An Unexpected Christmas Gift from Ian Dury

   I took a week's vacation to keep an eye on my wife; this being the first Christmas that she wasn't able to spend with her mother, after her mother's passing. We have been keeping busy cleaning years of junk from the basement. 

   We returned from a dump run, and checking the mail, found a small package from England. As I haven't bought anything from overseas in several months, I was somewhat confused. However, reading the return address found that it was from Ian Dury, who for the last several years always sends me a Christmas card.

   Once inside, I found his Christmas card (by the way, the BEST Christmas card we got this year), and two Peter Laing "coach outriders" from the Queen Victoria's coach.  In my post about buying the lot that I got the coach in, I mentioned that there was two lots that had Peter Laing Victorian Parade figures, but that I  could only afford one. I chose the lot with infantry and bands. It turned out that Ian won the other lot; which is good to know. Ian is one person who seems to know Peter Laing figures and have answered most of my questions about the figures.

   Ian told me that they were figures that he would never use them, as his coach belongs to the Emperor Wilhelm I! I am hoping they will inspire me to get out the Victorian figures and get a game in soon.

   Once again, I wish to thank Ian for his kindness. I wonder how many other hobbies have such generous members.  Hopefully I can  do the same for him, or other members of the hobby.

The coach with the new outriders. By the way, the "new" blog  page generator is terrible, especially for posting the photographs. They never appear in the order I want them in.

The Outriders, generously given to me by Ian. By the way, this was to be the first picture.

Massachusetts Militia Cards: Part 5

   As every Christmas, my wife asked what I wanted for Christmas.  Instead of my normal "nothing", I asked for cigarette cards. After a brief description, she simply gave me the "you're crazy!" look and said  ok. I ordered several lots that consisted of Massachusetts militia uniforms. I also ordered several pages of card holders, so I can finally take them out of the old box that I've lost several times. There are several duplicates, but at least I have all the Massachusetts cards that I know of.  I have posted below the collection of Massachusetts  cards, even ones I have shown before.

Johillco 35mm Coronation Toy Soldiers

      I recently bought two lots of toy soldiers, one of infantry and one of cavalry. Both lots had 54mm Britain's figures, along with many smaller figures. Quickly looking at them, I was hoping that the smaller figures were Britain's B series figures.  Both lots were "Buy it now", and the price was ridiculously low, so I bought them.

  After buying them, I looked at the photographs of the lots and realized the smaller figures were more around 30mm, and not 40mm.

  I received them a couple of days ago, and just managed to have a look at them. A little research has led me to believe they are Johillco Coronation figures. The cavalry figures will come in handy; the infantry, Beefeaters and coachmen will take some imagination to use.

The Britain's 54mm cavalry figures. They will go into a box with other 54mm figures that I don't use.

The 54mm Britain's infantry.

A 30mm SAE Guards officer on the left, a Johillco officer on right.

A Johillco Guard on the left; a 30mm SAE Guard in the center; a Britain's 40mm Series B Fusilier on the right.

A SAE 30mm Cavalryman; A Johillco Cavalryman, and a gilt Cavalryman. 

The Johillco Guards.

The coachmen and Beefeaters.

Johillco Cavalry

Johillco General

Militia Cigarette Cards: Part 4

       With my most recent posts about militia uniforms illustrated on cigarette cards, I found myself looking for more.  I bought 10 more, all of Massachusetts militia uniforms. As I bought two sets, I got several duplicates.  A am going to try to collect at least as many Massachusetts cards as I can.

Toy Soldier National Lancer

    I started work on a unit of toy soldier National Lancers, a Boston based militia unit from the 1800's, using home cast Nowikoff horses and Zinnbrigade lancers. As usual, I started working on another project and painting on the lancers has stopped. I did paint one lancer with most of the uniform done, just to get an idea of how a finished unit would look.

National Lancer on the work bench.

Lancer with the uniform almost completed.

For these figures I used Tamiya acrylic paints. The gloss finish is from the paint itself. I put two coats on the figure.

HopefullyI will get this unit completed some day.

Militia Cigarette Cards: Part 3

 

Militia Cigarette Cards: Part 2

 

Militia Cigarette Cards

     I mentioned on replying to comments in my last post that I have several cigarettes cards on militia units of the late 1800's in the United States. I have scanned a few of them for your viewing pleasure.

   I also recommend those interested in US military uniforms of the 18th and 19th century to go toheritagemuseumsandgardens.org  Once on the site go to "engage" then to "collections", which should bring you to where you can access the collection of military miniatures showing early American uniforms up to the late 1800's. They are truly inspirational figures and well worth checking out.

