Away Days!

 As I mentioned in my last post, Sue and I have been away for a shortened week's break on the Lancashire-Cumbria border, near the South Lakes area of the Lake District. It's an area like Downderry in Cornwall which we have come to think of as a favourite place to spend a few days away. Without rushing about we've enjoyed a recharge of the batteries and as a bonus the weather has been very kind to us.

As usual we rented an appartment at Tewitfield Marina, just north of Carnforth on the Lancashire canal. It's a peaceful location at this time of year with the added bonus of a fine pub for dinning a short stroll away.

We stopped off in Morecambe on the way up to have lunch in the Midland Hotel, an Art Deco building from the Golden Age of railways, very Agatha Christie and Poirot! The Promenade is Morecambe's best (only?) feature of note. A sculpture of the Lake District which looks across Morecambe Bay 

A  back view of the statue of Eric Bartholomew, aka Eric Morecambe of Morecambe and Wise fame. 

The view across the Bay towards the peaks of the Lake District. A short stroll along the Promenade aids the digestion and leads to an interesting Second Hand Book Shop, though no books were sniffed this year!

A short drive further inland brings you to Kirkby Lonsdale, a small market town with interesting buildings and quaint shops. The Church of St Mary is worth a visit if you've time. 

The Altar at the eastern end of the chancel.

The town endured a tragic overnight fire just before Christmas last year. Many buildings and businesses were devastated and sadly one life was lost. Much rebuilding was going on to bring this lovely town back to it's best. One unexpected bonus for the visitor was...

Free Parking! While another was a 'small' Full English in The Bakery...

A pleasant 30 minute drive away through the Cumbrian countryside brings you to Bowness on Windermere. We drove over early the next day in time for a lighter breakfast before embarking on a cruise on Lake Windermere.

As you can see the weather in mid March was being very kind to us, partly anyway...dry, sunny but very chilly.

Hillend, home to the children's author Beatrix Potter, sadly though not open to visitors so early in the year.

A view towards the northern end of the lake and the sunlight fells and peaks of the Lake District. Very Wainwright if you are younger and fitter than me!

One of the many C18th & C19th century grand houses dotted around the lakeside, many now repurposed into hotels!

There was even snow on the highest peaks when we arrived, but you'd need to squint to see it in the photo!

The view towards the southern end of the Lake it has to be said is far less dramatic!

Back on land we popped into the church of St Martin to see the C16th wall paintings 'restored' in the Victorian period and collection of antique bibles and religious books.

The altar at the east end of the chancel and it's associated stained glass window.

The wall paintings featured illustrated explanations of the Christian sacraments.

As well as C19th added depictions of scenes from the life of Christ; here the preparation of his earthly body for burial.

The small collection of C16th Bibles and other religious writings was well worth seeing too.

It's often forgotten that before the iconoclastic effects of the Reformation in the C16th churches were often highly colourful and decorated with walls painted with biblical and instructional scenes as well as having beautiful stained glass windows. The medieval font at the nave's west end framed by modern etched glass and more 'restored' wall images.

On the way back to base a short detour took us to call in on chum George for a catch up and a tour of his wargames room. Jealous, me? I certainly am!!!!! 

A trip into Lancaster by bus, an education in itself, to visit Lancaster Castle. A much expanded medieval castle serving as a prison until as recently as 2011.

The Inner Courtyard with impressive fencing separating the men's from the women's cell blocks.

The medieval keep towers above the prison buildings giving a sense of the power castles emanated.

The castle also houses the County Police Museum. You have a chance to tour the exhibitions in cells on two floors. The custody suite was really interesting...

...for some ner' do wells at least.

While more respectable members of society enjoyed a quiet cuppa in the welcome Spring sunshine.

Best remember though that prisons were/are not all Norman Stanley Fletcher, despite appearances. All this is free too, though a guided tour which we'd done on a previous visit was £8.00!

The Maritime Museum on St George's Quay is also well worth a visit. It houses all kinds of exhibits relating to Lancaster's maritime heritage. The Fisherman's cottage exhibit captures the reality of a hard life.

While log boats from the Bronze Age are impressive reminders of our long association with the sea and rivers.

Bronze Age hoards...

...and Tudor coins in a lead wallet are on display.

Along with reminders of a time when seaside towns like Morecambe were not so run down as they appear now.

