I went to the Other Partizan yesterday at the Newark Showground. It was very busy on arrival at about 1100 and remained so up to the early afternoon. There were the same traders, I thought, as at the Partizan show earlier in the year, and lots of interesting demonstration games. I had taken my camera, intending to take photographs, but it ran out of battery in no time at all, even though I was sure I had charged it up! However, I am sure you will have no trouble finding pictures on other people's blogs.

I came away with only a few ACW figures - we are moving house so funds are tight! - but I enjoyed meeting some wargaming friends and catching up with their news, as well as looking at the games on show. I felt rather more enthused by them this time around, with several ACW games and some interesting WW2 actions, as well as a couple of great Fantasy games on a big scale, plus Renaissance and Thirty Years war, together with a lovely War of the Spanish Succession action. As always, fantastic painting and modelling skills on display. I have to say, though, that it was the 28mm scale games I liked the best.

I came away much fired by what I had seen and itching to add to my Sun King and ACW units, as well as get on with some games myself, having had something of a lull.

It is certainly an excellent show to attend, lots of things good about it, though ware the loos late in the day and the queue for the cafe had to be seen to be believed! Plus I thought the books were rather expensive for my pocket. One also got the impression it is very much a hobby for the over 50s of a certain shape as well!

I will hopefully get to one or both shows again next year, though the journey will probably be nearer three plus hours then! I may take a leaf out of some friends' book and do an overnight trip.

Just a follow up from the Meeks Valley mini-campaign, some photographs in sepia! While taking the normal images, I messed about with the camera to produce some "contemporary" looking shots. Just a bit of fun.

 

I have found another order of battle from the Hessisches Staatsarchiv Marburg digital archive online. It dates from 1676 and is the order of battle of the combined Spanish and Dutch army which campaigned during the summer of that year. It confronted the main French army in Flanders at Valenciennes in early May, 1676, but a battle did not ensue - Louis XIV was persuaded by his generals and advisers not to attack the Prince of Orange, while the latter erred on the side of caution, encouraged by his senior commanders and the Spanish Governor Villahermosa, as his force was outnumbered. If I ever find enough information about the battlefield and the French army, I think it would be a good battle to try and play as a wargame. Follow the link below to see a PDF.

Allied Army Order of Battle 1676

At the beginning of September we went to Shropshire for a family holiday and one of the locations we visited was Ludlow Castle, a considerable amount of which remains to be seen. It is in the heart of the town - which has a lot of other historic buildings and plenty of places for food and drink - and very accessible. Information about it is easily available online, so I won't repeat it here. But I did take a selection of pictures.

The inner dry moat. The little entrance on the left is to an ice house.

The chapel.

An old entrance walled up.

A murder hole!

Outside the castle entrance is this cannon captured during the Crimean War 1854-56 at the siege of Sevastopol.

It has some details on the trunnion in Russian, which is not a language I know, but I suspect they are to do with its calibre, poundage, date of construction? Anyone know for sure?

The parish church, which is one of the largest parish churches in England, has some delightful misericords - something to perch on when standing in the choir to ease the strain on your legs - which portray scenes from everyday life, religion or mythology. Here are just a few.

We also went to the site of Clun Castle, which is west of Ludlow. There is not much of the castle left now, but it is set in a lovely position and there are some display boards.

How it might have looked in the High Middle Ages.

Our last historic visit was to Stokesay Castle, which was never a castle but a fortified manor house. The main buildings are medieval; the gatehouse is 17th Century. It is a very well preserved site and well worth a visit.