Painting update and a little more ‘local’ History

Feel like I have been painting lots of bits recently rather than any full units, that trend will change soon I suspect.

Completed this week some much needed AWI artillery support, I picked these up at the Edinburgh show recently, the idea being the Caisson and munition wagon can double up as limbers or play as nice terrain when needed. I also chose to individually base three of the figures giving some flexibility 

This means they can if needed man the extra artillery piece. Although I already have quite a lot of artillery so not sure if they will be needed.

A small purchase of eBay as I had already picked up some of their larger guns, some of these may well be painted up as Austrians

I was also away again last weekend with my Daughter and we visited a number of interesting sites

First up the Gilnockie Tower. Once falling down then repaired as a house now repurposed as a visitor attraction and small museum. The tower is reputed to be the ancestral home of the Armstrong clan and more specifically the original home of the infamous Johnnie Armstrong an infamous reiver eventually killed by the king

It is only small but nicely put together audio tour, some interesting displays and of course much of the discussion is about the Reiver way of life.

Some replica armour etc. I have of course thought many times about collecting. Some reiver types for skirmishing. What with it being fairly local, I’m holding off for now.

We visited the Sir John Malcom monument 

I have since read a little more detail and considering getting one of his books, a classic ‘British’ adventurer served with the Wellesleys in India before moving into deplomacy as a career in the east.

Day two we visited Orchardton Tower , sadly not currently open to the public but apparently a rare example of a round tower house

Finally Burnswark Roman fort near to Lockerbie, Surprisingly there is quite a lot written about this which I’m not going to repeat here, if you are interested just Google it.

Suffice to say the Iron Age fort seen below (not my aerial shot) has Roman forts on both sides. There are two schools of thought, either it was a training camp for training new soldiers or perhaps more excitingly it does represent an actual siege during the attempted invasion of Scotland. The obvious round mounds have been identified as Ballista firing platforms.

It is quite exciting to picture the siege in place with Pictish warriors hemmed in on top of the hill the Roman commander ordering the two forts to be built to prevent escape and then the ballistas being placed and the final assault. The battle scene in gladiator comes to mind 

This is a reconstruction picture but it is quite easy and accessible on the ground.

Well that’s it for now hopefully some gaming this weekend 👍