We were sort of warned NOT to go to Warwick castle. It sounded like it had a Renaissance fair vibe to it, with activities for small kids, etc. Since we have often enjoyed Renaissance fairs, we decided to give it a go.
Aa view of Warwick castle from the grounds
Docents provided interesting historical tours within the castle itself, which has been restored. The Duke of Warwick during the Wars of the Roses changed sides, making him the “kingmaker.” The castle tour, another multi-media presentation in one of the castles’ towers, and the narration and storyline for the jousting show all provided a brief history of the the Wars of the Roses.
Some of the armor and weapons on display within the castleThe banquet hall in Warwick castlePosing in front of a huge mirrorA stained-glass window in Warwick castleThe jousting show at Warwick castle, called the Wars of the Roses Re-enactment
The jousting show was quite good. It involved knights on horseback, dismounted combat, and even longbowmen. The show followed a narrative that provided a thumbnail history of the Wars of the Roses. Both at our Mediaeval feast in London and at Warwick castle seemed much more intense and realistic than similar shows we’ve seen at places like the Renaissance fair and Mediaeval Times. They were quite good.
A vie of Warwick castle from the bridge to the island area where we saw the jousting and the trebuchet demonstration
The castle is pretty much intact. We were able to wander the battlements. Many of the towers included displays and shows. This was not a plaster and chicken wire imitation!
Entering one of the "rear' entrances to Warwick castleSam and Tom goofing on the battlements. Tom bought a foam mace as a souvenir.A view from the top of the battlementsWe witnessed a very interesting trebuchet demonstration. This one had the large wheels that men would run within to crank the trebuchet. I've never seen one like this before.
After several hours at Warwick castle we bid farewell to the town of Warwick and headed for the South of England to be in position to see Bovington Tank Museum the next day.
We took a guided tour of the Cotswolds, a picturesque area of England that is one of the top Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in the world. The tour met us at the Morten-in-Marsh train station and took us to morning coffee at Secret Cottage, then around parts of the northeastern Cotswolds, back to Secret Cottage for lunch, more touring, and finally tea at Secret Cottage.
A view of Morten-in-Marsh
After another harrowing drive from Swindon, we arrived at Morten-in-Marsh with almost an hour to spare. While Tom and Sam slept in our car, Candy and took a short walk around the town.
Along high street (main street) in Morten-in-Marsh
The English seem to be able to have a manicured garden (yard) that also looks natural. It’s an art.
Church in downtown M0rten-in-Marsh along the high street.
Below are some views of byways and towns within the Cotswolds. The Secret Cottage tour took us to places where the large motor coaches do not go.
An example of a dry-laid wall made of Cotswolds stoneA manor home once occupied by the principle black powder plot conspirator (another conspirator was Guy Fawlkes) just around the corner from Secret Cottage
Claire, our tour guide, had lived in the US for five years with her husband, who was in the Royal Navy. She is also the etiquette lady in a talking portrait in the Harry Potter ride at Universal Studios.
The Secret CottagePolly in front of the breakfast spread she laid out for us
It was interesting to see how the owners of this house had trained their pair trees to grow along the walls.
...And a partridge near a pear treeThe Malt House
In this town, there were no pubs allowed by the lord of the manor, so this enterprising person brewed beer that the farm workers would buy on their way home from work.
Nick, the other tour guide, provided a great deal of interesting information about various areas of the Cotswolds.A view of the CotswoldsA portion of a picturesque town along the Eye riverSam has decided she would love to live in an area like the Cotswolds. Tom is not convinced.An old mill
The charity allotment behind an old church. Food grown here is brought to the church for the poor.Candy would like to make this our Summer home. For a mere 4 million pounds it can be yours.The lunch buffet at Secret Cottage. While all the food was terrific, the pasties and Scotch egg were especially good.
We finished the day by driving to the town of Hasely, near Warwick castle and walked around to see a church and manor house. The nearby pub was booked for the night, so we drove into the town of Warwick to have fish and chips at the Chip Shed. They were very, very good.
