The War Gaming Bucket List

 Come on, we all have one.

What war gaming period have you always looked at with half an eye and thought to yourself: one day..! 

Always the war gaming butterfly, I have several.

The American Revolution. Caveat - it must be with Stadden 30mm figures. I have always been drawn to the American Revolution because of the Stadden range. I weakened about a year back after spotting some of them here and bought all the named characters (Washinton, Howe and all the others) and some of the British Light Dragoons. I could stop there perhaps, but would keep on looking at the British Grenadiers, and if I have those then I would need some Continentals who would be gorgeous in blue and buff.

Next would have to be what I really only loosely would term "The Great War in Africa". Loosely as it covers the Lettow-Vorbeck adventure, but because there are so many lovely add-ons that you can throw in. Armed sailors in the Rufiji Delta. Germans defending Tsingtao. Australian naval types mopping up German colonial possessions in the Pacific. TE Lawrence doing his thing against the Hijaz railway. I could go on. In effect this is all late stage colonial war gaming with a touch of VSF thrown in in the shape of gunboats, armored cars and biplanes. There is a Heart of Darkness element if you consider the British Naval Expedition to the great African Lakes. All are epic stories in their ow right and together are almost too much to take in. Indeed, I am almost paralysed with indecision.

The Great War more generally. I've always been interested in the early war battle of movement - always so much more interesting than the dreary slog of most of the war. Likewise the later battles of the war when allied armor was able to be used after the last great German offensives of 1918. 

And then there is always the war in the air... Something where the players have a roster of pilots available with each his own abilities and a natty 1/72 scale aircraft. Each side gets a squadron of  fighters and some specials per mission.

Finally there is the clash of coastal forces as so ably done by Warlord with their fine "Cruel Seas" range. Splendid models, a well supported range and fun looking rules. All I have to do is commit.

Edward Suren

 

The 31st Foot at Sobroan

Regular readers of this blog will have long since twigged that I like Edward Suren's "Willie" range of miniatures. Well-sculpted, well-proportioned with a hint of caricature and tons of panache, these are the cool younger brothers of Stadden's elegant miniatures.

No-one could do refined elegance like Stadden, and no-body could pull off dash like Suren.

It strikes me that his miniatures were designed with the diorama-maker rather than the war-gamer in mind. I say this with the large dioramas that Suren made up for the Forbes Collection of Toy soldiers. Often the ranges are quite limited and the figures have separate weapons that can be a trick to attach as there are often no obvious attachment points. That is left to you. The limitations of the range are there because the range was often created with a single action in mind - I think of the mid-18th century range in this context with Carillion/Ticonderiga or Fontenoy being obvious contenders. If you needed a specialty figure such as Sgt McCabe of the 31st Foot at Sobroan, then you took the figure that suited the conversion, bent and twisted it a little, glued or more likely soldered on a musket an a flag-pole and off you went.

Almost... There...

 

Up the Chamla with Willie

 

A WIP of the latest project. 

After spending the last couple of weeks on the HLI, I thought that it was time to pull out the screw gun team that has been patiently waiting on it's turn to be made ready for active duty. The castings were in fair condition, but did take a couple of hours to clean up - one of the joys of using figures that were designed more than 45 years ago. A small problem is that the gun's carriage was short shot and not fully formed in the mould, so I'll be scrounging some plastic card to make good.  

What you see here is the weekends' work. I have another three mules to finish along with a pair of gunners before I can tuck this one safely away. 

The basing is sand on PVA painted with one of the GW "crackle" paints. That's then dry-brushed with a bone shade and topped with three or four different types of grass tuft.

The Order of Battle is now:

The Infantry

The Buffs

The Highland Light infantry

The Seaforths

The Guides Infantry

The Cavalry

The 21st Lancers

The Navy

The Naval Brigade Gatling Guns

I am staking a claim to a Mountain and a Field Battery, some Guides Cavalry, perhaps some Lancers from Bengal and another couple of infantry units.

Then it's Pathans in a big way. Then perhaps a few Mahdists. An Ross, just to tease you a little, some Boers.

The Buffs (again)

With the Gatling battery and it's merry crew all painted, it was time for the infantry to get some love so I returned to the Buffs who just needed seven more figures to finish them off.

So, with no further ado, here they are sitting on the potting table in the last of the winter sun for the day.

I am not sure if I had gotten up a picture of one of the command staff - he may be Major Pettigrew, he may not, but here he is with his eager ADC.

I am not completely sure, but i think that the next part of the project may be to get through the Highland Light Infantry.

