NOT JESUS, JUST MUSCLE
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I find Boris Vallejo's painting of bodybuilder Jesus hilarious.
It's hard to imagine a picture more clueless about who Jesus was, what he
stood for, t...
REPOST: Forgotten Father
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The tastes of one generation are not necessarily those of another and
literature is no more exempt from the alienating power of time than any
other form of...
Incident At Belmont Station
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*"Were you there Grandpa?"*
*"Sure thing! I was a Corporal with the Belmont Fusiliers, and we were in
the midst of it."*
*"Let me see......yes, the r...
15mm Clone Wars
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I've been busy painting droids recently and can now field some deadly
Droidekas.
I've also being painting up some tiny Clone troops. I could have made it ...
‘You don't know what you got till it's gone’
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Apologies to Joni Mitchell for borrowing a line from the lyrics of her
song, BIG YELLOW TAXI … but it sums up how I feel as a result of the recent
failur...
Homeguard helmet etc
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When watching Pathe news the other day l took this still-
It shows a Homeguardsman in a painted helmet. Never seen this before. Any
one got more details...
3D opens up many possibilities
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At Blackwatch, we have switched from hand-modeled masters to 3D drawings
for cost reasons. We now only build our own dioramas with self-printed
figures.
...
Battle of Grande Battaglia
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So as promised in the last post... I was suddenly hit with the need over
Christmas for a big game.. I'm really loving the skirmish format with a
small ...
Napoleonic Prussian Kuirassiers 1813-14
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For years I have managed with using converted Airfix French Cuirassiers as
Prussian Kuirassiers, but I've always hoped that someone would produce
them. I s...
Munitionschlepper Wespe
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I am fortunate enough to already own two 1/48 scale Wespe SP guns, so when
I found I have a (part built) kit of a third I decided to build it as an
ammun...
Because David Lynch Died
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*This is an old post which I'm re-posting because David Lynch died. A stray
observation here--that his work frequently nailed the distinctive spot
where ...
Thoughts on Wind and Water
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*As well as being a magazine cover this image was also used on the box lid
of the Battleline version of Wooden Ships and Iron Men. *
I have been feeling ...
Shiny, Shiny, Shiny Cuirassiers. . .
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Still must touch up the edges of the green bases, hit the places most
likely to be touched with another spot of the Liquitex acrylic high gloss
varni...
Roman Civil War - Backs to the Sea!
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Defence of Leptiminius. Pompeians sieze the initiative
The Caesarian advance upon Utica, the main city of the Africa Proconsularis
north of Carthago,...
Austrian General Staff
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I've just finished another two of the lovely *Hinton Compatriots* Austrian
commander sculpts recently sent to me by Don. These have been such fun to
pain...
The Year in Review - 2024
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I hope everyone has a wonderful New Year and may your 2025 be bless with
lots of laughter, love and gaming!
*In 2024 I was able to play 18 miniatures bat...
First of 2025.
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So I did manage to get a few things completed over what might be loosely
termmed the holidays. There are some additions to 'Shinyloo' which need to
be ...
More Roman Civilians: 54/60mm King & Country
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*The new Roman civilians from King & Country.*
Today in my email In Box I received an update on some of the new figure
releases coming from King & Cou...
Never Mind the Matchlocks trial
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Steve, Bob and I have played quite a few games of 'Billhooks', so we
thought we would give this set of rules a go. As you would expect they are
very s...
2024 Merry Christmas
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Baby Jesus!
The reason for the Christmas Season
and the rest of our lives.
He quietly grew....
Into a carpenter to build a planetary way of life and.....
Mark's Game Room reviews Blood on the Sands
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The excellent YouTube wargaming channel, Mark's Game Room, has done a
review and a quick explanation of Blood on the Sands. Please show them some
suppor...
Early Closing for Xmas?
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I've been struggling to keep this blog going, to be honest. For the last
few months, my heart really hasn't been in it at all, so I'm going to take
a br...
The Battle of Prokhorovka
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We’re re fighting the battle of Prokhorovka at the moment using Memoir ‘44.
