It's quiet - Too quiet !!!

Several weeks ago we left Baden Powell in custody being questioned by Von Rottenburg .: Taken in for questioning (tonystoysoldiers.blogspot.com) (I got distracted by other shiny things) , however who is this old tramp approaching the Police station where he's being held - and whats that ticking sound coming from his bag ? 'tick tick tick'

Whats in the back of that farmers wagon ? 

Sergeant Schultz is returning to the Station with his patrol - he thinks it's quiet - too quiet ! 

Blue Army has lost contact with the Police Station , the phone lines seem to be down so Rupert of Hennsa has been dispatched with a unit of infantry to find out what's happening , he's not happy - somethings up ! 

Who's that sneaking away ? , is it Walter Gabriel ? and is that a pair of wire cutters he has in his bag ? . Something is afoot ! .....................

 

A mixed bag .

Just got a parcel from a seller on EBay , I was able to get this rather cheaply as nobody else seemed it interested it . I mainly wanted it for the Royal Horse Artillery gunners and the useful gun , but as with a lot of these bits deals it is made up of some odds and sods figures . The headless Hussar (?) will repair I think, , unfortunately the Lifeguard standard bearer is to larger scale to match my other figures (65mm ?) , the two British Napoleonics will I'm afraid end up in the melting pot . The three central figures - two Highlanders and a Rifleman are about 40mm and nicely painted so will either end up in my 40mm collection or on display on my bookshelves . Rather a mixed bag but worth it for the RHA and gun which I plan to touch up and put in my 54mm 'Red Army' .

 

Tittivating the figures .

Having based up my 2D Wofun Pennisular collection I have started adding textured bases and shading in the edges of the plexiglass figures .

I coated the bases in glue and sprinkled some very fine sand on it . When dry I washed it with GW shade ink and them dry brushed it with a very pale grey , I added some spots of white glue  and sprinkled static grass onto it .I then shaded the edges of the figures with the appropriate coloured paint - not to accurate but more of a suggestion of colour . - they look a bit odd viewed side on but at a wargaming distance look okay .

Here we have the French 1st Battalion of the 50th Ligne with two bases of mounted command . This is going to be quite a task getting them all done , but I will be doing a few bases at a time . If you click on the photos will enlarge .

 

Above and beyond the call of duty .

I placed an order with Irregular Miniatures before Easter for some figures to finish off my French Army for my Italian Wars of Independence . Amongst these were 6 mounted IWFU27  Hussars/Chasseurs in Busbies to provide another small unit to go with the ones I already have . I received an email from Irregular to say that my order was on it's way but unfortunately the Hussar with Busby mold was broken and now unusable , however he had modeled busbies onto the ordinary Hussar with shako using Milliput to provide the figures I needed ! - what service ! , I've always been a big fan of Irregular but to actually do something like that was charming thing to do - above and beyond what they need of done - So a big thank you to Irregular Miniatures for that ! 

 

Askaris of the Patio .

Here we see Mathew Brady Jr photographing the newly uniformed Askaris of the Patio , in the courtyard of  Fort Patiogonia .

They were originally painted in a blue uniform (rather badly I'm afraid - hence the paint striping) , but I thought their white Summer uniform looked better . They are solid re-casts of the old Britains Egyptian Infantryman .

A well known contemporary photograph of a unknown Askari Captain by Brady Jr. from the sadly out of print Almark 'The Great Patio War' pub. 1970 

 

Back to the painting again .

Having got the present round of decorating finished I'm starting to catch up on the backlog of painting projects . These poor chaps have been based and undercoated since before Christmas and patiently waiting in a box - their time has come ! 

They are of course  Zouaves for the French army I'm slowly amassing for my Italian War of Independence , I have chosen to give them the white summer uniform trousers - just to be different . The figures are Irregular 25mm - perhaps a little old fashioned but I do like them and they are easy to paint and of course Irregular are famed for their prompt mail order service .

 

The ultimate game mat ! .

I wonder if I can get the local W.I. to make me one !? . (shamelessly purloined from Facebook)

 

Real life kicks in again .

Still busy decorating the house and repairing the garden so not much gaming getting done at the moment . However I have got the next batch of figures stripped and cleaned ready for painting . The are solid recasts (?) of some Britains Egyptian infantrymen one of which was missing an arm/rifle - so he's been promoted to an Officer with the addition of a sword carrying arm . I hope to get some of these painted later this week .

Hodge looks on thinking - if you got back to painting the walls rather than fiddling around with toy soldiers you would get the job done !