Wilton Castle, Herefordshire

On our frequent castle hunting forays into Wales, via the A40 near Ross-on-Wye, my brother and myself would often glimpse what appeared to be a large section of medieval wall or wall. As the view was often obscured by trees and foliage we assumed it was private property or part of the hotel (the Castle Lodge Hotel to be precise) and never ventured nearer.

It was only until recently, thanks to the joys of the internet, that we discovered that the remains were actually Wilton Castle and that it was occasionally open to the public. It was on one of these open days that we managed to visit the castle on one of our tours of the area. 

English Heritage members gain free entrance, non members are charged £5. The current owners have obviously spent a great deal of time and money repairing and maintaining the site.

A history of the castle can be found on the official website:

Wilton Castle

Remains of the Tudor House

East Tower

East Tower

Interior view of curtain wall

Interior view of North West Tower

North West Tower - Wedding Venue

As if often the case when you get chatting to someone, we were very lucky to get shown around the owner's house which sits in the corner of the castle and is not open to the public. The interior building work has been very sympathetically done. 

You can, if you are so inclined, get married in the castle. The garden and borders alone are worth a visit to experience the collection of old type roses.

My Heroine - A real Inspirational story

Not a hobby related post but one I'll hope you'll read anyway. 'Inspirational' is an often overused word but please take a minute to read my friend's story as 'inspirational' hardly seems adequate.

Please click on the link to read her full story, one that still manages to move me to tears:

Just Giving - Beverley Harris

After my father very nearly died (we were told on three separate occasions by various medical staff that he wouldn't make it through the night) following a 'routine' kidney operation went wrong (no operation is really routine, despite what people may say) my perspective to my friend's experience was particularly biased.

I'm not asking anyone to donate any money to the designated charity (although if you can it would of course be great appreciated). I will however ask that, if you feel you are able, please consider registering as an organ donor. Stating the obvious, the difference you could make is often the difference between life or death for the patient. My (very) minor part in the story made me appreciate just how much hard work is involved for everyone involved, from the family to all the staff at the QEII in Birmingham.

I'm extremely thankful to a complete stranger, the donor, and just as importantly the family who gave their consent and thus gave my friend a second chance at life. They will never know just how grateful we are for their act of kindness and for that simple fact alone I'll ask you to please consider registering as an organ donor. 

Thanks.

Lion Rampant - Demo Game - Battle Report

This is a link to a quick demo game played between an old friend Ade and myself, recorded last Sunday. We played with just a few units to demonstrate the core mechanics of the game. Any mistakes in the gameplay are entirely my fault.

Small WoTR Medical Vignette, Perry Miniatures

This small vignette was the result of a challenge I set myself one night whilst I was staring at a pile of Perry's plastic WoTR figures (yes, I do need to get out more). With hindsight I purchased two more boxes than I actually need to build a couple of basic retinues using the Lion Rampant ruleset,  although in my defence I hoarded all this lot years ago. 

After successfully altering around a dozen figures featured in previous posts I wondered just how far I could go. One figure in particular struck me that could altered to depict someone lying down. My original thought after seeing that model was to have a prone figure (implying being wounded) soldier receiving medical treatment. The model serves no natural function for any game that I can think of, it is more of an exercise in how far I could modify the figures.

Deciding to commit myself I cut away the bases, always a nerve wracking 'point of no return'. Then looking at the arms I used an standard archer's pair, removing the bow and cutting off the hands so that they could be rotated to form a more natural looking posture when the figure was lying flat. With the angle of the right arm I thought I could imply that the prone figure was trying to prop himself up by his elbow.

As the prone model's right foot was left at an odd angle I cut this part off and replaced it with greenstuff. His left foot was cut and then rotated so that it looked more relaxed.

The second (kneeling) figure involved a lot more chopping and changing. Both legs were cut through at the knee and upper thigh. I should have used a paperclip to form a frame to hold the legs in position but I just smothered the pieces in glue and hoped that they got stay in place (sometimes I annoy myself with my lack of planning). Once dry greenstuff was used to fill in all the gaps. The arms are from the standard trumpeter arms with, obviously, the trumpet cut away. Fortunately the arms naturally looked as if the kneeing figure was either to administer the last rites or is about to offer comfort to the prone soldier.

