Mountfitchet Castle

Yesterday, we decided to take the kids to Mountfitchet Castle near Stansted in Essex. I had never heard of this historic monument until Saturday, so when my better half suggested we go visit, I jumped at the chance. It is only just down the road from our new home, so it is most likely going to be a well-visited site over the coming years. We were a little worried about the weather when we set out, but it turned out to be gloriously bright and sunny (if a little cold) and made for a grand day out.

The site comprises of a reconstruction of the castle as it may have been in around 1066 when William the Conqueror invaded, as well as a toy museum and haunted house to keep everyone busy. The main reason I wanted to go was for the castle reconstruction, but the kids loved it too, as well as all the other attractions.

The plan, found at the entrance, is not fully accurate to what lies within, but is near enough and gives an idea of what can be found within the bounds of the perimeter walls. We explored pretty much every part of the site that we could (although a little too quickly for my liking) and I managed to grab a ton of photos to use as source material (as well as picking up their little guide book as a keep sake).

I wasn't sure what to display here on the blog as a memento of my visit, as I have so many photos to choose from, so thought I would shine a light on some of the more grand stuff...

On the way up the hill from the visitor centre is the pallisade wall and a variety of watchtowers...

The most spectacular building was the Grand Hall where Robert Gernon, Duke of Boulogne, ruled his barony from...

And on the inside we can see that Norman residences were far from dingy and plain; starting with the banqueting hall...

...and the lord's chambers...

Most medieval professions are represented within the wooden walls of the fortress, but I thought that the blacksmith's was the most impressive building after the grand hall...

I took other photos of this building, but this one really shows how impressive medieval construction was. I really like the way that the roof is slatted/tiled with wooden planks, thatched and then topped off with more wooden slatting. The "dragon" decoration (head at the front of the building, tail at the back) really set things off for me.

What I found especially interesting about most of the buildings was the way they were finished and then allowed to age. The site has been standing for around 35 years and from what I can see, left to the elements. The white-washed buildings have begun to discolour, with many walls turning greyish, and the woodwork has aged especially, and faded to a light grey/sandy brown colour (like most aged wood). This made me wonder how often the Normans would have replaced the wood, and whether wood weakened with age and perhaps the weathering made things more brittle. This is something I will need to look into another day.

I would recommend a visit to this reconstructed motte and bailey timber castle if you are interested in history in action. Our visit was only a very brief one, with only a couple of hours actually looking at the site - the rest of the day was spent in the various haunted houses and the toy museum. Next time, I can spend a lot more of my day exploring each of the buildings in turn in a lot more detail.

Mountfitchet Castle, Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex CM24 8SP  England
Note: Sat Nav - use the postcode CM24 8LY

Norman Army III

Just a quick update for today. I managed to get a spare half-hour this morning and put a little more paint onto the Norman spearmen. I got all of the men-at-arms to the same stage - their armour and over-garments have now been completed...

I am aware that showing each stage of painting is probably a little boring for readers, but I am using it as an aide de memoir as to how I painted these troops. With the next units, I will not be showing every stage, just the most important/different ones from these.

I will also list the paints used once these are completed so I have a permanent reminder of which colours I used and in which order I applied them. That way, when/if these units are ever added to to make up numbers for a particular rules set, then the menu is already here for ease of reference.

I will be taking a break from painting these for a week or two now as the kids are away but I may try to get on with something else gaming wise. I have been invited to join a D&D online game - I have created my account, and now I am working through the rest of the emails I have been sent to get fully set up in order to play in the next week or two. I will try to keep you updated on how this all works.

Norman Army II

Well, I was true to my word and managed to get an hour's worth of painting in today whilst I had the light. I put three more colours onto the Normans, which has brought them to life quite a bit now. Littlun is very pleased with the results so far and is already relishing getting them into action on the gaming table.

The second "colour" to go on was a dark flesh, This really tested my eyesight; I was trying to paint onto a black canvas, where my eyes could hardly make out any detail. I think I have gone over the lines a few times here but, again, I will try to tidy as I go along with each successive layer...

These photos are a little harsher in contrast today as I decided to use the flash on my phone camera as yesterday's photos were quite dark and not a lot of detail could be made out. My main camera is put away somewhere around the house and I no longer have any form of permanent set-up for photo taking, so I am reduced to camera phone snap shots for a while.