Homecasting Horses in 45mm

   A couple of other blogs have been working on post-ACW militia companies, an area of great interest to me. As mentioned before, anyone interested in colorful uniforms would do well to look into the militia uniforms of the militia in the United States in the 19th century. 

    I have been toying with different projects to get my interest back into gaming. One was to use Britain's West Point cadet figures to create post-ACW militia companies. Another was to make 40mm Militia units. I started by making a mold of a Britain's West Point figure; the idea is to use this figure to convert to a master that different heads could be added to.  The mold turned out usable figures; now to figure how to use them.

   I also saw at Berliner Zinnfiguren a nice horse mold in 45mm. The picture shows an elegant horse in full gallop. I ordered it, along with a Napoleonic Chasseur a Cheval figure.  I almost cancelled the order once the postage was added; however I broke down and bought the molds. 

  They came this week. As my wife was going out with a friend Saturday morning, I set up for a casting session while she was gone. I had also made a mold of a Britain's series B Guard marching figure that I wanted to test.

   The casting session was partially successful. My homemade mold was a failure. However, the Horse mold was a success. The horse mold, made by the company Nowikoff, is a two piece figure. What makes this mold great is the body of the horse is hollow, cutting down both weight and the amount of metal used. The mold fills well, however, being a rather thin mold, needs several clamps to keep it together without the metal oozing out. As can be seen from the photos below, the horse as cast is leaping over a bush, with a large base. I ordered it, hoping to cut the base and bush off, thereby having a horse with a classic Britain's free standing horse. Thankfully it worked as I hoped, although the legs have to be bent slightly to get them stable. Luckily the metal being used can be gently bent, so the horse is free standing. The two halves fit together well, with a few gaps that need to be filled.

  While working on the horse, another thing I wanted to see is if Zinn Brigade horsemen would work with this horse. I tried a Lancer figure on the first casting. I was very happy with the result. So happy, in fact that I cast total of 5 horses and a couple more Lancers with the idea of making a unit of Lancers. I want to paint up a unit of National Lancers, a Massachusetts Militia unit formed in the 1800's which became quite famous, and saw action in 3 wars. The National Lancers are still in existence, being a ceremonial unit in my home state.

West Point Casting

First casting of Nowikoff horse mold

Trying the horse with a Zinn Brigade Lancer. The inspiration for the National Lancers

A photo of a just poured horse. I believe more metal goes back into the pot that goes to the horse itself. I cut off the bush and base and return those to the pot.

Working on cleaning up the castings.

The horses have been glued together and primed for painting. I started painting one of the horses to see how glossy the glossy paint I am using was going to be. I really want these figures to look like proper "Toy Soldiers".

New Portable Wargame Board

    Like many wargamers, I am constantly looking for new ways to play games. With the loss of my "library",  space to wargame is limited. Having portable wargames is a good answer to gamers with limited room to game.

   One idea that intrigued me was using  magnetic playing pieces on a board mounted on a wall. In the past I've read of naval wargames being played on such a board, and battles even being played on refrigerator doors.

   Recently, I saw travel games with magnetic playing pieces. I was going to buy a travel chess set, but then came across another game, "Orthello", which has a green board squared off with 8X8 squares. At work I came across thin magnetic strips with words printed on one side, which had been discarded. They make idea stands for smaller figures. I haven't decided which figures to mount on them, although 10mm Scruby figures are light enough that they stay on the board when tipped upside down. I am planning to work on two small armies for the board. Such a setup can be used on my laptop desk while watching TV with the wife.

10mm Scruby's on the playing board.

The field of battle. The board folds in half with storage underneath for playing pieces and dice.

Halloween No Brain Wargame

I had a couple of hours of free time, and decided to get a quick game in. Halloween being my favorite "holiday", I decide to use my Caesar Undead and Goblin armies.

The two Halloween armies facing off.

The Goblins

The Undead

The armies closing in. The goblins are armed with "grenadiers",  some of the goblins seem to be armed with hand grenades.

The goblins lob grenades (or "pots") at an undead unit, killing one and making another retreat.

Every time the undead close with the goblins, the goblins fall back.

The goblins keep retreating, only to form again for the attack.

One specter manages to hold off a unit of goblins by himself.

The undead slowly are being whittled away. The undead just can't seem to kill any goblins.

another pot attack kills two undead.

The battle is reaching a critical stage. The undead general, Red Skull, plunges  into the  middle of the goblins.

The Red Skull attacks the leader of the goblins (the grey goblin).

The grey goblin falls back. During this game the goblins were constantly getting retreats, and losing very few dead.  Somewhere during the game I started imagining the small goblins quickly darting in, trying to land blows, and falling back before the undead counterblows.

The goblins then kills one of the undead with Red Skull, who then wisely falls back.

Red Skull orders a retreat.