A blast from the past .

From The Vintage Casting Group on Facebook , from an era when boys and girls were fearless in the face of molten lead and 1st degree burns and a sailor suit was all the PPE you needed ! .

 

Seasonal painting project .

I managed to get some painting done over Christmas , my order from Replica Miniatures arrived so I was busy gluing up and painting the Naval Brigade figures I wanted . They are Britains solid re-casts and here are manning an old 4.7 gun . 

Here is a Naval landing party , again modern re-casts , I could do with ordering another 4 of these to make it up to a unit whilst using 'A Gentleman's War' rules .

Here they are again resplendent in gloss varnish and traditional pink cheeks .

 

A Merry Christmas to one and all .

 

The Season's Greetings to all out there in Bloggerland .

A Christmas game - Hook's Farm .

Here is the map from 'Little Wars' and I will try to interpret it and play a game on this terrain using 'A Gentleman's War' over the Christmas period .

Here we have my set up taken from the book .

From another angle .

Red Army's deployment .

Blue Army .

The battle is set up and ready to play over the Christmas period . I of course will be using 'A Gentleman's War' to play the game and if I remember to take photos the results will be reported here in the New Year ,

 

The Vicar of Firely Church.

 

Here is the new incumbent of Firely Church , Mr Collins . After a fruitlessly search on eBay I found that  Replica Metal Soldiers do a re-cast of an old Britains (?) casting so I included him in an a pre-Christmas order to them and a fine if slightly pompous chap he is .

The 2021 Thousand Mile Challenge .

 

This will be my fourth year doing this challenge , looking forward to it .

Wargaming humour No. 41

Freshly gathered from the internet .

 

54mm Real Estate.

I've been thinking I needed some more buildings for my 54mm games and bought these two from 'Warbases' they are for 28mm figures but I'm not to bothered about the size difference . I've just built them and given each a coat of gloss varnish . Think this is called a shed but I've added a chimney to make it a suitable dwelling for the shepherd Gabriel Oak , a hollow cast figure from my childhood who has been given a fresh coat of paint , the sheep are again from my old farm collection.

Slightly more ambitious is this - which is suitable for Firely church , I have resisted painting it to maintain the 'toy soldier' look . Mr and Mrs Pendergast are just leaving after viewing the fine Memorial Brasses and give a feel to the size . I need a suitable clerical figure to go with it , so will have to keep my eyes open on Ebay . 

 

We reach 1000 miles !

Well on this rather damp and grey morning (dreich as the Scots would say) me and Charlie past our 1000th mile , I normally try and take a photo as we actually hit the target but this morning it was to windy and wet to take a photo on the summit so I had to wait till we found a more sheltered spot . There was nobody about so I had to balance the camera on a gate post and put on the timer - the first two attempts the camera blew over and I had to wedge it with stones to get it to stand up - hence the less than brilliant shot . I'm a bit later this year in finishing my 1000 miles having two walking holidays canceled due to Covid and the weather of late has been rubbish - as we get older neither me or the dog like the rain . I'm signing up for 'Walk a 1000 miles in 2021' and will see how many more miles I can get in this year before starting again .

 

'Red Army' firepower .

 

Red Army took delivery today of a new 'Quick Fire Machine Gun' (care of Ebay) , here being inspected by members of the General Staff , they are crewed by a couple of Sailors from the Naval Brigade .

I got the idea for this model from MGB  from Wargaming with 54mm Toy Soldiers: NEW ARTILLERY PIECE and NEW ARTILLERY CREW  , it is a novelty pencil sharpener and needs a coat of paint and a couple of more crewmen before service on the tabletop .

Blue Army recruits .

One of the problems with collecting the opposition to 'Red Army' is that there aren't many suitable figures for 'Blue Army' - well at an price I could afford , so I thought I would convert some of the damaged hollow cast cavalry into 'Blue Army' cuirassiers . The basic figures had several heads missing and a couple of damaged horses , I repaired the horses and swopped the heads with Irregular picklehaube ones .

I went for a Britains type paint style using only about six colours and no shading and of course a high gloss varnish finish . I'm pleased to get these figures onto the tabletop as they have sat in my 'bits box' for about ten years .

I also did a Cavalry Officer for 'Blue Army' , he started life as a Britains hollow cast Mounted Policeman,  I've added a right arm with a sword (from a Prince August mold) , refitted his wobbly head and given him a new paint job . All my personalities will have their names on their bases , so I can remember who's who ! - and I hoped spelt correctly - should be Hentzau ! .