Welcome

Welcome to my wargaming blog,
I'm Dave and live in Morpeth, Northumberland in the UK.
This may or may not be a regular thing, we'll just have to see how it goes.

I am a painter/collector of figures first and a wargamer second. My thrill in this great hobby of ours is to place that final well researched & painted unit into the cabinet. The actual gaming with the figures is an important but secondary experience, we all like to win, but it isn't the be all and end all of it, being with good friends and having fun is.
Hope you will enjoy reading this blog as much as I will writing in it.
Just to remind the visitor to scroll down the various pages and click on 'older posts' to see more.
Dave.

Wednesday, 27 September 2023

1/1,200 Dutch 76 gun Eendracht (Unity)

I like to keep this Anglo Dutch wars project ticking over or else it will get left behind and forgotten so two more 1,200 scale Langton ships done to oppose the two English finished already. In this case the Eendracht and the Zeelandia.

Eeendracht was built from 1665 to 1666 for the Maas Admiralty, one of the five naval forces of the Dutch Republic, as a replacement for the earlier ship of the same name that had been sunk in June 1665 at the Battle of Lowestoft. The new ship was the flagship of Lieutenant-Admiraal Aert van Nes at the Four Days' Battle of 1666 and at the subsequent St James' Day Battle.





Zeelandia was a fourth rate 58 gun warship built in 1683 and captured in 1690 by the French.




Again both ships painted to a wargames standard as anything more is really too much for my limited skills but they look fine. Oh by the way I have added the small pins set into the base of all of the models so that any markers may be added while gaming with them, no idea what but I will decide when I find a set of rules I like.

Need to assemble and paint the ships first of course!

Dave.

Saturday, 9 September 2023

Napoleonic/French Rev naval longboat 28mm

 Always fancied a couple of these naval long boats to enable a shore or river landing, probably with Sharp Practice but any French Revolution or Napoleonic game using a river will do so I bought two (though I have only photographed one) British Longboats and crew from Britannia Miniatures. It is a great set and though they both took a lot of cleaning to remove substantial amounts of flash it was worth it.

Now of course I have to buy a sailor and Marine landing party, it never ends!






Having looked at the pictures a little touching up is required after painting in the river.

Dave.

Saturday, 12 August 2023

Otterburn additions.

 As our club Boarder Reiver Wargames Society is putting on a display game at the Elsdon Fete in Northumberland later this month the collection I had to contribute never had any civilian figures to show in particular the two Scottish camps present during the encounter in 1388, (scroll down from this post for further info on the battle).

So here are a very nice collection of 1st Corps 28mm figures that will do perfectly.








The village is within a few miles of the site of the battle and in itself is worth a visit, very pretty.

Dave.

Sunday, 30 July 2023

15mm 1859/66 Austrians.

 I don't seem to post quite as often as I used to, certainly not recently, however on reason is that I have been heading towards completion of this 1859/66 Austrian army which given my ability to turn a blind eye to uniform specifics for the period allows this army to fight Italians, French and Prussians during this period in history. I know, Austrians in 1866 predominantly wore the greatcoat but if anyone thinks I'm painting up two separate armies for each war then they are living on a different planet to me!

On a sadder note many of these figures were swapped/given to me by my dear friend Mr Tom Nutt. Tom passed away recently and I consider my addition to and completion of this force my own small tribute to a good friend and wargame enthusiast. Tom was ex army, absolutely knew his stuff and was a mine of detailed information about all aspects of military history but particularly known for his three volume books Franco Prussian War (1870-1871) Uniform Painting Guides covering all of the weapons, organisation and uniforms for that conflict. You won't find a better more comprehensive aid to this period than this. I'm not sure who carries it now but try Rob Anderson at Northumbrian Painting Services he may know.

I could tell so many tales of Tom but suffice to say he will be missed by all.

Tom Nutt.

In total there are three Austrian corps, III, IX and XI organised for the Age of Valor rules, basically Fire and Fury but can of course be used for the excellent Bloody Big Battles set. I placed a good number on my 7' by 4' table but many more are still in the box. This little lot has taken quite some time to paint up hence not posting as often as usual. Most figures are Lancaster Games.










Dave.

Saturday, 22 July 2023

1/1,200 HMS Mary, English 3rd rate.

 A second Anglo Dutch War ship completed, in this case HMS Mary an English 3rd rate. Originally commissioned as Speaker and built in Woolwich by Christopher Pett in 1650, re-named in 1660 she was a 50 gun frigate, re-built in 1688 and wrecked in 1703.

Langton as usual.






Dave.