A 'Slight' Swelling...

...has pretty much left me speechless. Anyone who knows me will tell you that's pretty rare too! I am by the by, if you were at all concerned, refering to the Lead Pimple, which has suddenly swollen considerably, and at no loss of treasure from the War Chest I must say. Early last week during one of our occasional text chats Aly Morrison asked me if I would like a few Eureka Miniatures Wars of the French Revolution figures which he'd decided were surplus to his needs. He included a picture of the packs in a box. Of course I accepted graciously, such kindnesses are one of the stand out points in our wonderful hobby. The figures duly arrived this Wednesday ~

It was a much bigger package than I'd expected and was worryingly much heavier than I thought it would be... So after some procrastination on my part I proceeded carefully to open it up ~

Removing the top layer of bubble wrap revealed 12 exquisitely painted French infantry. The standard of painting in evidence on them is way above my modest efforts! Using these will be a challenge, but I will most certainly give it a go... On to the next layer seen vaguely through the bubble  wrapping.

Two packs of flags! One of GMB Designs Austrian standards and one which on opening contained three sets of Flags of War French Revolutionary War standards. The final layer awaits now...

...Numerous carefully annotated bags of Eureka Miniatures figures! By this stage I was feeling a bit like Howard Carter on the day he first opened Tutankhamen's tomb! I carried the box carefully up to my desk, cleared away all the painting paraphernalia, and started to examine my wonderful gift in detail...

...which took me an hour or so! In all there are 215 items, hardly 'a few figures' by any measure, French and Austrian - both German and Hungarian variants! Included amongst the packs were Austrian Hussars, French Chasseurs à Cheval, artillery pieces & crew, mounted generals and ADCs, Grenadiers, Fusiliers, Carabiniers, Chasseurs! Two small armies really! It's certainly far more than the 'slight swelling' I mentioned back at the start, isn't it? And as a gift! Words fail me in the face of such undeserved generosity,as I said I'm speechless! Just to say 'Thank You!' seems almost crass, but there you go, 

"Thank you Aly, your kind gift is more than generous and much appreciated!"

Of course, stepping back just a little leaves time to reflect on the generous nature of many wargamers I've met down the years and what goes around comes around I've generally thought based on my own experiences. In the meantime the figures are sorted and stored in an annexe to the infamous Lead Pimple while I ponder on how and when to incorporate them into my vague aspirations on the painting front over the coming months! Not to mention how and where they will fit in to the storage in GHQ! Talk about First World problems...