German Officers Liege

I picked up these chaps the other day. They are old and quite nice.  They are Strombecker 1/32 scale figures made of zinc. I had thought they were hollow - but it turns out that they not.  

My protestations that I'm not collecting a 1/32 scale army don't seem to be up to much. 

Quick blast of white spray and a lick of gloss paint should do nicely. 

Command & Colours: Tricorne

I came across this floating around in the blogosphere, hat tip to Old Trousers from Numbers, Wargames & Arsing About.  This is Tricorne, Richard Borg's take on the American Rebellion. Contrary to early reports, this game will be shipping with blocks rather than plastic figures or at least that's what it says on the manufacturers website. I'm not awfully keen on blocks, but to be honest I will probably play it with figures anyway. 

I have no great enthusiasm for the American War of Independence, but I am very interested to learn how Richard Borg tackles linear warfare.  There are suggestions that a Seven Years War version will be forthcoming if this is successful and that I would be very interested in. 

The game will cover the following battles. None of these involve the French unless I'm very much mistaken - though Du Gourmand is already laying in supplies of 1/72 figures in anticipation.

Bunker Hill -17 June 1775

Long Island (Grant's Attack) - 27 August 1776

Long Island (British Flank March) - 27 August 1776

Freeman's Farm - 19 September 1777

Bemis Heights - 7 October 1777

Bemis Heights (British Redoubts) - 7 October 1777

Monmouth - 28 June 1778

Camden - 16 August 1780

Cowpens - 17 January 1781

Guilford Courthouse - 15 March 1781

Hobkirk's Hill - 25 April 1781

Eutaw Springs - 8 September 1781

The game is not available yet, but can be pre-ordered here with a hefty $20 discount.  Unfortunately, the shipping from the US is equally hefty, so I'm in two minds at present. That said, Richard Borg has never written a game I didn't enjoy.

Refugees

This poor soul pushing his earthly possessions in a cart

I got these figures nearly fifteen years ago, painted them a little after and only finished basing them recently.  At the time they were used to represent Dutch and Belgian civilians fleeing in 1940. I have always felt the need to include civilians in my games, not out of any misplaced sense of guilt, but because it forces one to think about the reality one is recreating on the table.

Closeup

When I was a small boy, I saw a documentary called "The World at War" which was voiced by Sir Laurence Olivier. I remember it being very good, but otherwise little more about it, but one line in particular stayed with me. The episode concerned the end of the war and the vast dislocation and hunger that covered most of Europe at the time. There was footage, I think of German prisoners of war, and food was being thrown at them. Olivier was talking about how those born after the war will not really understand what they were seeing and said "Remember that is a real man scrabbling for a potato."

An elderly couple helping each other & a lone woman

I don't agonise over the conflicts I represent on the tabletop.  It is after all a form of entertainment, of vicarious living, albeit quite a staid one. I doubt Mrs Kinch worries about the victims poisoned, stabbed and shot in her Midsomer Murders.  I rarely people the empty villages and towns my troops fight over, but it would seem unjust not to give their inhabitants some scrap of the stage from time to time.

Thankfully this is not a real man scrabbling for a potato. 

Better late than never

A rather fetching landrover

I have not been my own master of late, shackled to books and earning a crust, rather more than I would like at present. This coupled with a shoulder impingement has made me crankier than usual. Trip to the physio is in order I think.

However, the arrival of this rather fetching landrover from the Depressive Diplomatist provided a sharp reminder that the Joy & Forgetfulness "Eight years a blog giveaway" was shamefully behind schedule. The Landrover (and accompanying snazzy card) was my booty from Edwin's blog giveaway and should be joining by BAOR forces before too long.

As for my own giveaway, I popped all the names into a hat this afternoon and drew out, Sergeant Guinness!

Gentlemen, thank you all for taking part. If the good sergeant could leave a comment below with his address, I shall pop the tower in the post shortly.

Christ is Risen!

No one sings it like Johnny 

Home from work. Life has been very busy here - work in particular has been extremely demanding over the last few weeks. The days have been longer and I have seen less of Mrs. Kinch than I would like, but the end is sight. Reflecting on things today, it was brought home to me what a great many things I have to be thankful for. A day for counting blessings certainly. 

Wishing you all a very happy Easter. 

The green blade riseth 

I was reminded of this by the redoubtable Alan of Tradgardland.  Stuff to move the heart.

Lancers in Green & Lest we forget

I fixed the green pennants on these chaps. Hopefully they will be doing their best for the Pasha before too long.

In the meantime, I found this in a box while looking for something else.  It is great war monument from Sergeants Mess. A crisp little casting this lovely sharply defined detail.  

I have no pressing need for it at present, but it was such a nice little model that I couldn't help putting it together. 

I had originally thought of using a standard grey plinth and dark bronze statue with some verdigris, but I think I might use this monument as a model. It's a bit brighter than I expected - which is no bad thing. 

Egyptian Lancers Finished

 

I’ve finished the Egyptian lancers and on the whole I’m reasonably pleased with them.  They aren’t going to win any awards, but they look well enough to pass muster at three feet. 

 

 

 

The lances are made from steel spears which were recommended (and a sample provided) by Mike Lewis of Black Hat. They were intended for 1/32 Prince August Highlanders, but not being able to find my drill has tied that up for a little bit. I added pennants made from printer labels, though I now realise that I sound have painted them green rather than red and white. Too much time thinking of the 17^thLancers on my part I think. Better fix that before I varnish them.

The saddle and tack are probably too complex, but I just painted around the detail where I could and it seems to have done the trick. I don’t think Mike Snooke & Co will be banging my door down for uniform tips any time soon, but for my purposes they’ll do. I probably could have done more research on these, but it would have taken time and to be honest, I just wanted to get on with it. Uncertainty has a terrible tendency to paralyse, decisions are deferred and nothing gets done – which is frustrating. But in the case of toy soldiers, where very little (if anything) is at stake, it seems silly to get overly precious about things.

 

Definitely a case where it is easier to get forgiveness than permission.

 

And a shot from the rear.

 

Does my fez look big in this?

I’m quite happy with how this little project panned out. All the remains to be done for Kassassin is an armoured train carriage and a gun to mount on it. What could be simpler?