This was the giant armour clash between the 11th SS Panzer Korps under
Mans...
All change!.
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Due to vast amounts of unwanted attention I am taking this blog down
permanently. But fear not, I have copied most of the posts onto a new blog My
"Old ...
Very Sad News
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I'm very sorry to be making this post but I've just learned that Dale past
away from a heart attack on November 5th.
Most of my relationship with Dale wa...
Trying Something New
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Based on what I said last time, I’m going to try out something new. Check
out my posts at Medium – one test you can ignore, one discussion of why I
chose t...
Short Rules by Leon Tucker
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A bit of an experiment as posts go… This is an overview of one of my
favorite, older, short, simple war game rules. Plenty of information to get
a feel f...
Warplan 5/5 Campaign System
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I'm afraid I couldn't find a way to reproduce the snazzy double headed
arrow in 5/5 in the text so will have to do with this instead.
Warplan 5/5 came o...
What Do You Mean “It’s Only A Movie”?
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Like many of my friends and fellow students of military history/military
affairs, I went recently to see the new movie “Midway”. This community can
deli...
Tribute to Stuart Asquith
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Whilst it is not news that we have recently lost one of the hobby's
best-known figures this past week, I thought it would be appropriate to add
my own trib...
The Fritz Leiber WIKI - [Currently Reading]
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---------- The Fritz Leiber WIKI Welcome to the Scrolls of Lankhmar. It
contains information on the writings of and also the RPG Guide to Nehwon,
which is ...
A Tale of Two Battles - Part the First
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The Italian infantry brigade.
The only unit to come out of this with their heads held high.
This is the first of two battle reports featuring my French ...
Supplies to San Lorenzo ....
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*San Lorenzo, lies near the border with the British territory of
Malize..... The British have allied with some local natives attempt to
disrupt one of the ...
Character Figures and Settlers for the FIW
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Conquest Miniatures put out a nice little blister of the main characters
from the Last of the Mohicans, also released by Warlord Games. I had fun
painti...
Sources For The Interwar Gamer
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I have been meaning to add some content here for a long time, apparently
three years of a long time in fact, how time flies. So with this post I
hope to k...
Stephen King’s Threshold
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“There is probably no dedicated fantasy fan in America who doesn’t have at
least one of those distinctive black-bound volumes upon his or her shelf .
. ....
The Return of the Iron Duke
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On Saturday, Nov. 21, six of us gathered at Jay's to fight a Napoleonic
battle using a highly modified version of Command and Colors Napoleonics we
laughin...
High time...
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It is high time I posted here again. The project has stalled. Last night I
decided to have a read of book 2 after many years away from it. It begins
so wel...
Top (TV) Duels
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To go with my posts on top one-on-one fights (in films) here's a quick
selection from television.
*#5* Agents of SHIELD (May vs. Ward)
This was a fascinat...
La Passeggiata
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Artist: ItalianTitle: La *Passeggiata*
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Thank you for subscribing to the Orientalist Gallery!
Memories, Tangents and the Power of the Pastoral
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*Charles Stadden 30mm BEF released fifty(ish) years ago*
It occurs to me that wargaming the Great War is not going to be a straight
forward thing.
L...
Second World War comparisons on "World War 20mm"
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Piers Brand has recently posted a side by side shot of several figures
painted in his inimitable style. They represent a number of different 20mm
metal ma...
Fauna
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After a recent expedition "down under" a couple of new animals have been
added to the national zoological gardens.
*If I recall correctly these are from a R...
Byzarbia at Ayton Game.
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Once again it's been a while, though in my defence I plead that I have been
busy painting figures for our second Ayton Weekend Game, even forgoing two
of o...
Blog Harassment
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I am sorry to say that I have had to select comment moderation as a
permanent feature now. I am sick and tired of being harassed by a follower
of this blog...
Buy my e-book and save the police (again!)
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*Wasting Police Time** is now available on Kindle.
You don't need a Kindle itself to read it - you can download an 'app' onto
your iPad/laptop/whatever.
U...
10 of the most beautiful things I've ever seen
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1. The sun setting over a still sea, woven to silk, and the swimmers,
silhouttetted wading back to the shore like merman returning to land.