The church in the town of Hasely
Our rooms were the old coach house and stables. The proprietor was very nice. We recommend this bed and breakfast establishment.
For me, it’s not a family vacation without some old-time photos to commemorate the occasion. These were taken in a small studio across the street from Harrods in Knightsbridge, London.
Grenadier TomLady Sam her Earl GrayWhat a hunky dude!A typical evening at home for the Surdus.
For our family vacation this year, we chose to visit England. As many of you know, we first made sure that we got the kids to all 50 states. Then we visited Costa Rica last Summer. This Summer we visited England, beginning our journey with three days in London.
London City Hotel
After arriving in Heathrow, we took the express shuttle and two tube lines to our hotel. We rented a “flat” or apartment from the London City Hotel, the entrance of which was right next to the Borough underground stop.
A view from London Bridge
Despite feeling quite jet lagged, we determined to “power through” our first day. We began by walking past Borough Market and over London Bridge to visit St. Paul’s Cathedral.
At St. Paul’s we visited the crypts, the main floor, and climbed to the top of the dome.
A view of London from the top of St. Paul's
From St. Paul’s we went back to our hotel to check in and drop our bags in the room. Along the way we stopped in Borough Market for a snack. Tom and I split an excellent corned beef (salt beef) sandwich (on which cheese was melted with a blow torch) and some sort of mediterranean pasty thing with potato and onion while Sam and Candy split some kind of 22,000 calorie dessert.
An entrance to Borough Market
After dropping our bags in our hotel, we walked to the London Eye. Some think the Eye is a tourist attraction, but we all know it was an antenna used to attack the Earth by aliens whose plot was thwarted by Dr. Who.
The London EyeA view of London from the EyeAnother view of London from the Eye, including Big Ben, Parliament, and Whitehall.
After visiting the Eye, we stopped for dinner at the Sherlock Holmes pub. This pub features a room made to look like Holme’s study as described in the various stories. We ate traditional pub fare. The kids had their first (to my knowledge) hard cider.
We economized a bit at breakfast. Since our flat had a full kitchen, we purchased some muffins, Scotch egg, and falafel at a local Sainsbury’s store to heat up in the mornings.
Sam, Tom, and Candy in front of the Tower of London
We began the next day in London with a visit to the Tower of London and the Crown Jewels. I had seen the Crown Jewels over 30 years ago. The exhibit is MUCH more interesting and well displayed now. There is a bit of multimedia, but mostly the jewels and regalia are displayed nicely spaced, and they control access, so you can really see everything.
A handsome dude in front of the building housing the crown jewels.
We took in the crown jewels first thing, before the crowds formed. Then we latched onto a guided tour by one of the yeoman warders.
Our "Beefeater"
The Beefeater was very entertaining, and did a nice job of explaining elements of the Tower’s storied past.
My little Barbie at Harrods
After leaving the Tower we met my friend Simon and headed off to Knightsbridge. Candy, Sam, and Tom needed to see a “shopping palace,” like Harrods, which is in Knightsbridge. Before going into Harrods we stopped to have an old time photo taken. We spent about 45 minutes walking around Harrods. Then Simon took us to a pub, called the Grenadier, which we never would have found on our own. It was at one time the Mess of the Duke of Wellington. We then walked around Hyde Park for an hour or so and took a double-decker bus to Covent Garden.
Inside the Covent Garden market
There we met Simon’s football buddy for a light snack. We parted ways, so that Simon and his buddy could get to the ballet, and we walked around Covent Garden. While doing so, we ran into Julie Horton, who is Tommy’s unofficial sponsor at West Point. What a coincidence that we should run into her in a city of 5 million people 3000 miles from home.
Sam, Tom, Julie, and Candy in the Covent Garden market
After a short time shopping, we went to see showing number 26978 of The Mousetrap, the longest running play in history. This is an Agatha Christie story. I have seen it any times, but I wanted the family to see it. The kids, whose only theater experience is in high school productions, only went to humor me and thought they would be bored, but everyone enjoyed the play — and no one guessed whodunnit.
