Happy New Year 2024!… and a bit of a retrospective 2023 (a brief summary)

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There you have it… a collection of pics is better than a long text… this is what I did in 2023… from bottom to top chronologically I am afraid!

I enjoyed the lot of projects. Some come out of nowhere… some were convoluted… some straightforward…

How the mind wanders in a year… seriously considering selling my Playmobil Collection on Ebay nowadays… lack of interest by my grandchildren… and need of space… that happens…

Hope you enjoy my recollections!

Finally varnished, dry, and ready to play!
Command Group detail!
lanyard corrected!
A nice little collection in Khaki…



I do not remember if I did that on 2023… but probably!
My only 42MM soldier!
The SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON project!
Union Cavalry in 6mm (Baccus)
6MM Nile Gunboat (Daniel Hodgson REVEILLE production)
Rorke’s Drift in 6MM (Baccus Minis and Leven Buildings)
My avatar in 75mm.
The Charge of the Heavy Brigade (Crimea 1854) 6mm Baccus Proxies!
Repainted central Toy Soldier (substitution in the collection)
The finished Brigade of Guards Crimea 1854 (Baccus Proxies and a lot of work involved!)
The “NEW” additions (Lt. Chard and Lt. Bromhead) in their proper place. DORSET SOLDIERS.
Display of finished units!
Staff Car and Motorcycles escort!
Chard and Bromhead
XIXth Corps d’Afrique (French) in 54MM… now complete.
Confederates in 6MM (Baccus)
The whole Heavy Brigade (Crimea) 6MM Baccus proxies.
My ANTIETAM/SHARPSBURG Wargame 6MM Baccus (At the end of the game)
Another view.
Playmobils 75MM… seriously considering selling my collection of them in 2024!
Saganne in 54mm Dorset Soldiers casting painted by me…
Nathan Brittles last patrol in 6MM Baccus Proxies (Pony Wars and a scratchbuild Olivia Dandridge aka Joanne Dru).
I did this “conversion” for a W.S.Churchill at OMDURMAN…. Dorset Soldiers cast!

French Foreign Legion by Dorset Soldiers waiting Varnish (Gloss of course!)
PLAYMOBIL customized by me NWMP.
Last but not least!… this is what I remember… (fondly).

French Foreign Legion “Square” in 54mm

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All right, once the figures out of the Cabinet it is possible to do some kind of manoeuvres, so here it is the French Foreign Legion in Square. Of course it is easier to take pics because those figures are mine!

No much problem to do the pics once paraded.

Enjoy!

Frontal View
Rear View
Lateral view
View from a corner
Quite aerial view…

British Colonial Collection of Toy Soldiers circa 1880 Maiwand-Kandahar in 54mm

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The “square” formation is only to show the Toy Soldiers in a single pic. Cavalry had not use at all “inside”. But even more important the “square” as such was not used at all intensively at that time… so you will forgive the artistic license!

In fact the purpose of this “parade” was to count them all, stop adding more troops without sense of perspective… and find where to put the two machine guns newly commisioned!

Vast majority of them are REPLICA METAL MODEL SOLDIERS (Andrew Stevenson), complemented by DORSET SOLDIERS (Antony Spencer) and even 4 Gordon Highlanders done by my friend Paul Watson in a moment of yours truly deep anguish!…

Enjoy!

You must read Major C.E. Callwell (Royal Artillery) opus SMALL WARS (Their Principles & Practice).

Quite aerial view.
Maybe a better shot!
Another perspective.
Indian Mountain Battery.
Corps of Guides
Gurkhas
British Guards
66th Berkshires
Bobbie (the dog) is purposefully misplaced! (it should be with the 66th!
Gordon Highlanders
Commander + British Artillery.
Just to say farewell…

Those are in the offing…
The Maxim with wheels too!

British “Squares”

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Since seeing “The Four Feathers” (1939 version if you please!) film as a child the idea of a British “square” formation has been ingrained in my brain (not that it appears in the film at all but vaguely the idea is there when the Fuzzy-Wuzzies attack at dawn the lone company of Captain Durrance -already blinded by the Sun- and Burrows and Willoughby of course!

The reading many years later of SMALL WARS revealed to me nothing “new” but it is a book I recommend because it is a compendium of “obvious things to do” (but easily forgotten)… it took me a long time to read and digest (meaning that since begun I read and finished a lot of other books) because it was interesting and meticulous. It has been a long time since I recommended a book!

