ALY MORRISON'S "BUTTERFLY" ADVENTURES IN THE WORLD OF WARGAMES AND TOY SOLDIERS

Wednesday 16 October 2024

Another Visit to Edinburgh…

Greetings…

I didn’t go to The Other Partizan this year…

Because I went to Edinburgh… 

It has been quite a while since I’ve been there…

https://alystoysoldiers.blogspot.com/search/label/Edinburgh%20Castle

This time I went with my friend Chris and his mother Joyce… Chris had invited me to join them and be their guide.

They were both over in the U.K. to attend the annual Games Workshop 10 Years Veterans dinner dance and wanted to visit Auld Reeky, 

Joyce had been there many years before and it was Chris’s first visit….



We traveled up by train on the Sunday and ended our journey in a rather splendid hotel… The Scotsman.

Next day we headed out on our adventures… Mostly in and around the Castle.

Yes… That is Scotland… Yes… That is a blue sky.

The weather was fantastic…




Views from the Castle Esplanade…


Since my last visit they have introduced a pre booking system… Which seemed to be designed to create queues…


St Margaret’s Chapel… 




 More beautiful views…



Boom… Boom… 


This is the Scottish National War Memorial…


This is where the Crown Jewels are kept…






Inside the Great Hall











Exhibits in the museums… 




Military rations… 








The Prisons of War exhibition….



Out from the museums and into the castle grounds again…
I think the One O’Clock gun is having a snooze…

By the time we had seen all we wanted to see it was late afternoon so we headed down the Royal Mile to the Deacon Brodies Tavern for delicious pies and beer…





Then it was back to the Scotsman…
 
I was actually quite surprised by how much time we had spent in the castle… Clearly time flies when you are enjoying yourself…

This was a genuine flying visit… Chris and Joyce were heading to London the next day and then back home to the States…And I was heading to Nottingham…It was a fantastic weekend and I am delighted that they invited me along.

Thank you Chris….

All the best.  Aly








Saturday 12 October 2024

From My Side of the Table… Another Game of Lion Rampant.

Greetings…

The other week Matt, Israel, Alessandro and myself got together for another game of Lion Rampant using our Wars of the Roses toys…

In true period style we swapped sides around…

Alessandro (Somerset) and myself (De La Pole) v’s Matt (Tudor) and Israel (Bouchier)

The scenario was very like a treasure hunt/rescue… Three travellers were wandering the table all with useful information in their possession… whoever “rescued “ the most was the winning side.

Two of our Wanderers… There is also a Merchant/Trader but he had already scuttled off…

The Wanderers moved randomly… When a unit made contact with them they could run away, come with them, come with them but slow you down or cause them to change sides…

We kept things as simple as possible 😁


Our brave boys prepare for battle and a bit of  “rescuing “…

That’s the Trader keenly headed towards us…



Gratuitous images of my brave fellows… Well it is called From “My” Side of the Table 😁.


Okay…. Here are the villains…
There is not a lot of moving going on here… The Gods of Dice did not favour Israel and Matt on this adventure…


Israel builds a wall of green dice in an attempt to keep me away… The Wanderers decide to move away from us… Except for Brother Drinkwell who falls over the hedge…


Israel and Matt… Still not moving much…




Brother Drinkwell knows which side has the best wine cellars and joins us with gusto…


The Trader ponders his next move…The Young Lady has headed off  in the direction of the Tudors (Matt).


Off camera there has been a lot of action…With Israel coming of worst and losing a lot of men…
In desperation he challenged me to a duel…
It’s a resounding draw 🤣
Unfortunately I actually met my demise shortly after this … my men carried on and sought revenge (Or more likely just didn’t care 🙄)
Israel also met his end… The good old arrow in the eye routine… A classic 🤣.


We have the Trader now… Hurrah!


Alessandro’s men get stuck into Matt’s archers while rather surprisingly the Young Lady persuades her Tudor “Rescuers” to change sides… Oh how we laughed 🤣🤣🤣.


The Trader and Brother Drinkwell head safely towards our end of the table…


The last picture… And nearly the last man… 
But not for us😁…

This was a hoot of a game… Especially considering that the scenario was knocked together in the few minutes before we started…
My dice throwing was unnaturally good… Matt wanted to know what I had done with the real Aly 🤣😈.

We were having such a good time that no one took any pictures of the out and out massacre that Isreal had to endure… He didn’t seem that enthusiastic about taking any himself for some reason.

I  would like to do something like this again but with a bit more planning… Possibly more like a treasure hunt game involving wandering characters and loot…

All the best.  Aly