The League of Augsburg

A Fascinating detour Part 2 - Brielle

by Barry Hilton
Gateway in Brielle's inner defensive ramparts

Panel beyond the outer works explaining Brielle's position and history

The moat between out ramparts and the Molenbolwerk - can you see its cannon?


Whilst in Den Haag Toggy spotted an article about the fortress town of Brielle and its capture by the Sea Beggars during the Eighty Years War. Do you know anything about this? he asked. Nope was the unhelpful...
Posted in History, Scenarios, Siege, The Glorious Revolution, The High Seas, The War of Spanish Succession

Champions of Pike & Shot 1: Mark Shearwood

by Barry Hilton
Siege of Athlone 1691 - wonderful solo effort by Mark


I decided to highlight the work of fellow gamers who I feel make a significant contribution to the popularity of the period 1660-1720. Mark Shearwood's output is both prodigious and high quality.


Meanwhile back in Brixham 1688 - Kidnapping King James


Mark has produced imaginative and inspiring games which have appeared at various shows mostly in...
Posted in Beneath the Lily Banners, Donnybrook, Guest Post, Ireland, Modeling, Painting, Scenarios, Siege, Terrain, Wargaming

Book Review - Behind the Walls - Nicola Pierce

by Barry Hilton
Behind the Walls - a novel about the Siege of Derry 1689


I don't normally do book reviews on the blog although I have occasionally written some for the trade press in the past.
I thought I'd make an exception for this book which I picked up in the Visitors Centre at The Boyne last month for a couple of reasons; It is about a subject in which I have a deep and abiding interest and not often written...
Posted in History, Ireland, Siege, The Glorious Revolution

Eclectic Holiday post #2 The Siege of Constantinople

by Barry Hilton
Blog Die Hards - stick with this post and think.. 1683!  The Turks of that period were not so different from those featured here in the 1453 Siege of Constantinople.

Original and reconstructed walls of Constantinople on the European shore

Reconstructed section - it runs for perhaps a mile or more

I have visited Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul several times and on one trip managed to spend an...
Posted in History, Scenarios, Siege, Uniforms

The Siege of Barcelona 1714

by Barry Hilton

Barcelona at the time of the siege 1714 - Born is the district in the bottom right

On a recent trip to Barcelona I accidentally stumbled across what I initially believed to be a Roman archaeological exhibition in the Born Market. The magnificent excavated ruins of complete buildings, streets and waterways are breathtaking.


A small portion of the 1,000 destroyed houses which lie below modern...
Posted in History, Siege, The War of Spanish Succession

Awakening Derry from hibernation

by Barry Hilton
taking shape now but still plenty to do on the ground work

The nature of this project and too many conflicting priorities over the winter months meant that my Derry- Building went into stasis for a while.

Lots of work to be done on the ditch and drawbridge

With a couple of weeks at home, Tactica behind me and some new ideas in my head I took inspiration from the non hibernating family of squirrels...
Posted in History, Modeling, Painting, Siege, The Glorious Revolution

Derry's walls - part 4 the Devil is in the detail

by Barry Hilton
roof tiles from cheap cardboard found at the back of notepads
The early stages of this project saw big progress. Walls appeared, stairways,a breach and a  gateway filled six feet of boards. Gouging and plastering and sanding and painting created a real sense that things were cracking on apace.
this middle board has taken over 40 hours alone so far.
When I started assembling the buildings around the...
Posted in Modeling, Siege, Terrain, The Glorious Revolution

Derry's walls part 3 - the breach

by Barry Hilton

Now, I know a few of you will be reading this and saying - 'what breach?' but actually there were various points around the walls which had taken a bit of a pounding. There was a serious Jacobite assault during which they attempted to destroy a damaged bastion near Butcher's Gate facing out on to the bog side (west).
This is what I originally planned using the Kallistra pieces.

I intend to use these...
Posted in Modeling, Siege, Terrain, The Glorious Revolution

Derry's walls - Part 2 - making the gatehouse

by Barry Hilton
Gateway placed on in front of wet ditch under construction

Having fallen at the first hurdle with the 10mm medieval  piece from Kallistra I bit the bullet and decided to make a gate house for myself from scratch.
buildings on the inner wall under construction around the gateway

The original gates of Derry are long gone and have been replaced by semi ornamental arches and bridges. The available...
Posted in Modeling, Siege, Terrain, The Glorious Revolution

Derry's walls - building 'em Part 1

by Barry Hilton
The original idea - jacked up Kallistra 10mm walls x 4 feet
You have got to be careful with titles like 'Derry's Walls'. It might attract the wrong kind of traffic. Needless to say, it was hard to keep certain ear worms from taking over during my construction project. I managed to suppress that particular demon by running the entire boxed set of MORSE in my workshop as I indulged in my most...
Posted in Modeling, Siege, Terrain, The Glorious Revolution

Warfare Miniatures Siege Equipment

by Clarence Harrison
Looking for gear to help get round Adrain's Walls? Coming in July, Warfare Miniatures will offer a full range of siege equipment!
  1. Artillery 'A' Frame gin with block and tackle
  2. Siege artillery/infantry screen with sliding doors at head height
  3. Chevaux de frise
  4. Coehoorn mortar / medium mortar + bomb / petard + carrying poles
  5. Gabions (3 types) under construction + scaling ladder
  6. Table, chair, 2 chests,...
Posted in News, Siege, Warfare Miniatures