The sword was made by cutting away the surface detail off the scabbard and smoothing down the plastic. The helmet was hollowed out using a craft knife and hand drill. The arrow was cut away from the standard bundle that comes with the archers.

The following images don't match up but it might help people see how the figures were altered.

Modified WoTR Foot Men-at-Arms WIP, Perry Miniatures - Part 10 of 10

This figure will eventually represent Lord Dudley but it wasn't my original intention to use this actual miniature. I had always planned on having three matching figures for both my mounted and foot miniatures but as a result of poor forward planning on my part (never one of my strengths) I literally ran out of matching parts for the mounted figure. The figure that will now represents one of Dudley's sons should have been the main man himself. The barbute helmet wasn't my first choice either but I was left without further options. I'd like to claim that this figure is based on the the famous Avant armour on display in Glasgow (images here) but it's just a coincidence. At least it will help the figure stand out among the others wearing the more common sallet variety. 

As I was running out of options for a figure wearing full harness I realised that I would have to make an alternative so I used the same standard body but decided to make the foot figure match the mounted knight.

As far as I can gather the wearing of tabards became quite old fashioned towards the end of the C15th. but I wanted to paint Lord Dudley's heraldry onto the figure (Dudley himself was relatively old when the wars started). This meant I could use standard arm pieces but I would have to modify the upper body to make it look as if he was wearing a tabard over his harness. To do this I used a sharp (i.e. new) scalpel and removed all the detail from the belt upwards such as the stomach and back plates. Once this was smoothed out I then added greenstuff below the belt line to look like material covering the upper part of the tassets (thigh armour). Once this part had cured I added the belt detail using greenstuff.

For the left arm I removed the knife from the standard arm piece and then left the figure on my work bench. I find it's sometimes best to leave figures like this to one side so you can occasionally just glimpse it once in a while. Mistakes or unnatural poses will soon become evident because they will become more and more obvious when you look at them. Although pleased with the results so far I wanted the figure to really stand out more than the others so added the small buckler.

Now I'd like to claim that I did all my research first and then only commit to butchering..sorry, modifying a plastic figure to suit but this is not always the case. As mentioned above I adopted my usual approach and left it to one side to ensure that it 'looked ok'. After a while one detail kept on drawing my eye was the length of the tabard, with me now thinking that I'd given Lord Dudley a mini -skirt. The seeds of doubt were sown after I remembered seeing the brass of William Catesby in St. Leodegarius's Church, Ashby St Leger (it was one of his descendants that organised the GunPowder Plot and which may have been organised in a nearby room next to the churchyard). This brass shows Catesby wearing a close-fitting short-sleeved tabard which is considerably longer than my version and covers half of his thigh. This seemed to confirm my suspicions but before I started mixing up more greenstuff I thought I would just double check to see if there were any more examples. Using Google ('All Hail') Images I happened to come across the following brasses of:

Sir John Say (d. 1478) (Image here)

William de Grey (d. 1495) (Image here)

Sir Henry Greene (Image here)

All show a close-fitting short-sleeved tabard that reveals the tassets just as I had modelled Lord Dudley. I quite like the similarities with Say's life and that of Dudley but I will go into more detail on this when I finally post my epic Lord Dudley mini-series - only five years in the making so there's no rush.

Modified WoTR Foot Men-at-Arms WIP, Perry Miniatures - Part 9 of 10

This figure dates back to when I initially parted this project around five years ago, which probably explains why it is only partially painted. I had difficulty remembering what exactly I had done to this figure but I eventually worked out that I chopped up the left arm to re-position it and added the feather plume to the sallet.

This figure could represent either Sir Edmund or Sir Oliver Sutton, sons of Lord Dudley. Edmund probably fought alongside his father at St Albans and Blore Heath (1459) while Oliver was killed at the Battle of Edgecote (1469).

Modified WoTR Foot Men-at-Arms WIP, Perry Miniatures - Part 8 of 10

This is a basic figure and arms combo but with the head of poleaxe replacing the usual bill/halberd. I'm hoping the dodgy joint will be hidden by the future paint job.