Didn’t we have a lovely day the day I went to Timecast (and also visited the Shrewsbury Battlefield) - A day-out with Mr Steve

A year had raced by and all of a sudden it was time again for my annual days holiday, the one day in the year when I can get away from all the stress and drudgery that plagues the high powered executive nowadays , just switch off and let someone else make the big decisions for once , time to kick off your shoes and …. … hang on , something doesn’t sound right here.

It was a lovely sunny day for once and so I wound up the elastic band on the car, dug out the petrol recycling hose for later use , pointed the car north and set off on an adventure.

Planning ahead for once, I had earlier that week contacted Timecast, who are the UK stockists for Old Glory 15mm, and asked if it would be alright if I popped into their facility in Shrewsbury for a look around and as they had just received a new batch of stock from the States to also stock up on some more figures. I have just recently started on a new project, Ottomans v Russians in the 7YW era and as the website doesn’t have any pictures for these armies I really needed to have a look at all the Ottomans first before I laid out serious money.

http://www.timecastmodels.co.uk/

The trip up, whilst lengthy, was very pleasant, I had decided to avoid the motorway and instead went up on the A49; and once I had struggled though Hereford it was very easy from then on as all the other main towns have now been by-passed. I could easily have spent double the time I did as there was something of interest catching my eye regularly, things that you just don’t see by using the motorway . Stokesay castle for example is visible from the road and looks well worth a visit on another occasion (Hmm, I do still have to buy all of the Russians at some time).

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/stokesay-castle/

Well time was getting a little tight as I was fast approaching my 11.30 appointment and after a quick stop at a public convenience (or supermarket as others call it), I turned into their trading estate and easily found Timecast.

Barrie picking my order

As you see I did take a picture (the header picture at top re-positioned by the Ed.) but only got one side in the frame, if you want to see the left hand side then it’s on their website and you can put the two together.

It had been a very worth while trip as I was able to see all the things I needed to with only a couple of my fall back alternatives not being in stock but unfortunately there wasn’t a lot of slack in my days schedule and it was soon time to go. I had planned to fit in a quick look at the nearby Shrewsbury battlefield before trying to squeeze in a late pub lunch, I had to move on. So ten bags richer but quite a bit poorer, I took my new armies and some extra Coat D’Arms paint I had also bought, onto the next part of my day out.   

Fortunately the Shrewsbury battlefield is only 1.5 miles away from Timecast so it wasn’t many minutes before I was pulling into the signposted battlefield car park. The usual badly faded and hard to read display board was there as expected, it was obviously from the long distant past as the information I managed to decipher was completely useless, one thing you can say that has improved at National sites is the signage, I just wish they would go around to all the old ones that don’t have super star status and update the displays.

Well my sign told me there were two walks I could follow and that just around the corner there was an observation pimple; unfortunately apart from the general heading there was absolutely nothing about the battle or the troop set ups. Fortunately I had brought with me the excellent map from the Battlefields Trust (see link below) which superimposed the armies onto a current OS map. Their website is definitely something you should look at regularly to check on what is happening to our battlefields , not only to help ward off any new threats to them but to also see what events are being held, such as talks or walks etc.

http://www.battlefieldstrust.com/resource-centre/mediapopup.asp?mediaid=520

Unfortunately I cannot copy it in so instead I have picked something a little different from 1892.

(Nice use of the term Insurgents)

A Field

This first picture (above) taken from the OP Pimple shows what were pea fields on the day and where the Royalist Left would have been, in the distance can be seen St Mary Magdalene’s church sitting on the crest of a low rise.

Another Field

In this second picture taken from ground level, the Royalist right would start at the end of the tree line and spread out to the right.

I am not going to give an in depth run through on the battle, I will instead do a very short precise and leave you several links to read if you wish.

On one side were Henry IV and his young son, the future Henry V, against them were the rebellious Percy family (Earl’s of Northumberland), very rich, very powerful and lead by the famous warrior Harry “Hotspur” Percy, so famous that they later named a children’s comic after him. The Percy’s main ally was the de facto ruler of Wales, Owain Glendower , so famous that they named a pub in Cardiff after him.

Everyone marched towards each other, Glendower and his forces were on route but didn’t get there in time and so all the Harry’s met up just outside Shrewsbury, the Royalist army outnumbered the Rebels who decided to sit on the small rise and defend; the Royalists attack uphill, Henry V get’s an arrow in the face, Hotspur loses and was killed.

http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/shrewsbury.htm

http://www.battlefieldstrust.com/resource-centre/medieval/battleview.asp?BattleFieldId=39

http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/medieval/shrewsbury/

This battle has also been recently covered in Medieval Warfare magazine - VI.2

Fortunately Barrie at Timecast had suggested that I drive on further up the main road and take the next turning down a farm lane as this would lead to the Battle of Shrewsbury Exhibition (Battlefield 1403). This is signposted and leads to a farm situated quite near to the church roughly in the vicinity of the Insurgents position on top of the rising ground. I don’t know the full story on how this came about but at this farm there is an exhibition hall covering the battle, entrance to it and parking are free and I guess the owners hope that you pop into their very nice farm shop like I did or stop for a coffee.

