Downtime on Holiday

I've been away for a couple of weeks so today's video is more of an apology for not having a scripted subject to talk about...but I'm feeling very rested and ready to get stuck into my hobby again so taking time out from my usual schedule hasn't been all bad. 

I'll probably talk more about the holiday in a later video but in the meantime here is a small taste of the excellent museums I had a chance to visit. 

Staffordshire Regiment Museum

Recreated trenches at the Staffordshire Regiment Museum

Model of the AZW battle of Ulundi using hundreds of flats

Whitby Abby

We watched a performance of Dracula with the abbey as its backdrop

Bolton Castle

The castle had a Wars of the Roses themed living history display taking place

This guy brought some equipment from the Armouries at Leeds 

The Castle Museum at York

Victorian shopfronts included this toyshop

...and this Apothecary

The York Army Museum

A WWI Cavalryman charges between the exhibits

Leeds Armouries

A reenactor describes the Battle of Bosworth

The Agincourt Diorama

The Agincourt diorama

A Wars of the Roses bowman

Ripon Cathedral

Inside Ripon Cathedral

The Jorvik Viking Centre in York

Jorvik Viking Centre

As usual, I took hundreds of pictures and many still need to be correctly labelled which will keep me busy for a few days.

The Challenge Prep Begins

The long process of Prep'ing for the Analogue Challenge has begun, and I thought I'd start with a little something to get Ray's blood pumping! I bought these Martian Tripods earlier in the year from Pendraken when I briefly flirted with the idea of doing the Anglo Martian War of 1895 in 6mm. Ironically it was the asymmetric nature of the struggle that eventually put me off pursuing the idea. I say ironically because I eventually decided to do the Anglo Zulu War instead, another asymmetric conflict from a few years earlier and one that probably inspired H.G. Wells to write his most famous work. 

I'm waiting for some large round bases for the Tripods then I'll undercoat them ready for the Challenge. Although I have pinned all the legs they still feel too fragile not to base these models to dd some extra rigidity. No idea if these will ever end up on the games table but I'm looking forward to painting them non-the-less.  

This 'Guide' to the Anglo Martian War of 1895 is an excellent companion
to the H.G.Wells Novel.