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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YeeHa ! (now with added lasso)

 

Several weeks ago (.: Reclaiming 'Buffalo Bill' .) I cleaned off this Buffalo Bill figure and have got him painted up,varnished and provided with a lasso made from some parcel string . He needs a bob of 'bluetack' on the saddle to keep him mounted and I've added a base to the horse to help with stability .He is the last of my 'to do' painting projects for the moment and as the Summer seems to have returned it's back to gardening again.

Getting the builders round.

 

I've had these 28mm buildings since Christmas and thought it was time to get them built. The Chapel on the left will be used with my Medieval 'Lion Rampant' collections and the log cabin on the right will do in an  American  setting , seeing the sun is shining I will get them sprayed with undercoat before continuing with the garden transformation. 

'Brae Heghland lads'

 

As the Summer returns I've got theses Schneider home-cast Highlanders based and painted (I've just noticed I have forgotten to base one of them - Upps !) . They are rather strange figures more "Brigadoon" than historical uniforms but with a certain style about them . Sadly only 4 of them so I will have to keep my eyes open for a few more.

Nothing new but it's old.

 

Think I've seen this before but not colourised,  ladies making model terrain for RAF training during WW2 . It looks rather modern like the terrain cloths you can buy nowadays, 

First fruits of the inclement weather.

 

Got these semi-flat painted up and varnished, (.: Garden Toy Soldiers in the sun.) half of them were already painted and I tried to copy the original paint job . I have also put them on bases as they where not very stable and fall over at the drop of a hat .Here we see a patrol crossing the 'Great Patio' (Upper Region).

Scouts report back "all clear Sir, no enemy in sight !". The figures are homecasts from a Schneider type mould (click on photos to enlarge them) . The weather is still showery so more painting on the agenda . 

 

Rain stops play ! - but back to the paint table ! Huzza !

 

Well we where wanting rain for the gardens - and we got it ! , so work has come to a stop for the moment .

The up side of this means I can get back to painting figures , many of these have been undercoated and awaiting paint for quite a while , so if the rain continues I'll get a lot done in the next few days . 

Yet another 'Grand Day Out' .

 

Me and my dear wife had a day out at Sizergh Castle in the South Lakes , it's taken me quite a while to get around to visiting it as I've live all my life within a stones throw of it - if you got rid of the trees and the odd hill - and climbed onto our house roof I could see it ! 

It was originally a Pele Tower/ Keep and dates back to the 1200's . It's run by the National Trust and has a well thought of garden surrounding it.

Over the years other generations have added bits on and the result is a bit higglty pigglty , but very quaint.

It has been owned by the Strickland family for about 800 years . These houses seem to have need to display weapons in the Hall above fireplaces - here we see a jumble of weapons probably none of which have anything to do with the house and purchased from various auctions.

Zulu shields and spears !? - as far as I know the family has no connection with S.Africa.

Above some of the fireplaces are magnificent oak carved paneling .

James the 2nd- Seamas an Chaca (James the shit), the Stricklands have always been Catholic - even when it was unpopular to be so and after the 'Glorious Revolution' of 1688 followed King James into exile in France , only returning after 15 years.(sorry for the glare on the photo)

Lots of Flemish (?) tapestries  

even more tapestries.

Another loser 'Bonnie Prince Charlie' - they didn't back this one !

Don't think I would like to try and sleep in a bedroom like this - to Gothic Horror for me !

Members of staff cleaning - I was told a never ending job - they Hoover things whilst using a protective muslin sheet to prevent damage to the furniture.

More armour  on display , these are back and breast plates from the Civil War era - they backed the wrong horse in that race as well ! 

No not Lady Macbeth - Mrs K coming down a spiral staircase .

Out into the gardens - trying out my panoramic view (click on photo to enlarge).

I have heard people who know about gardens (I do not) sing the praises of this garden.

The weather helped (now raining here as I type this)

Honey Bees ! - there was a sign say 'Warning Bees' !

Love these steps - my neighbour would have wanted to weed them (philistine with OCD) (he despairs about ours)

Lovely feature , the building is mainly local Limestone so the Sandstone surround must have been imported from somewhere .

Another 'Grand Day Out' - even Mrs K enjoyed it (not a natural castle person) and we even had some rather expensive ice-creams (it was National Trust after all !) . A link to a website about the castle so you can find out all the things I missed and got wrong.

Visit the house at Sizergh │ North West | National Trust