Toy Soldiers in Art No.19

 

Another postcard ?) found on the Internet and not a photo of the author as a young man ! .Interesting mix of figures - Camels , Highlanders , a mix of Cavalry , Artillery pieces and a rather smart fort ! . I do like the young man's helmet . I assume turn of the century Britains figures perhaps . (click on photo to enlarge)

A glimpse from the Britains factory .

 

I found these photos on the Britains Toy Soldier Facebook page , the are of the Britains factory at the time of the 1953 Coronation .

This young lady seems to be painting figures.

OMG ! fancy having to paint all those figures !!!

The full Coronatin coach and escort - bet it cost a pretty penny in those days - it certainly would now !

A Gentleman's War in 54mm (part 3)

 

The forces of Army Pantalon Rouge crest the ridge and their firepower drives the depleated ranks of Army Blue back.

On the other flank the cavalry forces finally square up to each other - but it's to late the fate of the battle is being played out on the other side of the battlefield. 

The Blue Army Jaeger had been slowly advancing when they take a devistating volley from the Zouaves and even though in skirmish order fail to save any of their casualties and are forced to fall back . Incidently the Wurtemberg infantry on the road have show a distrinct lack of interest in getting into action over 4 moves they only moved 10 inches !!!

With mounting casualties in the centre Army Blue decides to call it a day and retire giving the game to Army Pantalon Rouge ! . Army Blue had some bad luck with the acctivation cards and when they did shoot failed to hit anyone, whilst Army Pantalon Rouge got off some cracking volleys . Incidently the left hand unit was reduced to only 4 figures by artillery fire but kept in the game by the encouragementof the War Correspondent Mr Kipling ! . So a resounding win to Army Pantalon Rouge - an excellant game indeed !

A Gentleman's War in 54mm (part2)

 

Thought I'd do a quick update on the game . At this point both Generals (ie Me !) lost sight of the scenario objectives and became obsessed with the ridge dominating the centre objective. The Zouaves open fire on the Blue army infantry cresting the ridge.

The Blue Army managed to deploy their Artillery to cover the road junction.

At this poin I drew the first Jocker , followed in a few cards by the second one , which rather upset the  activation of units .

The Army Pantalon Rouge moved theit Infantry forward and open fire on the enemy on the ridge and caused heavy casualties which drove them back !

The Army Pantalon Rouge advanced up the hill , at this point the Blue Army General thought it a good idea to dramatically charge their second unit of infantry forward over the hill and into the disordered enemy Infantry . Being disordered Army Pantalon Rouge had to play their remaining face card to get them to fire at close range into the enemy.

Luckily having the War Correspondent with them allowed the Army Pantalon Rouge to reroll a dice which enabled them to beat and drive back the enemy . The Blue Army had lost about half of their Infantry in the last few moves - which is not good - to be continued .............

Ssh ! don't tell the Mrs !

Been meaning to cast up some command figures for my 40mm SYW-ish project and taking advantage of the absence of my wife and dog I brought my melting pot into the kitchen and started casting . The rather battered old saucepan is half full of sand to so catch any metal spillage when pouring into the mould.

The fruits of the casting , an Officer, Trumpeter and a figure for a NCO . I even managed to get a figure from the antiquated metal mould of a 54mm semi flat figure (ACW ?) which will be converted into a General for my Army 'Pantalon Rouge' . Rather pleased with my afternoons work and all tidied away before the Memsahib returned .

 

A Gentleman's War in 54mm (part 1)

 

Thought I would get my 54mm out onto the tabletop again . This time it would be a battle to control the main road from Toieland to Wundareland between Army 'Pantalon Rouge' and Army 'Blue' ,.

In command of 'Army'Pantalon Rouge' is Col. Flashman (I do not have a suitable General for 'Pantalon Rouge' yet) and he has drawn a cameo apperance of a War Correspondent in the shape of Mr Kipling .

Army 'Blue' is commanded by Prince Rupert of Hentza and has a Sergeant Major as his cameo .

