David Bickley's Wargames Blog

The occasional ramblings of an average gamer, journeyman painter, indifferent modeller, games designer, sometime writer for Wargames Illustrated and host of games in GHQ.



Wednesday 11 May 2016

A Few New Additions

Since we got home on Sunday Sue has been working at the University and I find that my days are largely my own. I managed to get over to Phil's on Monday, despite being rather tired from the previous day's travel, and play in a 1st Carlist War game which surprisingly I managed to win! I've also been able to get on with painting some figures to add to the VBCW/Blandings/Operation Zeelowe games here in GHQ. First up are some Footsore Miniatures {formerly Musketeer Miniatures of course} to add some figures to the Express and Star Rifles as reporters and printworkers ~












Next up from Sloppy Jalopy are my miners, sculpted by Matt with heads by someone else, to represent the Hilton Main Miners' Collective. The Hilton Main pit was quite close to our home and so it seemed a good choice for our VBCW games set in the local area of South Staffordshire around Wolverhampton ~


















The banner of the Shropshire and South Staffordshire Miners' Union was made generously for me by Pete Barfield, based on a photo of the original I found on the web. It should probably be larger, but that's a matter of convenience for storing the group really ~






















The mine foreman sports a Wolves scarf as a further nod towards our local setting in the VBCW games here in GHQ. His personal bodyguard is made up of two figures with shotguns, ideal for nasty close up combat ~














The remainder of the group is made up of a two man Lewis Gun team and four riflemen, one about to lob some liberated company dynamite ~












While I'm quite pleased with the way they turned out, the close ups reveal that I've made a bit of a mess of a couple of eyes! Probably I should give up painting them in, but I always have done it where the sculptor has given me something to work with, so I guess its a case of old habits dying hard! They all need to be varnished of course, but the weather is not playing fair at present!
Next up are some more Footsore Miniatures, a mixture of Workers' Militia and IRA figures, to fill out the Boulton Paul Workers' Militia with some appropriate figures. I've made a start on the two man anti-tank rifle team first, and then there will be 14 figures to paint for the unit to be finished. I'll pop them up sometime next week hopefully, if all goes to plan that is!

16 comments:

  1. Very nicely done there old chap, I look forward to giving the oicks a damn good thrashing in due course.

    Lord R

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  2. Seeing the old old-gold and black fair bought a tear to my eye sir. Well done!

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    1. As a season ticket holder a t the Saddlers you've no idea how hard it was to paint that scarf!

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    2. Ah! On that basis the tears are now running down my leg.

      Still we do share a common enemy in West Brummagem.

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    3. Living with the enemy,as I do here in Dinglehampton, I tend to keep my football affiliations to myself...

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  3. Nice figures, they certainly look the part.

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  4. Lovely ......I have my eye on some more miners for VBCW and these look great.

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    1. Glad you approve Matt. I can recommend the figures to you, if not the heads.

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  5. They look great and look fun to paint up! That banner is really eye catching as well.

    Christopher

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    1. You are right, Christopher, I enjoyed painting the miners! The banner is very special, all thanks to Pete Barfield of course!

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  6. Great paint job on your figures! They look good.

    The banner is outstanding!

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    1. Glad you approve, Captain! The banner all Pete Barfield's work as I said.

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