Going Dutch

Been pottering around with a few projects over the past month or so, one of which is the 1672 Dutch wars.

This is Dutch regiment Konigsmark (Infantry regt 77).

The flags are purely conjectural. The coat of arms of their province, Groningen, is in the top corner nearest the flag-staff in the style of Dutch flags of the time.

Not really sure where I am heading with this at the moment. Just enjoying painting a few figures.

The North Star range has a very nice style to it. It's tempting to do more, and I did pick up another regiment at Partizan last week, so who knows where that might lead us.

But... there are other temptations afoot too!

Pictures at an Exhibition

Well, not quite an "Exhibition"... more a Museum.

In my previous post, I mentioned The Arctic Convoy Museum which is near Poolewe on the west coast of Scotland, on the North Coast 500.

As part of our recent trip, we enjoyed a good hour or so here.

Some snaps of the various exhibits:

There were also some touching contributions from Russian schoolchildren thanking British sailors for their courage and bravery in helping save their country in their hour of need.

Given the current world climate, that was quite moving.

As was this prayer in one of the many journals on show:

If you ever find yourself in the vicinity, it really is a place to visit. The staff were very friendly too. There are more sites around the area connected with the Arctic Convoys which we struggled to access as time was short, and the motorhome was quite large to get down some of the lanes and side-roads.

That's all for now... soon be back to posting about wargaming again!

Roadtrip

The plan was simple:

Lisa had long held an ambition to do a road-trip around Scotland's North Coast 500. On her semi retirement, taking plenty of time out to do so became practical, and with a bit of planning, my own schedule allowed us to take 3 weeks out in April.

Perfect.

As I had lived north of the border for nigh on 25 years, we could tie it in with visits to old pals, and to see my daughter and grandson too.

And so it was that we travelled up to have a few days on Loch Lomond, a couple more at Loch Ness, a week travelling in a motorhome around the NC500, and then time in Perthshire, Angus, and Fife, before returning home to the midlands.

In a sharp twist of fate, the weather in Scotland was mostly incredible, whilst at home it was, I believe, cold, wet, and generally a bit rubbish!

Now, I won't bore you with endless photos of sunsets, lochs, mountains, waterfalls, sunrises over lochs and mountains, and the other miscellany of our trip. Suffice to say, it was memorable; driving through high mountain passes, round hairpin bends, on single track roads, was fun, as was pitching up at remote campsites on the edges of lochs and above golden-white sandy beaches.

However, during our travels, we stopped at a few sites that may be of interest to wargamers, and with your indulgence, I will share a few snaps here.

These were all taken on my iphone. Many more pics were taken by Lisa, the expert photographer, on her 'proper' camera, but she's currently sorting through them all for our scrapbook.

Staring off at Glencoe. The road through was as haunting as ever. I'd never been to the Visitors' Centre before though:

The Commando memorial further along the A82:

Urquhart Castle, Loch Ness:

Apparently, there was a sighting of Nessie the very day we took our boat trip on the Loch so I've been scouring my photos to see if anything strange is in the background of any of them!!

On to the North Coast 500... 

Castle Sinclair:

Obligatory photo at John O Groats:

Ardvreck Castle:

From the end of the NC500, we dropped down to the kyle of Lochalsh, onto Skye , and then back to the mainland to camp near Eilean Donan Castle:

Heading back to Inverness, Glenshiel:

Culloden (we were able to reach Inverness for the anniversary of the battle on 16th April). I've been plenty of times, so only took a couple of pics:

Clava Cairns (near to Culloden battlefield). I've never been here before. Interesting place:

(Lisa has been watching too much Outlander and hoped that by leaning on the stone, she'd travel back to the 1740s!)

We were able to overnight stop at some stunning locations, so here are a couple of gratuitous sunsets, and our motorhome for the week:

All in all a great trip. Highly recommended.

We also stopped at the Arctic Convoy Museum near Poolewe on the west coast and I will do a separate post about that in a few days.

On a roll...

 ... a Swiss roll.

For my Italian Condottiere project, circa 1480ish, I have included a Swiss mercenary pike block.

Under the 'Never Mind The Billhooks' rules, this represents 2 companies of infantry.

Whilst in the deluxe rulebook there are many special rules appertaining to fielding a Swiss army, I have decided to simply count these as Veteran pikemen. They are dressed in the livery of the canton Uri, and carry that flag too.

Figures are Perry Miniatures (metals), flag was downloaded from an online image and then overpainted.

That completes the first army for this project.

Thanks to all who have commented and encouraged, both here and on Facebook. 

Right, what's next? The enemies of these chaps I suspect...