The Mousetrap
The next morning began with a tour of Buckingham Palace. The tour was quite good, and we all learned a great deal. It is self guided, but the audio guide is very easy to use and is informative.
The rear of Buckingham Palace
The tour exits into the palace garden — and a gift shop.
The "garden" at Buckingham Palace
Our next stop was to Baker Street to see the Sherlock Holmes museum. I have read all the Conan Doyle stories and enjoyed them. The “museum” is essentially a building made to look like Holmes’ and Watson’s quarters as described in the stories. It also has a nice gift shop.
Holme's studySamlock Holmes -- elementary!Dr. Tom Watson stupefied by Holme's deductions...... while Candy consorts with Dr. Moriarty
At this point we split up. Everyone wanted to see the Cabinet War Rooms, but I had just seen them a year ago. I wanted to see the National Army Museum, which was under renovation last time I was in London, and I hadn’t seen in 30 years. The family enjoyed the War Rooms; however, I was strongly disappointed in the National Army Museum.
Weapons displayed at the National Army Museum
Last time I was there, I found this museum to have more history and artifacts than the Imperial War Museum. I learned a great deal about the evolution of the British Army. After the renovation, much of the history has been replaced by political correctness. Displays ask questions like “should Britain have an Army,” “how should POWs be treated,” “should snipers be considered war criminals?” There were displays that emphasized the “diversity” of the soldiers in the British Army, talked about how the British Army has been an instrument of subjugating foreign populaces, etc. I don’t need more PC BS. I went there to learn history, and I was sorely disappointed. It is even worse than the military section of Smithsonian! If you have a chance, give this one a pass.
Churchill tank in the National Army Museum
Even this cool WWII tank simulator was broken. It was a very disappointing visit.
I linked back up with the family at Picadilly Circus for a leisurely walk up Regent Street and back to look at overpriced clothing. The high point along Regent Street for me is Hamley’s toy store, which makes FAO Schwartz look like a dimestore.
We were able to meet the queen at Hamley's
From Regent Street we took a combination of tube and walking to get to Ivory House at St. Catherine’s Docks for a mediaeval feast.
Awaiting dinner...Candy makes friends with horse-head woman
Between courses, we were entertained by singing, juggling, acrobatics, and swordplay.
A balancing act during our feast
Everyone felt that the feast was a little underwhelming. I enjoyed the food quite a bit. The food here is mostly familiar, but often has an interesting twist that I quite like. The food was served family style at ten-person tables. We had an interesting charcuterie tray, broccoli soup, and roasted check.
A short but very intense sword battle...
On the walk back to the hotel we passed the Tower lit up at night.
The Tower of London at night
Our final morning in London we checked out of our hotel and got on the water bus to Greenwich.
Sam and Candy on the water busThe Greenwich ObservatorySam, some handsome guy, and Tom standing in two time zones with both feet on either side of the prime meridian
On our return from Greenwich we walked across Tower Bridge and back to our hotel.
We grabbed our bags from the hotel, tubed it to Paddington Station, took a train to Reading, and hired a car. My adventure driving on the wrong side of road began in stressful way with navigatrix Candy sending me the wrong way down a one-way street during rush hour. The car we hired form Enterprise was a Ford Kuga. At the rental office we thought they were saying “cougar” with a British accent.
Half way to Swindon for the night we had a puncture (flat tire) along the motorway (interstate) and had to have the automobile club tow us off the highway and replace the tire. We eventually made it to our hotel in Swindon, ate dinner in a nice pub, and got to bed about 2330.
The game begins with the Americans deciding to shift their forces and mass on their left.
Last night at our club, I ran a Combat Patrol(TM): WWII South Pacific game using the rules from the soon-to-be-released supplement. It was a chance for a final play test of some of the rules before the release of the supplement in a couple of weeks. In particular, I wanted to test the vehicle-mounted flamethrower rules.
In this scenario, the Japanese held a string of bunkers in a jungle area. A U.S. Army platoon with a man-pack flamethrower and a Stuart flamethrower tank attacked to seize as many of the three bunkers as possible. The Japanese had a slightly under-strength platoon with an attached anti-tank gun and a medium machine-gun. They also occupied three bunkers and two sand-bagged emplacements.
