual occasion.  The bio-titan has a passing interest (only time will tell if its superficial), while SWMBO has none whatsoever, and sadly the titan generally follows her lead.  But he is interested in knights and castles, and so I drove them the not inconsiderable 55 mile distance to Stokesay Castle in Shropshire for an English Heritage 'Fighting Knights' event.

Having overseen such things in the past at Beeston Castle I knew the title could suggest more than it was, and as I expected there were just the two knights and a herald.  However these worthies are connected with the Wars of the Roses Federation; a watchword for quality, and they didn't disappoint.  The bio-titan sat and absorbed it all, even cheering and clapping, although he drew the line at joining in the children's sword fighting until it was too late, which was a pity because it was very well done - the 3 blokes running it really knew their stuff and their audience.

Unfortunately the good grace (he was tired after waking up too early) didn't last to exploring the Castle properly and we only managed to go up and down the stone tower (not the oldest part of the building interestingly).  Perhaps in another 6-7 years (the length of the previous visit gap) I'll get too see more of a site which, despite its small size, is fascinating.

Gatehouse and bio-titan.

Work In Progress.......July 2014

Following Junes painting success (Napoleonic big finish) July has been a quieter month.  Having flocked and improved my old Games Workshop hills to fit in with my battle mat table top I then spent a good two weeks doing absolutely nothing on the hobby front.  One week was taken up by preparation for a job interview – no job offer but I wasn’t too disappointed – while the rest was half tiredness, and half a lack of any enthusiasm towards any specific period/model/size etc.

Painting:

When I eventually picked up a paint brush it was to mess around with some Wars of the Roses (WOTR) bowmen, and to carry on filling out the unpainted corners of my Flames of War German collection.  The bowmen have been sitting, undercoated and based, for rather a long time following their purchase at Tripples two years ago, suffering from a combination of my fear of painting bright colours, and the “something else is shinier!” effect.  Having had a game of WOTR with Aidan recently using his rather nicely painted and impressive looking Yorkists and Lancastrians, I decided to trial a few ideas.  The platoon for my Germans that I have finally finished this month was the Flak36 88mm guns one, having only owned it for around 5 years.  The 2 guns and command team has been done for most of that, in fact I was rather pleased with the paint job on them, but the two big half tracked transports and the staff car have been 30% done for a while, and needed a finish.  I took the opportunity to spruce up the guns and command while I was at it; redoing the gun shield camouflage and filling in chips.

 I also trialled a new painting technique while painting a panzerschrek team, and an anti-tank rifle team.  The anti-tank rifle team nearly matches the 88’s transport options in the life-unpainted stakes, while the panzerschrek team needed rebasing after I put them on small bases rather than medium.  Juries out on the final result.

Gaming:

For gaming I managed a few battles against Aidan; he defeated my (or rather; his)Yorkists twice, then I lost at Warhammer, then I finished off by making -again mostly his - Napoleonic French look like mugs.  I’m getting my loosing face just right I reckon, a combination of disappointment, outrage, and comic pauses.  Before all that Dennis fell to my wrath at Flames of War, but gained his vengeance in Phil’s FOW Africa campaign, and finally I played a good few, very enjoyable, games of Carcassone against Will McNally.  Oh, and thanks to family commitments I missed Gauntlet.  9 months of thought and planning down the pan for me, luckily everyone else had fun.

Painting Totals:

Painting totals this month; 2 hills, 2 halftracks, 1 staff car and 2 German teams.  Not counting the 88’s touch-up job.  I also won a model of a Dreadball star player; a Judwan, for coming third and winning best painted team at the tournament!  A good result.

Purchased: 24

Painted: 126

Work In Progress.....June 2014

Plenty of painting work done this month in bursts as I finished my 28mm Napoleonic French for Gauntlet, and added more models to help my newly painted (May) Flames of War Panthers out in their first (fully painted) outing.  I’ve now 2 battalions of Frenchmen painted; a total of 81 painted models, 62 (!) of which were varnished and as such finished this month, flags pending. 

For the 15mm Germans I re-painted my 3 AA gun trucks to fit in with the Middlestone late war colour scheme; previously I had painted them grey to fit with the mid-war period, but realised I used them almost exclusively for late war.  They actually took around 4 months to paint previously because my son turned up midway through, while this time was about a 36 hour turn around!  4 resin Kerr and King halftracks were added to this, before I finally finished my Sd Kfz 231 8-rad armoured cars.  The 8-rads are one of my favourite models and units in Flames of War, but up to this point I had only painted 2 out of my 6 (heavy metal purchased easily 5 years ago from Old Glory to combat the universal carrier menace).  They now share the same camo scheme as the Panthers and half tracks.

For gaming I took part in a one-day Dreadball tournament, and although I finished 3^rd I did bag the best painted award for my Carbis Bay Buccaneer Corporation team which I was very pleased with.  I also enjoyed a very good Flames of War game with Ian (from Warrington) who was an excellent opponent, and defeated my old adversaries Laurent and Luke in some Dreadball practice games before the tournament.  Finally the Panthers and their supporting newly-painted buddies got an outing; thoroughly trouncing Pete and Red’s Russian armour.

Overall that is 61 frenchmen, 3 AA guns, 4 half tracks and 4 armoured cars this month.

Purchased: 23

Painted: 119

The whole newly painted bunch from the road down - 8 Panthers, 1 bergepanther, 1 konigstiger, 4 armoured cars, 4 halftracks and 3 tracked AA guns.  Not the triplane!