A lovely holiday in Scotland!

The amazing Eilean Donan castle.

Well actually I've been back for several weeks or so, but I've been quite busy with work leaving me a bit tired for postings and commenting plus I just wanted to relax, paint, and catch up on some Netflix. However, I'm now ready to get back in the swing of things and I will over the next few days do my best to catch up on what everyone has been doing on their blogs and do a few more posts of my own. Scotland was fantastic and we enjoyed ourselves very much! Truly stunning landscapes that had us snapping pictures left and right and the people were so very kind. I would have liked to meet up with some of the follow wargamers who live in Scotland, but with the family and so much to see and do I really had no chance to even attempt this. However, we will for sure visit Scotland again as we so enjoyed the experience and this time I'll make sure to meet up with as many wargamers as possible.

No question this visit has really perked my interest in Scotland's history and has me thinking of going back to my Montrose army or even starting a new period with Claymore Castings excellent range, but I'll need to think it over as I already have several projects on the go and I don't want these to fall at the wayside.... ahhh decisions.......

We took a lot of pictures, but this post would be become ridiculously long if I filled it with all the ones I liked so I'll limit it to just a few highlights.

Looking at one of the lovely Loch's from inside Eilean Donan castle.

Culloden Battlefield is beautiful and a bit eerie. I highly recommend a visit as the visitor centre and  battlefield are very well done.

    

My daughter enjoying the fantastic Tattoo Military parade

To hear all those bagpipes playing at once was a moving experience.

The impressive Edinburgh castle with Tattoo parade set up next to it.

A panoramic view of Edinburgh from Edinburgh Castle

A typical lovely view of many places in Scotland

Aboard the majestic Royal Yacht Britannia

Inside the ruins of Urquhart Castle overlooking Loch Ness.

A perfect picture of Scotland imho with my daughter next to a gentlemen bagpiper in Urquhart Castle with Loch Ness in the background and rolling mountains completing the picture.:-)

Stopping to enjoy yet another beautiful view.

Come here daddy I need a hand rest.

Stunning isn't it.

My better half very happy with what she is seeing.

The very cool Stalker Castle.

Always wanted to see a Claymore up close and now I have. I can well understand why it has a fearsome reputation. Interesting thing is they labelled the Claymore simply as "Two handed weapon" and called the basket hilted broadswords "Claymore's"? I assume this was a overlooked mistake or am I wrong? 

Had to have a picture with Robert the Bruce of course, but as you can see my daughter is less interested.

My daughter getting into the spirit of things at the Bannockburn Visitor Centre. I was a bit surprised to find out the actual battlefield is still a mystery and a matter of debate.

Old Stirling bridge near the original Stirling Bridge which is actually underwater.

Wallace Monument.

Game of golf anyone?

From one of the several wildlife parks we visited.

Yep, it really is that pretty.

Approaching Dunstaffnage Castle.

Inside Dunstaffnage Castle ruins.

Enjoying a boat ride while viewing a map.

On top of a boat having fun!

One of the many Loch's and all are lovely to one degree or another.

Couldn't resist adding another picture of Eilean Donan castle.:-)

Rebs Charging (15mm)

Moving along with my ACW project with some rebels charging home. I'm pleased I've managed to keep focused for so long that I've actually made very good progress. Actually I have quite a few units waiting to be posted that are already finished which is nice.

The figures are again Old Glory 15's and the flags again from the superb GMB designs. Hopefully the 28mm fans out there are not getting bored of the 15mm posts, but fear not I do have some 28mm figures on my desk as I write.:-)

In the mail today I received a gift that I won in  Jonathan Freitag http://palousewargamingjournal.blogspot.de/  blog give away yesterday! I highly recommend visiting his blog in the link given. His blog is full of nice miniatures and a great variety in periods and scales and in addition if you like graphs on the hobby then you will absolutely love his blog!:-)

Jonathan sent me Henry Hyde's Wargaming Compendium and what a tomb of a book it is! It's packed full of wargaming goodness that I can't wait to sink my teeth into! Thank you very much Jonathan!!:-)

Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company-Old Glory 15's

Union Commanders (15mm)

Continuing on with my 15mm ACW revamp project in the form of some commanders for the union as it's hard to play an army without them. Two are divisional/brigade and four are brigade/regimental depending on the scenario. I think the commander on the white horse is Reynolds and the others I'm not exactly sure as I took the tabs off a very long time ago.

We have been playing some games with Piquet's FoB2 and have been having a great time! I have some pictures of the games, but I'm not satisfied with them as I feel the terrain needs more work. Mainly it's the woods as I need to get proper basing for them as currently it just looks like a scattering of individual trees and not convincing wooded areas and it drives me nuts if my terrain does not give the impression I want. Once I get that situation fixed then I'll release pictures of the games.

It seems lately that I'm getting more goal orientated in terms of my projects which is a good thing in my books. Normally I suffer badly from the butterfly effect always wanting to start new things, but now I find myself wanting to get more of my current projects up to playable levels for two sides like 15mm Crusades, WWII and ACW, and 28mm Late Romans/Germanics, Reconquista, Fallshirmjäger, ACW, AWI plus more. Now I know that sounds like a lot of projects and it is, however they are all projects I've been working on for some time and not new ones which is the important factor. I really hope that stays that way long enough to get a few to the goals I want! I'm pretty close on a couple. Is age finally giving me some discipline and wisdom......probably not, but one can always hope!:-)

Also I added a Market page to the top of the blog when I have something to sell or trade. Currently have some 15mm Legio Heroica Feudal/Teutonic looking to trade for 15mm Legio Heroica Crusades.

Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company- Old Glory 15's

Confederates (15mm)

Continuing on with my 15 ACW revamp project. Well I know I said I'll first finish showing all the union I have finished, but decided I would prefer to mix it up a bit and will be showing both.

When painting confederates I really like to to dive into the ragged mixed uniform look and give quite a bit a variety. However this does come at cost in terms of painting time and at least doubles it if not more when compared to painting union. However since I trade off back and forth between the two sides it gives me chance to have a break between them. The colours used are a mix of Foundry the first unit in front and Howard Hues the back two. The Foundry are darker shades and the Howard Hues are a bit brighter mixed with strong tone washes. I like them both and will mix them up in all my units. Flags are from the excellent GMB designs.

Lots more on the way soon!

Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company- Old Glory 15's