Progress.

Introduction

Last week, I showed some pictures of my cluttered workbench (here).  Even if you didn't realise it, I noticed from this article how many of the models present were "blockers"; they had sat around waiting for attention for weeks, months or even years.

This thought shamed me so much that I decided to try to finish some of these stalled projects, or at least put more paint on such models.  Often, the inactivity is self-reinforcing - when I finally started to work on the pieces below, I found that often they weren't so difficult (or so far from completion) as I had imagined after all!

The Strathclyde Welsh

Some time ago, I started to build a SAGA "Strathclyde Welsh" warband.  Where I live, these are the local boys (at least, the Strathclyde part of their lands is local, not so much the Welsh part).

I started this warband so long ago that I daren't even look it up in the blog; I'd probably be horrified at just how long these have taken.  Anyway, these are the last 6 of the 16 warriors, 8 hearthguard and a warlord, thus completing a basic 4pt SAGA force - hurrah!

Of course, I've got another 8 Strathclyde foot warriors that are still mint-in-blister...

The Steam Launch

Progress has been made on the MDF launch; it turns out that only a few colours are needed to paint this model.  I've still to dirty it up a bit, since I'm aiming more for a working boat "African Queen" look rather than a modern-day cherished & polished Victorian heirloom.  When the painting is done, I intend to add some rope - probably a coil on the foredeck and some mast stays.

The Missionary's/Trader's House

My other "colonial" project at the moment is this house.  The basic building was almost finished anyway; I've added the interior floor since last week.  Mind you, that hasn't gone very well as the paper on which the flooring is printed has wrinkled terribly.  I might have to think again about how to do this...

Behind the house is the tiled roof which came with the model.  I've base-coated it, but haven't detailed or weathered any of the tiles.

Having considered it a little, I thought that it would be nice to have a thatched roof for the bungalow; I could then use it in slightly less "civilised" parts of the world.  Initially, I thought of just covering the already-built, tiled roof with teddy bear fur, but in the end I cut out new pieces of MDF to make a scratch-built, second roof.  This is the first time I've ever worked with fur fabric - it seems to be going well so far.

The Generator

Finally, the generator got a little love.  I have almost finished a new "hoop"; this will fit in the middle of the existing piece.

After that, I'll need to build some platforms and handrails in the gaps on either side.  At this stage, I have no idea how I'll do this!  It sounds like a job for which the old "Platformer" kits would have worked well - but I don't have such a thing in my spares box.  Oh, well - I'm sure I'll have an idea sooner or later...

The Lords of Strathclyde

Introduction

A few weeks ago, I showed Coroticus, the warlord for my in-progress SAGA Strathclyde force.  I bought this starter army at Claymore, in August last year, so it's about time that I made some progress on it.  Today it's the turn of the warlord's inner circle/hearthguard, the "Teulu".

The Teulu

I have 8 models here, so that accounts for 2 points of value from the 4 point SAGA starter army.  If you leave the warlord out then these guys are half the cost of the warband all on their own!

All of the Teulu are riding ponies and carrying short spears, swords or both.  7 of the 8 men are clad in mail, though interestingly the one in the pale cloak and blue/white tunic (at the back left) has a leather cuirass instead.  I've just realised that this detail isn't really visible in any of the pictures, though the last image shows a little bit.

The figures are from Gripping Beast, whilst the shield and banner transfers are from Little Big Men.

One of the Teulu carries a horn and I've converted one of the others to carry a banner.  Both of these figures cannot really carry shields in their left hands.  I did want these upper class warriors to have all the best equipment though, so I attached the shields to their backs instead.

The standard bearer already had a leather strap across his shoulder (for his scabbard, really), so I didn't feel the need to add any extra support for the shield.  However the horn blower looked odd with nothing to hold the shield on his back.  I gave him a strap of green stuff across his chest and shoulder; at least it looks plausible to me as a support.

Most of these men have either patterned tunics (using my "not tartan" style) or they have decorative borders on their cloaks, or both.  Their clothing and shields are also somewhat brighter and more colourful than the average Dark Age citizen.  These, along with the armour and relatively abundant equipment, mark them out as richer and generally higher status individuals.

As with all my SAGA forces, the bases carry useful information.  In this case, the grey border marks them out as belonging to the Strathclyde faction (it's very useful to be be able to tell the factions apart during a game!).  In addition, they all have suitable names, just to give the force a bit more character.  Of course, being Welsh (and ancient Welsh, at that), I cannot pronounce some of them...

Conclusion

I've still got 2 points of warriors to paint, so that's another 16 ponies.  I'm beginning to hate preparation work for these animals, as they all have quite a bit of flash and damage that needs to be cut off.  I think that some of Gripping Beast's horse moulds have been very heavily used!  Still, the basic warriors are fine figures; they should be much plainer than the Teulu and therefore simpler to paint.

It'll be interesting to try an all-mounted force in SAGA, especially one that has the option of part of the force arriving during the game - from any table edge!