Seeing that the Americans were shifting, a team of Japanese advances to outflank the American attack.
The Americans wisely decided that they should mass on one flank or the other, rather than attacking on a broad front. This left the Japanese anti-tank gun with few targets during the game. They might have gotten off a shot later in the game as the Americans advanced across the open area, but by then the Stuart had been knocked out.
After a bit of a slow movement, the Americans reached the edge of the jungle and prepared to advance across the open ground to the Japanese bunkers.
The Americans reached the edge of the jungle and were preparing to dash across an open area toward one of the Japanese positions. The first unit at the edge of the wood line was an American .30 cal machine-gun team, but before they could get it set up, they began taking effective fire from Japanese infantrymen in their right-most bunker.
The American machine-gun team was knocked out by rifle fire from one of the Japanese bunkers.A bunker at the edge of the jungle. I don't have any log bunkers yet, so I had to use these ETO-looking ones.
Seeing that they were being flanked, another Japanese team advanced from their original positions into a small jungle area in the middle of the table.
A Japanese team advances to interfere with the American attack. The sandbagged position protects the Japanese medium machine-gun team.
At this point the Stuart reached the edge of the wood line and fired on the Japanese machine-gun team in the sandbagged position. This was extreme range for the flamethrower. Two members of the machine-gun crew were killed in this attack.
The Japanese infantry team that advanced in the previous picture was equipped with a lunge mine. The South Pacific supplement includes a rule for Japanese suicide anti-tank attacks. The soldier with the lunge mine and another solider charged out and attacked the Stuart. The attack was successful. The player drew a card to determine where the tank was hit (the side of the hull) and the amount of penetration. Receiving a penetrating hit, the Japanese drew one more card to determine if the vehicle brewed up. It did. So after just one shot, the flame thrower tank was knocked out. Because this was an intentional suicide anti-tank attack, the Japanese figure became incapacitated immediately, but his unit did not accrue a morale marker.
The Stuart is knocked out by a lunge-mine suicide attack.
As the flamethrower tank was their most important weapon for reducing the Japanese-held bunkers, things began to look grim for the Americans. Fortunately they still had a man-packed flamethrower and some hand grenades.
Teams of American infantry advance.The Japanese in the right-most bunker with the roof removed. This was the focus of the American assault.The center of the table became a fur ball.
The remaining member of the machine-gun team fired a few shot before running out of ammunition. Although the Stuart was knocked out early, the fact that it suppressed the machine-gun team enabled the Americans to cross the open area with few casualties. The remaining member of the machine-gun team put up a good fight for a couple of activations, but eventually the Americans incapacitated him and moved past this position to get behind a Japanese bunker.
A closeup look at two Japanese in a small sand-bagged emplacement
About this time the Japanese realized they were out of position and needed to close with the Americans to slow their advance and keep them away from the bunkers. They declared a Banzai charge. In Combat Patrol(TM), there is a nice balance in Banzai charges so that they are interesting and effective without being too powerful. Once the charge begins, the Japanese draw two action cards for movement rather than one, giving them much greater speed; however, they do not receive any benefit of cover. The charge continues until a card is drawn from the Activation deck ending it. This could occur in the next turn or several turns later. The Japanese accrue morale markers, but they do not resolve them until the Banzai charge ends. In this game, the card ending the charge was drawn as the first card of the next turn, ending the charge earlier than expected. Still, it had the desired effect: the Japanese had closed with the Americans and slowed their advance on the bunkers.
In the meantime, the man-packed flamethrower advanced on the rightmost Japanese bunker, but when his team was taken under small arms fire, the operator was incapacitated. The Americans then made an attempt to drop a grenade into the bunker, but failed.
After overrunning the Japanese machine gunner, the Americans swarmed past this position and prepared to get behind two of the enemy bunkers.
At this point it was getting late, and the American attack had been spent. I declared the game a Japanese victory. It was a very fun scenario, and all agreed we need to try it again soon.
