Castle Aching

[Edwardian]

I tirelessly explain that, whatever Civil Servants in London may think, Yorkshire is divided into three Ridings. It's the Shire that's divided into four parts.

 

Of course, Tolkien, as he often did, used a correct term humorously, here against the self-important Hobbits; a farthing really wasn't worth very much!

[CKPR]

6 minutes ago, Caley Jim said:

Did a 20th century descendant of that chap second from the left have a little black moustache and encourage the wearing of black uniforms?

 

Oh I doubt it , we Cumbrians are very parochial, the good folk of Westmoreland even more so, and I doubt anyone from 19th century Appleby or Carlisle had any personal dealings with Austro-Hungary.

[nick_bastable]

13 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

I tirelessly explain that, whatever Civil Servants in London may think, Yorkshire is divided into three Ridings. It's the Shire that's divided into four parts.

 

Of course, Tolkien, as he often did, used a correct term humorously, here against the self-important Hobbits; a farthing really wasn't worth very much!

now I always thought Yorkshire was another country 

 

Nick B

[CKPR]

God's own count(r)y !

[ChrisN]

@Edwardian  It is no mistake that I went for ready made track.  It was a mistake that I bought dead frog points but as the time went on and my grandson was growing up, it did make the electrics much simpler.  I am supposed to know about electric circuits but the half wired layout often has some surprises for me.  I did space the sleepers out to a more realistic spacing with dummy short track sections, and one day, I may put dummy fishplates at those spots, but life is probably too short.

 

The other way would be to co-operate with another modeller, you make them some of your fantastic cardboard buildings, and they could lay and wire your track.

 

As for Hobbits, I have some dwarfs, Balin and friends, to paint, plus Tom Bombadil and Goldberry.  I know they are there, but as yet they are not on my pending list.

 

@Annie  More power to your elbow with the Hobbit Army.  My claim to fame with this is that I have two sons who can beat all comers.  It is not that they have understanding of battles, but they have understanding of gameplay.  My youngest, (er he is 31), still asks me about a Napoleonic Campaign, and can we do it online, but again, life is short and it would eat into railway modelling time.

[Annie]

26 minutes ago, ChrisN said:

 

@Annie  More power to your elbow with the Hobbit Army.  My claim to fame with this is that I have two sons who can beat all comers.  It is not that they have understanding of battles, but they have understanding of gameplay.  My youngest, (er he is 31), still asks me about a Napoleonic Campaign, and can we do it online, but again, life is short and it would eat into railway modelling time.

My own children were very keen on the Games Workshop Fantasy ruleset when they were younger and it was their influence that got me into fantasy wargaming.  Unfortunately as they got older they lost interest leaving me with several armies and no-one to play against.  I did join a local wargaming club, but it was very much a gathering of chaps who were escaping their womenfolk so I was never made to feel particularly welcome.  And then I moved away from the city to the rural countryside where there isn't a miniature wargaming club within 250 kilometres and all my armies are now packed away and I haven't looked at them for years.

 

Truth be told I was more into painting figures than being a successful general, but considering the hours my children and I spent playing fantasy wargaming it certainly wasn't time wasted by any means.

 

Edited January 2, 2021 by Annie
added a picture

[Caley Jim]

If that's you, Annie, I wouldn't DARE tease the engines!!  

Jim

[sem34090]

I may have to steal a notice like the one in Annie's signature for the Endar, Norven & Lindisfarne Railway...

Edited January 2, 2021 by sem34090

[brianusa]

1 hour ago, CKPR said:

God's own count(r)y !

What's Cornwall got to do with it?

    Brian.

[CKPR]

My wargaming days were over 40 years ago and all strictly 20th century but if I ever took it up again, I think I would be more interested in the so-called 'Colonial Era' with an army of 20mm brave chaps and fearless sepoys.

Edited January 2, 2021 by CKPR

[Annie]

3 minutes ago, sem34090 said:

I may have to steal a notice like the one in Annie's signature for the Endar, Norven & Lindisfarne Railway...

Go ahead, - be my guest.

 

1 hour ago, CKPR said:

God's own count(r)y !

A very large number of my ancestors came from Yorkshire.  Many of them worked at the Cadbury factory.

[CKPR]

Returning to track and electrics, if you were to go for commercial trackwork (electrofrog please !), you can play the pre-grouping card and indulge in some deep over the sleepers ballasting to disguise it's origins. Similarly, feel free to post the CA track plan and we'll be happy to work up the electrics (as long as it's DC !).

Edited January 2, 2021 by CKPR

[Caley Jim]

6 minutes ago, brianusa said:

What's Cornwall got to do with it?

Uhoh!  Do I detect a turf war looming?

 

Jim

[Northroader]

14 minutes ago, Annie said:

Go ahead, - be my guest.

 

A very large number of my ancestors came from Yorkshire.  Many of them worked at the Cadbury factory.

 

Cadbury? er, Rowntree??

[Annie]

11 minutes ago, Caley Jim said:

If that's you, Annie, I wouldn't DARE tease the engines!!  

Jim

Ha ha.  That really made me laugh Jim.  

 

Since we were playing house rules and weren't sticking to Games Workshops's inquisitorial standards for gameplay we could substitute any model figures we wanted for the official ones.  As a result a good many of my Wood Elf cavalry were Centaurs, - though that particular Centaur lass used to ride with my High Elf cavalry.

 

Games Workshop were absolute sticklers for using their own model figures in their official tournaments and a player could be disqualified for playing with a competitor's figures.  I showed some of my model figures to the staff at the Auckland city store forgetting that there was a rather lovely Ral Partha Elf warrior figure amongst them and they just about immediately backed away with cries of alarm and cast holy water at me.

