Breton Domnonée Dark Age cavalry II

Breton cavalry II

A unit of medium Breton cavalry for my Kingdom of Domnonée project, another project from the 2019 pile that was partially completed and required a few steps to complete them. I am almost at a end for this army one more cavalry unit, a command and thirty figures. This will give me quite a large army for the 5th through to the 8th century and by swapping out some infantry and cavalry will stretch until the 9th century.

The figures in this unit are footsore with one converted gripping beast celt to make up the unit. Quite happy with the plaid on these.

"walk the battlefield in the morning, wargame in the afternoon"™

Salut
Matt

The Black Prince Edward III

Edward the III, the Black Prince

If you have been following you will know that this year I am adding to my Early 100YW armies   using predominantly Claymore, Old Glory and selected Perry and Crusader miniatures, I have around 120 figures to add to my English, Scots, Bretons and French. I want to be able to fight the battles predominantly in the west close to my house and relating to our wargamer "walk the Battlefield in the morning, Wargame in the afternoon" tours and wargame holidays in France.

In addition one of my goals this year I will  be also building a historical 14th century chateau for my TTSFN (total Terrain System For Now) table.

Edward the Black Prince, a miniature sculpted by the Perry twins. Released by Warhammer Historical quite a long time ago. I painted it for the “Metal” painting competition on the guild Wargamers forum.


We visited the Poitiers battlefield last September and walked quite a bit of it. The signs need some work but happy to see it not completely surrounded by houses.

Nearby I would recommend visiting Abbaye Saint-Junien de Nouaillé-Maupertuis in the valley. A wonderful Fortified medieval Abbaye with many stages of construction, much of the grounds are walkable. A book on the Battle and the Abbaye is available in French at the L’Hotel de Ville located in the Abbaye gatehouse.

"walk the battlefield in the morning, wargame in the afternoon"™

Cheers

Matt

Confederate Marines

The last remnants of 2019 projects are leaving my table this week, first up a rebase and touch up of some Confederate Marines that suffered during our move from Australia to France. Basically highlighted and touched up the scratches and dings and re-flocked the base.

The figures are from the first corps range and are the only 28mm confederate marines I know of on the market. They were originally built for our clubs Atlanta campaigns.

A rare unit, as they mostly only acted in companies, serving the the ships and gunboats with the Navy. But they served on land was along with ex ship crews at the siege of Atlanta, they were formed into a unit and manned Fort Ogeechee, manning the guns and defending the bastions until the Atlantas surrender. The other battles that they served on land include Fort Fischer and at Drewy's Bluff after the scuttling of the Viginia-Merrimac. The last battle they served in was at Saylors creek, a battalion was formed with ex naval personnel and marines defending the James River fortifications.

The flag references a 1861 company flag, as I am unaware of any marine unit or dismounted ship crew ever carrying a flag on land and is hand painted. These chaps will join the sale of my ACW collection in the coming months.

Cheers

Matt

ref Marine Corps Gazette, June 1978 Col T.J Saxon

The "Salon de Guerre" part 1

Just a little excited!

This week we have started the redecoration of the 18th century  “salon de Guerre”. The Wargames room on the first floor, using the name borrowed from Versailles Salon de Guerre, although it is has later  baroque interior. The Salon has unique curved corners and  door, squared 18th century panels and timber rails and a deep decorative cornice.

When we were looking for a house for the business twe were looking for a building with three entertaining salons. L'Hotel de Hercé (the houses name) fully met the requirements with two salons for entertaining guests on the ground floor and this Salon on our first floor.  

Every Wargamers dream is a permanent location for the Wargames table, miniatures and militaria collection, I used to in Australia, have a shed for storage and table or used the dining room table for gaming, but had no permanent location for wargaming.

I am quite excited to finally have such a fantastic room and permanent location for my collection of miniatures and militaria I have collected over the years. It will be a great asset for the business to have such a unique room for a wargames table that all of our Wargame Holidays and B&B guests can enjoy.

I have been planning this room since we purchased the house in 2017, researching colours and the layout of what I want to achieve, I am seeking a sort of gentlemans club feel, but also practical, and a inspiration for all of the wargaming community also. 

A have made a short video of the what the room looks like before we really get stuck into the preparation and painting. Plus added a few pictures of what it looked like before. Hopefully we will be complete in around three weeks for the preparation and painting.

Video here on my channel

And some images

The curved entrance door

The curved corners

Curved corners

Above the fireplace, the typical 18th century panels