2. My br...
Why the WAR OF 1812?
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I just received two of the more recent Osprey Men-at Arms books on the War
of 1812 in the mail the other day (not really that recent - 1998 and
2000...but...
I haven't been as active as I would be normally, for a variety of reasons, but one thing I try to do is take the Kinchlets out for a walk every day. This gets them some fresh air, tires them out and does at least delay my inevitable transformation into someone's fat Dad. A decent tramp is good for the soul and one of the places we've gone several times is Glasnevin Cemetery. This is a large cemetery and well worth a walk around.
A name in marble as well as in lights.
Look at that profile!
This chap is Mr. Barry Sullivan, originally from Warwickshire; he was born to Irish parents and had a long association with Cork. He began a stage career in 1837 and made a name for himself as a Shakespearean. He toured extensively particularly in the US and Australia. He was apparently one of the finest actors of his generation, though the Australian Dictionary of Biography states that he was inclined to err on the robust side.
Which always puts me in mind of this.
Monument to fallen Dublin Metropolitan Police Officers
Prior to independence, Ireland had two police forces, the RIC (Royal Irish Constabulary) who policed the countryside and were armed and the DMP (Dublin Metropolitan Police) who policed the city and were unarmed. I always have a soft spot for old coppers - so we have dropped down to this monument a couple of times.
The Roll of Honour
Grave stone of Constable Lahiff
Next to the monument is the grave stone of Constable Michael Lahiff who was killed during the 1916 Rebellion.
Inscription
DMP Crest
Lahiff was shot at St. Stephen's Green (another favourite haunt of the Kinchlets) which is a wonderful park and well worth a visit. During one of our last visits, I took a snap of the plaque which describes the shooting. Please click on the picture to enlarge it, if you wish to read the text.
NOTE: This is a repost of an entry I wrote in 2012. I was discussing it with a friend last night and went back to it to refresh my memory what I had written. I've made an addition or two to it and fixed some of the broken links. I still think it stands up as a criticism.
Daughter of the Regiment
19th century audiences found cantinieres quite romantic
I have a soft spot for vivandieres. A friend of Mrs Kinch's remarked on this once, though she couchedit in somewhat unkind terms. "Was it normal for the prostitutes to wear uniforms?*"
As it happens, no it was not, though no doubt someone can produce an example somewhere. I suspect Massena's name will crop up.
Vivandieres and Cantinieres (for our purposes the terms are effectively interchangeable) were women who had a contract to supply spirits, shaving kit and other small necessities to the regiment to which they were attached. Strictly speaking the girls didn't have this contract themselves, it was held by a Sergeant who was known as a Cantinier. The Cantinier's wife was known as the Cantiniere and was definitely not a prostitute. She took up the job as the Cantinier was too busy with his duties, marching up and down and so forth and staring at terrified recruits and saying things like "Zis eez ze brown bess musket, eet eez ze preferred wepon ov yur enemy and it make a verey diztinktive zound when fired at you, mon brave."
An S Range Vivandiere
This figure represents a typical vivandiere/cantiniere with her basket and little barrel of brandy. She was a gift from Foy over at Prometheus in Aspic, who no doubt noted my somewhat unwholesome interest in the breed. She was painted by Krisztian, whose skill and craftsmanship is almost getting monotonous in its excellance.
For your titilation, the ladies uncovered ankles.
Put them away you dirty, dirty girl...
As it happened Cantiniere's were rather better at surviving battles than their husbands were and as such (as well as I suspect their access to a legitimate source of booze may also have played a part) were highly sought after as spouses. Nicholette, the vivandiere, in RF Delderfields "Seven Men of Gascony" is married several times and is unabashedly unsentimental about the process.
Just pull yourself together dear...
NOTE: As I am revisiting this post, I realised that I linked to the image I used here (rather than downloading it and inserting it into the text) and whoever was using it has removed it. For reference it was an image of a very attractive actress, playing Lady Macbeth. She was down to her bra and underwear and covered in so much blood she looked like something out of the third act of Carrie.
