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Militia and a Couple of Milestones

Tonight was a bit hectic so not much painting happened…

Not much, but at least I managed some,

The Essex miniatures Militia… well I think they are. To be honest they weren’t as bad to slap paint onto as I thought they might. The fringed jackets however are a nightmare! My fringed jackets are cloth as opposed to buckskin. I fancied a bit of a bright colour hence the blue. They still need a fair bit doing on them. But I believe they will ‘come alive’ when their hands and faces are done.

Anyway to the milestones. My first blog post was a year ago, which is pretty amazing. Up to this blog I would have been lucky to make a week. I have tried blogging at least three times and never got past the first post.

The second milestone is that on the day the blog reached one year old was also the day I hit 1000 visitors. That is totally weird to me. I honestly thought I would be asking my wife and kids to come and reads stuff so I didn’t feel lonely. As it happens my wife doesn’t follow my blog ☹️.

So for anyone who has visited my blog or are reading this thanks a bunch as it made my day 👍

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Submarines, Goblins and on the Boat Again

As I am on the boat again, I had a mooch at my Kickstarter pledges.

First up, the one I am most excited about!

Ever since playing Silent Hunter on my PC I have loved submarines. As soon as I saw this I wanted it. Hopefully it will live up to my expectations!

Basically the game ties into an app that shows targets, plays sounds and generally makes it a bit more exciting. It even has whisper mode…. don’t make too much noise when the sub chasers are looking for you.

Next up… Miremarsh….everyone plays a goblin!

I wanted something to play with the kids, and this looked quirky enough to fit the bill.

For some reason I backed a pile of gravestones, really don’t know why… must have been a moment of weakness as I have a pile already!

And finally a couple of books by my best mate Wiggy, who is my gaming buddy.

My gravestones should be here soon, the sub game in December and Miremarsh in August 2019. I already have the RPG books.

Only thirteen more hours to go until I get back to Shetland!

Wish me luck…

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Star Forts, Chips and an Annoying Fledgling

Another mooch about yesterday. Last day of my holiday and I had to be in work. As it is the holidays I had to drag the kids in too.

So instead of haring back home for sandwiches we headed further into town for Lunch. All the cafes were full so we headed for the Fort Chip Shop (the best one in Lerwick). Our normal place to eat them on a nice day is the Fort right above the chip shop so I thought I would take some photos.

This is the oldest part still standing built or rebuilt in the 1690’s. The following photo showing how thick the walls are.

Construction of Fort Charlotte began in 1665 during the second Dutch War. It wasn’t finished before the war concluded. It was rebuilt more than a century later during the War of American Independence but never fired a shot in anger. The fort is pretty much presented as it would have looked in the 1780’s

The fort is a 5 pointed star.

At the minute she is armed with 18lb cannon. These only look out over the sound of Bressay. It had in the past been armed with 32lb cannon

I always fancied starting a re-enactment group here, it would be great fun!

Anyway the Annoying Fledgling…. here he is:

He spent his time calling for food non stop while we were there. On the upside though, he kept the adults away!

Right a couple of random photos taken within… the barracks and the magazine.

And finally a view from above… pinched from a panel at the entrance!

You can just see the best chip shop in Lerwick, small white building near the two story street of shops. Oh and in the background you can see the Lerwick Town hall.

There is a great story from the 1690’s about how 3 cannon from the Spanish Armanda were found. They decided to heat them to remove the rust. ‘ Upon which they discharged balls, much to the surprisement of the onlookers!”

I think Surprisement should be returned to the English language!

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Drummers, civilians,off gallivanting and a leather shoe.

Well I managed to get the drummers up to a ‘yeah finished’ point. I also threw some paint on the civilians.

My order from Old Glory Uk came and sadly it is wrong. My rangers haven’t arrived but another packet of woodland Indians have… I ordered the Indians in error but contacted them straight away to ask for a swap to the Rangers looks like they forgot. Harumph!

I also managed to get a shoe to the Finished point. Only nine to go.

This has a top and back seam to help turn it. 2mm upper and a 4mm sole. I have enough of the upper leather to make us all a pair (I hope) but unfortunately only enough of the thicker stuff to do one more pair.

Our exploration was sort of Viking based. With the dry weather Girlsta loch had dropped enough to allow us to head out onto the holm (an island not far from the far shore. Local legend has it that a Viking princess is buried there (as legends go, they are always princesses). The story goes she was skating on the loch and went through the ice, which was a bit unfortunate as the loch is one of, if not the deepest on Shetland sitting at 78 feet deep. Anyway after a bit of research we came across information in one of the Saga’s.

Geirhilda the daughter of the famous Flokie Vilgerdason was the young lady in question. Flokie had left Norway to find Iceland …it had been found accidentally twice before, but he was off to deliberately find it. He overwintered on Shetland when the accident happened. He then went off and found what he was looking for. He wasn’t that impressed and named it Iceland after seeing a bay filled with sea ice.

Now local legends also have, star crossed lovers, 🙄🤮. Her suitor was not accepted by her father and after a sneaky meeting with him she fell through the Ice and died. Strangely enough the saga doesn’t mention this, or ice or skating or anything really. It does say that “there Geirhild, his daughter, perished in Geirhild’s water.”

So there we have it … a legend and sort of evidence… Girlsta…Geirhild…there aren’t any other Girlsta’s up here so it could be a match.

