2023. Part two

It occurs to me that 2023 slowed down considerably in the second half of the year. Not so much to report, but here goes…….

July proved to be very interesting as I had a chance to travel down the River Medway in Kent on an excursion hosted by the splendid Mr Barry Hilton. We followed the course of the Dutch fleet in 1667 as it proceeded up river to mangle numerous English warships. A remarkable feat of seamanship……of the Dutch that is. Us, not so much. The day was rounded off with beers and pizza. It was a wonderful day out. I remembered to take my monocular on the trip, which was very handy, but forgot to take piccies!

Also in July I managed to finish a brigade of shiny 30 ACW Confederates. All my own work except the Perry mounted officers.

.August kicked off with a visit to the Muckleburgh Military Collection here. Not my first visit, but always worth a third or fourth look. And my mate Henry hosted an 18thC game in his Loftwaffe (my second visit this year – it would be great to do the same next year, but H doesn’t have the luxury of being retired).

I think I rounded off August with a visit to another mate’s loft in Framlingham. As always, Tim H laid out a beautiful game, this time a game of What a Cowboy. His neighbour, Andy, was a splendid third. It’s a good set of rules which provided a lots of fun and great narrative. No piccies though……

At some point in August/September I managed to finish a 30mm shiny Union brigade. I don’t even remember doing it.

Followed by an ‘almost’ regiment of Spencer Smith Louisiana Tigers.

I spent a wonderful week walking the Northumberland coast with my mate Little Dave and his wife, Yvette. While up there, Andy (the annoying one who keeps on at me to update the blog) and his better half met us for drinks one evening. A very pleasant surprise.

The Northumberland coast is of course Castle Alley……..

In Berwick Barracks, the army museum (an absolute must see) has the most amazing diorama of a late 18thC infantry battalion using 25mm figures. It’s so well done, there’s even a mirror behind the line of figures so you can get an all round impression of what a battalion looked like when drawn up.

I believe the figures are still available here (best check they’re the right ones though).

In October Mr P (Pemps) hosted several games over a couple of days. Tim H joined us for yet another game of What a Cowboy. And, of course……..no piccies. Also did a weekend visit to Deal down in Kent. Deal Castle and Walmer Caste are well worth a visit if you’re in the area.

Is it November already? A weekend’s gaming at the East Ayton Lodge Hotel. Such fun. 28mm Dark Ages hosted by the brilliant Paul B and two DBN games put on by Alex…..all so very impressive.

And finally, in December I returned to the National Army Museum at Chelsea with a bunch of friends who either had never been there or hadn’t visited for several decades. They were very impressed and they all said they’d return. I gave the museum a bit of a slagging when I visited just after the reopening. I’m happy to say that it’s much improved. Better, but still not entirely satisfactory, captioning…..and they’ve ditched that awful ‘Army and the Media’ exhibition (which I’m told was only temporary – but it was there for years I’m sure).

Anyway, that was my year….in potted format. There’s quite a bit left out due to rubbish memory – I keep forgetting to take photographs. At this precise moment in time I intend to do another post presenting my plan for 2024 – we shall see how that turns out!

Happy new year!