The third colour really started to bring the figures to life and will be the colour that ties all of the men-at-arms in this small army together...

Finally, for today anyway, I painted the leg wear...

Not a bad bit of work looking back at it - about 4 hours in total so far (glueing, undercoating and 4 stages of colour on one unit).

I am not sure what games system these will be used for yet, but he can decide what he wants to play as and when the army is completed (and hopefully some baddies to go up against).

A (fantasy) Norman Army

This year, so far, has seen very little time for me to get any work done on my gaming hobby. I have managed to play a few games of D&D 5e, which I have thoroughly enjoyed, but I have just been so busy that anything miniatures-wise has been firmly put on the back-burner...Until now!

I have only had one day off so far this year, and the current pandemic has seen me busier than ever with work (even though working from home), so I am feeling very tired and in need of a bit of a break. Luckily, I had booked up a few days off for the Easter period to look after the kids and today was the first of them.

I got a few errands and odd jobs out of the way this morning and then asked the kids what they wanted to do today (bearing in mind we are in locked down and cannot go to the park etc. for recreational purposes in groups of more than two). The girls just wanted to carry on doing what they were already doing - some internet You-Tube type stuff and some baking, my eldest said he was happy on his X-box, but my youngest, however, said he wanted me to stick the heads and arms on his Norman soldiers!

So, that is exactly what I did...

As luck would have it, he had enough pieces to make up 6 spearmen, 6 swordsmen, 6 cavalry (including their leader and banner bearer), 4 archers and what he calls a berserker with a two-handed Dane-axe. They were promptly glued up and left to dry whilst I hunted down my sprays, paints and brushes in the garage.

After the glue had had time to dry, it was the turn of the black spray undercoat. It was such a lovely day outside it would have been a shame to waste it by not getting this stage completed too...

Whilst I was doing the spraying, I asked littlun if he had any more Normans we could spray. After a quick rummage through his figures collection he found a dead Norman Knight on his dead charger, so we added that to the army too.

I had, by now, got into the groove and wanted to get started on some painting. We spoke about it and he said he wanted me to start them off for him and he might do his old Ebay LotR orc miniatures in between times. So, I got out the metal paint and did the first bit of brushwork I have done in a long time. It took a while to get my eye in (my eyesight has deteriorated even more since I last painted a figure), but I only went over the lines a few times (this can be tidied up at a later stage)...

When I asked him which unit he wanted done first, he decided upon the spearmen. I have only got the one "colour" on so far, but I am hoping to do a few more tomorrow to bring the miniatures a little more to life. Once these are done, I am hoping to get him to work on his first unit of 6 orcs. Unfortunately, the kids are only with me for one more day until they go to their mum's (with joint custody, we are allowed to take the kids between households according to the governmental guidelines). When they get back in a couple of weeks' time, I will finish these off with him.

Hopefully, there will be another update tomorrow with our progress on the Norman spearmen.

Pevensey Castle

Pevensey Castle - Wednesday 12th April 2017

As it was the school holidays I decided to take some of the kids to an English Heritage site for a day out. As I am a member the entry fee is not charged and it is therefore a reasonably cheap day out (we took our own picnic lunch to save a few quid too). As I had not been there for at least 25 years and the fortification had been mentioned on a couple of TV programmes recently I decided it might be a good bet.

As we have been talking a lot about the Roman and 1066 Norman invasions at home recently, I thought that a trip to this particular castle was rather apt. The kids have been to Bayeux, Battle Abbey on several occasions (even watching the annual re-enactment a few times), and Hastings, but the only major place left for them to visit on William's tour of duty was Pevensey.

It was a rather bleak morning but the sun did pop out from behind the clouds on occasion to brighten things up a little bit. It is a rather small site still, but there is a very small museum on site now which wasn't there the last time I visited. It took us about an hour and a half to wander round and see all the sights, just long enough that something could be learned without the little ones getting too bored.

Other than one "modernised" walkway, none of the walls or towers can be climbed any more. The last time I was there I was able to get into some of the towers and sit in the arrow slits to enjoy some of the views that many a Norman soldier must have done. It didn't really detract from my enjoyment but it may do for some who are more adventurous (read: without worrying about kids taking a tumble).

