Strelets R French Foreign Legion 20mm 1/72

     Strelets R continues to be the largest producer of new figures in the "20mm" market the recent torrent of U.S. Civil War products has finally run dry and they are back to covering more diverse sunjects. First up we find the new French Foreign Legion  Early XX C. Cleanly molded in a fine medium gray plastic that retains detail very well these figures are actively posed and realistically proportioned.
        The figures are well -detailed and cleanly cast with only the faintest of traces of flash anywhere. Inside the box you will find an officer and trumpeter, a light machine gun with a two-man crew and thirty-nine standard FFL troopers. There are three of the those Strelsi figures as a bonus for those who collect such things.
         I really like this set except for a small point; they seem to be from the entire "early twentieth century" the uniforms and equipment are spread over a period of time from the turn of the century to the end of the Rif War (which, given the other sets in this series of releases, is the likely intended target). This is a very broad period when one considers the changes in weapons and tactic over the first quarter of the 20th century. The heavy back-packs and neck-cloths point toward a pre-First World War timeline while the helmets and machine gun would indicate a post-war situation. Not a deal-breaker, military organizations have long been known to only issue new equipment when the previous issue has been thoroughly worn out. I plan on using them all together as part of a small Rif Wars project.

the cover art

 

Book Review, The Paraguayan War 1864-70

The Paraguayan War 1864-70

Osprey Campaigns CAM342

Author   Gabriele Esposito

Illustrator   Guiseppe Rava

ISBN 978-1-4728-3444-7

        More than just a campaign this is an outline history of the entire conflict. It covers the causes, leaders, armies and military planning in the run-up to war. This conflict was the largest, most lethal, war in the 19th century in all of South America. Paraguay still bears the scars from it to this day. Overshadowed in the Anglophone world by conflicts such as the U.S. Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War this is nonetheless a crucial conflict in the political development of the nations involved. 

Back to Bases......UPDATED!

      Having started the Epricurean Wars Campaign it occurred to me that the armies that I had drawn up considerably exceeded the figures that I had based for the Tercio rule set that we are using. After a deep sigh I descended into the workshop and cut a bunch of bases  out of matte board and sat myself down to the tedious task of carving minis off of the bases they were on, only to them attach them to the new bases and conduct the flocking procedure. I find that decaf coffee and Vivaldi's Four Seasons helps with this......

 

not bad for a ninety minute work session

Basing an Afghan Village Part IV, Let the Sanding Begin! UPDATED

     Having cut the foam to shape I touched base with Kevin, we agreed that the hills were a tad overpowering and I swapped one of them down to thinner section white board, it was still taller than the rest of the terrain but no longer challenged the "Big Man's" house for strategic importance (or altitude!).  After double and triple checking the spacing and alignment (I actually checked the size of a Hummer three times just to be sure I had some critical dimensions right) I glued the foam down onto the plywood base.

my usual go-to glue, Titebond, was more than enough to attach the foam, 

I avoided the hot-glue gun because I wanted some adjustment time before the glue set

 (and, frankly, I burn myself nearly every time I fire up Satan's minion)

Basing an Afghan Village, From Paper to Blue-Board

 

the terrain sketch that Kevin chose

      Having consulted with Kevin as to which layout he preferred I took my sketch to the workshop and began laying out the terrain directly onto the surface of the plywood.

 

the first step was to grid the vase off into one-foot squares

to simplify transferring the sketch to the full-sized base 

Refining the Concept

      I had a chance to speak with Kevin and gather his thoughts about my sketches for the Afghan Village project. He was able to provide me with a clearer idea of what he wanted. He is less concerned about the bases being fully geomorphic and that opened up the possibilities for the terrain by quite a bit. I no longer had to be concerned about bringing all of the elevations down to grade as they approached the edge of the base. This led to some deep thinking (which of course led to a nap) and then some Google-Fu  looking at images of Afghanistani villages. To a Midwesterner it is an odd looking place; so much dust, dryness and rocks to contrast with the shocking green of the irrigated and cultivated areas. To make my thinking more concrete I went back to this drawing;

Basing a Village in Afghanistan

       A short while ago I was approached by my friend Kevin (known among blog-followers as Zhodani Commando) about building some terrain for him. As brilliant a painter as he is it seems that Kev just doesn't care to make terrain.
      He showed me some pictures (see below) and explained that he had purchased the buildings through a Kickstarter and wanted me to construct the terrain on which to base them. I thought to myself "hills are a pretty straightforward, what the heck" and when Kev offered to sweeten the deal by trading me two of his Saga armies (did I mention that he is a brilliant painter) I suddenly found the idea irresistible. He dropped off the buildings the other day and I framed up the two three foot square bases that the village and snippet of Afghan countryside would be based on.

