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 .

 

Figures in search of a game .

Whilst on a recent holiday we where passing Bridlington and knowing it was the home to Mighty Lancer Games I persuaded my dear wife to have a qiuck shopping trip - while I popped in to peruse this shop !  Normally I like to take photos of the interior and the stocks of figures - however my phone chose this point in time to run out of battery ...........

Being a weak willed wargamer I had to buy something and my eyes setteled on these boxes of goodies , now I had no need of them and no idea how I was going to use them - but I like glueing the Perry plastic figures together so I bought them !

Fast forward several weeks and I came across 'Eagles of Empire' wargaming rules for the Franco-Prussian War - very simple, all unit stats are on cards and I probably had enough figures in my two boxes to start playing ! 

Units are of three bases - number of figures on a base doesn't matter 

My second unit , you can get a lot of variants with the bits on the sprues .

My first two units plus a command base which allows them to manoeuver together . I was going to take the photos outdoors but the British summer has arrived and it's raing ! . I'm busy glueing up the French figures now , so more photos to follow soon .

 

Gunner William Edington R.H.A. (a relative)

 Many years ago me and my sister started doing our family history and this being pre-internet it involved traveling to various Records Offices and scrolling through endless micro-films etc . Most of our relatives where rather ordanary folk and mainly farm labourers in the North of England .

However we came across this one chap who was my mothers Grt Grt  Grand father who lived in Berwickshire at Greenlaw and appeared on various census as a retired Army Pensioner ! . We where intrigued and dug deeper and were luck enough to to be able to track him down and his military career . (sadly no photo of the actual chap - but this illustrates his uniform in 1815)

This is a copy of the census reports my sister typed up showing him and his family .

We were also luck enough to be able to find his service record - not a good picture but it was scanned on a rather dodgy photo copier . He joined the RHA in June 1805 aged 23 and served for 13 years BUT got 15 years pension ! - very odd ! , then we discovered that soldiers who served in the Waterloo Campaign were given an extra 2 years of pension as a thank you . He is described as 5'9" tall , Blue eyes, and brown hair.. His conduct had been good and was discharged due to a reduction in the Army . He returned home and became a groom at the local Mansion at Greenlaw 

He is recorded on the Waterloo Medal Roll serving in Lt. Col. Gardiners Troop 

Waterloo was the first time every soldier recieved a medal and with it the extra years pension .

He was also probably in the Penninsular War in Spain and Portugal as Gardiners Troop served there as well .

We were also luck enough to find a excert from the Diary of Lt Willia Bates Ingoldsby who served in 'E' troop Gardiners Battery during the Waterloo Campaign (click on photo to enlarge)

As battles go 'E' Troop had a quite uneventful day, attached to Vivian's Cavalry Brigade they didn't see much action till the French retired and then they supported the Cavalry in pursuit of the fleeing enemy . Earlier in the battle they did send a gun forward to shell the enemy but the horse teams became bogged down and their lighter guns couldn't effectively reach the French and one of the limbers blew up when hit by a French cannon ball - so they retired rather ignominiously to their original position with the loss of a Sergeant killed. The above map is from the diary and records the later manouvers of 'E' Troop. Sorry for the rather dodgy photos as the originals date before the digital era but if you click on them they do enlarge . It's nice to have a relitive of note after enless labourers and farm hands 

Buffalo Bill Cody.

 

I have finally got the 54mm Buffalo Bill figure done and rather splendid he is , whoever sculpted him did a good job of catching a likeness of the great man , here we see him posing on a rock outcrop overlooking the Great Patio .

Another photo has been drawn to my attention I believe it's from the period of 'The Great Patio War' as several of the people in it appear in other pictures of this era . The are I believe- a) H G Wells, b) a lady who is definately not Mrs Wells, c) Lincoln Logge, d) Buffalo Bill Cody, e) Kipling . Im assuming the photographer to be Mathew Brady Jr but there is no markings on it to identify the date,place or photographer .I must thank the University of Felpersham (Borsetshire) for the photo.

Toy soldiers in art No.17

 

Found on the 'Military toys of our childhood ' Facebook page .The figures are I presume 54mm plastic,  the photo is from Vintage Ideal Toys Co. and is from their "Battle Action" line from December 1965 . I think the company must be an American one as I've never heard of it before. 

Lincoln Logge and Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show .

 

I've been doing a bit more digging into the career of (Col.) Lincoln Logge and came across the above poster from the collection of the University of Felpersham (Borsetshire). Interestingly Logge is titled as Major Logge !? - evidently Buffalo Bill didn't like the idea of two Colonels in his show ( Although both mens military rank are rather questionable) .

Here we see Logge and Buffalo Bill posing for a premotional photograph ,The photographer is Mathew Brady Junior who did a lot of work for Buffalo Bill Cody - and failed to get paid for a lot of it ! . Logge only did one season with the Wild West Show as he fell out with Cody , Lincoln Logge was a teetotaler and unfortunatly Buffalo Bill like a drink or two (or three-four...) so they parted company somewhat acrimoniously ! 

What's going on ! ?

 

I started these 40mm Prince August French SYW-ish figures about six month ago .: Starting painting my 40mm SYW-ish . (tonystoysoldiers.blogspot.com) and they got put into a cupboard and somewhat forgotten . Having a clear out looking for something else I came across them and decided I must get them finished . They are the Volonttaires Estranger a unit of French Light Infantry. 

In the same tray I found this 54mm Blacksmith figure and anvil - for the life in me I can't remember where he came from !? - eBay ? , think he might be a hollowcast Britains as the anvil has Britains stamped on it , hmm do I repaint him ? - will have to think about that.

Border Clash , the finale .

 

The Treborians start to counterattack moving their Dragoons up towards the damaged enemy infantry.

Whilst this was happening the other Rochaian infantry where wandering about the hills, I think the plan was a flank attack but a combination of poor movement dice and card draws - it didn't happen !

Finally thet realise they better change the plan and go and help their comrades down the valley.

The Alicia Dragoons charge the remnants of the Rochain infantry .

The combat was very one side and they polished of the enemy in short time !. To make things worse the ajoining Reserve infantry recieved a devistating volley and even though Major Velkro tried to rally them they retreated to the flank of their comrades.

The Treborian artillery changes it's target and opens fire on the enemy on the conical hill. Mark Twain recorded in his memoirs "I was invited by the by the Battery Commander to fire the gun ! - it was very exhilarating and I saw my shot explode into the enemy ranks !"

Then it was time to draw a chance card ! - Mark Twain records "whilst serving with the battery we smelt smoke ! and on looking round we where alarmed to see smoke pouring from the house I had hired !"- in his hurry to see all the excitement he had left his breakfast cooking - which set fire to the kitchen ! - in the insurance claim it was claimed "fire caused by enemy action" 

I then promptly drew ANOTHER chance card due to another Joker being drawn !

This however didn't stop the artillery zeroing in on the wandering Rochain infantry , things were not looking good for the Ferraro Rochain force as casualties mounted.

The game draws to a close , The Soldatii de Futuna continue to fail their morale tests and fall back towards the shelter of the woods , leaving only one unit standing in the way of the Treborian forces. Over on the left flank now the conical hill had been vacated by the enemy the British Legione start to accend it it's slopes again to recapture it.

With over half of their force casualties the Ferraro Rochain General signals a retreat . Another great game - the Ferraro Rochain were a bit unlucky when they couldn't build on their initial success and a series of good card draws gave the Treborians the upper hand and their artillery caused heavy casualties on the enemy infantry . And so we leave the scene of the conflict as the smoke from Mark Twains holiday villa drifts lazily across the stricken field .....