I can recommend the Shropshire Blue Cheese and the sausages.

Anyway here are some pictures

It’s not large by any means but it is well done and worth seeing, you aren’t going to spend long here but it’s far more interesting than just looking at some fields and people emptying their dogs. Off to the right of this picture towards the back was an interesting arrow display. (Plus an explanation on the best way to take an arrow out of your future Kings face)

http://www.battlefield1403.com/

Well that’s about it , Lunch was getting dangerously close to being missed so I started off back home with one more small detour on the way , the only fighting done at this location however was me having to restrict myself to one pint of light beer.

The Royal Oak : Cardington

http://www.at-the-oak.com/

This has been a ‘Day out with Mr Steve’ Presentation

Vimeiro Set Up and Ready To Go

Hi all, I am really looking forward to tomorrow as the Vimeiro game is set up and ready to go. This game will be the culmination of twelve months work and I will be running it again next month.

As you will know, the last few weeks have been taken up getting the Generals and terrain finished off and I can now reveal on the eve of the game everything now done.

The table hasn't changed greatly other than the ridge line markers and the River Maciera added toVimeiro  town, with my new bridge from TimeCast Scenics.

The River Maciera with the new "TimeCast" bridge on the left

The table below shows both the French and British armies set out in their brigades. This is the first time both forces have been fielded complete and helps illustrate the size of these two armies. The figure scale for the game tomorrow is about 1:30.

The little sealed bags contain my new laminated order chits that I will be trying out for the first time. Carnage & Glory, like other rule sets, requires players to declare their charges and reactions together. The writing down of these declarations is a bit of a chore and so I have produced chits that can be placed next to the affected unit and turned over at the declaration phase. Of course some of them are dummies so no one will be quite sure what the other chap is intending to do.

In addition there are range sticks, fire templates and casualty markers to note units under movement restrictions due to morale reactions and all the unit labels are attached. Job done. Now I just have to get the catering arrangements sorted out.

As always a post and battle report on tomorrows game will follow with plenty of pictures to capture the action.

Vimeiro - Full Fat, WIP

For regular followers of this blog, you will be aware that I have referred to "when I run the Vimeiro full fat game", i.e. the big one. Well in case you were thinking it was a fantasy, a game from myth, I thought I would provide some reassurance that the plan progresses, to run this game, probably next month.

As I write this post I am adding the final commanders to the order of battle including a scratch build of General Junot himself, based on an ADC from the excellent set from  AB - Fighting 15's  and, as you will see from the pictures below, working on the final piece of terrain to add, that being the River Maciera which flows behind Vimeiro Hill and through the village towards the sea. In addition I am waiting for a stone bridge on order from Timecast to complete the two bridge crossings over the river, these being important crossing points particularly for the British.

So the pictures below give my interpretation of the whole Vimiero ridge position based on the map above. This is the map from the Vimiero full fat scenario I have posted in my downloads section. The scenario is constructed for Carnage & Glory II but would easily convert to other rule sets. The ground scale is one inch to fifty paces (37.5 yards) a pace being 27 inches.

The view looking along the Eastern ridge with Ventosa Farm in the foreground

Looking North with Vimiero Hill and Vimiero village nestled below the Eastern ridge. Note the River Maciera has still to be modelled.

View from behind Vimiero in the British lines. Note the rocky out crop on the reverse slope of the Western ridge that restricts any movement off it.

The road along the Eastern ridge that Junot attempted to use, to turn Wellesley's position

The view up to Ventosa where Junot's first flanking column mistakenly approached the Eastern ridge

The hamlet of Toledo with Vimiero behind. The main area of Junot's attack

This will be the first battle that will use the whole table. The table being constructed back in the Easter holidays with my eldest son Tom. It is also the first time I have used sculpted styrene as an under lay to capture the rolling nature of the terrain. I'm really pleased with the result and think it helps simulate the lines of sight the commanders on the day had to cope with.

We will be trying out "blinds" for the first time to add to the confusion during the approach to battle, so I will be trying out several new ideas.

In addition to trying out new things, I will update the scenario briefing based on my play test and add some terrain notes that I have thought of since I wrote the first version.