They did eventually forgive me though when I took in some of my collection of very early Games Workshop model figures from the Citadel series that they hadn't seen before.

[Northroader]

 

old Wiltshire saying: “Red ‘at, no knickers”.

[figworthy]

3 minutes ago, Northroader said:

 

Cadbury? er, Rowntree??

 

Mackintosh's (of Quality Street fame) were also from the hallowed acres of God's Own County.

 

Adrian

[Annie]

2 minutes ago, Northroader said:

 

Cadbury? er, Rowntree??

The photo Mum had amongst her genealogy files of about 100 of them all gathered together at the factory had 'Cadbury' written on the blackboard one of them was holding.

[Northroader]

[Schooner]

5 hours ago, Edwardian said:

Well, I have started trying to lay track on the test track.

Huzzah!

 

5 hours ago, Edwardian said:

I cannot emphasise enough how poor I am at this.

In what regard, and by what metric please? This forum, as you well know, is full to bursting with knowledgeable, helpful and kindly souls. Give them the tools they need  

 

5 hours ago, Edwardian said:

Then there's wiring, which I'm also crap at (and don't understand).

A large club, for which I'm proving my membership at the moment. I even failed to come up with a functional wiring diagram for my project which is DC, consists of a grand total of three points, no loops, and for which I was (or so I thought) simply following manufacturers instructions. However, help exists here too. In this you are most certainly not alone! 

 

5 hours ago, Edwardian said:

I really feel that I have chosen entirely the wrong...

Familiar words to anyone who's ever made decision. About anything. All part of the process, no valid reason to bring it to a halt.

 

5 hours ago, Edwardian said:

 

I'm four years into this project and have not managed a basic working layout. Or a test track.

Who can't measure their achiements by what they've failed to accomplish?

 

...although it must be said the approach is rather unhelpful, smacks of pride, and is dispriting to those who aspire to what you have already done, which also happens to be a much more interesting topic.

 

5 hours ago, Edwardian said:

 

Sorry, that was not intended to end up as self-indulgent. 

Nor this reply so patronising - you know all this already - but it sounded as though you sought a 50/50 dose of 'there there' and 'toughen up princess'!

 

Chin up James, worse things happen at sea and frequently do many of the best at CA  

 

Schooner

[Nearholmer]

45 minutes ago, CKPR said:

My wargaming days were over 40 years ago

 

.......but I can tell you a thing or two about war-gaming in them days, My Lad.

 

 Not like now. Oh, no! We had to polish our dice until you could see your face in 'em, and every morning we was up at 06:00 sharp, cleaning out our dungeons, and feeding our dragons.

 

See these medals?? See 'em? They mean something they do! Hemel Hempstead - see that? The quarter finals of the Southern Area (Napoleonic and Contemporary Conflicts) [First Edition Rules] that was ....... down to ten 28mm white-metal figures we were, pinned down in the corner of a green baize tablecloth, with only two bits of dyed lichen for cover.........

 

 

[webbcompound]

I think the mistake inherent in our hobby is imagining we can be competent in all aspects of layout delivery. research, planning, scenics, rolling stock building, ditto painting, building locos, track, electrics. Logically the answer is do what you are good at and like, and buy the rest off the shelf, or accept a less than perfect result in some areas which nevertheless satisfies the owner. More difficult with electrics, but the answer there is bribe someone else with some of the stuff you are good at to do it for you. As for wargaming, most armies I am aware of spend most of their time on the shelf or in the box, with rare outings to fight. It will all be perfect in the end, but if it isn;'t perfect it just means you havn't reached the end yet.

[Edwardian]

4 hours ago, CKPR said:

 

I say, steady on. If I was switching over to painting miniatures, it would be  strictly 54mm Regular and Yeomanry infantry  1890-1914  as per the articles by Roy Dilley & Bryan Fosten in 'Military Modelling' in the late 1970s. Hobbits, honestly...

 

Three cheers for the Yeomanry.

 

Here's one I marched to ...

 

 

 

 

 

[Edwardian]

3 hours ago, nick_bastable said:

now I always thought Yorkshire was another country 

 

Nick B

 

They do things differently there! 

 

 

My favourite is a line by Jimmy Carr:

 

"Tin tin tin" (Yorkshire for "it isn't in the tin")

 

 

[CKPR]

51 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

 

.......but I can tell you a thing or two about war-gaming in them days, My Lad.

 

 Not like now. Oh, no! We had to polish our dice until you could see your face in 'em, and every morning we was up at 06:00 sharp, cleaning out our dungeons, and feeding our dragons.

 

See these medals?? See 'em? They mean something they do! Hemel Hempstead - see that? The quarter finals of the Southern Area (Napoleonic and Contemporary Conflicts) [First Edition Rules] that was ....... down to ten 28mm white-metal figures we were, pinned down in the corner of a green baize tablecloth, with only two bits of dyed lichen for cover.........

 

 

Pah ! You had it easy, we had to convert 30 boxes of Airfix ACW Union infantry into the Austrian army of the Seven Week War, sticking heads on with pins  'cos of unglueable polythene, moulding uniforms with plasticene that never dried hard and then painting 'em in Humbrol Authentics enamel that flaked off as soon as you looked at 'em. And then we had to grow our own lichen on t'moors for 50 years. And as for serving a full apprenticeship in the tailoring industry just to be able to make  our own green baize, you tell them young wargamers today that  and they don't believe yer !