Coroticus, King of Strathclyde

Introduction

Once again, I'm finding it difficult to find the time and the enthusiasm for a decent post.  This was supposed to have been written on Sunday, but it's now 2 days late.  Still, that's enough whining, so on with the show!

We've now played 4 games in our Dreadball league with my 5 teams (men, women, orx, rats and bugs).  All the games (apart from 1 landslide) have gone down to the wire, with the winning score typically being made in the last rush of the match - and most of them hinged on a single dice throw at the end.  Standings are as follows:

Team	Played	Landslide	Won	Lost	Buried	Points
Pink Ladies	2	1	1	0	0	5
Sky City Slammers	2	0	1	1	0	3
Gutter Gashers	2	0	1	1	0	3
Golden Swarm	2	0	0	1	1	1
Mean Green Machine	0	0	0	0	0	0

Coroticus

 I've just recently completed "Coroticus", the warlord for my SAGA Strathclyde Welsh warband (henceforth just Strathclyde).  These are very much the local boys for where I live and that itself is something of a departure for me since I've never really collected armies from my own country before.

Some people like to collect American forces if they come from the USA, British armies if they live in the UK or Slovenian troops if they live in Slovenia.  However I've never felt a strong desire to do this and in truth, the distance in history between me and the Strathclyde makes them as remote as if they had lived on the other side of Europe.

On the other hand, I can look around the local landscape and try to imagine it without all the modern houses and roads, as it might have looked in 800 AD.  Whilst there's nothing left of the structures that the Dark Age inhabitants might have lived in, there are some artifacts.  For example, there's a "hog back" Viking gravestone in Luss churchyard, on the banks of Loch Lomond (though this is probably from the 1263 campaign and therefore somewhat later in history).  Other similar gravestones have, I believe, been found at Govan on the river Clyde.  And there's always Dumbarton Castle, the ancient capital of Strathclyde, which is only 10 miles or so from my house.

So, Coroticus is a Gripping Beast model.  He's the same sculpt that they offer for their Welsh warband of the same period, which is quite reasonable as the Welsh (in Wales) and the Strathclyde Welsh were closely related.

I've hinted at an association with the Scots (the tribes further to the east and north) by giving Coroticus a tartan tunic.  Actually, it's not a "real" tartan in any modern sense of the word, but one of my simplified tartans.  If this needs to be rationalised then I would claim that they probably had less complex patterns of cloth 1200 years ago.  Also, I have trouble painting fine lines...

The casualty on the base is a Viking, so definitely an enemy!  How do I know that he's a Viking?  They wore trousers, whilst the Celtic peoples of the time went bare-legged.

Conclusion

Coroticus isn't quite the first model that I've completed for my Strathclyde warband; I've also finished 4 hearthguard.  However the entire force is mounted and this is slowing down my progress considerably.  Horses aren't that difficult to paint (at least, to a reasonable level, if not a superb one), but they are big and I find the sheer expanse of bare metal somewhat offputting!  Still, I'll get there in the end.

Dumbarton Castle: A Walkround

Introduction

The weather was beautiful last weekend, quite unusually warm and clear for the time of year.  On a whim, I decided to take my 2 younger children on a visit to nearby Dumbarton Castle in the afternoon.  After all, I'm already a paid up member of Historic Scotland (who own the castle), so we get free entry!

This aerial shot isn't my own picture, but it gives a good overview of the site.  I'll use a scaled-down and sepia-toned version of this picture during the rest of this article to indicate where my own pictures were taken. 

Dumbarton Rock is a volcanic plug that sits where the river Leven flows into the much larger river Clyde.  Although the site has been used for many centuries, most of the current configuration is a Napoleonic coastal defence fortress, built to protect the city of Glasgow some 10 miles further up the Clyde.

The rock itself consists of 2 peaks with a narrow gulley between them.  At some points, the cliffs around the perimeter are very steep, so that walls are only present around the north and south edges of the castle.  I guess that there was never a realistic chance of anyone attacking by scaling the east or west faces!

A Brief History

View from the west, across the mouth of the river Leven

This site has at least many hundreds, if not thousands of years of history.  I'm not going to even try to list them all, but here are a few highlights:

• The name of the town derives from the fort: Dum (or Dun) is a hill fort and Barton is a corruption of "Briton".  Thus, the fort of the Britons.
• Dumbarton castle was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Strathclyde (i.e. the Strathclyde Welsh faction in the Studio Tomahawk's very popular SAGA wargames rules).
• In 870AD, 200 Viking ships besieged the rock for 4 months and carried off loot and slaves to Dublin when the well dried up and the castle fell.
• Both William Wallace and Mary, Queen of Scots passed through the castle; the former on his way to execution in London and the latter on her way to France to live out her childhood.
• As a royal castle (i.e. one owned by the monarch rather than one of his lords), Dumbarton castle was often used to hold important prisoners of state, for example after the Jacobite uprisings.
• Later, the castle housed French prisoners of war during the Napoleonic wars, including General Simon who was captured at the battle of Busaco (1810).