Some months ago I succumbed to the lure of this really cool MDF air ship kit. I have been staring at the stack of MDF, cardboard, and other bits for months. Finally last weekend my daughter and I began to assemble it. During the week we began to paint the various sub assemblies. While I was gone for two days on business she completed the final assembly. Storage problems aside, this is a very nice kit and will make for some very fun Pulp and VSF games.
A view of the bridge through the front wind screen
I staged a bunch of my Pulp figures on the air ship to shoot some photos.
The action toward the bow of the airship
The airship kit was from Rusti at Crossover Miniatures: http://crossoverminiatures.com
A slightly longer shot from the bow
This airship is in five sections: the bow, a passenger section, a cargo section, a stern section, and cone to finish the stern.
The bridge from inside the airship
She Wolves charge across a gangwayA view into the cargo area from the stern
Cub Scouts defend the stern of the airship
You can see some alligator clips holding sections together. The kit comes with mount points for magnets. I have to purchase some and glue them to the ship, but for now, I’m using alligator clips.
German zeppelin troopers advance into the passenger areaBad guys involved in nefarious activities in the dining room
The state roomsAmerican rocket troops defend the airship from Germans on pterodactylsThe clear plastic disks to suggest a spinning propeller came with the kitA final look
I think this will make a great centerpiece for a series of Pulp or VSF games.
My daughter did a terrific job with final assembly. I am anxious to get it into a game soon.
I have been working for over a month to complete a batch of Retreat from Moscow figures. These were a Christmas present two Christmases ago. They took a very long time to paint, because each one was a different, so I couldn’t really paint them by assembly line. I think they came out nicely. What do you think?
The figure of New in the center foreground was a free giveaway figure at Historicon some years back.
We should see these in a Combat Patrol(TM) Napoleonic game soon…
I created the snow effect by covering the bases with a coarse medium gel.
I coated the bases with this coarse pumice gel, which dried in a gray color.This is what the bases looked like after the coarse pumice medium gel was applied.Once the gel dried, I then dry brushed the bases with white and applied some winter grass tufts.
A downed pilot captured by two members of the Home Guard
I recently completed building a downed German fighter plane for a WWII skirmish game. The plane was a cheap ($13) snap together kit meant for kids, but it was 1:48 scale. The crew and the Home Guardsmen are Foundry.
A view of the wrecked plane, including the wings that have ripped off.
Rather than a single, large base, I decided to make the plan on three smaller bases.
I completed the South Pacific master cards today. These are for the South Pacific supplement to Combat Patrol(TM). I have sent them to DriveThru to do their magic to make the cards ready to print. At that time, I’ll send the revised masters to Sally 4th to get ready to print them in the UK. Soon afterward players will be able to purchase the cards from either DriveThru or Sally 4th. I have one more item to play test in the South Pacific supplement, vehicle-mounted flame throwers, and then it will be ready to go.
Why is there another set of cards? The vast majority of the rules are unchanged. There are a few new items in the free supplement, like Banzai charges, infiltration tactics, incapacitated Japanese lying on armed grenades, and die-in-place missions. This supplement is for the South Pacific, which had a very different tenor than other parts of the Pacific. One thing that came out in play testing is that the normal morale rules don’t seem very “Japanese.” These new decks have more unit-level morale results and fewer individual-level results. In play tests people felt that the new morale results seemed to represent Japanese behavior better.
There is a table in the supplement that can be used to cross index the card serial number from the 10 original Action Decks to find the Japanese morale result. I figured that people would get tired of that after a while, so there will be two new Action Decks just for Japanese units. You don’t NEED the new decks, but they will make life better if you play games set in the South Pacific. So the decks are finally done and ready to go to print. That should happen before the end of the month.
Geoff, Chris, Don, and Eric, HAWKs who won awards at Historicon 2017
We had four HAWKs win awards at Historicon 2017. Geoff won an award for this Lego pirate game for kids. Chris Johnson won an award for his American Civil War game for kids. Don won an award for his Battleground WWII game on our French village table. Eric won an award for his American Civil War game for kids.
