28mm Colonial British Cavalry

Well the title says almost it all. They are  Foundry 28mm metal figures of the colonial British cavalry. I nearly put them on 2 days ago but thought it better to get them all finished and varnished first. 11 in all for this stage, although there might be more tomorrow. He says he has something but as yet no idea what it will  be.


Officer with pistol and a standard trooper.










Bugler, officer and Sergeant! Painted to match in with the rest.












 3 more troopers.












And the final 3 troopers  all to make a total of 11.
Yes I know you can count them. I assure you they are all there, there are no mirrors or trick photography.

I know some of you will be happy for me t get back to sensible historical stuff. While others will be happy for me to do all the rest and strange stuff. While I am just happy to paint. and realise you can't please everyone ALL the time.

Take care have a great weekend and with luck an AAR on Monday.

2 things

My Sister on Khan (the horse)
at Hickstead this year.

Firstly a big congrats to my sister. She came 9th out of a field of 29 at Hicktead Horse Trials. She was competing in Dressage.  While 9th is not Olympic standard it is still pretty good. (FAR better than I could have even attempted to do!)

I do not mention my sister often as she has NO interest in my hobby.



And the Rosette for coming 9th

Can I ride a horse?.... I have learnt to cling on but I am in no way proficient.


















Ok back to wargaming...... here is the start of Matt's Aeronef British fleet!


At this stage he has Far to many small aeronef and they have been a right paint to paint. But they are done now so I can put them out of my mind and get something else done.

below are a series of close ups of various class vessels. With the brown ones at the end being airships. I had to paint 3 times before I was happy with them.

That's it for today. Take care have fun and paint if the mood takes you.

best wishes Clint


Slow progress. But at least progress.

Yes it has been slow. All spare time today/yesterday (depending on when you read this) was spent travelling and buying things... Nope only paint and Varnish and groceries and food and cleaning products. Boring stuff.

Here is the START (and only the start) of Matts Aeronef British fleet.

Not being an expert I was unable to tell which ships are which class etc. with luck no one will ask.

These 7 are just the start. I have about 50 in all to do. Matt does not do tings by half. No siree!

I went with a basic Black and white finish and bleached decks and yellow smoke stacks. Underneath they all have a red base. This was a tricky red and ended up as 3 coats. Luckily I have a quicker way now!. (and a different red and less translucent paint now.) It makes all the difference.

Now re-stocked with paint/brushes and varnish. I hope to be able to get more done and at a far faster rate.

Progress has been slow, but at least it is in the right direction now.

I am even getting tempted to make an airship! What did I type that out loud? Nurse the meds need to be increased fast.

All the best Clint

Chinese Gordon

A figure painted yesterday afternoon. May I present Gordon Pasha (AKA Chinese Gordon, Gordon of Khartoum) or his less well known name Major General Charles George Gordon. ( LINK TO WIKI ).

Clearly a hero of the Victorian age, but most well known for his failed defence of Khartoum against the Mahdi.


I am sure we all remember the film but there is also a statue locally of him riding a camel. No You cannot see it as it inside an army barracks but trust me it is there.

Additionally you may recall seeing this famous painting which is probably the most famous painting by George W. Joy. And serves very well as a tribute to the Victorian Hero.

The figure is 28mm by Perry Miniatures (As Matt so kindly reminded me). And all the colours have been taken from the painting to the right. Clearly the artist was not present at the battle so perhaps the ending was not quite like this. Then again if you read Major General Gordon heroic exploits in the Crimean war perhaps it was.

Either way he is a hero without doubt and served well in the Sudan where he ended slavery.

Matt was due to collect him today but due to illness has had to postpone until later in the week or maybe this time next week.

Either way the figure was a joy to paint and I am sure he will be appreciated when Matt does collect him.

Royal Navy Landing Party (finished)

When I say finished I actually mean finished for now until I stoopidly buy some more or new figures are release or well you know.

The troops with pistols have been seen before and are both an Officer pack and a Royal Navy brigade Boarding party pack Available here (http://www.ironcladminiatures.co.uk/)

 Separately they are . Roayal Navy Brigade landing party with Rifles. 1 pack of 4figures. Very nicely sculpted and cast but not exceptionally so. And should your boarding party need longer ranged weapons than pistols rifles of carbines are the way to so.



there is a set with a machinegun but it is a deck mounted gun and thus of less appeal in a game setting due to it's lack of manoeuvrability. That being the case I probably will not purchase it.










We also have the "Royal Navy Support weapons" pack. Just 2 figures with 2 "heavyier" weapons.  The first being either a Volley Gun or some type of light machine gun depending on the rules you use. While the second is either some form of grende launcher or a form of scatter/shotgun maybe a Trench gun. As there are no descriptions it if up to you and the world setting and rules you could use.

These are painted with the feeble excuse that I can now use them in a "In Her Majesties Name" (IHMN) game. You never know perhaps I will. Several at the club already have the rules (as do I so it is just a case of getting going. There is no reason not too for me now.

There you go another blog post done and as the rain now falls It is noticeably cooler so maybe more painting very soon.

Wherever you are take care have fun and I wish you well.

All the best from Kent.

Broadside AAR

Here is a report on the game we had at the Broadside show.

We were playing "The Men who would be Kings" rules by Osprey. All the figures terrain and everything else is owned by Tim who was referee. (Yes that is an Airfix Fort Sahara before anyone says!)
Peter and Bob took the Imperials while me and Matt had the Mahdists.
Our job was to hold the town.

