First fruit for Nacho Wars .

Got the first few of the new Copplestone figures done . Here are some Republic del los Cocos Infantry , not sure about the bright green bases - may tone then down a bit .

Two members of the Republican High Command the figure on the right wears the full dress uniform of a General .

Nuevo Rico infantry Regiment Torta Cubana in the 'Tropical Green' uniform , they wear German Stahlhelm as the military have been influenced by Prussian military doctrine ..

A General of the Nuevo Rico Staff on the left and a Prussian Military 'Advisor' on the right (Nuevo Rico had an influx of German officers seeking employment after the end of the Great War) . I hope to get some more of the figures done in the coming days and get enough together for a small skirmish .

 

Nacho Wars, an early photograph .

Whilst searching for more information about the 'Nacho Wars' I came across this period photo which purports to show a patrol of Republican infantry on patrol in the Burrito Valley . Like a lot of photographs of this conflict it is probably posed especially for the photographer . The infantry are wearing the 'grey' uniform which is actually white with a faint blue stripe (similar to the Spanish uniforms worn in the American-Spanish War in Cuba ) which at a distance appears a pale grey . The puttees are a darker colour , either dark blue or green . The French type helmets are khaki or Horizon blue .

 

Oh no ! not another new project !

So I've been watching the evolution of the new Copplestone 30mm toy soldier style figures with great interest . They are a range of Inter-war Imagination figures and they have got my juices running ! . Having done quasi European Imaginations I thought for a change of scene I would travel to South America a continent rich in potential - hence 'Nacho Wars' was conceived !.

The two combatants are Nuevo Rico and their rival the Republic del los Cocos who fought a little know war in the high Andes in the 1920s.

The figures have arrived - very chunky large 30mm in the Copplestone style and I hope to get some samples painted . For rules I'm going off-piste and using a version of Memoire 44 boardgame rules. Luckily I have an old copy of Almarks 'Nacho Wars' * for uniform details  and brief history of the war ..

*sadly now out of print and hard to find ..

 

A work in progress .

Got the first two of the 3D printed figures painted , they are very fine detailed and I have enjoyed painting them - if you click on the photo it will magnify all the mistakes I've made painting heraldry free hand - In fact I'm going to rectify some of the lining before doing the bases . I wonder how robust these figures will be in the rough and tumble of the gaming table ? . The others to follow .

 

First encounter .

'A' dropped me off a small present today, four  28mm Medieval Men at Arms - the result of 3D printing in resin ! , he'd got them off eBay . This is the first time I've come across anything 3D printed - I'm aware of it taking certain aspects of the hobby by storm but not figures .(click on photo to enlarge0

I'm intrigued by them - they are very fine castings, light and with a lot of fine detail (again click on photo to enlarge) . I have glued them to bases and attached their shields to them with super glue , I'm going to undercoat them and will post photos of them painted . Is this the future of wargaming figures !? - and there is me just getting used to plastics ! .

In an act of serendipity my copy of Lion Rampant 2nd edition arrived from Amazon today (I'd rather forgotten I'd pre-ordered it ) , so these figures will be joining the ranks of my Lion Rampant armies .

 

One of my favorite collections .

 

My 30mm Spencer Smith Franco-Prussian War figures are one of my favorite collections . I painted them up ten years ago and they have seen quite a bit of 'on table' action and unusually for me I set a total for how many units I was going to paint up - and actually stuck to it !!!

I use a variant of Don Featherstone's 'Horse and Musket' rules which are quick and simple and I can remember them in my head ! 

Think one of the reasons I like them is that they and the rules take me back to when I started wargaming over 50 years ago and they look like the armies used by Don Featherstone who has been one of the greatest influences on my gaming life . Following a few photos of them in action .

The Prussian General Staff plan their next move .

The Prussians storm a village ! 

Artillery in action !

Wargaming Humour No. 54

Things you find on Facebook ........

 

An early Swedish wargaming book (How To Wage War With Toy Soldiers)

Just came across this on the Tradition Facebook page a Swedish book published in 1914 (?) about playing with toy soldiers, sadly in Swedish (which I don't read or speak) but has overtones of H.G.Wells as it seems to use various methods of 'shooting' the toy soldiers with projectiles .

You can see the whole book here Hur man för krig med tennsoldater sida 1 faksimil | Litteraturbanken

and I can make out enough of the words to get the jist of it I think .

I've never heard of this book and don't think it was ever reprinted or translated .

It has photos of some of the figures used in the game , flats or semi-flats ?

This advertisement is in the back of the book . This is a fascinating book and seems very rare to buy and probably very expensive so we are lucky to be able to view it on the above link .

 

An eBay bargain !

Saw these 10 Johillco British hollow cast infantry on eBay , so I bid for them and nobody else was interested ! so I got them for under £10 including postage - very pleased with myself ! . Interesting paint job (second class ?) only 4 colours - red , blue , black and flesh . I do like the red - sorta orangey tint to it which I find hard to replicate so may try and leave it and touch up the rest and add details . Now all I need is another 2 to make a unit up ! .

 

Other peoples figures .

Not a lot been going on here , busy painting up some 15mm 1860's Sardinians for 'A' , the last few here - a few Generals , Cavalry and Besaglieri . He is basing them up himself for 'Bloody Big Battles' rules for an Italian Wars of Independence collection .

A few French - Guards in their Bonnet d Police - older figures and much fiddlier to paint - luckily I only had these few to paint as they where a pain ! . Back to painting some of my own figures now and in a BIGGER scale .