Tragedy Strikes the Outdoor Patrol!

Headquarters received a frantic call from the 3 man patrol. One of their members was missing. A severe storm came through the area and blew away their cover. They hunkered down for a miserable night. When the patrol leader went to releave Pvt. Murphy, who was on duty, he was nowhere to be found.
Headquarters  formed up a search team and they headed out.

The search team had slow going due to the rocky terrain.

As the patrol rolled on, they kept searching for Pvt Murphy.

The search team pulled up to the base of the cliff where the patrol was located. The two remaining soldiers came out of their camp.

Sgt. Gamble came down to brief the commander of the search party. 

Meanwhile, a temporary patrol took the place of the original patrol.

The search party helped in making the new observation post, with a more sturdy cover.

The search party continued their search based on the direction Sgt. Gamble suggested.

A sweep of the area quickly  turned up the unfortunate Pvt. Murphy. It is surmised that in the heavy rain, Murphy was swept away by the rapidly forming streams coming down the cliffs. His body was found under some debris a little way down the hill from the cliff. The unfortunate patrol was loaded onto the jeeps. It was a tragic end to the first patrol.

The red arrow points to the crevice that the patrol set up camp.

 

Traditions Confederate General Staff

 My newest toy soldier purchase is a set of Traditions of London Confederate General Staff. Besides the box, the set is missing a table. But for the price paid, they were worth buying.

Two of the Traditions figures with Britain's  conversions.

4 of the Traditions  with and Edmunds Toy soldier.

The 8 Traditions Confederates.

New Troops and Three Man Patrols

    A while back I saw some pictures of some figures of 1 inch pirated Airfix paratroopers. They used Airfix 1/32 poses. However, all of the figures have berets instead of the mix of berets and helmets. I liked the looks of the figures and tried to find some without success. 

   Last month I went to the local hobby shop to look for some paints and to check out their model trains. This hobby shop will sell second hand models and kits. While looking around I found a bin full of baggies with different toy soldiers. One large bag had the pirated Airfix paratroopers. It was a little expensive for me, so I put them back.

  I recently read a Man of Tin posting about how he puts out 3 soldier patrols in his gardens. Like most toy figure fans, I used to do the same. Reading his post made me think of the paras again, and I broke down and bought them. I received 196 of

The patrol found a nice hollow for their observation post.

Some local debris is ideal for concealment.

a close up of the figures.

The mobile command post.

the paratroopers, along with a large batch 8th army copies.

  I decided to deploy  a patrol outside, with a headquarters set up inside to monitor their reports.

Toy Soldiers LAD Vikings

 I really liked the warring rabbit figures I ordered from Toy Soldier LAD so much I decided to place another order. Once again the idea was to order two different color sets. I decided not to try to paint the figures; instead I am thinking of putting a wash on the figures to accentuate the detail of the figures. I ordered two sets of Viking. I did put a wash on one figure and think this will be how I will "paint the figures 

The Viking figure after a wash of paint.

The different Viking figures, from their Ebay page.

Toy Soldier LAD sent a sample of their Greeks figures with this order.  I was thinking of ordering  some of  the Greeks instead of the Viking.  I might have to break down and order the Greeks...

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.