A bit of casting .

Having got my refilled gas bottle I braved the cold weather and did a bit of casting . In my experience you either have a very good session casting or a very bad one - the goddess of homecasting being very fickle ! (please excuse the mess ) today was a good day and she smiled on my endeavours .

No the white powder isn't cocane - it's talcum powder used to dust the molds before casting .The Lancers are from a large 40mm mold I got off EBay (think it might be a homemade one) only managed to get a couple of these done as once the mold gets hot it becomes very pliable and leaks metal all over the place . 

I also did six of the Saxon Jaeger figures which will be a unit of sharpshooters for my Balkans Imaginations and a officer for the Prussian Freikorps I'm in the process of painting up . The rifle slings on the jaegers didn't cast being a bit fiddly but I will either cut them off or try to add ones using thread and a coating of superglue .

On the painting tray .

A few photos of some of the figures that are being finished off on my painting tray. First up four figures for my SYWish Prussian Freikorps vonKleist 'the Green Croats' , I have a few of these Hungarian figures by  Prince August ready cast up - bought off EBay a couple of years ago and have been wondering what to do with them as I don't have an Austrian force , then I found that this Freikorps used a similar uniform and the figures are close enough to do . 

A CinC for my French Intervention Force , he's a Irregular 40mm Deutsche Homage figure .

A slightly better photo of the 40mm figures resplendent in their gloss varnish .

And finally four dismounted  Mexican Presidial troopers for my Tex-Mex collection , they are 28mm Boothill Miniatures .

A glimpse from the distant past .

The other day I noticed on a Facebook group I follow (Vintage Wargames Rules) somebody mentioned 'The Old West Skirmish' rules and that they were available once more through the History of Wargaming Project  , I had these rules in the early 70's and played them till the book fell to bits on me . I used plastic Britains Cowboys , Indians etc and converted figures for Australian Bushrangers and Mounted Constabulary . I turned cardboard shoe boxes into saloons and even had a couple of the plastic Timpo Western buildings which were expensive at the time . 

The rules were a time and motion study of combat actions and it took so many phases/moves to load weapons and respond to wounds , each character had their own record sheet were each moves action was noted , all a bit laborious nowadays but then I though nothing of it . The rules used percentage dice which were just coming into use then and jolly hard to come by if I remember rightly . I don't think I'll end up using them but they are worth it for the nostalgia hit and it's surprising how much of the rules I remember - even the fighting Grizzly Bear ones ! .

French Intervention Force , first painted unit .

I've got the first unit of French Chasseur a Pied painted up and varnished , here seen practising their skirmish tactics .

The two officers overseeing the training are Irregular from their Deutsche Homage range . The Chasseur figure are 'large' 40mm, a bit bigger than the normal Irregular ones but the difference won't be noticed on the tabletop I think .

Another view of them in action , ready for an expedition to the worsening crisis in the Balkans between The Sublime Porte and Fetaland .