Monday, July 20, 2020

Refighting History Volume 8

“The Seven Years War, Western Theatre, small actions”, by Charles Grant.

This arrived today as a belated birthday present ! Why did I wait so long. Charles has done us proud with this latest volume. Packed with enticing small actions, great narrative and superb artwork from Arno Stoerkel who many will remember from the old A Military Gentleman forum.
In my view this could be the best volume to date, and I cannot wait to read the actions and plan my next trip to Germany and view them “in the flesh”.
Remarkable how many actions were fought around walled cities. I must address this issue and produce some city walls for the table.


Oops sorry about the photos. You may need to stand on your head ! Well worth the effort.

Thursday, July 16, 2020

Lt. Gen Marquis de Vogue

Back to 40mm yesterday. I need a French cavalry general so I opted for Lt. Gen Charles Francois Elzear, Marquis de Vogue, who commanded cavalry in several 7YW actions and became cavalry inspector general. (See profile in Kronoscaf).
The horse holder trying to calm the startled horse is a trooper from the Noailles cavalry regiment, which I am currently recruiting. I enjoy these command vignettes which make a nice break from painting up full regiments.




Wednesday, July 15, 2020

More 3D Prints

Still limited what I can do post hernia operation, so I have been browsing some free 3D printing sites.
I found some nice gravestones which will go towards a graveyard and church scene I am creating.
Also some nice barricades and crates and barrels for dock scenes.
There is so much out there that can be adapted for the wargames table.



Meanwhile I have been painting up some old battered Britains for my growing collection
Some Coldstream Guards and Gordon Highlanders. Old style figures with a paint upgrade.
I have always liked  the artwork of Harry Payne and Richard Simpkin of the British army circa 1900.
Britains sculpts are so reminiscent of this artwork, and I love them!



Friday, July 10, 2020

These look tasty

Saw these new Russian 7YW figures on a website today. The owner has had them sculpted privately by Andrew Stadden. (The Stadden style shines through.) I really like these and they would look great when painted in those fantastic Russian green and red uniforms. They have that distinct Stadden formal look which lends itself so well to this period.
The owner is unsure whether to release them commercially, or keep for his own use. I would buy them, even though they are 54mm and yet another scale jump for me.





Saturday, July 4, 2020

Back in action

Apologies for the recent lack of posts. I had a hernia operation yesterday and I will be laid up for about 8 weeks so I have been trying to get the garden in order and all heavy lifting duties covered.
Today,  in a bit of pain but managed to do an hour on my 40mm collection.
I have started another French cavalry regiment, heavy cavalry regiment Noailles, which featured prominently in many of the western theatre battles, and should add a nice contrast in colour to the French army. One good point about the hernia op is that I should have lots of modelling and painting time over the next few months, and with Blogger much the same format for the time being, I will try and make regular posts.



Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Another diversion

This week I have focused on 54mm. I picked up some very battered Britains lead guardsmen.
First I stripped off the paint. Boiling water and bicarbonate of soda and a nail brush brings the original metal back. I then cut the arms which are cast close to the body, and re-soldered them to give a swinging effect. Added a chin strap with milliput and bulked out the arms. Finally a Matt repaint with Vallejo and gloss shoes. The base is painted using Pelikan plaka paint (yellow ochre), which is made in Germany and hard to get hold of right now. Finally a sprinkling of sea sand on the base to finish the figures.


Also back to the 3D printer, printing 28mm regimental tents.
They have come out very well. These are for my fellow Wargamer Stuart I who needs a dozen of them. I can only assume he wants to set up a Boy Scouts summer camp display to celebrate Baden Powell. I may try some in 40mm for a 7YW camp scene.

Thursday, June 18, 2020

eBay addiction

Of late, I have developed something of an obsession. I have been relentlessly trying to hunt down reasonably priced 30mm Phoenix parade figures. “Reasonably priced” is open to debate as the Phoenix stuff, beautiful as it is, being very well cast and sculpted, always goes for inflated prices. 
My other recent addiction is to seek out cheap and battered lead Britains and restore them and paint them to collector standard in Matt. This is in conjunction with a kindred spirit who I recently met on a toy soldier Facebook group. Great fun and reasonably cheap to buy now, as many of the older collectors are selling their collections and surplus.
Most days I eagerly await the postman, and my eBay “watch list” is my first port of call each day, now that John R has put his AMG blog on furlough. !
Next Friday I go into hospital for a hernia op. For the next 12 weeks, no cycling, no gardening, but hopefully lots of hobby time and ebay-ing!
Looking through an old soldier magazine today and found the cartoon below.
It seems to perfectly sum up my life right now !

Refighting History Volume 8

“The Seven Years War, Western Theatre, small actions”, by Charles Grant. This arrived today as a belated birthday present ! Why did I wa...