Some painted figures for 1897 .

I've been busy painting some figures for my wargaming colleague 'A' who wanted some French for his 1897 collection to complement the British and Germans I painted a year or two ago . The figures are 28mm Irregular Miniatures.

Colonial Turcos , the units are designed to be used with 'A Gentleman's War' and gloss varnished to match his existing ones.

Chasseuers d' Pied , these are to be used as 'Marksmen' and so only number 6 figures .

Gun and crew on an Artillery base from 'Warbases' .

French Dragoons again from Irregular.

He also wanted another unit of German cavalry , so I painted up these Hussars .

Personality figures can play a large part in AGW , so 'A' provided these 'Willie' and 'Stadden' figures which I have painted to suit the various protagonists . These figures should be appearing on the tabletop soon .

1897 Grenadier Guards.

Got some more figures painted for 'A's 1897  project , more units of British and German Infantry and these rather nice Guardsmen , which are to be a company of the Grenadier Guards .  'A' has dropped a further batch of figures off so that will keep me busy for the rest of this year . 

1897 The Infantry.

Been rattling through the infantry units, got two of the German units done and the General figure varnished .

The German infantry are from their Franco-Prussian War range , simple but nice figures .

The first unit of British infantry , the British Line Infantry Regts. had generic white facings at this time . 

Think they have come out quite well and they are my favourite figures so far . Got some British Guard and artillery to do next.

1897 The First Clash .

The other evening 'A' called round to play a game using his newly painted 1897 figures . I took the Germans and he the British , the scenario was to capture the crossroads - simple - but we wished to try out the 'stats' he has worked out for 'Black Powder' rules. Here we see the German Naval troops advancing quickly towards the crossroads and the Uhlans reach the objective . Sadly the Naval Brigade did very little else in the game to help and the Uhlans got shelled by the R.H.A. and although seeing off the British Cavalry failed a morale test and fled .

The Jeagers march down a country lane , their mounted Commander went into action with an unfinished base and no coat of varnish .

The R.H.A. deployed early in the game and did severe damage to the German cavalry and the Naval Brigade .

The Westmorland and Cumberland Yeomanry were driven back by the Uhlans but rallied to late to influence the battle .

The main British force move up rather slowly due to poor generalmanship by the High Command .

The Jeager's advance is halted by the British Rifles and the Volunteers move very slowly into position to flank them . The Germans at this point started to loose the battle by failing several important Command rolls and were unable to capitalise on their early successes .

The Jeagers are caught in a deadly cross-fire and fail their morale - at this point I decided to concede the game , a victory for the British ! . A good game and 'A' has taken copious notes to refine a play sheet for this period.

1897 High Command.

'A' is planning an inaugural game with the figures I have painted up so far, so I thought I had better get some more Staff figures finished . Here we see the British High Command base and a mounted Brigadier , again Irregular Figures .

To oppose them I did this German Commander in Chief and Aide . The problem is that Irregular only do one German General - the chap with the impressive beard - so I had to cut the beard off (carefully !) and file the Aide to produce a different looking figure . They will be appearing soon commanding their armies on the tabletop .

1897 , The Cavalry .

Been doing some more of 'A's Victorian project and have painted up some British cavalry . They are a local unit, a Squadron of  the Westmorland and Cumberland Yeomanry .

They are of course 28mm Irregular Miniatures from their 'Home Service' range.

To oppose them we have a unit of German Uhlans , the 2nd Pomeranian Regt. No. 9 

Here we see them on manoeuvres with some Jaegers , I  hope to have got enough painted for a small game next week when 'A' calls around .

The Next Batch For 1897.

Been in a painting frenzy completing some more figures for 'A's 1897 project , here we see British Rifles , I've always found it hard to get 'Rifle' green right , it's a very dark green (almost black) but it can look a bit odd I think when done on 28mm figures so I do lighten it a bit - although it looks very dark in this photo - trick of the light (or my photography) ..

Did some more Volunteers plus a mounted officer for them .

For the Germans a unit of Jaegers , again they have come out in this photo a lot darker than they are in actuality .

A rare bird - a mounted Naval Officer for the German Naval Brigade and some more sailors . Have been gluing up and undercoating the next batch of figures which includes cavalry and artillery . When these are done there should be enough for a small game .

First Fruits 1897.

Been painting for 'A's 1897 project , he has decided on a 'Toy Soldier' look , so they are being mounted on pennies and given a coat of high gloss varnish . Here we see members of the Furness Railway Volunteers (F.RV.)  patrolling a stretch of the main line to Barrow in Furness as there have been reports of unusual Naval activity in Morecambe Bay and the railway line is a major link to the important dockyards there.

Here is a small scouting force from the German Navy who have secretly landed from an experimental submersible near the small hamlet of Flookburgh . 

The Germans are photographed by a young Arthur Ransome on holiday with his family using his newly acquired 'Box Browning' - he had to flee the scene as he was chased by the sailors . These photos were taken using my wife's my super-duper camera as my camera battery was flat and I'm unfamiliar with it so they might be a bit poor  . (click on the photos to enlarge)  More photos to follow and in due course a game ......

A Painting Commision.

'A' dropped off this box the other day - a very heavy box full of toy soldiers ! . He had asked me to paint up some figures for his new project - 'The German Invasion Of Britain 1897' which I believe is based on a series of articles in a newspaper at the turn of the century about the threat to the U.K. from Germany.

OMG ! there is a serious amount of lead in the box ! . He is using Irregular Miniatures 28mm figures , the British are from the 'British Home Service' range and the Germans from the Franco-Prussian range . He is planning to use a modified version of the 'Black Powder' rules with the standard unit of 12 figures for the infantry and 6 for the cavalry .

A couple of the British figures , rather nice ! , so I have a lot of cleaning up of figures , basing (using 1p pieces) and undercoating to keep me busy in the future. I will post some photos when I get some of them painted