The South, River Face

Starting near the entrance, just below the Governor's house, is the King George battery of 12pdr cannon.  This is one of the larger batteries in the fortress; it protects the most easily accessible part of the rock and consists of maybe 4 or 5 guns (most of the batteries have their cannon still in place, but a few are missing).

How do I know that these are 12pdr guns?  Well, there are various marks on the cast iron, either on the carriages or on the gun barrels themselves.  I've always been fascinated by the amount of information present, though I suspect that most visitors aren't even aware of it.

From the top, clockwise:

• "12Pr" is the weight of the cannonball that the gun would have fired.
• The broad arrowhead denotes "Government property".  It's probably better known on the clothing worn by convicts, but the meaning is just the same!
• The date of this carriage is "16-3-7", or in other words 16th March, 1807.
• The crest with "GR" under it will be for the king.  "Georgius Rex" is, of course, Latin for King George.  I'm guessing that this will be George III as he was on the throne from 1760 to 1820, which is the right time period for this type of gun.
• There are a series of horizontal marks at the rear end of the cannon.  These are for range finding: the gunner would choose the mark for the desired range and look along the side of the barrel to line it up with a single notch at the muzzle of the cannon.  Assuming that line also passed through the intended target then he would be aiming correctly!

Around the south wall. the path goes up and down a lot as it hugs the steep side of the rock.  There are 2 or 3 small batteries, each of 1 or 2 cannon, wherever there is a slightly wider point.

At the far end (the Spanish Battery), there is no cannon.  All that's left are the flagstones on which it would have sat and an iron ring in the side of the cliff.

The Central Cleft

To get into the main part of the castle, it is necessary to climb the gulley that runs between the 2 peaks of the rock.  Even though the modern stairs are well constructed, it is easy to see how hard it would be to assault this position.  There are 2 guardhouses on the route and one of them has a portcullis as well!

The French Prison, where prisoners from the Napoleonic wars were held

At the top of the cleft there is a flatter piece of land.  This is large enough to have some buildings on it, including the foundations of the late medieval gatehouse which gave entrance to the castle from the north-west.  There is a small flight of stairs down to the well, but the area is dominated by the French Prison.  Sadly, it's not possible to see inside this building; it's undergoing restoration work and may be opened to the public when this is completed.  I can't help wondering just how many people were held in here...

The Lesser Hill

The Duke of Argyll's battery

Moving up the smaller, flatter mound to the east, we come to the Duke of Argyll's Battery of 3 x 18pdr cannon.  These are the heaviest guns in the fort, but they're pointing up the river Leven towards Loch Lomond and the Highlands.  It seems to me that they wouldn't have been much use against an invading foreign fleet - though any land army coming from the north would have been easy targets.  Perhaps the battery was placed here simply because they could?

Slightly further around there is a good view of the stadium for Dumbarton Football Club.  Apparently, the castle is closed to visitors on the days of big matches!  It does show just how flat and open the land to the north is, at least for a mile or two.

The Prince Regent's Battery is next.  This also faces landwards, but has slightly lighter guns (1 x 12pdr and 2 x 6pdr).  Once again, the field of fire is excellent and it's hard to imagine how a successful attack could be mounted from this direction.

Perched on top of the lesser hill is the Magazine.  I had great arguments with my 9-year old daughter, who insisted (still does) that a magazine was a kind of comic book.  She just wouldn't accept that it's also the name for a place where ammunition is stored.

Many of the design features of this type of magazine are explained on boards nearby; all are designed to keep the gunpowder dry but to prevent an explosion - or at least to limit the damage if the worst should happen.  The most obvious such measure are the double walls around the building itself; if the magazine blows up then the explosion will go upwards instead of outwards!

Musketry loopholes and a rather nice little 2-storey sentry box/lookout post.

There is little provision for muskets in Dumbarton castle, but to the north east one wall has a number of firing ports.  It seems to me that the range would be fairly extreme for a smooth bore musket, even to the closest point outside the fortress.  I must be missing something here; I imagine that the builders of the fortifications knew what they were doing and that these weren't just for show.

Looking west from the lesser peak towards the taller mound.  The gulley between them isn't very obvious in this picture.

There's not much evidence of human construction on the tops of the castle rock.  However this picture does demonstrate how rugged are the sides of the rock and what a good viewpoint it makes.  No wonder that it has been popular as a fort for as long as people have been in the area!

The Western Peak

The path up to the taller, western part of the rock is steep and tortuous.  Apparently General Simon, the French prisoner, was allowed to walk this way twice a day as a special privilege.  He was accompanied by 2 guards during these excursions, mind!

From the top of the hill, the modern town of Dumbarton can be seen spreading out to the north and west.  In this picture you can clearly spot the double-walled magazine on the lesser peak, together with the Duke of Argyll's Battery.  The smaller Prince Regent's Battery is partially hidden, just behind and below the magazine.

Finally, here's the view down the Firth of Clyde.  The Clyde flows from bottom to top, while the river Leven joins from the right.  Any attacking fleet, whether they are Viking longboats or French ships of the line, would be visible for many miles and would have to pass the channel in front of the castle to go anywhere further.  Good luck with that!