WW1 Dismounted British Cavalry

Yes they could also be used as VBCW or the like. They are 28mm, not sure of the make or even if they come from just 1 manufacturer. And to be honest I do not greatly care. They are all painted for Matt and I am sure he shall find a use for them.


I was given a few examples to coly and I have tried to match the colours. I feel I have been quite successful.

Theer is a mixture of poses as well as 2 officers and a lewia gun and crew. So about as balanced a force as I could hope in a WW1 setting (although heavy on officers).

They were a pleasure to paint and I am glad to have them done, but I would happily paint them again. I did make a mistake and Matt was good enough to point it out in plenty of time for me to correct it. So the least said about that the better. I know someone will ask, it is simply I painted one thing as canvas when it should be leather. So out cane the brown paint and ten minutes later the problem was fixed.

That's it for today. I might be a bit sketchy on posts tis week as I shall be trying to sell some old armies and will need to freshen them up. That not being new  work I possibly shall not share it on the blog.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend and paint if you get the chance and dream of playing a good game among friends. All the best Clint

Mounted Musician Burpa 28mm

Yep just 1 figure today. The weather here has been dull and overcast. so much that it has been a "Challenging "time to paint. As such just a single figure finished.

It is of course a Burpa Musician for Matt. As such it is a 28mm figure painted and based to fit in with the rest of his troops. I strongly suggest he carries a trumpet/horn of some variety. I am not up on the technical terms so I will leave it at that.

If the weather had been favourable it would have been nicer to paint. I am not complaining but let us just say it has been a struggle to paint at all recently.

There are 4 more mounted troops on the paint table and I hope to finish them by Sunday. But It may well take longer.

I suspect a LotR figure will be the next thing finished, but that does depend on how things progress.

Elsewhere in the Projects:

Kevin from the club gave me these. 2 "Golden Compass" airships.
The idea being that they could with a repaint and on suitable stands be used for "Crimson Skies" Time will tell.
But none the less a big thank you to Kev. Really appreciate it.

|Additionally a quick chat (is that a chattette?) with Tim reveals that his WW1 10 mm armies are very nearly finished. The Turkish is finished and the Imperial will not take long. This being the case I have put my WW1 project on the back burner. I will see how his turns out and then decide how, if at all to progress. Maybe I will turn into Arab Revolt... who knows.

That's it for today. I really do need to get my DIY head on and patch the wall left in the kitchen by the gas fitter.... GRRRR!

Zombtober (5) and LOOT

yes another of the Walking dead from "All out war" by mantic games. I  have struggled of late to  get much painting done at all. Mostly not in the mood so and I mean no offence to any involved I am glad that Zombtober is over. Maybe I can go back now to well you know! Or maybe you don't know.

Anyway here is the last of the Zombies for Zombtober I am pleased to have taken part but I am glad it is over for another 11 months. Although I do hope to take part next year.

The pics are dark because I took then before sun up this morning as I knew I would get no other chance.

Still another one done and put away and ready for a game now and all is right with the world. (or at least my very little corner of the world).

 Last Pic is one for each week, just for contect and to see them all together and in one place. Not by any means a huge horde but just the start of a small herd. I hope next time to be in a painting mood and to get more things done, but I shall not beat myself up over the few I have managed.

And Finally and UNRELATED to Zombies I picked these figures up from Tim this morning for my first Bob force. It should be enough to get me a large enough force to get a game in, maybe 2. The figures are all IT miniatures and as I am a friend of the owner (Tim) I got quite a bargain. These shall go in the painting queue promptly and I look to have them all finished NEXT month.

That's it for now more again soon.

All the best Clint

Zombtober 1

My first ever Zombtober and guess what? I was without internet connection all day Sunday. The issue is solved for now so here is my first ever entry.

With luck the organisers will forgive my tardiness. If they don't there is nothing I can do or indeed could have done so oh well!

Only 1 zombie from Mantics "All out war" the walking dead game. cast in hard plastic this single 28mm figure was about as easy to paint as I could hope for. But given the fact I was at the club yesterday and had been up and sorting thimngs out (as a care giver) since 3 am again I hope I will be forgiven.

