Off -piste reading .

 

Every now and again there is a book sale in our village hall , it started with the introduction of an informal lending library in the church porch during Covid and people bring books they have read/don't want and they are sold for about 50p each and the profits go to the church, I think ? . I usually take a bag full of paperbacks round to lessen the piles of books that threaten to overwhelm the house - with instructions from Mrs K not to bring any back as replacements . This usually works and I return feeling virtuous , however this time I fell into conversation with the vicar and she pointed out the above books as being the literary equivalent of the sad eyed puppy that nobody wants - now they are NOT my taste in literature - I did Thomas Hardy at school (So long winded) and Orwell (who I enjoyed) but scorned what I thought as 19th cent. 'chic lit' . however I started feeling guilty - so I gave the Vicar a £1 for them both and have brought them home to read. I've seen the TV versions of them but it will be interesting to see if I can get into them - wish me luck !.

Almmania Quick Fire Artillery .

 

Made rather slow progress with painting this week and I decided to do the gun and crew for the Almannia Expeditionary Force (AEF) artillery and mounted Officer. 

I had to drill and fit axles to the chassis for the wheels to fit on which was a bit tricky, but once undercoated it looks okay . Based up the crew and they have painted up well in a Germanic uniform .

The C in C of the AEF, Karl von Bismark the cousin of the more famous German statesman . Karl is somewhat of a disappointment to his family having failed in the catering industry (*the great Strudel Disaster) , he used his families influence to gain a position in the army and has been given command of the expeditionary force - how he will fair will be reveled when I get some more Infantry painted and onto the tabletop.

*a failed collaboration with the Kipling Bakery firm which ended in disaster as it became apparent that Karl von Bismark knew nothing about catering or cake baking.

 

Shiny Toy Soldiers.

 

Smelling faintly of 'Detol' the Army of Almannia is ready for basing and painting . Over the last week I have been stripping the figures of their rather gungy paint and now am ready to undercoat them . Once I'd got the paint off I'm even more impressed with the quality of the castings and am looking forward to painting them.

Meanwhile at the Artillery Depot .......

Toy Soldiers in Art No.4

Portrait of King Karl of Wurttemburg 1835 by Franz Seraph Stirnbrand , found on the interweb.

 

The unexpected appearance of the forces of Almannia .

 

Whilst playing my recent 40mm Imaginations game I idly had a look on eBay for 40mm figures (you rarely find any ) and I came across the above collection being sold for £20 plus postage !

Now I wasn't really going to expand my 40mm collections , but this was an offer I couldn't refuse so I quickly bought them and they arrived promptly.

They are Zinnbrigade figures by von Schildkrot (the molds are available from Berliner Zinnfiguren and once cleaned up will form the expeditionary force from Almannia 

The finished whimsy.

 

Finally got my whimsical old couple cleaned up , painted and varnished and taking pride of place on a shelf in the conservatory .

.: A bit of whimsy. (tonystoysoldiers.blogspot.com)

Toy Soldiers in Art No. 3

Found on Facebook and unfortunately I can't remember which site .

Interesting figures , French 1860's ? , the other chap is studying the rules book I think .