A Short Break

It has all got a bit too busy lately and so I am going to have to take a couple of weeks off. I will be posting again by the middle of November. By then I am hoping to display my own figures, very hopefully the Helion Austrians and perhaps even more. However tomorrow I will be picking up a larger paint brush (and a roller etc etc!).

The Battle of Ravioli Pass took place this afternoon and resulted in a draw. The heroes of Hauptmann Fritzel's command are displayed below. Hero of the day was the artillery spotter who keep the British at bay until finally taken out in one of the relentless air strikes. The mortars were a different story , they managed to miss every target!

Played using the Flames of War rules it made for a very enjoyable game. (I went off WW2 wargames years ago after playing against some very serious "experts" using overly complicated rules). The army was painted from scratch in just over two weeks, although at the half way stage I remembered why I used to get bored painting this kind of stuff! I have agreed to expand the forces and will be playing a return match in the coming months. But for now I am missing my nineteenth century toys. Flashman beats Hassel every time!

Next Thursdays Game

While running the risk of contaminating the "purity" of the whole project-I present a sneak preview of what I have been up to over the last week. For security reasons I cannot post all the pictures-I don't want Paul to know too much about what I intend to sling at him next Thursday. But he can expect a least one Opel Blitz and a 10.5cm gun! These are Flames of War 15mm products. Very nicely made and the detail on the 10.5cm gun especially is very, very good. I will post the rest after Thursdays game (and the result-but only if I win!). After that post I won't go off period again-until the next time. Promise.

My figures have been delayed a little but I expect them to arrive next week. I may have caused some confusion over the Miniature Wargames cover regarding the figures themselves. The ones that I have had made are in this "traditional" style. The conflict itself is definitely between Waterloo & Mons. (It is not actually mentioned in the book and so I am going to have to think about its label). However, like the AWI, it is colourful and whole battles can be transferred to the wargames table. No more clues until I publish the painted first batch-hopefully still by the end of the month. I have briefed in the first of the opposition this week. All jolly exciting stuff!

Royal Italian Army Dragoon 1866

I have taken a little time off from painting my WW2 Germans to complete this figure which I bought over a year ago from Mirliton Miniatures. He represents a trooper of the 4th (Genova) Dragoons. The whole figure reminds me of the Hinchliffe Napoleonic French Line Lancers. I have about ten of these figures and think they will look rather splendid when complete.
Mirliton have the most thorough 25/28mm range for the Wars of Italian Independence. Poses are limited, but a little bending and general fiddling would produce some nice units of all arms. They also do a very nice Garibaldi personality figure. The biggest problem at the moment is the awful exchange rate, which does make them rather expensive. Lovely figures though.

But for now it is time to go back to a more famous Italian campaign. Opel Blitz anyone?

9th Uhlan Command

Here it is at last, the first base for the 9th Uhlans. The very convincing horse casualty is from, oddly enough, pack HWP110 "Line Uhlan Casualties". I used yellow flowers from the Antenociti's pack- the red ones may have looked very, er, bloody! I believe the first Austrian infantry will be available by the end of the month. I wanted to have 6 infantry battalions ready by their release, but that is looking more than a little unlikely at the moment. I have just undercoated the first of the WW2 Germans for this months game, received my first small order of Zulu Wars figures from Empress Miniatures (very nice) and found out today that I will be receiving the first of my own figures next week. Which brings me onto the February 1987 Miniature Wargames front cover, which I have kept for over 20 years.

When I first saw these figures I immediately fell in love with this style. I finally decided a few months back to actually do something more than daydream about it and located a figure sculptor. The work he has done for me has exceeded my expectations and by the end of next week I hope to have the master figures and enough pre-production figures to complete a 20 figure unit. The conflict itself, from the mid 19th Century, is ideal for the games table. Its colourful with a wide variety of unit types and the numbers are modest enough to translate whole battles onto the wargames table. So watch this space as my little dream becomes a reality!