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.        

Garden Wargaming with 30mm SAE Figures

With warmer weather coming I found myself thinking about how to get more wargaming in. SomehowI just haven't had the time to get games in. On my day off by the time I run my errants, do the required work around the house and getting the dog out, the day is done  and my wife is home. Now

I always feel guilty because I don't get my dog out as much as she should. Last week as I was sitting out in the yard and Molly was enjoying the fresh air, I started thinking of playing with Airfix figures in the yard when I was a kid. With "little Wars" in mind, I was trying to figure what toy soldiers I could use. Now Airfix was fine as a kid, but even based they are still pretty tipsy. I wanted to use metal figures for their weight. While considering which scale to use, 40mm or 54mm, some SAE 30mm British Guards figures purchased several years ago caught my eye. I grabbed a few of them and brought the outside. The size of the bases seemed to work fine. But I only had 8 of the figures. I went on Ebay and found a good size lot of SAE 30mm Civil War figures at a good price.  The figures has seen many campaigns and most of the rifles are broken and some will need repairs, but for what I want them for they will do.

Today was a beautiful day and Molly was itching to get out. When I got home from work the package of figures were in the mail. I grabbed a handful of the figures, some dice and made a quick measure stick.  Using basic rules, as Molly laid in the sun, I started playing with the figures.  While it was just to see if the figures would work, I found not only did they work, but I was having more fun than I should have for the time invested in the setup.  I fought 2 skirmishes, the Union won the first; Confederates the second.  I even decided to snap a couple of shots of the action.

The Yankees manage to cut 2 Rebels off from the rest; discretion being the better part of valor, the Rebs surrender.

Heroscape Civil War battle with 10mm Old Glory Figures

When I first got back into wargaming and was looking for different ideas, I bought a lot of Old Glory 10mm figures. I must admit that I really like the strips of infantry. And when I bought Avalon Hill's Battle Cry game, it seemed that it might be a good match. And then Heroscape came along and it seemed perfect to use with Battle Cry.  However I've only combined them a couple of times. 

I haven't got a war-game in for a while so I decided to have a go at it. After all, for a solo war gamer Battle Cry is great as the scenarios are given with troop deployment, terrain and victory conditions spelled out for you. I decided to use Memoir of Battle by Bob Condrey for the rules. I couldn't find my rulebook for Battle Cry; however I did have an additional scenario supplement that came with the game. I used the Battle of McDowell, May 8,1862.

Part of the scenario for the Battle of Mc Dowell

The set up for the battle.  I still haven't figured out how to have woods that will work with the miniatures, so I just marked those hexes with chalk.

New Toy Soldier Molds

While on Ebay a couple of weeks ago, somehow I came across these molds, which were on the German Ebay site. I got these  molds; unfortunately I could only afford two of them and missed out on some more. I was hoping these would be the same size as Zinnbrigades, alas, no. However, they are nice figures and sometimes I think of maybe trying to sell toy soldiers at local craft fairs. These would be nice additions if I ever do take the plunge.

 

Prussian Guards from the late 19th century.