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.

A return to 40mm .

 

It's ages since I painted any figures for my Homecast 40mm Prince August SYW-ish collection . These have been sat on my bookcase for years and to make them usable I needed some more to make up a viable unit. 

So I rooted around in my box of moulds and one wet afternoon I cast these up to go with them . I've got them based and undercoated and hopefully will get a start on them next week .

To celebrate the rare appearence of the sun I took the painted ones out onto 'The Great Patio' (which needs weeding) for a photograph. 

Shiny Wild West Characters.

 

I have finally got my four Western 54mm figures painted and glossed and taking advantage of a spell of fine weather took them outside for a photo shoot.. Here are the James boys.

The other two took a while longer as I tried to find a hint to suitable clothing colours from the black and white contemporary photographs . Here we have William Bonney (?) and his assasin Pat Garret .

'2 Armies in a Box' markers.

 

I know I said I was not going to add anything to my "Two Armies in a Box" project , but one of the scenarios in the rulebook needs a marker to bring on reinforcements to a beleaguered force. Now you can just use a counter to track the messengers progress , But I'm not having that ! , so I found a couple of spare cavalry figures in my bits box . I cut off the Union figures sword so it looks like he's waving a dispatch paper and the Confederate - I thought a Trumpeter figure would be apt. 

Wargaming humour (?) No. 12

 

Found somewhere on Facebook , feeling slightly guilty. 

Fifty shades of grey (and blue)

 

I have got started with my new project , I already had a couple of units painted up already. I am just painting the bases very generically with no unit specific uniforms - so the Confederats are in various shades of grey/butternut . (GRR ! I've just noticed the standard of this unit has got bent ! - I hate it when this happens - and EVEN more so when I take a photo of them and not notice it !)

A generic Union Regiment - without a bent standard . There are four Infantry units per side , so I will be cracking through these pretty fast I think.

There are two guns and crew per side all in plastic - here's the first Confederate one .

And here is the Union one . I do like glueing together the plastic Perry figures - takes me back to making  model aircraft many years ago. 

Here is a better view of the two Commanding Generals . I'm enjoying getting these two forces together and will post any further development next week.

 

Two Armies in a Box

 

Many years ago - I was going to say 20 - but I fear it is more like 40 , there was a idea touted in various modeling/wargaming magazines (when we still bought magazines) about having 2 opposing armies in a box and the idea was this limited the collection to what would fit into the box . I never got around to doing this - but several years ago I bought this box off the Perrys , it has sat in 'storage' under the wargaming table , I recently recovered it and thought "Two Armies in a Box" !

The box contains the above models, a cabin, fencing and a set of simple rules - "Two Armies in a Box" 

The box and the rules , which are simple but quaint , the box is a suitable boxfile.

I'd already glued up and painted two of the eight infantry units , so we are up and running ! 

What ever box needs - a label and here are the two respective Generals , I will report back as more progress is made - rather looking forward to this project as it has a definate end in sight ! 

"I wish I could afford those" !

 

Found on Facebook, think I've seen this photo before - the figures look like flats or semi-flats and the tank looks pre-war, the figures nearest the camera seem to be hollow cast 54mm ?  The cars in the background seem to be the style of the 30's through to the 50's and the figures being flats could point to France or Germany ? 

B***ER !!!

 

No words ...........

Riders of the Purple Sage (part 2)

 

Several months ago I painted up some of White Towers 54mm Wild West figures .: Riders of the Purple Sage * (tonystoysoldiers.blogspot.com) , I came across some more of the range on eBay and being reasonably priced I felt I was duty bound to buy them .

They are rather fine figures and look like the contempory photos of the characters I've seen. Here we have Jesse James and his brother Frank.

Here we have Billy the Kid and his nemisis Pat Garrett. 

Based and ready for undercoating .... 

 

Non wargaming related photo.

 

Me and the FA Cup , not a member of the winning team !, on display at our local football club today. 

Odds and Sods painting.

 

Been busy finishing off a few painting projects , first up some English sword and bucklermen for my 'Close Wars' - Pilgrims versus Native Americans , for some reason the English seem to have reverted to these troops to counter the Indians in hand to hand fighting. The figures are 28mm Flint and Feather range from Crucible Crush .

And to oppose them some Native Americans again from the Flint and Feather range. 

