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...

Skirmishers

Next up, the skirmishers in the army, starting with the mounted crossbowmen:

These are metal figures on plastic horses. Perry miniatures.

And here is a unit of skirmishing handgunners:

Again, Perry miniatures from their European mercenaries plastics box.

I've also done an artillery piece, again a Perry pack:

This was a little tricky to assemble. Under the rules, only three crewmen are required, but I painted all four that come in the pack.

That completes the Italian contingent in this army, all laid out below.

This week, I am finishing up a mercenary pike unit that I will show in the next post.

Until then, I hope your brushes are being wielded to good ends too...

Ducal Infantry

The Duchy of Bavetta maintains a professional company of Halberdiers under the command of Marco Baggio.

Note the blue cross as a replacement for the traditional red cross of Milan.

Flags were downloaded from the Outpost GY Facebook group and overpainted.

Figures are metal Perry miniatures from their 1450-1500 European range. 

Each unit in the army has its own 'Disarray' token in the form of a casualty figure.

Heavy Horses

Firstly, thanks to those who commented on the previous post. I'm glad this little project is hitting a spot, so to speak!

The plastic Gendarmes are the strike force of this army. Two units done.

First up, the Ducal Gendarmes (raised amongst the nobility and knights of the Duchy of Bavetta).

Next, the Condottiere Gendarmes, provided by Guiseppe Maldini.

I was sparing with the hoop-coloured lances as I am not convinced these were 'a thing' in the earlier period and perhaps came along later with the Great Italian Wars fashions. 

Billhooks is one of those rules sets that has an established style, which seems to include movement trays. Given the figures are plastic, it does make sense to use such trays for ease of movement. I am yet to get used to the lack of heft in the plastic figures so the trays should prevent any major accidents when playing.

Other news - I popped in to the Alumwell show on Sunday and enjoyed a meander around for an hour or so. Some nice games (from a variety of periods), a good chat with a few folk, and some small purchases, mainly for the enemies of the Duchy of Bavetta.

By the way, for those who saw the title of this post and clicked on it expecting to find Jethro Tull related "Heavy Horses" references (I'm looking at you, Tradgardmastere, amongst others!), my apologies. 

Just to set you off, think "Iron-clad feather-feet, pounding the dust... etc." Go on, have a listen. You know you want to.

Till next time... all the best.

The Duke

It's 1480.

Roberto, Duke of Bavetta, head of the ruling Mancini Family, knows that war is just round the corner and has been busy mustering his army.

The famous Condottiere Captain, Guiseppe Maldini, has arrived in Bavetta to once again enjoy the fruits of the Ducal warchest.

Yes, it's Imaginations, Italian Renaissance-style.

More to come...

Never Mind The Condottiere

Having been aware of the rules for quite some time, at the turn of the year, I decided I wanted a quick burst of painting to result in an army for 'Never Mind The Billhooks'.

About 20 years ago, I "did" the Italian Wars proper, with Landsknechts and Gendarmes and the like, but this time I wanted to go earlier to the 1480-ish period and create Italian Condottiere armies (I quickly decided I would need to paint both sides). Somehow, it feels more in keeping with the core set of rules, rather than heading for the Italia section of the new shiny Deluxe rules edition and focusing on The Great Italian Wars post 1494.

This is an army based on a Milanese force circa 1480ish. There will be no surprise to you, dear reader, to learn that, of course, the City States involved will be imaginary! More details of this in an upcoming post. 

So, here we are 2 months later and most of the first army is finished. 

The blue theme is deliberate.

Flags were downloaded from the excellent Outpost GY Facebook group, and overpainted/repainted in places (some field colours were altered to fit the theme).

Many of the figures are plastic (some are metal on plastic horses). I found it all a bit unusual as I don't paint many plastics and the construction of the figures seemed to take a frustratingly long time before I got to the actual painting, but that's probably more due to my unfamiliarity than anything else. More skilled modelers would have done it in quick time, I'm sure, and would have made a better fist of it!

I will be posting details of the individual units over the coming weeks, rather than making this an overly long post.

I have a 24 figure veteran pike block currently being worked on as the final unit. Then it will be onto the enemy force.

So, despite my silence on the blog, I have managed to do a fair bit of painting over the past few weeks.

Hope you are having a great start to the year too!!