Which brings me to the second point of this post, what does Kinch have against Lady Macbeth? Nothing per se, I like Macbeth. It's not my favourite or the one I know best, but it is very, very good. However, I don't care for the usual casting of Lady Macbeth, who is often a painfully young, screechy creature who uses the sleepwalking scene to take her hysterics for a walk.
All of which misses one of the essential truths of soldiers wives - they are tough women.
Isuzu Yamada's performance in Kurosawa's Throne of Blood is a notable exception to this somewhat depressing rule and Dame Judi Dench in Trevor Nunn's 1979 production is suitably flinty, but what makes those two stand out is that while they do portray women in a state of mental breakdown, they don't make a meal of it. To paraphrase Victoria Wood, you can't just rub some blood on your hands, scream a bit and go, "Don't mind me, I'm a looney".
NOTE: Apparently "Don't mind me, I'm a looney" does not have the common currency that it should. It is a reference to "Giving Notes", a magnificent sketch by the late (and much missed) Victoria Wood. It's only three minutes long and for context, the character is a producer in an amateur production of Hamlet.
A second Vivandiere,
based on the facings I'd say attached to a regiment of dragoons
No-one has made a film of Seven Men of Gascony, which is a pity as it's rather good and with the exception of Gerard, certainly the best fiction I've read about the period from the French point of view. I fear however, that if one was made today, that poor old Nicolette would be hammered into the same tired "beautiful, but deadly" formula that seems to be rule for heroines these days.
This lady was a gift from Old John of 20mmNostalgic Revival and she does look fine. She's been used as an objective marker (with attached donkey) for Command & Colours Napoleonics games so far, though I think it will take a skirmish game for her to come into her own.
"I hate to see you leave,
but I love to watch you go."
I think the point about the portrayal of Lady Macbeth that annoys me so much is that it is unfair. Sir Terry Pratchett wrote about women like her in his fantasy novel, "Guards, Guards".
"Sybil's female forebears had valiantly backed up their husbands as distant embassies were besieged, had given birth on a camel or in the shade of a stricken elephant, had handed around the little gold chocolates while trolls were trying to break into the compound, or had merely stayed at home and nursed such bits of husbands and sons as made it back from endless little wars. The result was a species of woman who, when duty called, turned into solid steel."
Sir Terry is writing about a policeman's wife, rather than a soldiers and I see a lot of Sybil in Mrs Kinch sometimes. It may no longer be fashionable or popular and I can't think of an example in popular culture in recent years, but I'll be damned if I don't give these ladies their due.
*Whereupon my mother in law (who is reading this over my shoulder, yes you Mary) says something uncharitable about the Guards Division.
The latest addition to the collection from our man in Budapest. This is a 1/16 Cardinals Guard from Mini Art and very lovely it is too. I remember being quite confused as a young adult when I finally read Dumas unabridged and discovered that D'Artagnan and Cardinal Richelieu end the novel as not quite enemies and almost allies.
The richness of the red in the tabard is really something.
As always, our man's faces are excellent. This fellow is definitely not someone to be trifled with. I'm always amazed by the character he manages to impart to a relatively humble plastic kit. This chap will be taking over guard duties on one of my bookshelves. One thing I've noticed is that these larger figures can get quite dusty after a while. A feather duster doesn't seem to be the way to go, but I'm sure there's a way of keeping them bright without damaging them.
Of course, I think everyone of my age who took an interest in Dumas came across him here. I am happy to announce that this is proving a real hit with the Kinchlets. One thing that struck me about the programme is actually how demanding it is of its viewers. The Kinchlets like the music and colours, but something that completely passed me by when I watched it originally is that it actually tells a reasonably close version of the three musketeers story in something like thirty plus installments.
It really surprised me to see a children's television programme that believed its audience would be able to keep up.
"What are you up to Daddy?"
The Kinchlets continue to be a joy albeit a tiring one. Girl Kinchlet is crawling now and suddenly Sir Harry Flashman VC is leading a new and very exciting existence that mainly involves sleeping out of reach and keeping his tail where he can see it.