My 1st army...

A post on the Ancient & Medieval Facebook page the other day sparked off a memory of my 1st wargames army (a bit of a Proustian madeleine moment).

I bought my very 1st wargames army from Viking Miniatures, some time around 1979-1980ish I reckon.  I'd discovered 'proper' wargaming via D&D, stumbling somehow across the Glasgow & District Wargames Club.  They didn't play D&D but were very welcoming to a spotty-faced teenager, and various club members let me play with their armies

Eventually I decided I needed my own army and discovered that Tom Davidson at the club had his own company... Viking Miniatures.  Tom later (or possibly at the same time) ran a games shop in Candleriggs in Glasgow and later the Dragon and George in Parnie St., but I ended up collecting my Viking army from source at Tom's house only about 3 miles from my parents in Glasgow's southside. I suspect this was a birthday or xmas present unless my parents  just shelled out the required £22.50 to shut me up!

That army was my introduction to 'real' wargaming, losing  on a weekly basis to just about every player at GDWS.  They were frankly rubbish... obviously the army was to blame, not me!!!  The rules of choice at the time were WRG 5th Edition briefly, before they were supplanted by 6th Edition, a set of rules I still have fond memories of.  My set and army lists are still tucked away in the loft... maybe they'll re-surface one day.  The figures, sadly, are long gone.

Donnington Castle and Avebury

Last.weekend we had an overnight break to Berkshire... only a fairly short drive of a couple of hours, and we were back home the next day, but it felt like having a complete break away.  We stayed at a lovely Butcombe Brewery pub... I can highly recommend them as a group... really nice food and beer and very dog friendly which is key for us.

We were staying near Donnington Castle so stopped there after we'd checked out.

The main gatehouse is all that was left after the castle was demolished after the Civil War siege but it's still very impressive.  You can also make out the remains of the siege works

Obviously the Civil War looms large around Newbury, but there's something very unnerving having this chap staring at you when you're trying to eat breakfast...

Next stop was Silbury Hill: sensibly you can't get too close to it, but there's a nearby car park and viewing point.  It dates back to 2460-2350CE and is huge and, at 30m high, is really striking.  And also baffling as no one knows what it was for (aliens, obviously!)

We then carried on a couple of miles to Avebury which, along with Callanish, is probably my favourite ancient site.  The henge and stone circle is huge and encloses the very pretty village.

Again... what was it for?  Probably aliens... or of course this terror from my childhood...

We resisted the new age tat in the shops and eventually headed for home with our energy levels recharged by the leylines and the cosmic energy or maybe it was the bottle of cider and a takeaway that we had when we got home...