Victim of the cashless society .

I always use pennies to base my individual figures and when I came to base up my latest batch of figures to my horror I found I had run out ! - searched all over the house in all the nooks and crannies where I tend to store these and found only about six ! . The problem is I rarely use cash nowadays and I used to pop into the bank and get a pounds worth (100) - but my local bank has closed ! . I have had to resort to buying some 20mm MDF circles to finish the job off .  

 

More shiny figures.

 

Had these finished for a while but never got around to photographing them , They are of course Prussian Jaegers . I've only got half the unit so far but will be ordering the other half soon.

They are  Irregular Miniatures 28mm .

 

Have figures will travel.

 

My old wargaming colleague 'B' has been up visiting his relatives and brought with him his collection of 28mm German East Africa figures for a game set in 1916 (?) , we were joined by 'A' as well for a Sunday morning game .

'B' umpired as he knew the rules and I took the Germans and 'A' the British , the rules use a deck of cards which activate units and unfortunately 'A' had a run of cards which meant he could get his troops up and shooting before I could react !.

Of course par for the course I forgot to take photos as the action grew hot ! , these two units where shot to pieces  shortly after this photo and as 'A' had got his units into position my force was whittled down one unit at a time and so he won the game . Once we had got our heads around the rules the game progressed quite quickly and it was nice to be gaming with these two old friend , sadly a rare occasion nowadays. 

 

Somebody is watching us !?

 

A small combined patrol of Prussians Uhlans and Jaegers move through the countryside searching for signs of the enemy.

Although the find nothing they have the feeling they where being watched !

And they are ! .... the dreaded Franc tireurs !!!!! . Got some more figures painted and will be putting up more photos later in the week .

 

The Reluctant Gardener and a modeling project.

 

My wife was having a clean up of the outhouse and I was hovering around monitoring what she might throw away . She said "what are these bamboo skewers for?" - Oh for a modeling project ! I quickly retorted ! , having saved their life I thought I had better do something with them ! . A series of barricades I thought would do the trick , here we have the tools and the makings deployed in the hade - the dog has chosen the hottest bit of the garden to sit panting in !

The finish barriers , two large two small , of course I didn't use any measurements and with some trepidation I wondered if they would be in scale ! ? ...........

The finished products , the smaller two 

I gave them a wash of PVA glue then a couple of coats of paint and tarted the base up and they seem to match the 28mm Wofun quite well.

Getting a bit more work done on the garden , put a path in to the hen run and got my Victorian cast iron fencing erected which my wife has painted .

My neighbour who is our font of all gardening knowledge gave me a packet of 'Meadow Wildflowers' and suggested I mixed them into some dry sand and brush them into the brickwork - the results have been surprising ! , now to find out which are weeds and which 'Meadow Wildflowers' (there might be a crossover point between the two ?)

My wife wanted another post for a clothes line and so after about 50 years I finally got this cast iron sign post erected and painted in it's authentic colours . My father got it from somewhere (?) and it has had people tripping over it for years , it is very heavy and I needed to help put it up , it was cast in a local foundry which operated in Victorian times , so it must be about 100 years or more old . My other neighbour who has a extremally boring and correct garden I believe is aghast at it ! I think it is an interesting 'talking point' !

 

  

Next up the Artillery !

 

It has been busy few days and I've got the French artillery done , again Irregular Miniatures 28mm .

And the Prussian artillery as well .

I'm not totally sold on the idea of basing the guns , but without it the figures rather tower over them , so we will see how they look during gameplay . I've got the cavalry for both sides to do next which I fear will take a bit longer .....

Read the book - play the game!

 

 

Started reading Goldsworthy's "The Fall of Carthage " and thought I should play through the the battles using C&C Ancients , I have played most of the scenarios before but it will be interesting reading along . The first is The Battle of Akragas - 406 BC between the Carthagians under Himlico and the Syracusians commanded by the Tyrant Daphaeus , historically the Carthagians lost badly. I will be using the clever solo adaptation by "Stuka Jo" .

And we are back up and running !

 

There has been a temporary halt to blogging as I had to move the computer desk and disassemble the computer for repairs and household painting - but normal service has been renewed . I've got the first French infantry unit done and jolly nice they look - you can't beat red trousers !

Another problem was printing off a suitable flag for them - my printer went wonky in only the way printers can when you desperately want something printing , however having spent a couple of hours cursing it - it suddenly decided to print - it was probably my lack of knowledge of printers and not some evil spirit that inhabits them - but ........

I also got their first General done and here we see being served a drink by the regimental Vivandiere - this is a 'Willie' figure from Tradition , each unit will have it's own and will be able to roll a 'save' dice on any casualties suffered 

 

Reinforcements for #TDFTP.

 

Nearing the completion of my first couple of units for this project I sent off another order to Irregular Miniatures.  It arrived swiftly and I've been getting the figures ready for painting, here are a unit of Prussian Uhlans , I've got some French Hussars as well to glue up .

A French Artillery gun and crew , I'm uming and ahing about basing the gun as I find Irregular guns a bit small .

The Prussian artillery, when I get the French infantry varnished I will be cracking on with these .

A little conversion into a more belligerent pose .

 

The Officers for mt French Infantry unit are the above figure , which as a Artillery Officer would be okay but to me he seems to be pointing which Cake/Patisserie he wants , So......

