The Final Gallery - Royal Armouries, Leeds.

 

The final round of photographs from my recent visit to the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds.

This time we're moving on from the Samurai galleries and taking a look at Islamic and Western European armour, along with a few rather more modern weapons and some of the museum's more unusual exhibits.

And what better way to open than with an armoured elephant?

Impressive.

Intimidating.

And, if you're standing on foot and this thing is approaching you, I imagine the correct military response is probably somewhere between "Oh dear" and running away very quickly.

The Islamic galleries contained some particularly impressive armour, including this magnificent suit complete with its full helmet.

Beside it was this enormous executioner's sword, its blade showing the nicks and damage accumulated through use.

I actually turned around and lifted the Mrs when she asked what I was doing.

I wanted to get some idea of how heavy the blade was.

It turned out to be 2kg heavier than she is.

This was apparently not the appropriate method for museum weight comparison.

Still, I now have the information.

There were, much like in the Samurai galleries, a number of complete armour suits and mounted warrior displays, showing just how imposing these things must have been when worn by an actual warrior rather than sitting safely behind glass.

The museum itself is almost as impressive as some of the exhibits.

The central stairwell is lined with row upon row of pikes, swords, muskets and breastplates, stretching upwards as you look towards the balconies.

It makes for a rather spectacular view.

From there we moved into the European galleries, with much of the collection coming from the national collection held within the King's archives.

Among the exhibits was Edward, the Black Prince's surcoat.

The Mrs, having watched A Knight's Tale again for God knows how many times already, was suddenly able to identify something she recognised from somewhere other than the general category of "old armour".

So that was a small victory for historical education.

There is also a large historical firearms cabinet, containing some beautifully decorated and rather extravagant weapons.

Among them was this particularly ornate, filigreed hunting musket, which was owned by the daughter of Catherine the Great of Russia.

The Royal Armouries also has a long tradition of providing armour and armour replicas for television and film productions in the UK.

Which brings us to one of the more unusual displays.

A Vampire Killing Kit.

I'm not entirely sure how useful it would be against an actual vampire, but it certainly looks the part.

And finally, for something a little closer to home for a wargamer, we come to this rather enormous display depicting the Battle of Waterloo, including the fighting around La Haye Sainte.

Now this is a wargamer's dream.

Just look at the number of figures involved.

The idea of actually fielding that many miniatures on one table is frankly ridiculous.

Which, naturally, means that one day we absolutely have to try it.

Perhaps not the whole battle.

Maybe just La Haye Sainte.

Then again...

Some day.

And with that, we reach the end of my posts covering the Royal Armouries.

It's been a fantastic visit, with everything from Samurai armour and Islamic weapons through to medieval European harness, firearms, cinematic oddities and, finally, a Waterloo battlefield large enough to make any wargamer start quietly calculating how many boxes of miniatures they'd need.

Normal service will now resume, and we'll be back to wargaming posts once I can get back to the painting desk.

Until next time, have nice day.

Samurai Gallery - Royal Armouries, Leeds.

With the visit to the Royal Armouries, the main thing I wanted to see was this year's special exhibition, featuring the Mongol Empire and Genghis Khan.

But, and I know any American readers will probably scoff at this, I wanted to make a full day of it.

It is just under an hour's drive up the motorway from home, after all.

And, of course, having a day out with the Mrs was a bonus, so we were going to make the most of it.

The Royal Armouries in Leeds has five floors of arms and armour on display, along with re-enactment areas, demonstrations of sword fighting and other displays. There is even a full arena on the second floor, where they hold various events throughout the year.

Around Easter Weekend they also host a Jousting Tournament.

I am hoping to get the time off work for that one next year.

Coming out of the Mongolian exhibition, we found ourselves on the fourth floor, which houses the African and Asian galleries.

Most interesting.

Very, very interesting.

These are some of the photographs I took while going around the Samurai gallery, before the Mrs eventually decided that I had spent quite enough time staring at armour and dragged me onwards so we could actually see the rest of the museum.

I am not going to write about the individual armour sets, as if you zoom in on the photographs you should be able to read the descriptions from the plaques in the displays.

And, frankly, I was too busy taking photographs to make detailed notes!

I did, however, treat myself to some research material while I was there.

One of the projects I want to start working on again soon is the Samurai project, so it seemed rather appropriate.

The last time I visited Element Games with the group, I had been hoping to get a game of Dragon Rampant in and had taken two forces along specifically for that purpose.

Unfortunately, nobody wanted to play.

So, no game.

Instead, I grabbed some terrain from the shelves and put together an impromptu photographic setup, allowing me to get some pictures of the Samurai force I had brought along.

The plan now is to work on finishing a unit of the World Eaters alongside a unit for the Samurai, clearing the painting table as I go and gradually adding to both forces.

I think I'll start with the foot Samurai I already have for this project and then see where we need to go from there.

I'm also waiting for one of the MyMiniFactory money-off sales before purchasing any more STLs from Kyoushuneko.

They have released quite a lot more since I last bought anything from them.

Including...

A Mounted Sohei unit.

Yes.

That is going to happen.

Eventually.

There is one more Royal Armouries post to come, featuring the photographs of the European and Islamic arms and armour I saw during the visit.

Including the Armoured Elephant.

Which is always going to be a big draw.

Until next time, have nice day.