The castle has seen quite a bit of action throughout its life as a Roman fortress, Saxon fortified village and Norman castle. There are four recorded sieges and it was also modified with gun emplacements to help fight against the Spanish and the French several centuries later, as well as a pill-box looking emplacement for World War Two use. The bay in which the castle stands has been drained over the years for land reclamation, so rather than seeing green fields, the Roman and Norman forces would have seen the sea and lots of coastal marshland.

In all, it was a good morning out. The kids enjoyed themselves and hopefully learned a few things. I recommend the castle for a morning or afternoon visit if you are ever in the area, perhaps alongside a trip to Battle Abbey and Hastings Castle? It was also useful for thinking about castle usage from a gaming perspective. I bought the guide book whilst there, but have not got around to giving it a good read yet, but I daresay I can glean lots of great information from it.

40 Knights in 40 Days (Part 4)

Here is the final conroi of Norman Knights.

I have decided to present them a different way around this week - the group shots before the individual shots this time.

Command group...

Norman knights group...

Robert Dux...

 Miniature from Conquest Games

Banner Bearer...

 Miniature from Conquest Games

Musician...

 Miniature from Conquest Games

Champion...

 Miniature from Conquest Games

Norman knights done as crusaders to join their duke on his pilgrimage...

 Miniature from Crusader Miniatures

 Miniature from Gripping Beast

Norman knights...

 Miniature from Conquest Games

 Miniature from Conquest Games

 Miniature from Conquest Games

 Miniature from Conquest Games

That is all of the Normans I have painted for now. As mentioned previously, I may buy another few sets from Crusader Miniatures to fill out the gaps in the first two conrois and then make a start on the infantry to support their lords.

I have also just sorted out a bunch of old Citadel Hobgoblins. I have managed to base and undercoat them so far. Hopefully I should get them up on the blog in the next week or so. I am not sure what to go for after them though. I have nearly finished my old school lead pile (maybe 70-80 to go?), so I may continue with either the eastern looking Hobgoblins, the Night Goblins or my Asgard Dwarfs. Decisions, decisions. I also have hundreds of Games Workshop's Lord of the Rings minis, about twice as many more 15mm medieval stuff, and some few dozen Romans and Celts still to sort out as well as a couple of boxes each of Gripping Beast's Anglo-Saxons and Vikings too, so maybe I will get a move on with some of those too.

40 Knights in 40 Days (Part 3)

The third conroi of Norman cavalry to be painted I have designated as actual knights - most have individual designs on their shields to show their identity on the battle field. A few have the same shield design to show that they are a part of the same conroi or household but the rest have their own 'arms'. This is to show a high ranking Norman noble with his retainers and those knights who owe him military service in return for the granting of lands.


First up is the commander...

 Miniature from Crusader Miniatures

Banner Bearer...

 Miniature from Crusader Miniatures

Musician...

 Miniature from Crusader Miniatures

Champion...

 Miniature from Gripping Beast

Norman Knights...

 Miniature from Perry Miniatures

 Miniature by Perry Miniatures

 Miniature by Conquest Games

 Miniature from Conquest Games

 Miniature from Conquest Games

 Miniature from Conquest Games

Norman Knights Command...

Norman Knights...

I was thinking of alternative uses for these knights and decided I may use them as French knights. The leader I have named the baron Simon de Cahors - the reason I chose Cahors is because I spent many fine summer holidays down in that part of France when I was younger. I used to stay in a gorgeous chateau in the small village of Le Boulve, so decided that this area should be the prime target for my attention with these Norman knights. I painted the banner and decided upon the baron's shield design before I had done any investigative work on the medieval period for Cahors. Luckily, it turned out that the colours for Cahors are the same blue and white I have used but are presented as a horizontally split banner rather than the zig-zag design I went for - maybe if I get the foot troops sorted I can use the horizontally split design for their shields to tie them all in to a coherent whole?

Just one more conroi to complete next week. Again, they are knights and will be designated as part of a fictitious duke's household ready for crusade. I think my main leader will be the baron as he is a good charcter to build an army around for a variety of rules sets. The duke and a few of his retainers could be cut out from the main army to build the numbers for the baron's troops for when he goes to war against his enemies, and the duke can be reintroduced for larger games.