More Sailors

Forgive the picture quality. Was done in the shed under artificial light very early in the morning!

Still, that's all the Gatlings done and 8 of the 12 Gunners.

Jolly Jack Tars

As you are doubtless aware, the Willie Ranges include a few artillery pieces.

Among them are a Gatling gun with an army crew.

I wanted a navy crew and there are a couple of sailors in the "Farewell Dolly Gray" range - an Officer and a marching rating. I hoped the rating might be a fairly versatile figure I could animate into a few different attitudes with the odd arm bend and turn of the head. Well, the figures arrived in the post this week. I was pretty happy with the rating - he marches, open handed. His rifle could equally be at the trail or in the slope arms pose. So, plenty of potential there. His sennett hat is not really attached to anything other than the crown of his head, so it's quite easy to snip away the brim and drop a blob of greenstuff on top to make a sailor hat. That same lack of attachment makes it easy to gently twist his head gently left or right.

Among the gunners that come with the Gatlings is a nice officer with field glasses who is getting a head transplant so that he may wear a peaked cap instead of a sun helmet.

The army crew will not be wasted. The "gunners" are infantry castings that are intended to be judiciously posed about a gun - yes there is one specialised figure in terms of a seated gunner, but I have plans for him and a 4Ground Wagon. His mates will either join the infantry or be used to crew some Connoisseur Field Guns.

I am organising this force for TSatF and will need three guns and a dozen gunners per battery. Gun 1 gets an Officer and three ratings, Gun 2 a Petty Officer and three ratings and Gun 3 gets four ratings.

One down, two to go.

PS - of course I am now buzzing with possibility. How about a crew for a Boer War 4.7"? I have the guns already... Or a couple of gunners for a light piece mounted hastily in a steamer? Officers to fit the wheelhouse of the HMS Implausible?  A handful of deck-hands. A small Naval Brigade?

Chaaaarge!

Death or Glory for the 21st Lancers.

Basing up the NWF

Take that you wily Pathan... wait a minute...

Oh, it's complicated and the result of much indecision on my part, but seeing as how I have co-opted my Willie 21st Lancers (at Omdurman) for my NWF project it was only necessary that there be a few butchered Sudanese people strewn about the place because of course they are still the 21st Lancers (at Omdurman).

The idea here is that each cavalry base will be a vignette and the whole twelve figure unit will be a species of moving diorama of this unit's most melodramatic moment.

On the workbench - Medievals

Over the past few weeks I have been engaged on a campaign  to clean up my painting table. Just as a break from painting Britains.

Resting, not forgotten

It had gotten pretty bad, bad to the point where all the action was taking place in the only clear part of the desk, a strip abut 5 cm deep and 30 cm wide. Now, this was getting a little unsustainable, so off I went. There have been all sorts going out. A small herd of horses, a couple of knights, one a Crusader:

One, a Crusader

The other a later type in Maximilian armour.

The other

 A Polish winged lancer,

Hammer of the Turks

 French Fusiliers for Napoleon's romp through the Ottoman Empire and a few more figures for the North Western Frontier.

I glow with virtue.

This week though it's been a handful of medieval archers.

twang-twang!

I liked how these turned out so much that I started making some hoardings for them:

The palings are sliced up strips of coffee stirrer glued to strips of skewer, although I think I may have had a less fiddly time with more trips of coffee stirrer. The eagle eyed among you may note that they are in the same livery colours as the archers. The idea here is to ultimately get together a medieval siege setup.

... and another

24th Foot, of course, or the South Wales Borderers for this later fellow,

Yes, I still need to put his arm on, but the varnish is sticky and I couldn't resist.

One of my favorite of the Wm. Britains poses and really a breeze to paint them as well. More in the coming days.

A Toy Soldier's Progress

So...

How are you all? What's happening out there?

How are you filling in those long days and evenings in lockdown when you are in quarantine, or cant get out and a bout as you might like in the evening or over the weekends?

I have decided to make this my Time of Unfinished Projects.

Each week or fortnight (depending on how much of the particular project is in stock) I will be picking up a different unfinished project and moving it along a little. Last week it was Willie Highlanders (pics to follow),  this week it's recast "Wm Britains",

There's a bit of WIP progression picture here:

They do come up well. I had forgotten how elegant they are in their line and how they take as much detail as you are prepared to put on them. The black lining may not be to everyone's' taste, but I am having a go at emulating the Henry Harris painting style.

Paperboys

For my birthday this year, I bought some of the Peter Dennis "Paperboys" books, having seen them in action on Aly Morrison's blog.

