Starting a New Project

      One benefit of being a slow reader is when you find a good book you can savor reading it. I still haven't finished reading Neil Thomas' WARGAMING 19th CENTURY EUROPE.  I find myself rereading different sections for inspiration.  Some of the figures I took on vacation were some home cast APW Austrian infantry. The figures would make good ACW militia from the start of the war. After reading some of the scenarios in Mr. Thomas' book, I decided to cast some more of the figures to make a Austrian themed army.

   Today after work I figured I had an hour to do some casting.  While waiting for the metal to melt, I spent time organizing the molds I have made. After 20 minutes the metal still hadn't melted; I had forgot to plug in my melting pot! However, once I got going, I had a very productive session. Only 3 infantry figures went back into the pot. Most of the figures needed minimal work to clean them up. I also cast 6 Austrian dragoon figures. I almost have enough figures for a war-game army using Bob Corderys' Memoir of Battle rules.

The finished product.

The infantry figures. Two figures were too badly cast to be of use.

The 6 dragoon figures. The sword arms on them weren't completely formed.  However for my use they will work.

New Peter Laing Units Formed

     Donna and I have just gotten back from camping this week. Our original plans were changed due to the fact our dog has taken ill and she needed daily IV treatments, which I had to give her. So instead of New York and temperatures in the mid 60s, we settled for a campsite 20 miles away and days in the 40s. Molly came along this trip and the fresh air seemed to do her good.

 However, I did bring some Peter Laing figures with the goal of getting them painted. With the nights dropping into the high  30s, we spent a lot of time in the camper, giving me time to get the figures painted. They include 5 units of Civil War Zouaves, 5 units of Confederate infantry and 2 units of Confederate cavalry ( these will represent Shiak and Brookshire forces in the ongoing war between those two countries.

Civil War Zouaves gives one many uniforms to pick from. Of course I tried to keep a few to be used with the French Army, too.

The Confederate cavalry uniforms.

The Confederate infantry. It is hard to see but three of the figures have different facing. The officer is a home cast figure.


I also brought along Neil Thomas'  WARGAMING NINETEENTH CENTURY EUROPE 1815-1878.  I have tried to read this book in the past but couldn't get into it. This time I started just by reading the scenarios, then the army lists. I then started reading the battle descriptions. At this point I was hooked and went back to the beginning.  I have been enjoying this book so much I ordered three other wargaming books written by Mr. Thomas.  This book also has me wanting to cast some of the APW Austrian infantry that I made a mold of and have them fight my PL French.