WW1 Cavalry

Firstly these are for matt. he has had them for over a week but well it takes time to catch up. The figures are Great War miniatures and were a2 piece casting . the horse and rider were one piece while the lance and arm were another. Horse and rider together did make a trickier paint job but they got their in the end.

12 figures in all including an officer and a musician (who carries both a trumpet AND a bugle.)

My Grandfather joined the army aged 14, (He lied about his age). And served in WW1. he was too young to serve in the trenches. you had to be 17 years old for that. So his job in the army was to take supplies to the front. The supplies were transported on mules. needless to say there was a war on and I hate to think of the horrors he was exposed to. But he must have seen some really nasty stuff.

A trench without any supplies will not last long. so the mule trains were frequent targets of the German artillery.  Just as British and French artillery must have targeted German supplies. He never talked about it and how he lost a finger no one in the family knows to this day. Each time he was asked he yielded a different story.

After the war he was "demobbed" and having no work, no home and no trade to fall back on he re-enlisted. But this time in the 4h Hussar cavalry regiment. Which after the war were in the middle east training Indian cavalry.  We did hear some stories, but very few and did learn he had to take horses out into the desert and shoot them when they were too ill to carry on.

We also learnt that he would trust a black man but not an indian. Again we never found out why. I can only assume something happened but I just do not know, and cannot even begin to speculate. While in the army though it is known that he did learn to read and write which he was unable to do previously. We also know he had a pet monkey (again no details) and that he was an accomplished rider. Even winning a trophy for show jumping.

After the army he married and drove a bread cart for the co-op. Again I cannot give details.

What I can say is the Horse tradition continues and that my sister has been invited to Hickstead this year. For those who don't know that is an international horse show that is occasionally seen on TV. So as far as I am concerned that is a big deal.

Cavalier games. (2017)

My Game
Blood Bilge and Iron balls.
1/2400thscale

Here are some Pics of the Gmaes at Cavalier this year. They are not in any order and I have tried to identify them as best I could given the little time I had away from the game.

We only had a crew of 3 for the game so one person was allowed to see the show while the other two played. Mostly it worked. And worked well. And that was in no small part due to Richard sitting in for about an hour. But I will discuss that when I do an AAR.

So here are the games.

Society of ancients
cannae.
28mm

Anti-Alchemists
"Calvados and chips" WW2
28mm

Crawley wargames club
Operation Overloard 1944
A very small scale!

Deal wargames Club
"Holding up Traffic" 1939
(20mm Poland I think!)

SEEMS (club)
"The Restless dead"
28mm Participation game.

Friday night Fire fight club
Stalingrad above and below.
28mm Participation game with the underground in the nest picture.

Tonbridge Wargames club
"Age of Sigmar"
Participation

 

 

Southend wargames club
Anglo Dutch war  Naval action

Gravesend Gamers Guild
x-wing

 

North London Wargames Group
"Black Horse strike 1967"
15mm Vietnam game

Halisham Wargames Club
German Civil War 1919
28mm  I think

And back to the beginning wit my game

 

 

I apologise to the Maidstone club but only 1 pic came out. I did not take a pic of the Peter Pig game either.

 

Check out the other blogger who were there I saw 5 in all so there will be more pics along on different blogs in the coming days.

 

All the best.

 

 

 

 

Show swag! (Cavalier 2017)

I have been indoors for about 30 mins so here is a post of what I managed to  leave the show with. I will try to do a show report  tomorrow but for now here is the loot with explanations!

From top left to bottom right.

2 pack of Aeronef . One is a starter "fleet" of Dutch nef-ships. The larger blister is the starter feet while the small blister is the only other ship Brigade models which is of Dutch origin. I was going to get a Turkish starter fleet but I settled on the Dutch in the end. So the biplane I showed yesterday was in Turkish colours and markings simply because I did not find any Turkish lighter than air craft. But this project will now be Dutch and NOT Turkish! Yes I did score a very tiny show day discount! Whoo hoo!


Next along is a company of FOW Japanese troops. I  was not expecting to buy these as I was not expecting anyone to carry them at the show. Luckily for me Tole Haven did and even gave me a 10% discount.  No more discounts today I promise...  These will become (over time) a PBI army, I already have the US forces and you may recall I have some jungle terrain.

Second row. 3 Packs of Counters, I always struggle to come up with counters in many wargames so these should (crosses fingers) make life a little easier. Purchased from "Products for Wargamers" (Impulse buy)

Bottom row. 3 packs of tufts. As they were doing a show special on tufts at £% for 3 pack I was tempted to get 6 packs but 3 will see me though for a while. Only a small drawback but the only come in one colour but luckily it is a colour I use a lot. (Impulse buy and a big thank you to Ray for pointing them out!

2 Packs of Ironclad Miniatures Royal Navy landing party. The plan is to use "Rogue stars" in a Victorian science fiction setting. Talking to the guy was great and he is currently re-doing the Prussian Storm troopers. Which talking to him will fit in perfectly with the British. They will also fit in with my cultists and (yet to be painted "Sky pirates"). I suspect you may be able to discern a theme with many (but not all of my purchases).

Lastly from the bring and buy some Flames of war dice in a tin. This was an absolute bargain and who ever sold them had not checked on eBay for a current price. I was happy to pay £2, and would have almost ripped the guys arm of at that price. Currently on the internet the same tin sells for £20+ I am at present NOT inclined to sell though.

The only other thing I wanted ww2 pacific ships) will have to wait and that project is now on the Back back back back burner.... JUST barely simmering.

Overall this is the best loot haul I was able to score in many a long year.