A much more aggressive attitude ! . I flattened a pin carefully drilled a hole in his hand and glued the pin into the hole - touched the paint up and 'voila'  ! a leader of men ! 

The first Prussian Infantry 'in the manner of Featherstone'

 

Well after a busy week of 'real life' I've manged to get the first Prussian Infantry Regiment done . It comprises of 18 infantrymen, drummer, standard bearer and 2 officers.

I also painted up the first Prussian Brigadier , again an Irregular Miniature .

Here he is inspecting the Regiment on parade.

Having found 'all correct' they march off to barracks , I've started painting up the French and am thinking about the next order to Irregular . I have sent an order to Tradition for some of their 'Willie' figures for the armies High Command. 

First Fruits of TDFTP.

 

Been a busy week in the garden but I've cracked on and got the first contingent of the Prussians done .

They are of course 28mm Irregular Miniatures , I managed to find a 'match pot' of the green I painted my base board and hills with and so painted their bases to match and have given everything a smart gloss varnish.

They are very easy to paint and I've painted them in brighter colours as the Prussian blue and grey is meant to be quite dark . Luckily the rifles are a bit 'vague' on the castings so they will do for anytime between 1860- 1900 .

And a sneak peak at their Gallic opposition with this test figure.  

Rain stops play ! and just as well .........

 

So we had planned to do some gardening - but it's raining hard and blowing a gale = so I've lit the fire and unpacked a special parcel that arrived this morning !

A parcel from Irregular Miniatures ! . The combination of the ease of painting , an O.S. look , cheapness (unit deals) and the superb mail order from Ian Kay sealed the deal . The building blocks,  French and Prussian Infantrymen .

Thank the Lord it's raining ! got these cleaned up and glued onto pennies . I'm going for 1860/70s Europe with a hint of Featherstone - minor Germanic states and Austro-Hungary to taste . Units of 20 figures with 2 Officers , so here we have my first two units ready for painting .

A couple of Brigadiers for my Franco-Prussian (?) forces . The only sad thing is I've run out of undercoat spray , so will have to undercoat them by hand I think. Thinking probably about 6 units per side plus Artillery and Cavalry. I wonder if it will keep raining this weekend ?............

The Donald Featherstone Tribute Project.

 

Over the last few years I have been quietly selling off my less used collections , mainly for the money which has been reinvested in my gaming hobby (usually Wofun 2D ) . One of the main prompts for selling a collection was the rules used for it and their playability/ complexity , I have come back to the simpler Old School types .

The copy of the above rules where kindly gifted to me by Ross of Battle Game of the Month a couple of years ago . My thoughts have turned to a new project to use them , the figures would have to be simple O.S type , cheapish , probably 25mm and easy to paint in an high gloss Old School manner.

I did something similar about ten years ago using Spencer Smith FPW , sadly I sold them on (for a good price) and perhaps I have always regretted it - but I needed the money at the time  (for a new computer I think ?) , so what I'm going to try and reproduce is something similar . Using Featherstone's Horse & Musket rules , 25/28mm figures , singularly based (busy collecting pennies) Old Schoolish paint job with a Toy Soldier high gloss finish . I will be investigating possibilities and reporting back .....

PS the above Spencer Smith range are no longer available in the UK and have to be bought from the USA which I expect  will be VERY expensive !

A Birthday present to myself.

 

I have been painting some figures for a friend and with the money earned I decided to put a bid on these chaps on eBay as a potential birthday present to myself.(my other birthday presents being of a more essential nature -socks and a new fleece top)

Nobody else seemed interested in them and much to my surprise I won them (I decided I wasn't getting into a bidding war)for £36 including p&p which I thought reasonable

They are 54mm by Steadfast Soldiers - a firm I haven't heard of before and beautifully painted in enamels . An unusual subject and as I haven't deployed a Machine Gun on the tabletop before, potentially a shock  for 'Blue Army' when they confront it ! 

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Another jaunt out in the sunshine.

 

It must be over 50 years since I last visited Heysham and thought it high time for another visitation ! . We will ignore the nuclear power station and concentrate on the old part of the village and it's headland . A view through the door of St. Patrick's chapel built in the 8th century  with Morecambe Bay beyond . Tradition has it that the saint landed here from Ireland .

Excavations have shown that there were burial within the chapel and the surrounding areas all dating from the 10th century 

There are these six stone cut coffins with slots for crosses , they were probably used as ossuaries to hold the bones rather than bodies .

Another view of them with an impressive vista of the bay .

A not to successful panorama shot (clicking on it may improve it)

Just down the hill behind the chapel is the stump of a  headless cross .

Just down the hill is the 'modern' St. Peter's church which was consecrated in 967 AD , there is evidence of an earlier wooden structure nearer the bay .

Heysham is mentioned in the Domesday Book but the first written record dates from 1658, the remains of a dated cross - 1696 ..

In the church is a Viking hogback tombstone .

Another view with Mrs K for scale, the carvings on it represent the stories of Sigurd the dragon slayer and Sigmund , but with some Christian symbols -  scholars think it is part of transition from paganism to Christianity .and it is one of the most impressive found in the North of England.

A 13th century sepulchral slab with floriated cross and sword (not sure if the sword means the occupant had been on crusade ?) We rounded off the trip with cakes and teas at the cafe run by church volunteers - another 'Grand Day Out' 

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