Yanitza 'La Jeanne D'Arc' of the Balkans.

 

I was browsing the Internet for Balkans war things and can across some illustrations of "Le Petit Journal" a French magazine which covered various stories on the war. I saw the above copy and thought  " I've got to make a model of this heroine"! 

I ordered some bits and pieces from Irregular's 40mm Homage range and produced the above figure as close as possible to the illustration in the magazine . The body is cantiniere , the head a nurse (I think?) and a rifle and sword . Here she is seen with of  her bodyguard in traditional dress, hopefully she will be appearing on the tabletop soon .......

PS Tringe Smajli - Wikipedia a bit more info on this woman .

The German Naval Attache - Redux.

Well I've got the German Naval Attache repainted and varnished after his brush with 'lead rot' .: The German Naval Attache goes down with 'lead rot' . and here he is being shown the new Sublime Porte's Machine Gun in a demonstration of it's firepower . If anything I think he looks better than he did before and I hope I've got the rot beaten once and for all .

 

A wet day task .

 

Well I got the dog out early and just got back as the rain started - neither the dog or me are keen of the rain. These figures have been awaiting a varnish and I have bought a new tin , sadly not my usual brand - this one smells funny and takes ages to dry ! . The 54mm Zouaves are some I bought from eBay, three of which are quite old and I have decided only to based them and  not to repaint them . There is the German Naval Attache and another converted figure which I will tell of later ...... 

Toy Soldiers in art No. 23

 

"'you'll have someone's eye out with that !". Found on the internet - the authour looks on as the younger generation open fire at point blank range - Ah ! the joys of playing unsupervised with real gunpowder and deadly projectiles  ! (back to my fortcoming battle report soon) (click on photo to enlarge)

The plot thickens ........

 

Having viewed the Ancient ruins the party returns to their 'steam coach' to return to the hotel - when they are approached by a strange somewhat disheveled man* who introduces himself to Miss Marples and passes here a envolope containing a message for the local Helenyk Commander.

Miss Marples on returning to her hotel secretly meets the local Army Commander and passes on the message . What does it contain ? - all will be revealed in the next episode ..........

*some authorites think this might be Richard Hannay who was know to be active in the Balkans at this time.

An (not so) Innocent abroad - Miss Marples .

Miss Jane Marples is holidaying in the Republic of Helenyka and has becided to visit the ancient Temple of Diana , she is being accompined by the Republic's Head of Antiquites Heinrich Schliemann and two stalwart local Mountineers as the site is very near the border with the Sublime Porte, who since the break away of the new Republic have still been contesting this region .All very innocent you might think !? BUT rumour has it that Miss Marples has links with the British Secret Service and has worked on behalf of both Treboria and the Helenyk Republic ! - could there be more to this holiday than meets the eye ??? ...........

 

The German Naval Attache goes down with 'lead rot' .

 

Over my wargaming career of about 55 years I have been lucky in that I have only come across 'lead rot' a few times . I have been sorting out and re-boxing my 40mm Balkans Imagination collection when I came across this chap - he was purchased as part of a job lot and is a bit big (50mm) really but I cleaned him up , repainted him and he became the Naval Attache to the Sublime Porte . However he is now showing signs of the dreaded 'lead  rot' 

I'm not sure why he should have developed this as none of the other figures in the box have it ? , I believe he is more or less pure lead so this might be a contributing factor . So Ive cleaned all the old paint off , given him a vigorous brushing and a new sword scabbard that snapped off due the the cleaning and will undercoat and re-paint him .

The Naval Attache in happier times - this photo is from 6 years ago so hopefully I can return him to this condition .