Wargaming humour No. 43

The author pauses mid-game to consider if he needs more figures (we all know the answer to this )

 

A shiny new recruit .

I've got the renovated figure painted and gloss varnished and seeing it started as a very battered headless figure I'm pleased with the results . He will be joining the General Staff of  'Black' Army .

Whilst painting the figure up I noticed this stamp on the horse saddle cloth - 'ENGLISH' but I can't make out what it say underneath it ?  I'm busy casting up a few more infantry figures to boost the ranks of 'Black' Army ready for a game .

 

Reserection .

Well apart from causing a mild disturbance of my wife - "what the hell is that !",  I left the figure soaking in the Dettol overnight and this morning I cleaned him up with an old toothbrush under a running tap - and was duly impressed !

 

The cleaned figure - nice and shinny and a big hole in the the horse's withers (?) . I think the original figure was a hollow cast Life Guard but I'm going to make him into a mounted Prussian/German Officer .

The finished figure , holes filled up with 'green stuff' and a Irregular Miniatures Picklehaube head added,  these figures are meant to be freestanding but I've added a base for stability . Will give him an undercoat when the filler is dry and post a photo when he is painted and varnished .

Hold that Bandwagon - I want to climb aboard !

 I have been watching with growing interest the exploits of several blogs and their use of 54mm figures - Alan at The Duchy Of Tradgarland http://tradgardland.blogspot.com/and Ross at https://gameofmonth.blogspot.com/. I have a moderate collection of 54mm figures - mainly homecast from Prince August toy soldier molds . These have been use only a few times a lack of terrain and rules being the problem .

However with the advent of 'A Gentlemans War' rules I think there is a case for getting them on the tabletop .

My armies were designed for a set of rules 'Funny Little Wars' which never really caught on . The are 'Red' Army (British) and 'Black Army' (German) they will take a bit of reorganisation and the casting up of a few more figures but I think I have enough for a couple of gameable armies .

No NOT a urine sample ! - but a damaged hollow cast cavalryman who will be turned into a mounted 'Black' Army Officer once he has emerged from his overnight bath of Dettol . In 50 years of painting I have never stripped a figure of old paint so I await the results with interest .

The Label for this post is '54mm Madness' - this comes from a comment many years ago by my wargaming collegue 'A' who referred to my dabblings in larger scale figures as my "54mm madness" * 

*I suspect following current trends he will say he 'miss spoke' or cry 'fake news' 

Back to the 40mm !

Think it's time to get back to 'proper' wargaming so I've started preparing these Irregular 42mm figures . Now next to artillery limbers and teams the one thing I hate painting is dismounted cavalry - that deja vu feeling as you paint the same figures again - minus the horse . But like limbers they really grace the tabletop and once done look the business . These are to be the Hellenyk Green Hussars , so they are next up on the painting tray .

Irregular Miniatures are kind enough to sometimes send a sample figure with your order and I was lucky enough to receive this 42mm ACW artilleryman , nice but not immediately useful - however I have a plan to convert him -

Enter Kamul Ataturke the head of the Sublime Porte Secret Service hot on the trail of the 'Black Hand' rebels . More of him later when he receives his coat of paint .

 

A problem solved and a bit of whimsy .

So my new screen for the computer arrived this morning very promptly and  we are back up and running . To celebrate this I've taken a few pictures of my 25mm Miniature Figurines which I use for my Featherstone 'Close Wars' rules . Newly varnished a patrol of Rogers Rangers set out lead by an Indian scout (who we hope is reliable)

An Indian scout reports back to a French Officer and some Canadian Militia  , not the same Indian I must add so no treachery afoot !.

A group of Woodsmen / Settlers , these have been painted a while but their first photo shoot I think . I've got just a few more figures to paint in this project , so hopefully will get them done soon .

 

Problem .

 I've been having problems with my computer screen which I've only had for a few months and it's finally died on me  , so until Amazon deliveries a replacement I'm having to use my tablet to post this which I find awkward in the extreme . This week I've been playing the socks off C&C Jacobite Rising which has been very enjoyable but not very photogenic so I'll leave you with this piece of humour reaped from the internet.