King Of The Wild Frontier.

Been revamping my Tex- Mex figures , re-doing bases and chipped paint etc , I had also purchased some of the 'Boot Hill' figures which I had never got painted so I've been painting them up as well. Here we see David Crockett (centre) with some of his volunteers and a couple of Tejanos Mexicans .

Behind them is a MDF church which I have been busy building , it is by 'Sarissa' and is quite the business ! , I find 'Sarissa' easier to put together than the '4 Ground' buildings , they are not as detailed , a bit more robust - but come unpainted . 

The 'Boot Hill' figures also come with a mounted version, here is Davy and his posse , behind them is a 'Sarissa' Adobe Railway Station which I have converted into a Hacienda type building .

Technology has moved on since I first painted my figures and I have started replacing the rather sad tattered ones with some down-loaded ones from the 'Boot Hill' site .

A selection of Texian flags - the Gonzales 'Come And Take It' , New Orleans Greys' and the 'San Jacinto' flags . I'm starting to play some games which I will illustrate next time.

A Different Dimension .

The other week I noticed some flats for sale on EBay and kept an eye on them as I'm interested in the idea of painting some . The various popular subject groups sold for relatively high prices (flats are not cheap) but nobody seemed to be interested in a collection of about a twenty WW1 figures , so at the last minute I bid and won them . I then wondered what to do with them and hit upon the idea of painting and mounting them in small picture frames..

The first thing I had to do was try and identify the various figures with the help of my 'Blandfords' WW1 book , I have a good selection of various types and nations and decided to try painting a French Infantryman to start off with.

I searched on the Internet for tips on how to paint flats but came up with very little info , I remember reading once that you must decided where the light is coming from and shade the figure accordingly , above the light is coming from the top left corner (as it were) so all the highlights are on the left and things get darker the further right you go . Finding out what shade of colour 'Horizon Blue' is was fun - with no two visual sources seeming to agree , so I decided on the above shade .

Having finished the figure I cast around for a suitable frame , the strange thing is pro-rata the smaller the frame the more expensive they seem - the above one being £5 from EBay ! about five times the cost of the figure ! . Before I do anymore I must try and find a cheaper source , I'm quite pleased with the finished job and when I get more frames I'll do some more.

Wargaming Humour No. 29

Gluing Cavalry together at the moment and seems very appropriate (shamelessly borrowed from Facebook)

A Blast From The Past ! .

The other day I had a trip to Carlisle - one of my favourite towns and I popped into the Games Workshop for the odd pot of paint , when asked the invariable question from the manager "what are you painting now?" I replied "Mexican Infantry for the 1836 Texan War of Independence" - I got a blank look ! . Then on to the Museum for a quick look round and lunch , finally I when to the second hand bookshop in Castle Street (the name of which I always forget* ) , it's a musty old fashioned place full of nooks and crannies over several floors which you can get lost in . I have never worked out the actual layout of the various categories of books and just rely on bumping into things of interest . Imagine my surprise when I found they have a modelling section and even a few war gaming books ! - sadly all of which I already have - then I came across this book ! . I have never had a copy although I was aware of Morschauser and his gridded wargame through Donald Featherstones 'Advanced Wargaming' . It is rather worn but not to bad for something published in 1962 (56 years ago !!!!)  and VERY nostalgic ! . Although contemporary with Featherstone and Young he differs with his use of multi figure bases and even simpler rules than their's . Time to sit down with a cup of tea (and biscuits) and immerse myself in the past . (*Bookcase)

An early attempt at photography interrupted by Hodge ! .

A Quarter Of The Way There !

The more observant amongst you may have noticed the mileage below the '1000 mile' poster on the right has been slowly increasing , well today I clocked up the 250 mile ! - (well 253.3 actually) and here is a celebratory photo with my companion for most of those miles (Charlie) . I have been aiming for 21 miles a week and on average have been getting just slightly more ! . Hopefully the better weather and upcoming holidays will help as well - here's to the next 250 ! 

Russian WW1 Pilot.

My faith in humanity has been reinforced  , I ordered the above figure of a Russian Pilot of the First World War off EBay from a Ukrainian model shop (?) . It was rather cheap for a 54mm figure and a very unusual subject for my collection of WW1 Airmen , Hmm ! I thought ! will I ever receive it ? - well it was cheap and I would be covered by EBay so I ordered it . Well five weeks later it has arrived and it's rather beautiful, polished and washed black and looks very nice , I was going to paint it but I think I will leave it as it is .The shop is - Hobby-Hata and can be found on EBay -  has lots of very unusual figures and kits .

A Return From Obscurity .

Nothing personal dear reader - but an introduction to a collection of figures that have not made an appearance on this blog as yet .

About ten years ago (?) Warhammer Historical published the above rules and I started collecting figures for them , mainly 25mm Old Glory (they did some rather good deals at that time on big purchases) and really got into system and the era . 

A quartet of Davy Crockett's (l to r Boot hill Miniatures , Old Glory , ? can't remember and Dixon). The problem with the Texan War of Independence is everybody concentrates on the Alamo forgetting the other actions which are probably more interesting and don't mention to a Texan that Crockett died anything but a hero's death (A La John Wayne) as they get VERY annoyed !. 

Generalissimo Santa Anna and staff (in period type photo) . I played it a lot at the time but being a 'wargaming butterfly' I moved on and the figures got pushed under the wargaming table and got forgotten . I was having a clear out of books and rules I wasn't going to use/read again when I came across the rules and was overcome by waves of nostalgia , so I sat down with a cup of tea (and biscuits) and re-read them , they are simple enough but lack a robust morale system maybe . So I thought I should give them another go . The figures could do with sprucing up and there are a fair few needing painting (isn't there always!?) I don't think I need to buy any new figures for this project (Huzza !). So I will chart my progress in this old/new period over the coming weeks . 

Wargaming Humour No. 27

But tinged with regret knowing there's no more to paint ? (and ignoring the hundreds of unpainted figures hidden in boxes) . Shamelessly pinched off the Internet .

Local History .

I was told by my father that there was a tank on display in my home town of Kendal to commemorate the First World War and it was cut up for scrap during the Second World War . I always wondered where it was displayed and what sort it was ? and I was overjoyed when somebody put this photo on a local historical groups page on Facebook . It's next to the river on Aynam Road on the Putting Green (which I can just remember as a child) and it's a Mark IV 'Female' type armed with machineguns in smaller sponsons . What a shame it had to be scrapped for World War Two .