Wet weather job.

 

Well it's pouring down and blowing a gale here in the N.W. and the dog definately didn't want a walk (a quick dash into the garden for a wee !)(the dog - not me !), so I have been busy casting up Dutch/Belgian cavalry from Prince August moulds . The Gods of Homecasting smiled on me and I got these cast up without to many failures.They are on the left - Belgian Carabiniers, with a rolled greatcoat added with 'greenstuff' . On the right- Dutch Hussars, I mounted them on a new standing horse mould I got from Ebay and had to model the Shabraque to the horse again with 'greenstuff' - a good days work and I will be undercoating tomorrow and start painting them next wweek.

Toy Soldiers in Art No.36

Found this whilst browsing , it's a hardback book cover seeminly advertising 'Father Ted's' . Welcome Gifts series published in 1912 (?) . If I was the dog I would get out of the way of the lad with the cannon ! , once more the sailor suit makes an appearence - I half wish I had had the opportunity to wear one in my youth ! . I will investigate more on subject of Fathers Ted's books .

PS Did a bit more digging into the above post it was published bu Raphael Tuck & sons , at one point they were the worlds largest postcard publisher ! , more here at  Raphael Tuck & Sons - Wikipedia 

 

The Dutch-Belgians in action or Poirot's first Battle !

 

So over the last month or so I have been busy casting up and painting a Dutch/Belgian army using the 25mm Prince August moulds and now is the time for their first apperance on the 'Tabletop of Mars' 

Their Commander Brigadier H. Poirot (rumoured to be a distant relative of that detective chap!?) , rather a poor photo - must try harder !

The Dutch/Belgian force - the scenario is they must cross the table to secure a town - the French force will try to stop them .(the card is Poirot's trump card )

The Belgian 36th Chasseur Battalion , rather natty in their green uniforms.

Two Battalions of Dutch 5th Line 

Two Battalions of Dutch Militia , these are converted British Line - I  remodelled the Belgic shako into the older 'stovepipe shako with 'green stuff ' . I am looking forward to seeing how these chaps get on and will report back as the action proceeds.

Another 'Grand Day Out' !

 

With one thing or another it has been two years since I have been to a wargaming show so when 'A' invited me down to Partizan I jumped at the opportunity !. A rather poor selfie (due to my short arms ) , Me , 'B' and 'A' , we met up with 'B, at the show . We all got in on the concession rate - sadly nobody questioned our qualifying ages .

I was keen so see this game put on by 'The Paperboys' 

All hand cut 16,000 figures - one to one ratio Hastings !

Two units of Norman Archers 

The sheer number of figures was jaw-dropping !

The veiw from the top of the ridge - they played the game using Midgard rules and I believe it was a draw - Harold was killed but the Saxons still held half the hill by nightfall .

The show was packed with wargamers - very busy indeed .

I liked the use of 'teddy bear fur' in this game - Arras 1940 I believe - got a lecture from 'B' on the differences between Universal and Bren gun Carriers ! (trackheads !)

Interesting Japanese/Samurai game using 54mm figures '

They had got the snow effect just right , lots of figure conversions as well .

This WW2 Pacific game was massive !

The aircraft were well done as well.

The mountain side was magnificent, hundreds of glued on pieces of bark chippings giving a brilliant affect .

Of course there had to be this viginete !

Lace Wars game, was impressed by the Standards carried by these Regiments.( note to self I should invest more in banners instead of just photo copying them)

The Battle of Minden - with hundreds of superbly painted figures - a great spectical .

Just before we left we came across this game using 'lego' style figures and bricks .

Very clever system ! each unit came with its own casualty / status marker built in, as well as its own range device .

A very unusual idea , clever and VERY different ! . Well it was 'a grand day out' ! it was good to catch up with 'B' and to talk wargaming all the way down and back from the show with 'A' (click on photos to enlarge)

Re-basing rears it's ugly head again !

 

I said in an earlier posting that I had been doing a lot of clearing up and general tidying and I came across a box of painted 28mm ACW figures - mainly Perry and Wargames Foundry , they were all singularly based and I think I was going to use them with 'Sharpe's Practice' ? , However this had not happened and they had been stored and forgotten .I wondered how I could use them and hit upon the idea of using 'Rebels and Patriots' by Osprey , these are a fun set of 'skirmish' rules based on their successful ' Lion Rampant' series of rules .

They use 'units' of 6 or 12 figures , the suggested Confederate early war list has a unit of 12 'Shock' Cavalry , so I decided to rebase these figures to see how they would look.

I can't remember which Foundry figures these were from but they have been painted about 10 years ago and I need to paint up a couple more to finish off the unit . I'll post again when the baes are dry and finished.

A forgotten treasure refound.

 

We are busy redecoration the back bedroom so my gaming/painting has taken a bit of a knock . Whilst reorganising I came across my copy of 'Battle Cry' the C&C version of the ACW , I purchased it quite a long time ago and not played it much , so I thought it ideal for a quick game or two this week.

It was designed to be sold at ACW gift shops at various battlefields in the US , very eye catching and marketed to catch the non-gaming publics eye , plastic figures nice terrain and easy rules.

Easy to set up and quick to play - ideal for me this week !

A reminder of the past - I got it when the dog was a puppy - hence the chewed edge and corners - I obviously left it lying about unsupervised !

This weeks project - Jackson's Valley Campaign , starting with Kernstown .