Showing posts with label Militaria. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Militaria. Show all posts

Sunday, 21 August 2022

Downtime on Holiday

I've been away for a couple of weeks so today's video is more of an apology for not having a scripted subject to talk about...but I'm feeling very rested and ready to get stuck into my hobby again so taking time out from my usual schedule hasn't been all bad. 


I'll probably talk more about the holiday in a later video but in the meantime here is a small taste of the excellent museums I had a chance to visit. 

Staffordshire Regiment Museum

Recreated trenches at the Staffordshire Regiment Museum

Model of the AZW battle of Ulundi using hundreds of flats

Whitby Abby

We watched a performance of Dracula with the abbey as its backdrop

Bolton Castle

The castle had a Wars of the Roses themed living history display taking place

This guy brought some equipment from the Armouries at Leeds 

The Castle Museum at York

Victorian shopfronts included this toyshop

...and this Apothecary

The York Army Museum

A WWI Cavalryman charges between the exhibits

Leeds Armouries

A reenactor describes the Battle of Bosworth

The Agincourt Diorama

The Agincourt diorama

A Wars of the Roses bowman

Ripon Cathedral

Inside Ripon Cathedral

The Jorvik Viking Centre in York

Jorvik Viking Centre

As usual, I took hundreds of pictures and many still need to be correctly labelled which will keep me busy for a few days.

Sunday, 25 April 2021

Getting out of the Bunker

Last weekend I was able to get out of the Operations Room and escape the Bunker for the first time in months (aside from work) and visited the Chatham Militaria Fair. I'm not a big collector - my pockets aren't that deep - but these are great places to see historical artefacts up close. And if you're budget extends that far, you may even come away with a souvenir for your gaming room or man-cave. 




Hopefully, this will be the first of many varied trips out as the year progresses and things open up a bit more. I'm still hopeful that some of the larger hobby shows will still take place as planned in the second half of the year and in just a few weeks time most Museums will be reopening. The Quarantined Wargamer will be quarantined no more, although I fully expect to have to remain cautious (keep hand washing, social distancing and wearing a mask) but it's a small price to pay for being able to get out of the house. 

Sunday, 1 November 2020

Museums are worth their weight in reference books

It won't come as much surprise to regular readers to hear that I enjoy visiting a museum or two. In normal (pre-covid) times I'll be found visiting museums at weekends and of course on holidays. The reason I enjoy them so much is that I think they are an often-overlooked resource to the wargamer and miniatures painter. In this internet-enabled age of Google and Wikipedia, we tend to think that everything is available at the click of a button. But Museums offer so much more to the history buff and being centres of expertise in their field they often have items on display that just don't feature elsewhere. 


It does seem a little counter-intuitive extolling the virtues of museums at a time when many of us can't visit them, but they need our support if we want them to continue into the post-covid future. They have a lot to offer the Miniature Painter and Wargamer as well as the amateur historian and academics alike. Its probably not difficult to see from this video that I have my favourite museums, but what are yours? Which collections do you find yourself visiting over and over again, and what items have helped and inspired you in your wargaming?  

I hope you found this interesting and, as usual, I'd ask that if you enjoyed the video please hit the 'Like' button and consider subscribing to the channel. 

Tuesday, 28 August 2018

Military Odyssey 2018

I usually have a range of choices for Living History events that I can go to each year. I never make it to all of them and as I drag my family along with me we try to vary which events we attend from one year to the next. This year I have missed all the usual events over the summer (including the War and Peace Revival show) so this weekend we decided that come-what-may we would go to the Odyssey show. Its been a couple of years since I last attended Odyssey and I'm glad we made the effort. The show is a multi-period event with groups depicting everything from ancient Greeks, medieval knights, English and American Civil Wars, WWI and WWII and even some later conflicts such as Vietnam. As always I went a little snap-happy with the camera but here is a small selection that you may find interesting.

A row of American Half Tracks

A Vietnam era Huey

A display showing of the work of RE Bomb Disposal in WWII

The 1942 Steyr Staff Car of General Hans-Jurgen van Arnim, captured by the British when the Germans trapped in Tunis surrendered in 1943. 

British 25pdr gun 
Members of the "Diehards" reenactment group depicting Zulu war era Artillery...



...and Infantry

Collection of materials collected from Alemein including the remains of a German Teller Mine. 

A Form V3000 truck - Many these saw service in the German army and were considered very reliable and sturdy, 

An SAS desert adapted Jeep

An ACW Parrot Gun being fired

A Soviet “Katyusha” rocket launchers in an Eastern Front reenactment battle

A Russian T34 carrying infantry into battle.

Dismounted Russian infatry attack a German position

Looks like the Russians have won

Later in the day an American Civil War reenactment takes place featuring five confederate artillery pieces

Union infantry advance on the Confederate position

Remote control tanks. That Tiger I weighs over a quarter of a Ton and would set you back a cool ten grand! 

Last battle of the day, a WWII action featuring loads of vehicles and about 200 reenactors

The charge of Bren Carriers and infantry was quite impressive! 

I view these displays as a form of open air museum where (if you ask nicely) the curator will let you handle the artefacts. Over the years I consider myself privileged to have seen original leaflets dropped by the Germans on the British at Dunkirk; handled a deactivated mine found at Alamein; felt the weight of a British Piat used at Arnhem; held a helmet worn by an american trooper that landed on D-Day; and even sat in one of Montgomery's Staff Cars. These items create a tangible link to historical events that fire the imagination and just can't be replicated in a regular museum. 

Saturday, 6 August 2016

Military & Flying Machines at Damyns Hall

Today I went to a local Living History event at the Damyn's Hall Aerodrome in Rainham. I've been here before and the show seems to be going from strength to strength. This year there was a good selection of military vehicles on display, plenty of small re-enactment groups and a reasonably good battle at the end. Unfortunately there was no air show element to this years show - an almost inevitable result of changes to the rules and the costs (mostly to do with insurance issues I understand) for these events following the Shoreham air crash last year.

A 1943 Fordson WOT2 RAF Radar Truck

Me beside a replica MkIV Spitfire

Inside the model makers tent...I lingered here quite a while discussing painting and admiring the work on show.  I also bough some weathering inks from a guy who couldn't believe I was planning on using them on 1/300th scale vehicles! 

It wasn't all about WWII. This was part of a display of  replica medieval canons

And a Mongol archer. This guy was very interesting and potentially pretty deadly with the bow.

A very nicely preserved Sherman that featured in the battle reenactment

A Replica Stug III that is seen at a lot of these events. 

A British Bren Gun Carrier

A Kettenkrad and a Kubelwagon

The Kettenkrad was a particularly nice restoration and in full working order.

The Battle reenactmebnt featured some loud bangs...good stuff

The long grass and the low profile of the Stug make this a difficult enemy to spot by anti-tank guns

Another good show, although it is a pity about the lack of flying aircraft this year.