KBO as Winston would say…..

Unfortunately the games planned for last week had to be postponed as following my trip to Edinburgh I was struck down yet again with illness, very disappointing but hopefully one week on I seem to be on the mend. Between feeling very tired and coughing I have managed quite a bit of hobby time. Both painting and prepping figures. Only two things finished but quite a few others in the pipeline.

The Old Guard ‘Chasseurs à Pied’ these are the warlord figures which are really nicely sculpted. I picked them up second hand and found an extra figure in the box

So with a few additional figures I made the Regiment upto 30 men. Only one complaint which is the nice advancing pose means the bases don’t line up very well, I realise now too late ! I should have put them on deeper bases. The muskets are a bit bendy as well but I have coated them in superglue which gives them a bit more strength. We Ont see them much in Spain but they can happily fight the Russians. I have two more Victrix regiments in great coats to make up a guard brigade. I’m hoping they will be a bit quicker to paint ?

I was hoping at Claymore to pick up an M7 for my Americans but I literally couldn’t find one. The warlord version retails around £30 new ! This is one of those but a lucky secondhand find on eBay for a reasonable £15, it just needed repainting but even came with the crew. Quite happy with 3D prints but these resin models just have a lovely solid feel ?

I have barely been out of the house for a week so no Lake District pictures instead a few more from Naples earlier in the year……we left off last time with the Romans now the Castles.

There are several in and about the city Castel Nuovo one of the most famous, started in 1279 by Charles 1st of Anjou but then heavily modified/rebuilt from around 1450. It contains an art gallery, small museum and the council debating chamber.

Most interesting artefact, for me anyway are the old bronze doors which still display the cannon ball fired at the gates by the French in 1495 ?

Next up in the City Castel Sant Elmo, started around 1330 but then rebuilt as a star shaped fortification in the 16th Century. Massively impressive but hard to take a photo. You can get a cable car up the hill but it is then still quite a walk to the top of the ramparts. It is free to enter the first Sunday in each month, we were lucky.

The large arched ‘windows’ generally are gun emplacements covering the various entrances

Needless to say on a good day the views are spectacular and you can walk right around the 360 degree ramparts

Another art gallery (actually this might have been somewhere else) had a lovely period painting of Castel Nuovo when it was first rebuilt

A Neapolitan guard 

The third Castle in the City, Castel Capuano is hard to see as it is now the functioning law courts but close by is the Arched Porta Capuano which were again remodelled in the 1600’s. There is yet another castle in the city but it is currently closed so we didn’t visit

Further afield we visited the island of Procida, a very beautiful island. The Fort of Terra Murata is the highest point, another steep and very warm walk, the views are fantastic and after a suitable wait you can get a cold beer 🍺 the fortress is a bit disorganised, was once a prison and only small parts seem to be open others under repair

Again along the coast NW of Naples is the imposing Castello di Baia, once again an Aragonese fortress completely rebuilt in the 1600’s and still undergoing renovation, housing a large Roman and Ancient Greek museum.

A better shot from a distance overlooking the lovely harbour where they serve lovely seafood 🙂 

As you can imagine as a history fan Naples comes pretty highly recomended

Well that’s it for now, the next Naples installment will be the probably come along soon and hopefully more battles in the near future.

Thanks as always 

Matt