I thought they looked quite charming, and when I saw one of them was a "Little Wars" reprint, I was gone for all money.

So I started assembling a base of WSS Bavarian Grenadiers.

Not too onerous to cut out. I'd probably benefit from making a few stands at a time as a batch. Good fun so far. I am looking at a scenario for the Schellenburg, 1704 as my build target. Let's see how we go.

The Schellenburg was an early love of mine since I first came across it in Mil Mod years and years ago and I'm chuffed to be building a neat little Bavarian Army in that cause.

The Cavalry

My North West Frontier project has been coming along as I move into Cavalry country.

Firstly we have a couple of Sowars of the Corps of Guides. Seminal troops for any NWF project.

And secondly, some British Lancers. Looking closely at them , it's very apparent that these are meant to be the 21st Lancers at Omdurman. It's my intention to mount these figures on comparatively large bases - say 80 x 40mm to accommodate the rather large horses. I am intrigued by the possibility into making some of these into mini vignettes which might make up into something quite impressive when the whole regiment is eventually assembled. I have just about enough castings to produce a full Squadron (in TSatF terms) of 25 figures - two troops of 12 figures plus a Captain commanding...

Wargaming megalomania? Why, yes.

Now, just to wrap up for the day, a miscellany of just varnished odds and ends:

From left to right, a Buff, an Officer of the Artillery, a Sowar of the Corps of Guides, an Officer of the Corps of Guides, another Buff and a Driver. The last is a Willie seated gunner from the Gatling Gun set whi has opted for a quieter life and is waiting on a 4Ground cart.

The HMS Hood

I am currently (when not cranking out miniature Pathans and others) working away with the fellows from the Airfix Tribute forum on a group build.

The topic is Airfix WW2 Royal Navy Warships and I am building HMS Hood. I am using the base kit from Airfix as well as a kind of sticky-backed timber deck overlay and a sheet of impossibly small and fine brass etch to detail this elderly classic.

This has been a very enjoyable effort and one that I intend to repeat.

Herewith a few pix:

The whole thing dry-fitted together

The screens and railings on the Admiral's Bridge

The Flying-off platform on 'B' Turret

 The Hood in 1931. The Hood could carry a Fairey III seaplane on a steam catapult aft and a Fairey Flycatcher on a platform over the 'B' Turret. Ideally, you'd crank the old girl up to 34 knots, turn into the wind and..... launch!

A bit of internal bracing

 It's possible I may have bought a few Destroyers and a Cruiser as well.

Pathans!

A rare view from inside the Shedio of some Pathans. I had these a while ago from John P and painted them up last year on a whim. Mostly Stadden with a couple of Willies on the extreme right of the picture. One of those is a re-purposed Saxon.

There are another ten that are at about the 80% mark.

Things are starting to some together, I feel.

Tomorrow I ought to have a few Cavalrymen to put up.

Randoms...

Just starting to scrape the bottom of my NWF figure barrel.

From left to right, wounded, mounting up and Fighting Mac. The mounting up figure no longer seems to be in the Willie catalogue; I had this figure from a mixed lot a few years ago. His horse is being painted. Fighting Mac is I think, meant to be Hector MacDonald.

Next, some wily Pathans.

So, where are we?

Right here.

I have the bit between my teeth, I've had a week off and have been painting steadily.

So, today I threw down a water-carrier. In my mind he's Gunga Din, but who knows? Certainly he was easy to paint; he only took about 20 minutes this afternoon.

I added a new member to the Medical Staff. Dr Watson, Barbara and fanny have been joined by Private Shifty. Wounded men are not the only thing he snags off the battlefield. Need a second hand watch? A pocket book? A cigarette case? He's your man.

Och, the Highlanders. Rather pleased with the tartan. I have a method that seems to work and gives a fair result for the effort going in.

 Finally, The Buffs. Were with Brindon Blood's Third Brigade. Fine fellows all.

And that's nearly it. Apart from a few more Highlanders, a few speciality figures and a couple of Sowars that's about all the unpainted lead I have for now. I have a gun crew and a unit of British cavalry that need repainting, then I will need to toddle off and put in an order with Tradition. More Highlanders and some more Regulars to fill out my first couple of units then some Indian Infantry will be next, I should say.

The Medical Staff Redux

Introducing Dr Watson and nurses Fanny and Barbara.

The Medical Arm 2 - Stretcher Bearers!

Made the stretcher out of a straw from a broom with a slice of making tape.