The left hand objective marker Mrs Miggins's Cottage .

The centre objective The home of Mr H.G. Wells 

And on the extreme right a mysterious figure ! , whoever hold 2 of the 3 objectives at the end of the game is the winner.

The 'Blue' Army sets up and starts moving forward.

Unfortunately the Jaegers deploy early instead of rushing down the road, as the Infantry move up onto the ridge.

The Army 'Pantalon Rouge' finally get to move and the Zouaves advance to the hill.

Having 'crowned' the heights with their gun the Sailors from HMS Zenobia advance under the watchful gaze of their officer Captain 'Jolly' Rogers. Move of the battle as it unfolds .......

PS sad to say in a mega clean up of my computer I managed to delete and shred my stored photos of my TSATF Darkest Africa game .... Ooops !

A find Frea Bonny Scotland.

Just come back from our holiday in Scotland and whilst we were there we went for a walk around the grounds of Glamis Castle (home of the late Queen Mother) , Mrs K had to have a look around the Gifte Shop full of Tartan stuff and when it was my turn (one of us had to look after the dog) I wandered round - upstairs seemed to have been let out to an antique dealer with assorted Scotish antiques . There were some Britains 54mm Highlanders of various types and amongst the others was the adove figure . I wonder if it is meant to be Teddy Roosevelt dressed as a 'Rough Rider' ? - it is stamped Cameo personalities on the underside of the base . The tin is full of mints and was the cheapest thing in the shop and will be very useful for dice/markers etc when empty.

Me, the dog and the Mrs K outside Glamis Castle .

 

A return to an old favorite - 'The Sword in Africa'

Back from holiday and wondering what to play next ?, I was talking to 'S' and we got waxing lyrical about 'Old School' gaming and I started thinking - The Sword And The Flame !

I decided on using my my Congo forces - King Leopold's Force Publique versus the Azande tribesmen. 

The leader of the Force Publique- Major Henry Poirot (father of the famous detective)

The Azande Cheiftan Enoch Gbudwe - educated at Eton (expeled for 'bad behavior' ) and his retinue gets the 'speaking drums' to assemble his forces .

The Cheiftans Bodyguard armed with modern weapnary sneak along the river bank.

Two groups of Azande warriors , these are 28mm Foundry Miniatures I painted up years ago.

A unit of Azande musket armed tribesmen - a mixture of Foundry and Copplestones miniatures.

The Force Publique Askaris move onto the table .

Two units of Force Publique Auxillaries , Foundry and Copplestones figures.

The table - the Force Republique nearest the camera have to cross the river at the ford and raze the village , the Azandes have to prevent this .An update as the game progresses (click on photos to enlarge)

 

The Great 'Thingiee' of the Patio.

 

Whilst on their spar holiday on the Great Patio , Holmes and Watson accompanied by H G Wells and Professor Moriarty are taken to visit the 'Thingee'* by Cheif Escargot of the Patiogonian Indians .(havn't got that weeding done yet !) (Click on photos to enlarge)

The Patiogonian Indians believe it was constructed in the days of the ancestors by extraterrestrials in great siver 'ships' from the heavens and it has great powers for destruction.

In reality no one knows it's original purpose and modern thinking is that it is a device for telling the seasons of the year as it seems to be aligned to the North star., Professor Moriarty has other ideas though !!!

The rest of the party are somewhat alarmed at the Professors outburst ! . HG however is intrigued by the idea of a race from outer space who might be belligerent and wonders if there is a story in it ?

* The 'Thingee' was rescued from my late sister's garden and now resideds in ours.

If you go down in the woods today - in 40mm

 

Been busy getting these figures done before we go on holiday. I enjoyed getting back into painting 40mm and as the figures are very old Holgar Erikson Prince August moulds they have minimal details so I just did a 'toy soldier' paint job and a good gloss varnish.

I found a spare Prussian advancing casting and painted him as an Officer to command the unit .I hope to get these into action on my return from holiday.