Even Eric Bartholomew's school report card - "Largely absent for the exams." - together with his child performer permit! For those who don't know he's Eric Morecambe, one half of the comic duo Morecambe and Wise. For the £2.00 admission it was a steal!

Ending our jaunt with a trip to Kendal for retail therapy on Sue's birthday!

Back home tomorrow, but not before dinner at the Longlands Hotel tonight.

More Vikings!

The second group of Matt's Footsore Vikings to endure their time under my brush have made it across the painting desk and are ready to add to the 1066 & All That collection. They come from the 'Bondi with spears' pack, being chosen from the more active poses on the whole. This has lead to me mounting them on skirmishing bases for our games, although they can be added on the flanks of the main warrior block to make a larger unit, as indeed can the base of berserkers I featured in the previous post.

The LBMS shield transfers almost fit the shields if you don't look too closely. Punching out the holes is a definite pain in the nether reasons though! The bases are Warbases 3mm MDF ones, Phil converted me to them over the 2mm ones I was using. The brass spears are from Pendraken, again though drilling out the hands to accommodate them was not fun. 

Next in the painting queue are a base of 10 Hirdmen in mail. They look like a mean and nasty set of chaps if you were facing them. So far I've painted the five in the front rank - those looking most suitable to portray shield wall types - and have another three started from the rear rank with the remaining two on their MDF hexes ready to go. 

Sue and I are off for a short break now, so no painting or gaming lined up obviously. No game report from today's meeting with Phil either as we were giving the rules I've been working on for the Saga of Bicca Biccasson project a run through or two. More on those in due course too.

Vikings!

Finally I have made a start at painting Matt's Footsore Vikings to add to my 1066 & All That collection. As you might recall I have already painted a few for the Saga of Bicca Biccasson project, mostly from the 'Heroes of Valhalla' pack. Indeed you might even have seen them featured in this month's Wargames Illustrated. I have cleaned up all the remaining figures, spray undercoated them and provisionally allocated them to their gaming bases. I even have the LBMS/Victrix shield transfers applied to all the figures which have shields, though the hour I spent punching out the holes to accommodate the shield bosses is an hour of my life I'll never get back!

I started with three of the four figures in the Berserker pack included in my Kickstarter choices. Berserkers, who may or may not have existed outside the Sagas, seems to have faded from the scene in the post pagan Christian period. It seems then that for 1066 they should be likely absent from the battlefield. The poses of the three figures though made it very difficult to accommodate them amongst the other figures given my basing schemes for the collection so, as you can see, I have opted for a narrow base for them matching the 120mm base width of the main bodies of warriors ~

These closer photos I hope will show the fine detail of the sculpting, which will enable better painters than me to render quite spectacular figures for their collections. My more modest efforts will I trust look fine at gaming distance on the tabletop battlefield here in GHQ ~

Having completed these three I have moved on to six of the spear armed Bondi, those in the more active and aggressive poses. Those six will give me two bases of skirmishing figures, which can also be fitted alongside either flank of the main base to make a larger unit. The first base of three figures is completed and the second base of three are varnished and fixed to their base ready for texturing later today. More on those in a later blog post, probably some time next week I'd hope.

Les Garde ont fini...

... et moi aussi, or so it feels! It seems that I slowed down somewhat as February marched on, at least that's how it seems from my side of the painting desk. 

But now the Chasseurs de la Garde have finally advanced across the painting desk, endured my modest efforts with the brush, and mustered into GHQ joining their fellows in a Brigade. 

This brings the French contingent of my Crimean War project to a conclusion, at least for now. It comprises a Line Brigade of three battalions with a command stand, a Garde Brigade of three battalions with a command stand, and an overall army command stand. Here are the Chasseurs de la Garde ~

The figures are from Great War Miniatures of course via North Star, as is their standard, while the base is from the ever dependable Warbases. The command pack does not include a figure to carry the standard and eagle but it was easy enough to adapt one of the officers into the role via a small act of surgery with knife and file on one hand.

Painting the yellow trim on the uniform jackets is difficult for me if applying the yellow ochre colour after the French Blue of the jackets. A good while ago I realised it's easier to paint the trim yellow ochre first and paint the coat French Blue afterwards. It works for me, though there is one figure where I forgot that rule, and to me it stands out! 

Finally then, here is the whole Brigade of my Garde Impériale commanded by Général De Rumforde under the ever watchful eye of Maréchal De France, Alphonse De Morrisoné ~