 

these are the handiwork of a more talented artist than I

Book Review, Armies of the Italian Wars of Unification 1848-70 (2)

      Osprey Men At Arms MAA520
      Armies of the Italian Wars of Unification 1848-70 (2)
      Author Gabriele Esposito 
      Artist Giuseppe Rava
      ISBN 978-1-4728-2624-4

      I had ordered this book through my local brick-and-mortar (Michigan Toy Soldier) after reading the first volume and was eagerly awaiting its arrival, I rushed down and purchased it as soon as they called saying it was in. To be honest I was slightly worried that it would not be as good as the first volume, how wrong I was. This slim volume traces the uniforms and organization of the armies of the Papal States and the various and sundry volunteers and minor states through the turbulent 22 year struggle for Italian Independence. Happily free from the usual horrid pastel maps that plague many Man At Arms volumes there is one small map delineating the States at the start of the Wars and a foreshortened chronology of events that only consumes two pages between them. The rest of the book is jam-packed with informative text and period illustrations.
      After addressing the national armies of the Papal States, the author guides the reader through the increasingly smalled nations of Tuscany, Modena and Parma before branching of into the incredibly convoluted array of volunteer, revolutionary and Republican troops. Esposito does this with a flowing style that keeps the ever-changing uniform and organizational situation clear in the reader's mind. Interspersed through the text margins are a very large number of period illustrations of the uniforms he is discussing. This helps greatly in providing the reader with a visualization of the the look of the uniforms in question.
       Bringing this vast amount of information to life is the inspired work of Giuseppe Rava. He captures an sense of energy, perspective and place in his artwork. The illustrations are precise without being formulaic and I would be delighted if a manufacturer would release minis that posses his eye for detail, proportion and energy. Well,, I'll be..... it seems that someone had already!

      Very highly Recommended!

New Blog Link

      I have collected all of the posts regarding this special brand of silliness into a new blog, click here or on the picture to jump there.

A House Divided, Followers of the Small Plate Heresy

 

the tortured land of Gluttonia

    The untimely demise of Ferdinand III has left a rift in the fabric of Gluttonian society.His jovial nature and the force of his personality kept the tension between the factions of Proper-Mealers and Small-Platers under control. Without his firm hand on matters of state things have come entirely unstuck. Even as the army was en-route home from Mindoro the tension had risen to a fever pitch, with the Small-Platers blaming the Proper-meal faction for the death of the King. The return of the troops to their respective cities and the discovery that all of the heirs to the throne were in the hands of the surrounding kingdoms have left the nation an armed camp on the brink of civil war.

     The more progressive soldiers gravitated to the Small-Plate faction, these troops joined together and and sought to employ the latest fashions in combat. These opinions tended to be grouped by area and thus the various cities declared for Proper-Meal of Small-Plate, not to imagine that there was complete unanimity within any community, just that there was a prevailing mood.

First Blood, The battle before the walls of Mozzerella

it all looked so peaceful as the sun went down,

the Ferndalian army camped below the walls of Mozzerella
north is at the top of the picture in this view

     As the Gluttonian Succession Crisis blended with the civil strife caused by the Small Platers vs Proper Meal Unrest, Peter the Famished put forward Hanz Flamboise as his candidate for the Gluttonian throne. this quickly ruffled feathers among the Boozonian Parliament not to mention the Gluttonian advocates of either Franz or Clauz. Undeterred Peter sent Hanz to the border city of Mozzerella along with a portion of the Ferndalian army. By doing this he had hoped to act as a magnet for the Gluttonian supporters of Hanz and to place his man on the throne without undue conflict. Of course this was not meant to be.....

Lace Wars 28mm Hautepol Dragoons

      Now that I have my painting mojo back I hope to get the rest of the Horse done this year. Here we find the Hautepol Dragoons (at least that is what I think the unit name is......I have to confess to not being able to clearly read the unit name on my painting note). A French unit from before the turn of the century (that would be the 17th-18th century divide). To represent their "Jack-of-all-Trades" mission I modeled them with some soldiers waving swords, others armed with pistols while some other lads were using their long guns. The figures firing the musket got their arms (both literally and figuratively) from the spare parts from an infantry set. I will probably break down and build some converted foot to use as dismounted Dragoons.
      I do love plastic figures, all of the models in this unit were built using the same basic figure. The Warlord set provides a vast array of options and the ability to import parts from the infantry set expands the possibilities even further.