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The Leather Ripped🤬

“Oh poot!”…well I think that is what I said…

Turning the shoe the right way round is always a nightmare, but this time using leather that was old and weary probably wasn’t clever. This stuff had been in a damp shed that froze every winter. I oiled,it hence the dark colour, to try and get it back to a useable quality. The leather, when I started was nearer the colour of the table top.

Luckily I have a half hide of better quality leather that has stayed in my attic. I shall start again tonight.

This time I think I will do a front seam, that should stop it tearing, and make it easier to turn. It will be a shoe similar to these.

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I have a shoe….

Only nine more to go!

Well I eventually managed to finish sewing on first shoe. The fun bit is going to be turning it the right way round. Now if I had been sensible I would have started with the biggest, then things would get quicker as they got progressively smaller.

I also managed to get shoe maker finger, caused by pulling the linen thread tight. Sliced right into the little finger on both hands.

This thing has driven me demented. I really am out of practice.

To begin with I put the sole on upside down, then part way around I realised that the upper was to big for the sole. A bit of remedial cutting was required to get it to fit.

It is too big for my youngest but as it is inside out, it will shrink a bit as it is turned.

back to the sewing I go!

Once they are both done I will shove them into a bucket of water for a good while to soften the leather and then get them turned the right way out. This usually involves a great deal of swearing and funny grunting noises. So if you hear a lot of expletives in a Geordie accent carried on the wind you will know who it is.

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And Now For Something Completely Different

I have taken a break from painting to making…

Shoes…

After years of re-enactment and then a hiatus of 12 years. I am getting back into again with a new-old period.

Since moving to Shetland I have been going into schools dressed up as a Viking. Partly to do my bit to show what Vikings look like as opposed to the Up Helly Ah version of vikings. Look it up, it does look impressive… they are what Victorian’s thought Vikings looked like🙄

So after starting first Century AD Romans a long, long time ago.

Then moving up though the centuries (years not cohorts). I moved to 3rd century Roman, 15th century and then Napoleonic infantry and then cavalry. Ending as a Polish Lancer.

The photo above is me in Poland.

I loved the Lancers, but there isn’t much call on Shetland for a Polish Lancer and as getting off the island costs hundreds I had to call it a day. On the up side, my stable kit still fits. Sadly my full Uniform went to the group as I had no use for it.

I also sometimes get the chance to play silly Buggers as a knight or a gladiator.

Me as a knight in a castle, sadly a very early 17th century castle but I allowed this inaccuracy to slip past me to support one of my favourite school’s activity day.

Anyway back to the Vikings…my new group is to be Viking. A couple moved up here who are well into their Viking Living history. So we are going to make a go of it. Well Unst does have a reconstructed long house and longship.

My soft kit needed replacing anyway, but instead of just me, we have to kit out five. I am starting with the youngest’s shoes as they are the smallest and easiest.

I made a test shoe out of spare white felt.

The leather was rather brittle so before sewing I had to soak everything in oil to try and make it more supple. Well 12 years in a shed probably wasn’t the best place and conditions for it.

Wish me luck as it is around 18 years since I made turn shoes.

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Two Drummers Drumming

I was a bit busy off gallivanting yesterday

I did manage a bit of painting last night.

The second drummer is nearly up to the level of the first one. I must of had a shake doing his strap over the shoulder though. The first one needs a highlight on the flesh etc. Some of the dark blue and red also went onto some of the civilians.

Early on in the day we explored a broch in the north of the island. This was an Iron Age structure somewhat tumbled down after 2000 years of wind, rain and theft for building houses.

The base of the wall can be seen in the foreground, this would be heightened with peat. It is thought to be defensive, the site itself is sitting on an islet in a loch. The wall covers the causeway from side to side. You can see the causeway in this photo.

Further buildings are on the far side of the tower. You can just about make them out near the water’s edge.

This is the kind of size it would have been:

We also had a mooch about some crofting period click mills.

They were close to the edge of some of the tallest cliffs on Shetland.

This one has access to the sea through a subterranean tunnel. Well access if you don’t mind a 90m climb to the rocks below.

We found the grave with an interesting epitaph. We had heard about it but never seen it.

The afternoon was spent in one of the local shows where one of my daughter’s cockerel won third place in the bantam class.

All in all a very busy day!

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Dormez Vou? Oui!

Well okay not exactly sleeping.

I made a teeny bit of progress last night. They have a base coat of Cadian fleshtone.

I will give them a highlight of Kislev flesh tonight.

The reason for lack of painting…a new game

Now for the disclaimer…. funnily enough I would never shoot an animal in real life. I have in the past, what people may call vermin. I didn’t enjoy it, but to be truthful I did enjoy the bit right up to where I pulled the trigger.

I now stalk the odd otter, seal or other wild beastie with a camera. As I only have an 80×200 zoom on it I have to get pretty close.

I have enjoyed what I have played so far. There is 50 square miles to mess about in. I enjoy the tracking a particular animal down. Yesterday it took me half an hour of real time to track a wild boar. Up hill and down valley. The wind was always in his favour, hence the time it took. When I eventually caught up with him the game glitched and he was running about in a weird pattern. He was one lucky pig!

The worst bit is seeing how many animals I spooked. It breaks it down into scent, sight and sound. Based on those scores there were a lot more animals about than I had even seen.

the game itself is beautiful.

I snaffled these from the game’s website. The PS4 version probably isn’t as high definition as these but it is pretty close.

I shall carry on exploring the countryside in Central Europe. I should be able to find a bison and bear.