The League of Augsburg
Battle for Britain Part 6 - The Earl of Marlborough's command
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| Marlborough's interesting and challenging Command |
Now then, saving the most interesting till last? What to do with Mr Churchill? I had cast him in the role of undecided. He had played little part in the alternative history between 1690 and our current point the summer of 1692.
He appeared to have retired to country life, taking time to be with his family, explore alternative sources of income to...
Battle for Britain Part 5 - The Williamite troops
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| General Mackay's attack against Wauchope's French at Ripon 14th September 1692 |
Continuing the story of our Battle for Britain campaign with a focus on the Williamite forces participating in the war...
King William's forces were even more heterogeneous than those of King James. Dutch, English, Danes, Scots, Scots-Irish and French Protestant all contributed. Our commanders reflected this multi...
Battle for Britain Part 4 - The French
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| The experienced Regiment La Couronne |
Continuing the story of our Battle for Britain campaign with a focus on the French troops participating in the war...
Clearly the most important power in Europe and the grand puppet master of the continent Louis XIV had to have a key role in the battle for the British islands and the crown.
Since we allowed St Ruhe to survive the Battle of Aughrim and score a...
Blogging for Britain Part 2 - the preparation
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| The Battle of Badon Hill September 19th 1692 |
Let's pick up the tale of the Battle for Britain 1692 weekender event with some more background and some appetite whetting shots form the actual weekender....
The magnificent seven Jacobite commanders were Viscount Dundee, Patrick Sarsfield, Marquis de St Ruhe, Richard Hamilton, John Wauchope, Dominic Sheldon and the Duke of Berwick. Weighing in for King...
The Siege of Barcelona 1714
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| Barcelona at the time of the siege 1714 - Born is the district in the bottom right |
On a recent trip to Barcelona I accidentally stumbled across what I initially believed to be a Roman archaeological exhibition in the Born Market. The magnificent excavated ruins of complete buildings, streets and waterways are breathtaking.
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| A small portion of the 1,000 destroyed houses which lie below modern... |
Blogging for Britain Part 1 - the preparation
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| 1692 The fight has moved to England.. Ireland is almost all under Jacobite rule. |
Organizing our Battle for Britain 1692 weekender has taken more creative effort than any of our other multiplayer events in the last decade. The main reason being that I wanted to run a campaign style ramp up in the immediate few weeks before the event. This meant creating orbats and a back story for the fifteen...
Normandie - October break some nice stuff
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| One of the two completed casements at Pointe du Hoc |
Occasionally on the blog I will include some non period specific items because they are interesting and are worth sharing. On my fourth trip to Normandy in the last 13 years I revisited some places which have become familiar to me.
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| The grave of Michael Wittmann and his crew |
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| How I could have missed this on two previous trips? Look at how worn the... |
Steaming out of Pompey early in the morning
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| HMS St Albans Type 23. Commissioned 2000. Built at Yarrows on the Clyde |
I have always been fascinated by ships. The last time I sailed out of Portsmouth for Normandy I took some great shots of the Royal Navy's ships. Leaving early in the morning in late 2016 I got another golden chance to take some pictures of beautiful warships past and present.
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| HMS Bristol launched in 1969 now a training ship |
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| HMS... |
When are Guards not Guards?
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| Oh no! minus 3 on morale we are under attack from REAL Guards! |
The dreaded 'G' word is the cause of many an animated disagreement amongst the wargaming fraternity. It is interesting to consider why it creates such polarization of opinion. It is most likely to be a shortened version of body guard and probably dates back to ancient times with units such as the Praetorian Guard who protected important...
Warfare Miniatures GNW Swedish Artillerists loading gun
Picture feature of our forthcoming Swedish artillerists loading a light gun
On the Jacobite Trail
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| The brooding Head of Glencoe |
On a recent, unusual assignment I had the chance to pass through and photograph some of the most dramatic scenery in Scotland, all of which has a Jacobite 'wars' connection. My ultimate destination was the shore of Lochailort.
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| The Campbell's are coming! |
To get there from home I had to drive up Loch Lomond side to Crianlarich, through Tyndrum on over the eerie Rannoch...
Uniforms of the Foot Guard Regiments
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| King's Regiment of Footguards |
Often in regimental museums little space is given to the early part of unit histories. Perhaps a plate or some sketches, occasionally a musket, hat or coat.
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| Scots Regiment of Foot Guards |
Not so the regiments of Scots and English Foot Guards!
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| Coldstream Guards |
In their museum plenty of space is dedicated to the first 50 years of their existence. Lots of original documents,...