With few rifles most troops are only visable to provide a spectacle.

My reinforcments arrive super early (on turn 1)
And I charge them into the British where I can.
The Cavalry and Camalry do well
but die quickly after destroying the British mounted troops.

The defence looks far more formidable that it really is.

In Retrospect all the mahdists should have been in hiding
 and waiting for the British to enter the village
 

A Scratch built
Nile steamer
carrying the British reinforcements

While Matt controlled the Mahdist reinforcements
 that arrived by river.

While we had lost troops the Town was
still in the tribal mahdist hands.
And we had given the British in the desert a bloody nose.

The Imperials assault the defences.
Keeping them out was darned tricky
As they had quite rightly shot the defenders to pieces
before assaulting.
 



The River battle was in full swing.
And despite an attempted boarding of the Imperial steam ship
the Mahdists  were just unlucky with the dice.

The British entered the town at the end of the day

 Conclusion: The Native players (both me and Matt) agree we could not hold the town. The imperial players also agree that while they could take the town they would not be able to hold it for very long at all.

While Questions would be asked in the House concerning British losses I would conclude it was a marginal Imperial Victory. Maybe in the future British foreign policy would change. But for now I accept the defeat and know in the future I would play the Mahdist differently in the same situation.

Overall though a good game and a good day.

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.

BUF Heavy weapons

Yes a few more BUF for Matt's growing collection. While most of these figures are Empress Miniatures 28mm from the Spanish Civil War range, The one on the far right I know is a Musketeer Miniature and the 2nd from the right is a conversion.

While only 3 pieces the mortar (not the crew) is tricky to put together just because all the pieces are so thin and fidly. The base is easy enough and quite solid BUT attaching the stand and the tube do require some level of dexterity... it is not that they are bad fits, they are actually good fits with up to 3 different angles possible. And that is what creates the issue you have to be able to glue two of the three pieces and attache the third before fully dry. Many people will find this easier than "Butter Fingers"(Me) and I do appreciate the sculptor making some variety in positioning and it has come out well in the end so no real complaints. The Mortar comes with three crew as well (two on the base) and one on a separate base is how I decided to place them, but you could have them all separate if you choose.


 I was unsure what colour to paint the flame thrower mask, but settled on Red as it feels hot and is one of the British Union of Fascists colours. So to contrast the red I put both blue and yellow tanks on the back.  I would have been equally justified in putting a Black mask and even Black tanks on the back, but I did want some colour and variety. Despite the fact that I feel in real life they would have settled on Black for every thin!


The last picture shows the figures in the previous BUF post included as they are all being given back to Matt soon.


The last Pic allows me to colour match at a later date and also just because someone usually asks for one and this may save you the effort of doing so.

Thanks for looking I hope you are having a great weekend. All the Best Clint

Land ship WIP

Much as I dislike Work in Progress posts this time I feel I do need to do one.

The figures are shown for scale  and are 10mm Pendraken. The land ship is intended for that scale and for that colonial period. (Being Victorian Science Fiction). So I have put a Mounted officer a Gatling gun and a foot stand all ready to show the scale.

I started with a 15mm "Forged in Battle" tank as I want a certain "Heft" to the model and do want it to look quite imposing and by starting a scale larger it does immediately posses those qualities. The donor vehicle is actually miss cast so I was able to buy it at less than half price.  And while I did originally want to use it as a WW2 German vehicle it works better for this.

So starting with a Char 1 Bis hull (And ignoring the turret) I first reversed the way it was heading and added a "Boiler" to the back. I have yet to add a chimney as I suspect that will be the final piece BEFORE painting as it will probably double the vehicles height and there fore be easy to knock of unless I am careful.


 While I am mostly working with "Green stuff" I am also using some plastic sheet rod and tube to alter the vehicle. Side sponsons are also being added to which guns will be fitted before painting.

The turret ring has been filled in and I will be adding a 1lb pompom gun and crew as a pintle mount up on the top deck.  the kind men at Pendraken will be supplying the gun and the crew and it should be arriving soon! So I should be able to crack on pretty quickly when it does.

As you can see I am not a sculptor, but the beast is coming together reasonably well and I am sure it will look impressive when it is finished and sitting among my British colonial troops be they in Zulu Land, or facing the Mahdi or the Boxer Rebellion or in some imagination setting maybe against the |French or the Prussians.

Thanks for looking today I will get some Burpas done next.  I hope to have 4 finished by this time tomorrow so expect them in my next blog post.

TTFN  and with luck see you all soon.

Cheers Clint

BUF Auxilary (Part 2)

Well I suspected that I would get them finished and well, here they are. 10 more BUF Auxilary troops for a very British Civil war. There are a few weapon swaps mostly changing a rifle here and there for a smg which can be seen twice in the top picture. One kneeling guy has a rifle, the other a sub machinegun. Also the two guys o the right were the exact same figure until Matt swapped one rifle for an SMG.


On the second picture the man on the right has been converted to be a flag bearer but for the first time ever Matt did not include a flag pole for me, so it is easier to leave him un-flagged! The man in the centre is carrying lewis gun ammunition while the one on the left is an officer of some description.

So that is it for today 10 more troops all for Matt and I will pass them on tomorrow at the club and I hope pic up some more figures to paint.

Have a good weekend.
Cheers  for looking Clint