Handgrenadealien goes AWOL & a short pictorial description of Portuguese military architecture

It seems that way at any rate, this is my first opportunity to blog in nearly a month. The first part of the hiatus was spent struggling with a heavy workload to enable me to spend, latterly,  a rather happier week on holiday in Portugal.
The main idea was of course to take things easy, catch a bit of surf & generally over indulge the excellent Portuguese wines & cuisine but I did still manage to check out a bit of military history whilst over there.

First up: Forta de Almedena

Looking across the gateway to opposite bastion

Masonry apron of the same to protect projecting cannon barrel.

Curtain wall from bastion to cliff top.

Remains of vaulted powder magazine. Note thick walls & thin roof   to channel accidental detonations upward.

Doorway to Bastion.

Cannon loophole in bastion. Note, directly in line with the same opposite.

Bastion & apron from main gateway.

Interior wall of bastion with steps to roof.

Reverse shot from bastion to bastion.

Ditto.

View of ground in front of fort.

Frontal view of fort.

I've been trying the history of this site but there is very little in either Portuguese or English. What I have been able to turn up suggests that plans for its construction were put forward in 1587 to defend the coast against pirates ( there is a very eroded gun platform on the seaward side of this fort), but a local guidebook states that the construction was suggested as a result of Sir Frances Drakes occupation of the town of Sagres in the same year. One might be led to believe the Iberians considered them one & the same thing!
However, whichever case might be true the construction of the walls & bastions makes it fairly obvious that the fort was only intended to protect its integral coastal battery from attack by light forces. That said the terrain over which any attack would come would make it difficult to haul up any artillery heavy enough to make an impression, so a formidable work despite its apparent shortcomings.
You could if you wished view this site from the air on google earth; start from Lagos, Portugal & work westward along the coast- the site is labelled. I was hoping that a Texan aviator who was on site might have taken some aerial shots for me, but he convinced me he had enough on his hands keeping his paraglider safely in the air and to be frank, given the 200' drop to the sea I could see his point.

More Portuguese stonework & some SYW Prussians next time.

Freikorps von Kleist.

Another slow week on the painting front I'm afraid which is probably to be expected after another 80 hour week, but here just to fill in for real progress are a couple of pictures of von Kleists Freikorps taken in the late evening sun:

a little bit of work to do yet, namely finishing the hussars off & sourcing artillery but at this rate should be done by Christmas.

Seven Years War Test Figures.

As I might have mentioned in an earlier post I always like to complete a single figure before starting to batch paint a unit. It seems to speed up the process once batch painting commences & it gives me the chance to start again if a fabulous full sized colour scheme doesn't translate into miniature form.

The latest miniatures to be subjected to this indignity are:

Frei Hussar von Kleist, the least green of Kleist's units

Dragoon Regt. No. 9 Aspremont Linden or Savoyen.

The hussar is a Foundry miniature from their generic hussar range for the SYW, it always amazes me how much ramage these supposedly light cavalry were expected to drag around.
The Austrian Dragoon is a Crusader figure; really like the statuesque horse sculpt.

Austrian Hussars & Cuirassiers

The last of the Seven Years War miniatures that I originally started about ten years ago were completed last night:

The hussars are more Crusader miniatures, the heavies are Foundry Russian Cuirassiers standing in for Austrians. When I started this project Crusader hadn't released their cuirassiers so these had to stand in, however they are close enough to pass casual inspection.

More Seven Years War Austrians & a Gaming Antique.

Despite being busy as ever with work I've put in a concerted effort this week to get some serious painting done, aided & abetted somewhat by the reducing hours of daylight I might add. Much as I like  Autumn as a season the shortening days do herald the onset of Winter. Hopefully the upcoming one will be a short, sharp affair unlike the lingering bleakness of the last effort which was with us until Easter.
Anyway back to the main thrust of this post:

The completed Josef Esterhazy Regiment.

Sachsen-Gotha Dragoon Regiment.

Grenadiers, Infantry Regt Gyulai.

Grenadiers, Infantry Regt Haller.

All the above are from Crusader Miniatures, I do think the Austrian range is some of Mark Simms best work.
Finally the titular gaming antique is the piece of scenery the above are all photographed on which is a very old Bellona ECW Star Fort in 25mm scale. For those of you who don't remember Bellona made a series of vac-formed scenic items ranging from Celtic hillforts to WW1 trench systems. At one time these would have comfortably accommodated 25mm miniatures but modern 28mm figures dwarf them somewhat,

IR 2 Erzherzog.

Started the final Hungarian infantry battalion tonight, IR2 Erzherzog ( not sure I should actually be describing a Regimental No. to them for the Seven Years War, that seems to have come into useage later). Initially I wasn't convinced with the white, yellow, blue colour combination; but toning down the yellow with a reddish brown wash helped blend things together a bit better & improved the overall effect no end.

Once the Hungarian Fusiliers are completed I have a few more Austrian dragoons to finish off & thats the current tranche of unpainted lead dealt with. Following that I need to source a small amount of Austrian & Prussian artillery as well as a couple more units of Prussian infantry to give us enough miniatures for a decent sized game.

More IR37 Esterhazy.

Progress on the Seven Years War project continues at a stately pace, this weeks output has been a mighty five figures painted & based, though there are another three partly completed.

In retrospect I could have got the coats a bit whiter, but then how white would a white coat have stayed after a few days out in campaign conditions. Perhaps I should actually make them more dirt & grass stained.

Hopefully I'll get this unit finished over the weekend, with a Bank Holiday in prospect this might actually be a realistic goal.