Portrait of the author as a young Wargamer

Kid pictures are, of course, the last refuge of the scoundrel.  I count Medieval Lego men, Prince August homecasts and possibly some Britains knights in there somewhere.  The siege tower is long gone, handed on to younger cousins, but the fort remains on top of the shelf in the War Room. 

Seems silly really, how at the ripe old age of seven or eight, I cracked the complexities of siege games - something which has resolutely eluded me nearly thirty years on.  A testament to the virtues of simplicity I suppose. 

What to do with a chap like this?

Might this plucky Belgian be taking a trip across the pond?

Last year, I had the good fortune to pick up some figures very cheaply from a diorama that was being broken up.  Amongst those figures were some Dutch-Belgian infantry like this chap above.  Now as it happens I ended up with some more than I needed. Most of them have the slightly flared Austrian shako, but these fellas are wearing the false fronted job favoured by the America regulars. Their coat is blue and disregarding the possible need to do away with the shoulder wings with a dab of paint, I think they are not a bad match for US regulars. 

The attractions of 1812 are many, not least that I have all the British I could possibly need. I think it remains to be seen exactly how many of these fellas I have and how many units I would likely need.