Latest shelving for the wargames Cabin

Hello There! This last week, I have managed to make more progress in the wargames cabin. This has meant I am able to provide some storage for the, (Ah Hem!), rather large amount of scenery and wargaming paraphernalia, that I have made over the years!

I had a load of modular scenery, which was stored in really useful boxes. It occurred to me that while everything was already on trays I could construct a set of racking which could hold the metal trays that I already had. After a load of drilling and painting I came up with this.

As the trays are heavy, I placed a support at the rear of the rack.

Next up a similar set of shelves that could hold some of the smaller desert terrain tiles. Thankfully they fitted snugly together in one corner of the cabin.

With these now packed away in the corner, I can now get back to completing the last amount of painting to complete the desert terrain and the drop on items to suit.

Ancient/Old Style Haystacks

Hello There! Now that I have ceased trading, in my small business, I have had the opportunity to transfer some of the completed scenery to my collection. 

I made the original masters for these. I had seen many resin examples of haystacks and none seemed to be historically accurate. After a little searching I came up with these.

This partial haystack is based on a thin sheet of plywood, painted, washed, dry brushed and flocked.

This s a complete haystack. treated the same as the partial haystack above and can be dotted around the battlefield to break up the open areas on the board.

I have a few unpainted items and plan to add to these painted versions soon.

Battle of Quatre Bras 16 June 1815

Hello there! I have started to catch up on some of the games I have attended at the New Buckenham Historical wargames Club.

The original buildings at Quatre Bras, are now sadly demolished. I visited the site in 2016 and the area was boarded off but I managed to get some photos of the buildings before they were lost.

These are 3D printed buildings.

There were plenty of extra figures on the table.

The Waterloo Panorama has these figures on it. These are Perry Sculpts.

This was a very enjoyable game with many club members in attendance.

There are further pictures on the New Buckenham Historical wargamers Facebook page here.

The Royal Armouries, Leeds, 2025

Hello There! As I had arranged to visit the FIASCO show I also went into the Royal Armouries in Leeds. The wargaming show is held in the Royal Armouries building, next door to the exhibition area. It was difficult to find a parking space as we had a mobile home but managed in the end and not was not too far away from the venue.

I could have spent all day taking photographs as the collection is so comprehensive and spans a very large part of military history. However that would have meant I would have not been able to 'take in' everything. 

This was a commission by David Marshall and the Perry Twins.

The lighting was poor and the glass cabinet it was in caused a lot of reflections. Suffice to say it is a spectacular display and the figure painting is of good wargaming quality.

There is another blog here, which has better pictures than I was able to get. It also includes further photographs of the Sibourne Waterloo Diorama below.

The firearms display is massive but among the exhibits, this was a strange subject!

There was a full size diorama of a couple of figures set in the Waterloo period.

I did not realise that there were two Siborne dioramas. I have seen the other one in the National Army Museum, which is much bigger than the one here. The figures are approximately 15 to 18mm.

As you can see its not just wargamers who have joins in their wargaming boards!

Overall the museum was very large and comprehensive, going up to the modern day.

It is highly recommended for a visit, and perhaps next time we shall go in small transport so that we can more easily park!

Fiasco, Leeds, 2025

Hello There! While doing a bit of travelling in the new mobile home, we stopped at the above, as it coincided with our visit to Edinburgh and broke up what could have been a very long journey.

I can only describe the show as a smaller version of Partizan.

The venue was a little crowded. The centre of the hall had some suppliers and then an outer ring of games and an outer ring of more traders against the wall.

The venue had an attached bar, which was convenient.

The only problem was the difficulty in parking. As we had a large mobile home, this did not make it easier! We managed to park in a small, free car park which was not a long walk from the venue.

The range of periods of wargaming was wide. The main game that caught my eye was this refight of Fuentes de Onoro. Using 15mm figures 

The range of periods of wargaming was wide. The main game that caught my eye was this refight of Fuentes de Onoro. Using 15mm figures. Unfortunately many of the photos that I took came out very blurred so were not usable for my blog.

Many of the periods of wargaming were not within my range of interests but there was a buoyant atmosphere and the small size of the show meant that you did not have to spend most of the day there to see all the games on show.

I feel this show would be a very worthwhile and solid introduction to the hobby. 

Bastion Books, Bookshop, Berwick on Tweed

Hello here! As I was travelling to Scotland recently, I tried to visit a few book shops in the area. I drove through Berwick on tweed and visited Bastion Books.

While this shop was a small room it sells solely Military subjects and they are well and clearly divided inti different periods of history.

There was also a lovely selection of military prints which will soon be framed and on the walls of the wargaming cabin.

This was British cavalry attacking Russian cavalry at the Battle of Balaklava 

Here the 42nd Highlanders at Quatre Bras.

This a given as it was the 9th Regiment of Foot at the Battle of 'Roleia'.

Here a corporal of the 15th Light Dragoons killing a French Colonel at the Battle of Campo Mayor. 

These were only £10 each.

These two purchases were prompted by a recent conversation about the '45 rebellion and the Uniform Illustrated was an addition to my existing series.

The Almark book was an addition to the collection I already have and I have started to read more about individual experiences of the Napoleonic Wars and have not seen this before.

With my holiday booked for next year and including a visit to Colditz and Stalag Luft III I bought these to do a bit of background reading.

While I do not think the shop has a website, they do have a Facebook page here.

If you are in the area this shop is definitely well worth a visit!