Aulerci Diablintes tribesmen V

Off the desk this week some of the first clothed Aulerci Diablintes, quite happy with my  plaid on these, two more units not far behind.

Vendée Rebellion Tour and Wargame

Our newest "Walk the battlefield in the morning, Wargame in the Afternoon" tour and wargame, we are really excited to offer this to our customers as the war in the Vendée and the revolution has a relationship with our Maison. 

The tour will commence in our square, with a overview of the rebellion and the effect on Mayenne and the Nobles who lived here. We then travel to the site of la Croix battaillie and walk the ground, then onto Entrammes to walk the Battlefield located around the bridge. Then back to Laval and visit the Basilique Notre Dame d'Avesnières, and the Vendée memorial, at the top of town we lunch in the old city and finally visit the location of the execution of the Prince Talmont, in front of his family Château.

After lunch we return to L'Hotel de Hercé and then Wargame the battle of Entrammes in the 18th century "Salon de Guerre ".

Full details on our website https://www.lhoteldeherce.fr

Cheers
Matt

Aulerci Diablintes skirmishes

Another small skirmishes unit completed for my local tribe the Aulerci Diablintes tribe project, another 6 heavy infantry units and it will be complete, then I will move onto the Aulerci Cénomani (Le Mans tribe ) again using Victrix miniatures, based for impetus.

Cheers
Matt

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