So that is my start to Zombtober. Good luck to all involved and while I am not intending a massive out- put it does get the ball rolling for me. And I have published as swiftly as I am able given internet connectivity.

Changing the Subject!

I had a few extra gifts while at the club yesterday. See the very bottom photo. 2 Ironclad miniatures (Part painted (But you all know I will have to start again. ) Victorian Science fiction steam tanks.
(http://www.ironcladminiatures.co.uk/). While they may not have been the ones I would choose for myself they are very welcome additions. Cheers Bob. (I will admit I have considered buying the green one in the past but always had other things to spend the money on).

Additionally: 2 extra Pack mules for WW1/ late colonial form IT miniatures. Thanks Tim.

Also from Tim 2 additional 15mm jungle buildings. I now have enough to start playing WW2 pacific  games of PBI. Which is not saying I have enough troops (I do but If I say that I may have to stop buying and not continue to round out the collection) but at least I have enough Jungle buildings. So expect them to be painted very swiftly. I may even start today.

And A big thanks to mat for printing off some Aeronef cards for me and some ship name tags. We can probably get a first game in reasonably swiftly now. Cheers Mate.

It was (In my opinion) a good day at the club and I will do a report in the next day or two.

And the games were more Beau Geste/Legionaire/ten tall Men/march or die. Than the were "Sons of the Desert" or Carry on Follow that camel (I think I have mentioned enough films). Despite Peter calling out "Mustava leak!" frequently. (I promise to have the correct name spelling for the game report)

All the best Clint out

March or dice!

yep although I am sure it will be more "Carry on Follow that camel!" I am using the working title of "March or Dice!" (Maybe with the "C" in brackets, maybe not.

I am of course thinking of the French Foreign legion game that I have been planning.

For those not following this project it is an early 20th century "Beau Getste" skirmish game of the Arabs (Riff) versus the French Foreign Legion (And the Spanish, don't forget they were involved!)

I already have enough mounted Riffs (about 45 on camels) so here are 10 on foot. % armed tith swords and 5 with rifles. All the figures are by IT Miniatures (Here is a LINK) they are all metal WW1 20mm castings. The 3 Mules (or Donkeys) are also WW1 IT miniatures but in the British lists and not the Arab lists..

I will be looking at the "Songs of blades and heroes" engine but using the very nearly identical "Fist full of Kung Fu" Osprey rules. There will of course be a few amendments to represent the setting, but these should be very minor.

With luck I will have enough done for a club game on Sunday.

Cheers Clint

White Russian Tanks 15mm

Just finished some tanks for the Russian Civil war. They are all 15mm and by Peter Pig.  We have 2 MK IV British tanks and 4 FT 17 French light tanks.

 During the Russian Civil war Britain supplied a very few tanks to support the Tsar. As you can see they have the Russian Flag on the front of the running gear housing. Sometimes the flag is shown vertical at other times horizontal so quite simply I have painted one of each. Being totally honest I painted them both horizontal to begin with and then Matt suggested one of each so 20 mins later they were re painted. No fuss no bother.  He is a good mate so happy to help out.
Maybe not if he asked me to bury a body but to repaint the front of a small model tank. Sure no worries!

Apologise for the photography it was early in the morning.  As you can see from the top picture they are some-what larger than the French Light tanks.  In the Square bashing rules by Peter Pig they count as heavy tanks and you can see why.  Heavy tanks in the rules are only good in assaults which does make them quite limiting to use. but great fun none the less.






And the "Light Tanks" again 15mm by Peter Pig. They come in 2 varieties. either round or hexagonal turret and also in 2 armaments. Either a 37mm cannon or a machine gun. So a possible 4 varieties if you want to try all the combinations. 2 tanks have hand painted roundels and 2 do not.  While they are not perfectly clear in the photos they are painted with a steady hand and look OK in real life.

I  did find all these tanks tricky to paint, not due to strange camouflage but because perhaps they were all new to me and I was not at all sure what I was doing.

Anyway next for Matt I am painting some Cossack cavalry for the Russian Civil war while in the mean time I paint some more WW2 Japanese for my self.

Thanks for looking have a good weekend and with luck see you all again soon.

Never mind the Tchanka's (and an oppsie fix)

Again these are all for matt. I must say I have enjoyed painting them and has gotten me back into the mood toe 15mm again.(More of that later.

These are 15mm Tchankas from Peter Pig.  A Russian horse drawn cart with an Medium Mg used to give Russian cavalry forces a bit more fire power. used in the Russian Civil war and even WW2.

The pic on the right is a REAL one clearly you can all tell the difference but seeing the real thing might help you appreciate the carts some more than me just saying so.  Clearly they are light weight so speed was considered more important than armour. And the ability to keep along with cavalry units was cherished. The same as Modern troops using APC's to keep up with tanks.

Each one individually.

 This was the last one completed and I had to wait for the Peter Pig order to arrive before I could even start. (That is part of the Oppsie). Tchankas could have 2-4 horses and also 2-4 crew. Usually the less horses the less crew but not always. All these vehicles have 4 horses but I could quite easily have put less horses on each vehicle. The crew are in white Russian army uniforms for the Russian Civil war.

 The next one I did finish first. In this one the crew have the Cossack hat (apart from the loader). These hats could have either white or black wool trimming. I settled on white as to me it just looked better. IF mat wants another I will do black IF he chooses. But for now I prefer the white.

 This is the oppsie. I must admit I lost some parts during assembly. I lost the loader and 2 wheels. So I have purchased another vehicle and painted it and will give it to Matt to make up for it. The wheels can from a Biblical Chariot and there is no loader. So the front wheels are completely wrong. The lack of loader is not a problem to me I think 2-3 crew look better than 4. With 4 crew it looks crowded. But as Matt has paid me to paint 4 crew the other 2 vehicles have 4 crew. As this is a "Free" vehicle I feel sure he will not complain. And when they are all together as in the top pic you don't notice it at all.


The last pic is this little lot the car and a few cav all together just for Joe. Who always likes group shots. I mean no offense Joe by mentioning you, I am sure many people do as well but you mention group shots most often.

Thanks for looking today. I hope next time (Saturday) to have finished my fery first stand on ww2 Japanese Pacific war troops. Hopefully an objective marker (destroyed tankette!)

And as a final clip the clip below shows Tchanka(s) in Action in a Russian film.

15mm White Russian Civil War Cossacks

yes a slight change of pace, but as they are for Matt and NOT myself do not worry they are not a new project!

The figures are Peter Pig 15mm Russian Civil War White Cossacks. There are 20 mounted figures in all, 2 to a base. Matt wanted this very simple base effect to match in with those he already had.  (I was lent a sample base to colour match , not shown). The colour match is not perfesct as I have no idea what paint the guy was using and Matt got the originals from eBay. While not perfect, the colours are CLOSE!

I was also asked to put a blue (and NOT red stripe on the trousers which ready was a finishing touch. Matt has already seen these photos and is happy with the result.

I am also happy with the result. I think he plans to use them with the Peter Pig "Square bashing" Rules. Which are an OK set of WW1 Battalion size set of rules. So if I ever get a game with these I will let you know.

A quick post on Saturday as I am at a show all day Sunday. So most likely just a single figure. Several are close to compleation, but I am not rushing so it will most likely be a Wild West figure but at this stage I just cannot say, it will all depend on my mood tonight and Saturday morning.

Best Wishes Clint

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.

WW1 AAR (The men who would be kings!)

Early in January the club had a game of early WW1. We used the rules "The Men who would be kings!" while they are a colonial set of rules we thought they would work for early WW1 before the trench warfare took hold. All the figures and terrain belongs to Matt.

The Mission.
Very simply the Germans had to force a river crossing. The British had to hold them and the French had to arrive swiftly and set up promptly and help the British out.

The German Players were. Peter, Dick, Tim, Bob played the British and I played the French.

As there were two crossing points Bob too the British to cover just one, a ford! A risky strategy but if I could arrive and set up in time it just may work!

Tim was in control of the German jaegers and he was to keep Bob busy while Peter and Dick moved up as swiftly as they were able to take the second crossing a bridge! As a
All units except the British had to roll for arrival, Bothe French and German It would be an awkward start for all sides.

The Vile Hiun
Peter Dick and Tim!
The Bridge is on the road (Der!) in front on Dick.
The ford is in front of Tim

The British deployed in as much cover as possible
sometimes this also meant they were not in the best positions to shoot!

The French cavalry start to arrive
And I get troops on the table from turn 2 onwards.
The Germans start to arrive on turn 1.

My elite foot arrive and move up the road but once they
get into position their officer panics and flees the table.
This mean they can only activate rarely and are left in woo
ds but in a position to
be shot at each and
every turn by Peters troops.
But nothing I can do about that.
 

German Cavalry controlled by Dick
 swarm over the baracade on the bridge
Ready to charge my only artillery piece.
 

Mid battle Bob has lost 1/2 the British and Tim has
crossed the river. I had lost my elite unit.
My artillery was set up in the wrong place.
Which actually turned out to be the best place in the end as It covered the bridge.

The French Infantry firing from a building
along with my artillery were able
toBring fire on the German Cavalry.

As a last ditch action my artillery were able to fire into the German cavalry
that was now charging them. Lucky dice rolls
killed the Germans and made the remainder
 flee back across the bridge and off of their own table edge.

As Bob was so short of troops I let him have a
 French cavalry unit and a French Infantry unit..
In retrospect when he tried to charege the German machinegun
on horseback. I thought better of it. but too late by then.
In 2 turns the cavalry unit was all dead and had achieved exactly nothing.
For those not in the know.
CAVALRY do not fare well against set up machineguns!
(I bet like me you already knew that!)

I fanally got to set up my own machinegun to cover the bridge.
Matt was trying to sow dissent between me and Bob .
But having seen what Bob had done to my Cavalry
 I was not going to let him have a machinegun to waste as well.

Conclusion:
Firstly a very good game and even more surprising I played well. (Even if I do say so myself). The French arrived in a timely fashion and I was able to hold the bridge. The Germans under Tim did well and had managed to cross the ford but were unsupported in any real strength. Peter had done well and was just a little bit slow to move up. Dick had also played well but the loss of his cavalry had sent a shock wave through his troops and made them unsteady.I am not saying Bob played badly. But he had lost almost all his own troops and about 1/4 of mine.

Blog posts may be a little sparse this week due to me submitting things to the Analogue Hobbies paining challenge BUT them not being entered as the person responsible was supposedly on a business trip to a sun drenched beach and sipping alcoholic beverages. I have completed 3 different lots of painting and I just hope they will go on next week as they were submitted on Sunday ready for publication on MONDAY.

Anyway thanks for reading and catch you soon. It may be Work in progress photos though!

chasseurs à pied

These are 28mm Renegade Miniatures (and 2 Scarab Miniatures) WW1 French Light Cavalry. When I say cavalry I mean they went to war on Bicycles and not horses but the French army classed them as Cavalry. As you can see from the picture this is the whole unit together. I could find little real useful information on the unit, I am sure there is LOADS  but I am equally sure I am a dullard and that my webfu is not very good.  So do me a favour and do not point out the best source
 
for information on this unit. Even if yuou do I will not look at it as they are done now and I doubt I will ever paint them again.

The next 2 pictures show the Scarab miniatures or the right to contrast with the Renegade miniatures on the left. I have shown these in close up so you can see the cat and the pigeon as well as to notice the differences and similarities between the two companies.

I want to say how much fun these were to paint Unfortunately that would be a lie. Not that the figures are bad or miss cast or poorly sculpted but rather that painting dark blue when ill in the middle of winter is not so much fun. (This was carried out last week and I am all better now!) needless to say getting the right blue for shading and highlighting was a right kerfuffle! Yeah I know I am labouring the point.

The last 2 pics show French Re enactors (I believe in Belgium) who are dressed in the uniform of the Chasseurs à pied which should show where I took all the colours from. The models did not have any markings on their trousers or kepis so that has all been done free hand but I for one think it works. By the way only the guys on the bikes are in the right uniform so no one ask why they do not have red trousers like the ones in the back. I am sure someone will and that someone will and it is not at all funny!

That is it for today a wave of apathy has struck and I was unable to post last weeks battle on the blog. But I shall attempt to in the coming days.

Until then take car have fun and paint if you can.

best Wishes Clint