These plastic tents have been hanging around for ages and I've just found some offcut MDF pieces on a neighbours skip and so I've glued them down and textured the bases and finally got them painted , they will do for objective markers on the tabletop , they are Rendra plastics.

Interesting painting technique , a blast from the past.

 

Found on 'Military toys' Facebook page (?) , the figures seem to be solid semi-flats and look Germanic - pre war  perhaps ? . Interesting painting technique he seems to be painting one side of the figure first on a rack and I assume when dry he then paints the otherside ? and using a different brush for each colour ? and probably with a high lead content paint ! 

Found out more info - it's a photo of Otto E. Schroeter (model maker) in 1935 

New additions to the 54mm Madness collection.

 

I try not to buy extra figures for my 54mm Madness , but when these came up on eBay, I kept an eye on them and when they where offered as a 'buy now' deal I bought them - and they were only about £2 each . I have added bases to give them stability .

They are rather well painted and I didn't have to repaint them, they are I think modern re-casts as they are solid castings. I did a bit of research and believe them to be Britains Spanish Infantry , the originals being brought out in the 1920's . I'm not sure which army they will be serving in the future ?

* 54mm Madness is a comment from a wargaming colleague about my collection.

Toy Soldiers in Art No.18

 

The author demonstrates the effect of cannister on close order infantry to his wife (who perhaps is only feigning interest) . Found on the Internet. 

 

The completed Lord Byron.

 

I have finally finished my model of Lord Byron  Bygon , here seen in the conservatory helping his second coat of varnish to set . I was going to photograph him outdoors in a moody al fresco photo shoot but the weather in the North of the UK has turned distinctly Autumnal ! . I'm afraid I haven't captured his facial appearance very well , lantern jawed rather than pale romantic angst. I'm pleased with the colour scheme and think it captures spirit of the chap . He will be appearing soon on the tabletop I hope.

 

The Finest Military Game Ever Invented!?

 

The phrase "you'll have someone's eye out with that"! comes to mind. I'm not sure I would want to chip the paint off my figures.  Found and copied from Facebook- Britains Toy Soldiers. 

Half way there !

 

Just noticed I've past the half way mark of my 'walk 1000 miles in 24' , I've past the 500 miles much earlier this year !? I'm not sure how as the weather this Spring has been lacl lustre in the UK - let's hope the second half goes as well. 

Lord Byron (Bygon) - an update .

 

Got a bit further with my Lord Byron Bygon figure adding a curved sword and dagger with a waist sash . When the milliput sets I can undercoat the figure and start painting it. 

I have also found another painting of Byron Bygon which will be handy as a painting guide .

Lord Byron /Bygon in a greater stature.

 

You may have noticed on my 'what I'm reading now ' a biography of  Lord Byron,  a fascinating chap , one of the first "media personalities " (along with Nelson  ?) , now I have a model of him in 40mm who graces my tabletop now and again aiding the struggle for the Hellenyk Republic,  and I thought how about  in 54mm  ? .

I searched about and found this figure of a Montenegron infantryman on the Irregular Miniatures site . I ordered it with another head (Ian kindly sent me another alternative head as well) , here we see it just prior the decapitation of the original head. 

Having cut the old head off I carefully drilled a hole into the neck and glued in the new one 

This is the reference picture I'm using of Lord Byron in Albanian dress. 

I've added a turban (?) to his head which will need a bit more work to it when the Milliput has set (knowing when to stop fiddling with the modelling putty is the secret I think) and I will be giving him a sword as well . There will be an update soon I hope. 

 

 

 

 

Comfy slippers Wargaming .

Been feeling a bit under the weather this last week , my wife has Covid and is off work as she is a home carer and although I haven't tested positive I've been feeling lousy , so no painting or modeling . However once I was feeling a bit better I decided to set up a small game using my 54mm collection and AGW rules .

The force selection was mainly what I could grab from the first box I came across . Here the 'Blue' Army Commander Von Zeppelin oversees the artillery .

I diced for the positions of the troops , the main of 'Blue' Armies Infantry are Bavarians with a Hussar (in red) and a Dragoon unit on the flank.

The 'Red' Army left flank has the two units of Household cavalry armed with lances - which have not seen action yet on the tabletop . (must repaint the Officers bases to match the troopers lighter ones)

The centre is held by the Artillery and a unit of Rifles.

On the other flank the famed Highland Brigade under Colonel Campbell . I hope to get this game started tomorrow and will report back soon .