15mm Peter Laings by Ian Dury

   Since I started looking for Peter Laings, Ian Dury has been the biggest help in my quest. He has traded and donated figures to me. He also has loaned me rare figures to make molds of; all he asks in return is some sample of the casting and the master back as received. And if you enjoyed the posting of the Waldorf Astoria cigarette cards, you have Ian to thank.
  And now Ian has forwarded some great photographs of Peter Laings on the field of battle and some close-up shots of figures. What's more, he has graciously allowed me to share his photos with you.

A good shot of his terrain system, a system I might have to copy! The figures are Crimean War figures. I think for this blog I will make all the pictures large for your enjoyment.

From the British rear. 

It looks like the Light Brigade is on the move.

The Kaisers Imperial coach.  Ian did a great diorama of a German parade of this period.

Ian sent me 63 pictures; this is my favorite! This is why I love Peter Laings. If H.G. Wells had 15mm figures, I could see this band leading them into battle. By the way, I love the mustaches and sideburns.

As I mentioned, there are 63 photos in this series. As I recently haven't been doing much in the hobby, I will continue to download these photos. They certainly made me want to start work on them again.

Waldorf Astoria Cigarette Cards

Ian Dury, my constant source of Peter Laing figures has come through again, this time with photos of Waldrof Astoria cigarettes cards of Imperial Germany uniforms, with regimental standards to boot!

I hope people find these useful. If so, I will continue to keep downloading more when I'm not involved in wargaming.

German Uniform Cigarette Cards

With my last couple of posting of militia uniform cigarette cards, I heard from Ian Dury that he has a book of German cigarette cards and was willing to share photographs of the uniforms with me.  Of course I would love to see them. The cards I have are Kinney Cigarette cards that were published in the USA. While my main interest in the Kinney cards are militia uniforms, I have gotten some of the foreign uniform cards they published, including 4 from the German Empire. I though I would post them to show Kinneys version of European uniforms.

Little Wars Cover

In my last post, I mentioned the cover of the first copy of "Little Wars" I bought. On it there are classic Britains figures matching the molds I just acquired.

I have been thinking of trying to find old Britains heads that I can transplant onto newly casted figures. I have a few of my own, but would like more. I did find a company that sells replacement pieces for old Britains, including a large selection of heads. I plan to buy a selection of them along with some other pieces that might come in handy.

Great Buy on Toy Soldier Molds

It was one of those deals on Ebay that I don't even know how I found it. They were a set of 16 toy soldiers molds. The only thing is they weren't under "Toy Soldiers" but under "Vintage" molds.
 When I first started casting 30 years ago, these were some of the first molds  I was interested in buying. Over the years I bought six of these molds.  The first copy of "Little Wars" I bought had some of these figures on the cover and after seeing that, put in my mind the possibility of casting my own Little Wars army using these molds. I managed to win the the lot and it comes out to more than $4.00 per mold, and that's including postage! I got all the molds for the figures pictured below, along with 2 molds of interchangeable arms, and a rather risqué mold of a ACW camp follower. The arm on the running officer and the soldier with the axe is interchangeable.

Another set of molds I own have different heads for the British army of this period and I have experimented with using these heads with the bodies from these molds. I also have some assorted heads I got in an odd lot of toy soldier parts which might be useful.

Peter Laing FPW Germans and more Militia Cards

First on todays blog is a couple of shots of Peter Laing Hesse Darmstadt infantry sent to me by Ian Dury, who has been me main source of hard to find Peter Laings. Ian's photos are a constant source of inspiration.  These figures could also be used for   the militia figures. I have read a lot of comments about how bad PL figures are. However, most critics forget that PL figures were the first 15mm made. They opened a whole new world of wargames. Also,when compared to the first Britains, both the Peter Laings and early Britains have about the same detail. Maybe someday Peter Laings will be considered collectable. 

Homecast Peter Laing Victorian Parade Figures

One reason I have an interest in Peter Laings is the line of Victorian Parade figures, which I thought would be good for table top "Little Wars". Finding figures proved to be harder than I thought.

In my search for figures I came in contact with Ian Dury, who collects Peter Laings. Over time he has kindly given me some of his spare Peter Laings, and rarer ones he has loaned me to attempt to homecast. One of the figures was the Victorian Parade British infantry in spiked helmet marching, one of my most wanted figures. Getting the figure and actually getting a somewhat usable figure was another matter. It took three tries before I finally got a usable figure.

With my last couple of posts, I showed some militia uniforms of the 1800's.  I figured that this figure would be prefect for these uniforms. They would also be good for "Imaginations" armies. So I gave 3 of them a quick coat of paint; one painted as a traditional British soldier, the other two as American militiamen. By the way, the "quick paint job" is the way I paint most of the time. 

More 1880's Militia Uniforms

Shortly after my last blog, I went to one of my favorite blogs, Battle Game of the Month, and there was a new posting of Zinnbrigade marching soldiers in spiked helmets, but painted similar to dress uniforms of the United States army of the late 1800's, with some minor changes. This unit is for an "Imaginations" style wargame. And as I have the same molds and have thought along the same lines in the past, I figured to show more of the militia cards I have  just to show how colorful such an army could be.

  

1800's American Militia Uniforms

One of my interests is the American history of militias. The height of Militias was in the 1800's.  By the 1830's the idea of every man turning out for drill was pretty much a thing of the past. However, Volunteer militias started blossoming in cities throughout the country. They tended to be more social clubs of the merchant class and upper class. They chose their own uniforms and names. While most units were of company, battery or squadron strength, some units were regiment strength. These formed the basis of both the Union and Confederate armies at the start of the Civil War. Even after the Civil War  the Militia was an important part of the United States military and continued to wear uniforms of their choice until the early 1900's.  

Several years ago I came across some old cigarette cards featuring Militia uniforms of the late 1800's. Shown below are some of them. I think they would be ideal for painting Peter Laings for use with imaginations. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.