Battle Along the Border.

 There are two tribes of rabbits in the neighborhood; the browns and the greys. The Grey's dwell in the woods; the Browns at the edge between the woods and human  houses. The Grey's have a harder life, dealing with the different predators of the woods, and therefore more aggressive and stealthy. 

In the woods is a stream that divides the two tribes. Crossing the stream is cause for conflict betwween the tribes. The Greys will raid the human gardens with impunity, as the brown rabbits find its not worth fighting, as they usually come out badly in these fights.

On this particular day the lands have been without rain and the usual watering spots have dried up and the greens are browning. A group of brown rabbits go to the stream for water and to forage for some fresh greens. After having their fill of water they notice on the other side some choice greens and, not seeing any Grey's, cross and goes to feast on the greens.

Too late, they notice a band of Grey's trying to get between them and the stream.

The grey rabbits are trying to get behind the brown rabbits.

The two larger brown rabbits try to head off the greys so the smaller rabbits can escape.

One of the small brown rabbits, armed with a slingshot, decides to join the fight.

The two sides start to battle, with the rabbits armed with slingshots  flinging rocks at each other.

The grey slinger drops the brown slinger, while two greys drop another brown. Meanwhile, one brown rabbit crosses the stream to go tell of the fight going on.

The last brown rabbit is dropped. The rabbits rarely fight to the death. For the three brown rabbits, they will be brought back as prisoners. There they will probably be used as bait against predators.

New Edmunds Toy Soldiers

    While I don't  collect " collectable" toy soldiers, one company I have an interest in is Edmunds Toy Soldiers; especially his ACW collection. In the last couple of months I did manage to get four sets of figures at very reasonable prices. Three sets were sold in a lot. Unfortunately, this seller had quite a few sets at ridiculously low prices. I was trying to work out how to buy all of them, but I wasn't  quick enough  and someone beat me to them. Then a set of the National Lancers came up. The set came without a box, but still the price was right. The National Lancers are still a state militia unit that does ceremonial duties in the state.

The National Lancers

My collection on parade.

The other new sets. 83rd Pennsylvania Infantry, the 23rd Pennsylvania Infantry (Birney's Zouaves) and Rush's Lancers.

A Closeup of a 83rd PA figure showing the amount of painted details on the figures. 

Birney's Zouaves

Battle Bunnies

    Many months ago I bought some "Killer Rabbits" from SkullnCrown miniatures. They are based on Medieval margin art on manuscripts. They are nice little figures, but a little pricy for a cheapskate like me.

  Recently on Ebay I came across some 54mm sized rabbits along the same style of the killer rabbits. They are produced by a company called Toy Soldiers LAD from Kazakhstan. I really liked the looks of the figures. There are three different sets; I will call them infantry, cavalry and bandsmen. They are plastic flats. I wanted to order some sets, but was a little leary about ordering from them. I decided to order two sets of the infantry rabbits, in two different colors (so I wouldn't have to paint them). I received  them in a reasonable amount of time and was so pleased with them I ordered two sets of the cavalry and one of the band.

I am imaging a war between two tribes of rabbits taking place in my neighborhood, kind of like Watership Down.

Closeup of one of the band rabbits. I gave it a quick wash of sepia. I'm thinking that if I do anything with these figures, it might only be a wash to make the details stand out.

The cavalry rabbits

the band

The infantry

The Kindertown Posse

    After my last game, Peter suggested continuing the narrative campaign with a posse trying to catch up with the villains. It was a good idea, and so here is the conclusion of the Kindertown raid.

  The new marshal  of Kindertown, Eugene, formed a posse to go after the Black Hat gang. They caught up with them at an outlying ranch.

They decided to wait until dawn to attack the ranch.

The posse starts their approach on the ranch. Barney, standing sentry, spots the approaching posse and opens fire. The gunfire wakes the rest of the gang.

The posse quickly loses their leader, marshal Eugene is the first killed by Art, the new leader of the gang. Doug, the newest member of the gang, is cut down by gunfire by Frank, who has been involved in all three gunfights.

Art shoots down another of the posse, George. Barney kills Henry, while Frank wounds Barney. Ike engages Art in close combat. 

Art closes in and shoots Ike at point blank range. Barney hits Frank a grazing wound. Frank now realizes that he is alone, and retreats from the fight. The posse killed two of the gang, but lost four of the posse. Unfortunately, Art and Barney, the two most bloodthirsty of the gang survived. Art killed 3 of the posse; Barney killed the fourth.
Frank, the last of the posse, is offered the job of Marshal. He grudgingly accepts the job. Perhaps in the future he can avenge the loss of his fellow townsmen.