Meanwhile back at the ranch.....

OK, so its not the ranch. The centenary of the start of the First World War (or as my granddad called it "The Great War") got me thinking about my long languishing trench project. I dug it out and resolved to add the sandbags to the trench parapets. After that all that was left was flocking and it was ready to go.........that and I have to paint the minis!

I made the sandbags by rolling sculpting clay out into 1/8" diameter sticks, then squishing them a bit with my thumb and slicing them into sections about half again as long as they are wide. I then pinched the ends to create the "bag" shape and stacked them while they were still soft. After they had dried I painted them with a 50/50 mixture of wood glue and water to ensure they stayed stuck in place. I was going paint them but I think I like the color just as they are.

Leipzig, Action in the East, Updated

Again, more photos for which I have little explanation, but they are very pretty. I rely on the respective commanders to provide their (unbiased, ahem!) versions of events. Some of these are duplicates of the action in the center because the photos overlap.

I have now added the Housemartin's (clearly unbiased and nonopinionated) notes to the photos.

Young and Middle Guard on the hill at the center of the Battlefield

with their artillery positioned in front of the battalions.

Leipzig, Action in the center

        My hectic schedule has prevented me from sitting down with the Commanders and the photos to go over what happened and then annotate the pictures. Thus I will present the photos and ask the Commanders to provide their version of events in the Comments section. I will them add the comments to the photos as fits.