Round 4 - Border Horse vs. Hellfire Club

[Prof.Witchheimer]

[Grimm]

cool what figures are the Border Horse ??

Malamute , what is the Hellfire Club  ?

[Malamute]

cool what figures are the Border Horse ??

Malamute , what is the Hellfire Club  ?

The 'Hell Fire Club'
West Wycombe, a village in the Chiltern Hills, was where the Dashwood family owned its landed estate. West Wycombe Park is a typical Palladian building. Above West Wycombe is a steep hill at the top of which is St. Lawrence’s church, built by the Dashwoods and next to it is the huge flint mausoleum of the Dashwood family. Sir Francis Dashwood founded the "Order of the Knights of St. Francis of Wycombe": it is better known as the Hellfire Club.

Below the mausoleum is the entrance to the West Wycombe caves, carved to look like the entrance to a Gothic church. The caves were enlarged by Sir Francis Dashwood in the 1750s in order to create work for the local men who were unemployed because of a succession of harvest failures. The chalk from the caves was used for building part of the road to London but Sir Francis also had the caves cut in intricate patterns. The caves crossed a stream of water known as the 'River Styx', a reference to the Greek mythological river of Hades, over which the souls of the dead were ferried by Charon.

The Hell Fire Club initially was based at Medmenham Abbey which Sir Francis bought and converted into an erotic garden. The members of the Hell-Fire club took part in mock religious ceremonies and used masks and costumes to allow them to indulge in varying degrees of debauchery. Medmenham gained some notoriety so the Hell Fire club moved to a more secluded site at West Wycombe caves. Members of the club included Sir Francis Dashwood, the Earl of Sandwich, Thomas Potter (the son of the Archbishop of Canterbury), John Wilkes, William Hogarth, the Earl of Bute, the Marquis of Granby, the Prince of Wales and possibly Benjamin Franklin and Horace Walpole. It was alleged that the 'monks' took prostitutes down the Thames from London in barges to act as masked 'nuns'. The members of the Club also were accused of celebrating the Black Mass over the naked bodies of aristocratic ladies, one of whom was Lady Mary Montagu Wortley, the mother-in-law of the Earl of Bute.

Ok, so the club was originally C18th, but I think its a great name and I like the idea of prim Victorian gentlemen indulging in some debauchery and devil worship,hence my reformed C19th version

[Hammers]

Ok, so the club was originally C18th, but I think its a great name and I like the idea of prim Victorian gentlemen indulging in some debauchery and devil worship,hence my reformed C19th version

That's the stuff!

Being part Scottish of the Borders familly Penyquik I am afraid I cast my vote accordingly. Sorry, it was a tough choice. :-(

[Captain Blood]

cool what figures are the Border Horse ??

They are from Bicorne Miniatures English Civil War range - they have around 110 mounted figures in this range.

I extract all the figures wearing 'old style' helmets, armour and gear, and use them as border reivers, since they are such lovely figures and better than many of the 'official' border reiver ranges out there.

Link: http://www.bicorne.co.uk/html/ecw%20Horse.htm

(Follow the link from the Bicorne site to Quindia Studios and look at Clarence Harrison's collection of these figures - it's vast and beautiful  :love: )

[Malamute]

Captain Blood Sir, I salute you on a fine victory, Good luck in the next round.  

[Captain Blood]

Sir Malamute, you are a true London gentleman: generous in defeat and magnanimous in victory (except where defeated Wallabies are concerned, one hopes  :mrgreen: )

This little competition is taking me out of my comfort zone though... WWII next week - eek. And then Something Scary... Much more your territory than mine. Fortunately, I don't think we can now be re-matched, so I might just get away with it!

I managed to call in at Orc's Nest in Covent Garden yesterday, to grab the first couple of Gothic Horror packs which came to hand... But God knows how I'm going to paint the little blighters! Not really my thang...  :roll:

Ah well... We shall see...

Good luck in the next round!

[tbroadwater]

great work on both fronts gentlemen!! And I wish to thank Malamute for the history of the hellfire club...great stuff! I would have liked to have been a memeber myself.... :twisted:

[Malamute]

great work on both fronts gentlemen!! And I wish to thank Malamute for the history of the hellfire club...great stuff! I would have liked to have been a memeber myself.... :twisted:

Todd - Lets form a new version, I love a bit of debauchery every now and then, throw in a black mass, girls dressed as nuns and we will have a devilishly good time :mrgreen:

[Captain Blood]

Todd - Lets form a new version, I love a bit of debauchery every now and then, throw in a black mass, girls dressed as nuns and we will have a devilishly good time :mrgreen:

Did you read the new Lucifer Box yet?  It's pretty much what you're asking for!  ::

[Malamute]

Todd - Lets form a new version, I love a bit of debauchery every now and then, throw in a black mass, girls dressed as nuns and we will have a devilishly good time :mrgreen:

Did you read the new Lucifer Box yet?  It's pretty much what you're asking for!  ::

Yes I have just started reading the first one and will probably buy the new one later. Its quite entertaining :wink: