Of The Naming Of Cats And Casting.

After much consideration it has been decided to re-name our new kitten . Alfred did not suit him and people had started shortening it to 'Alfy' making him sound like a character from 'Eastenders' (a program that annoys me greatly !). So with great deliberation it has been changed to 'Hodge'- after Dr Johnson's cat (the dictionary chappie-18th cent.) , here he is seen overseeing the painting of a 40mm standard bearer- his knowledge of the 18th century British for a young chap is impressive.

Got some more figures painted and a drummer and standard bearer.

I have mounted them on 30mm x 30mm bases to add stability .

I am going to do some French figures using a different mold to try out colour schemes. I am thinking of using 'Charge' but with a slightly altered organisation.

First Of Many ?

Having cast up some 40mm Prince August SYW figures I decided to paint up a sample to see how they look . Because they are semi-flat I tried a little highlighting to extentuate them , still not sure of the armies - maybe British/French - very traditional (these are British 20th Foote) and am rereading 'Charge' for the rules . By the way the background is my painting tray NOT a aircrash !.

A New Recruit.

After the sad demise of our oldest cat Mathew at the good age of 16 years , it was decided to replace him with a new cat . Introducing Alfred acquired from a local farm and already causing havoc in the household . He prefers 54mm Imagination figures and I suspect - being a youngster FOW , however he has not yet been given access to the wargaming room.

Not Another New Project !?

Over the last six month or so I have been slowly gathering up a few Prince August 40mm SYWish figure molds . The first one I got for 50p at a car boot sale (ah the slippery slope !) the others of EBay . I'm not sure what to do with them yet but with the present influx of casting metal I've cast up a few figures from them .

There has been quite a bit of Blogging activity on the subject of this type of figures -

http://ilkleyoldschool.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/chotustiz-at-triples-preparation.html   and

http://littlejohnslead.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/battle-of-blasthof-in-40mm-no-2.html have been of great inspiration . Of course I've got SYW  in 30mm Spencer Smith so it isnt logical to do it in 40mm as well - BUT  when did logic ever come into my wargaming !? - and what rules ? Hmm will have to give this some thought !

'Black' Army Uhlans

Here we see the first cavalry unit of Army 'Black' , they are the 1st Regt. of Uhlans and are produced from the Prince August 54mm 'Model Soldier' range of molds - think it's labelled as 'British Lancer' .

On patrol in one of the rougher areas of the Patio - inspecting the formers site of the 'Gross Redoubt' .

The Officer figure however is a modern 'Britains' figure purchased very reasonably from EBay and given a new paint job to match his men's uniform .

The 1st Uhlans are inspected by Prinz Hertz Van Hyre. These cavalry figures have taken ages to finish off due to the large amount of metal in each casting and the horses (which come in 2 halves- front and rear) can be a bit of a problem to cast perfectly , luckily my wargaming colleague 'A' dropped of a box of metal offcuts for me to melt down so I  got the last one done yesterday and took the chance of today's good weather to do a photo shoot .

The El-Gin Marbles - The Plot Thickens !.

H.G. Wells mourns the loss of the El-Gin Marbles ( and his collection of model soldiers ) ( see-

http://tinsoldieringon.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/transporting-el-gin-marbles-3.html ) . But Inspector Zapp has a startling confession to make .... (*)

His reputation saved H.G. can now relax ( in the background rural life continues)- BUT  can he ? his American cousin Orson Wells has designs on H.G.s travelling companion Polly.

He introduces Polly to some of the 'arty' set that is summering in Treboria , her head is turned by all this attention .

He persuades her to do a film shoot using the Treborian- Ferraro Roccain conflict as a background . We fear he may be up to no good ! Too be continued .........

(* this is how the El-Gin Marbles finally reach the British Museum - although they may be viewed only with special permission due to their somewhat 'racy' nature.)

A Portrait of The Author as a Young Man.

Recently I have noticed several bloggers posting old photos of past games and when tidying up my wargaming room (an ongoing and not very successful enterprise) I came across this old photo of a game I took part in about 24 years ago . It was a game our group of wargaming friends put on at - I think- Spring Militaire, of the battle of Philips St Norton during the Monmouth rebellion . The LMMS sign was the now defunct Lakes Military Modelling Society where we all originally met - we were the wargaming arm of the society . The figures were Dixon , the scenery homemade (the cloth a home dyed sheet) (which faded almost at once !) and the rules our own adaption from some AWI  rules called 1776 (?!) . I think we won 2nd prize - there was only 3 games that year , third place went to some teenagers doing a Warhammer Fantasy game , who won I  cannot remember. The players are from left to right - 'R' ,'C' , 'S', and myself - looking VERY dapper in waistcoat and muttonchop whiskers (sadly tinged with grey now - well my beard is ). Its alarming how young we all look , only I have kept my boyish figure ! ........ (sic)