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.



Monday, 7 September 2026

New Additions in GHQ

Sue and I were away in Shropshire for a couple of days last week. One stop we made was in Church Stretton, for tea and cake in Berry's and a mooch in the Antique Centre. In one cabinet were some painted 28mm Napoleonic figures, mostly Generals and such, but including these shown below. Only a couple of pounds, probably reflecting the unusual paint job. The pictures are in monochrome so the colours don't distract the eye ~

This chap has "Fed up" engraved on the underside of his base.
These bandsmen carrying a wounded comrade are a two piece set. Nothing on their bases to reveal their origins.
Any ideas of their origins gentle reader would be of interest. Once they are stripped I expect to repaint them for my FRW project. 
Then on Sunday I made the very short trip to WV Active, at Aldersley Leisure Village, Wolverhampton, the site of the late lamented WMMS these past few years, to cast my eye over the tabletop sale! Arriving 45 minutes after the doors opened the queue was still Partizanesque! Once inside there were acres of trader tables, buying and selling, mostly for the gnome botherer fraternity I must say. There were however a pleasing number of historical wargames focused sellers, including job lots of boxed Hincliffe figures sold by the crate! I spent £27.50 on these items ~
Two painted Hovels resin ACW buildings @ £5.00 each; three handmade corn fields @ £5.00 each for the smaller ones and £7.50 for the larger one; and 50p on a resin print minefield for William, which I didn't photograph. The admission was £4.00 before 12.00, but free thereafter. Folk were still going in when I left about 12.15pm. 
One feature worthy of comment I thought on reflection was the number of 3D printed terrain and building items being sold on 3 or 4 tables. Again mostly Fantasy oriented but enough to interest the Historical gamer too. I discussed explosion markers with one such trader, Gatehouse Gaming UK from Yorkshire, and was informed they'd be on his site on Tuesday ~
www.gatehousegamingukshop.co.uk
Besides scatter terrain of all shapes and sizes they offered pots of myriad basing materials, paints, Gamers' Grass products and more. Their flyer gives a run down if you are interested. Afterwards I regretted not buying the pack of scruffy dogs that had taken my eye!
If there is another such tabletop sale held there in future I shall make sure it is on my calendar and that I attend if possible.


9 comments:

  1. A grand bunch of swag there, the explosions will be well worth a look using wire and Woodland scenic clump follidge takes an age and risks burnt fingers🙂

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    1. I am hopeful as you know I have ten thumbs when it comes to sticking things together...

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  2. Haven't a clue about the figures but they look nice and should be handy when repainted, the bandsmen carrying their comrade will make a lovely little vignette. Nice buys at the show too, all look very handy.

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    1. The buildings will benefit from some tlc to be fair. The figures have stumped me and everyone I've asked so far.

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  3. David,
    the figures are old Bicorne Miniatures from their 28mm French collection. Still available I think from Bicorne and paint up quite well. Regards Julian

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  4. Nice finds there David and I certainly look forward to those chaps being re-painted in due course as I'm sure they'll look great:). Sadly no good table top sales around here now, as it seems ebay et al has taken over for many gamers. BTW at Colours there was a lot of 3D printed terrain items on display, so certainly a growth area which I imagine will only get larger in the coming years.

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    1. It will be a while until their time under the Brush of Doom!

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  5. very interesting, do you think that the tabletop sale succeeds in the vacuum left by the loss of the local show?

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