Down memory lane

Day after day in the hot Mediterranean summer, I would sit on my mum's doorstep waiting for the postie. Anticipation would well up at the first glimpse of him at the bottom of the street and would rise to a crescendo the closer he got only to have it crash down catastrophically once he breezed past me without even a nod of acknowledgement to my presence. Deflated and dejected, I would walk back inside and resign myself to another twenty four hour wait.  This daily routine carried on for days on end until one day the man actually stopped at our doorstep and handed me the much anticipated folded piece of paper.  I had received a package and it was waiting for me at the post office! Needless to say I was down at the town square within minutes, the three-hundred-metre-or-so run dismissed effortlessly with the energy of youth. Once at the counter I was handed over the small thin package and in the blink of an eye I was back home, hands trembling and fumbling away at the cardboard outer.  My first wargaming book had arrived! 

In those days Airfix and Humbrol were all the rage - Airfix kits, Airfix Magazine, Humbrol enamels and what-not. They were the undisputed industry leaders, at least in this corner of the world. In 1974 someone at Airfix Magazine came up with the idea to start publishing dedicated modelling and wargaming guides and a series of 28 books were eventually published by Patrick Stephens Ltd between 1974 and 1978. All books were numbered in sequence but being just a kid with some pocket money I couldn't afford more than one book. My choice fell on Guide number 4 - Napoleonic Wargaming by Bruce Quarry, a small 64-page book with all you needed to get started in wargaming - with a full set of gaming rules included! This was the book I was so eagerly awaiting every day that summer of '74 and it was the book that set me off in this wonderful hobby of ours.  That book still sits proudly on my bookshelf after all these years and although I have moved on in the hobby, it is still the book I treasure most.

My wargaming genesis - the book that started it all

Of the 28 books, I eventually collected the four that dealt with wargaming but then I moved on to other rulesets and eventually lost interest in the series. Recently, however, I asked myself why on earth I hadn't collected them all and after a flurry of ebay activity, I am now the proud owner of the entire collection.  Granted, now that the modelling world has changed so much these last forty years, most of their content is obsolete but nostalgia overcomes everything and all twenty eight books now occupy a good chunk of my bookshelf, faded spines and all.

The four wargaming books in the series

The entire collection

Mediterranean buildings in 6mm

The postie handed over some goodies this morning - 6mm Spanish / Italian buildings from Total Battle Miniatures’ excellent Big Battalions range. Queen of the lot is a marvellous monastery which - however - is a bit overscale and I suspect will look too imposing on the table. Still, it’s a magnificent model which is worth adding to any collection. The models are very finely sculpted and I particularly like the terraced rows of houses inspired by the medieval Tuscan town of San Gimignano, one of the most picturesque places I have ever been to. One of the houses has a stone fountain attached to its facade and it is small details like this which make all the difference in my eyes. Hope to paint these soon and upload pictures of the finished product shortly.

Typical medieval terraced houses

The whole lot. The monastery is the monster on the right

Monastery front and chapel annex

A peek into the courtyard

Baccus British light dragoons deployed for scale

Workbench stuff - Road and river sections

Some time back I got some road and river sections from Timecast Models of UK. Timecast have an extensive range of latex road and river sections together with matching fords and bridges in a variety of sizes making them ideal for whatever scale of figures one uses. 6mm scale is catered for more than adequately and I find their roads and rivers really enhance the table. Both roads and rivers have raised edges to represent hedges and foliage one tends to find by roadsides and along waterways.

Anyway, when I first received them, I quickly painted and dry-brushed the sections but they were never really up to scratch in my eyes. So these past two evenings I sat down and flocked the edges using Army Painter Field Grass from their Battlefields range and PVA glue. I am really happy with the results obtained and what were tired roads and rivers are now vibrant green with foliage. Anyone know where I can get some 6mm squirrels and otters?

A few of the original road sections with painted edges and dry brushed roadways

The finished road sections now in full bloom

A river section with finished bank on top and the original painted bank at bottom. The difference is quite clear.

The real deal - Army Painter Field Grass. Two thumbs up!

28mm Foot Men-at-Arms for Lion Rampant

Another twelve-man unit in 28 mm for Lion Rampant, this time Men-at-Arms from Front Rank Figurines. I loved painting these figures - the sculpted detail and facial expressions are simply exquisite. I trawled Google for heraldry ideas and copied whatever caught my fancy. I had also taken a myriad of photographs during a visit to Prague a couple of years ago - the place is just bursting with medieval emblems and coats of arms - and found that material very useful. My noblemen are now itching for a fight.

28mm medieval crossbowmen for Lion Rampant

While I'm still busy desperately hacking away at my 6mm Greek lead pile, I thought I would fill in by putting up a few pics of my Fireforge 28mm plastic crossbowmen for Lion Rampant.  The actual unit was finished a few months ago but I never took the time to put the pics up on the blog.

Detail is very good on these multipose figures and the poses are quite dynamic. I always prefer metal figures to plastic ones but Fireforge make such good quality figures that I'm more than happy to make an exception. I reasoned this rank and file unit would not have been too colourful so I went for a drab brown leather look overall with the distinguishing unit colour showing underneath.