Sir William Sidney Smith RN

An overlooked naval hero, serving in the American Revolutionary War, the French Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic Wars, as well as in the Swedish navy in the Swedish-Russian War, and now available from Wargames Illustrated in their Giants in Miniature range.
I picked up the figure at the recent Hammerhead wargames show, as my War of 1812-15 sailors and marines lacked a suitable command figure for their landing party. Here he is in close up and in action, as befits a hero ~

Dan has signed off my efforts as regards the photographs to accompany my War of 1812-15 article in Wargames Illustrated, whenever it may next appear of course, so I have been stood down and can revert to my status as keen amateur!

Back in Dixie!

I mentioned in an earlier post on my last ACW unit, the 10th Tennessee, that the figures had languished in the Lead Pimple for a couple of years or so. These good ol' boys shared their wait in the queue for their moment under the brush so I thought it only right to see that they were completed too. As ever they are Dixon Miniatures with flags by Flags of War and bases by Warbases. The base texture is the last of my old pot of Colour Party Basetex, the Dried Earth version. (I've had to buy a new pot, something I thought I'd not have cause to do, but just before the lock down came into force I'd received an order from Dixon Miniatures - a 20 figure Union regiment and an 8 figure Union cavalry regiment.) Anyway, back to the latest addition to muster in to my Rebs, the 3rd Louisiana ~

Continuing my ACW theme I picked up the Redoubt Enterprise's Confederate seated general set from Colonel Bill at Hammerhead, so I thought I'd tackle those next. I've added a few bits from stock to help create a point of interest. After those I have a set of Perry Miniatures Union personalities - Howard, Sickles and Sykes. I'll need other figures to accompany these and as Perry Miniatures are currently closed that will have to wait I'm afraid.

The War of 1812-15

While this period of self isolation rumbles on its nice  to have hobby related activities to provide both distraction and purpose. As some of you will know I write for Wargames Illustrated from time to time and recently Dan had accepted a piece I have submitted on my War of 1812-15 project. Of course, he can't now drive over to take the pictures to go with the article and so I've had a temporary promotion to acting photographer! I've spent some time this week setting up a table and agreeing a layout with Dan by email, so I thought you'd enjoy a general table view before I get the ok to start the individual pictures ~

I would hope to have all the required pictures taken and emailed off over the next day or so, though when we shall see the magazine again I'm trying not to think about really. I hope you and yours will all keep safe and well and that we can all look forward to The Other Partizan in October!

VBCW ~ Vickers 6 ton tank

A while back now, when the world was normal, I posted a picture of a kind gift from Phil. It was an FAA Vickers 6 ton tank, complete with tank commander sporting a leather cycling helmet! I'm not a natural modern vehicle painter, I found 20mm hard enough let alone 28mm, and I'm certainly not in Phil's class when it comes to the finished product. Nevertheless I give it a go and the results are usually ok from tabletop viewing distance at least. Here it is anyway ~

The Vickers 6 ton tank was one of those interwar designs which failed to be adopted by the British army, although it was sold or licensed abroad to several governments, notably the Soviet Union. As such it's a natural for the VBCW genre and joins my three Vickers Light tanks MkVI and my lone Matilda MK1. I've given the commander a bright red scarf/cravat, so you can easily see his political affiliation! Our VBCW games set in Wolverhampton and South Staffordshire are not tank heavy, but every little adds to the variety to choose from in designing scenarios and forces, so it's a very welcome addition to my collection.

No Plan Survives Contact With The Enemy 2

Well, when I posted about plans for 2020 games here in GHQ I had not given a thought to likely interruptions I must confess. I don't imagine I was on my own there though, so no blame attached so far. Now though, in the light of recent developments, Phil and I have decided it would be unwise to carry on, at least for the next few weeks. I'm no fan of solo wargames, I'd only be tempted to cheat I think if things went badly! So posts will be limited to stuff I've painted and perchance any insights I gain into our hobby in this time. Do pop by and say hello from time to time if you've a minute.

War of 1812-15 vignette

I really do dislike having to buy figures nowadays in blisters from many manufacturers, much preferring to choose individual figure combinations to suit how I want a unit or group to look. When the most recent phase of my War of 1812-15 expansion project had finished I had quite a few figures from the Foundry range left over. Some of these I utilised in making more skirmisher base markers and a few I used in additional Command bases, but that still left five figures to use up. My solution was to marry them up with a spare horse from another collection, albeit from a later period, to produce a vignette base. Anyway, see what you think ~

Apart from the two remaining units of US Infantry in the tombstone shako I still have some American and Anglo-Canadian command figures left over. I'll keep them for now as the US figures give me the option for a further Militia unit, while the Anglo-Canadian figures will let me create an alternate command base for my de Watteville regiment converting them to British infantry. But that lies somewhere in the future for now. Older folk like me may soon have more painting time than we want I expect...

More Good Ol' Boys! The 10th Tennessee.

After two months of mainly painting figures for my War of 1812-15 collection I've taken a break and returned to my main gaming interest, the ACW, in the form of a Dixon Miniatures Confederate unit. These will represent the 10th Tennessee in their distinctive red trimmed uniform. The flags they carry are from Flags of War and the bases are from Warbases. My ACW collection has its bases covered in 'Dried Earth' Basetex before static grass and a few clumps are applied. I really do enjoy painting these Dixons' figures, even though some are like old friends I've painted so many before. It's the character in the faces and the movement in the figures I enjoy, plus the careful attention to detail in acoutrements and arms. For my money they are simply the best figures for the period, but I recognise that others are less keen: it's a bit chalk and cheese really...
Anyway, here they are in all their glory!

I've another Dixon Confederate unit still awaiting painting, as the 3rd Louisiana Infantry. I hope to get them done this month along with a small vignette I've put together from more surplus Foundry War of 1812 figures. In addition I bought a pack of Perry Miniatures ACW Union Generals at Hammerhead because, well, there is no such thing as too many Command stands! I also got a Giants in Miniature from WI, Sir Sydney Smith, who will command my naval landing party and marines in War of 1812-15 games, when he's finished of course.