So today I chosed some old pics from my personal Vault to illustrate the point. Maybe when I get the remaining 16 figures from DORSET (sorry IMPERIAL MINIATURES nowadays) I will indulge in a new series with Khaki clad warriors.

Maybe you already have seen them but anyway…

Enjoy!

A Major (later Colonel) in the Artillery… and specially useful if you are a colonial wargamer or buff. Not the edition I’ve got… but that’s the one!
54MM “square”
A variation of my first one with Perry’s added to my Old Minifigs.
The 54 mm version (aka ULUNDI times)
I even did it with customized Playmobils (75mm).
Ulundi in 6mm (Baccus minis)
Not forgetting 6mm Baccus
I used those well known pics on the cover and backcover of my Spanish Second Edition (unavailable because of the I.R.S. that was pesting me every year!… I am not American you kow… and I pay my taxes in Andorra!) So I deleted the books from amazon and that put an end to the harassing.

The second and final English Edition (try ebay if you must)

My old Toy Soldiers (Lieutenants Chard & Bromhead) modified and repainted

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Those are mine… and as I have told you in “CLOSING TIME” this is what I am going to Post from now on.

After buying painting and displaying the “new” Chard&Bromhead by Dorset Soldiers I did not knew what to do with my “old one’s”… finally I repainted the RPWM Bromhead as an extra officer of Royal Artillery (quite an easy job!)… and kept Chard as it was but he has joined the Royal West Kent (have not decided yet if attached as a Royal Engineer or simply an officer of the RWH.

Enjoy.

Now Bromhead is a Royal Artillery Officer.
And Chard has joined the Royal West Kent.

There they go… Lieutenants Chard and Bromhead “join” the 24th… at last on the pertinent shelve!

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I had my doubts for some days… but it is over.

IMPERIAL MINIATURES (Antony Spencer) new figures won heads down… so I replace the old one’s with the new one’s.

The bugler is by Tradition of London and I did paint it myself long ago.

So,

Enjoy!

The old R.P. World Models are going to be repainted just a bit!

Yes, I do mis manufacturers!
Now I will have to repaint or adapt the old RPWorldModels of Chard and Bromhead into something else…

Working on small conversion

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Probably one of my longest affair with 54MM Toy Soldiers. I wanted to do Nathan Brittles patrol (SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON – John Ford film)… I know I have done it in 6MM… but those are different efforts.

Finally got some weeks ago the casts from REPLICA (Andrew Stevenson)… then I waited for some pistol holsters from DORSET, meanwhile I was cleaning the casts of bits here and there… and gluing the two part kits of horses together… yes… superglue again.

The more difficult model was the troop standard bearer (guidon), Andrew supplied a lancers arm (quite nice on its own I have them on the 9th British Lancers at Kandahar) but it was not what I had in mind… luckily I never throw away discarded parts… so I had a very promissing lance from DUCAL Life Guards I converted to sword carriyng troopers… a bit of paint…

And then an arm (it is a left arm glued as a right arm and would need a bit of putty to disguise the fact)… I was able today of drilling a hole in the hand to receive the guidon… and then I glued all the parts to the body and the horse (it still lacks pistol holster and head).

Was not easy… and I am quite satisfied with my work… so until I finish assembling and painting them… quite a long process because I can do this just an hour a day (and not every day) you will have to wait for more Posts and pics…

Enjoy!

Assembled but a lot of work pending.
Long ago I did a very good inversion on that! A good mini drill…

Corps of Guides and Gurkhas completed sets: REPLICA + DORSET 54mm

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It was one of those crazy things… I have never played a game by the rules A GENTLEMAN’S WAR by Howard Whitehouse… not I intent to… but I finally fall for the units organization (one never knows).

So, here they are… finally 24 Infantry models + Brigade Commander or whatecer is my fancy…

Enjoy!

The Corps of Guides
Gurkhas on the flank…
Actually my mobile phone seems to make pics better than my old camera…
Nice models if you ask me…

Staff Car (DORSET SOLDIERS)

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Remember those bikes with policemen I painted in January?… well at last the General and his chauffeur are here… and now are finally displayed together… LOL

Great “ancient look” model… the only car in my modest collection!

Enjoy!

General view.
Frontal view (ADB52 is a joke of course!)
Rear view…
In its proper place
General view of the shelve.

Lieutenants Chard & Bromhead by DORSET SOLDIERS (54MM) . (Or maybe Stanley Baker & Michael Caine)

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I added those casts as an afterthought to my order and have been painting them on and off while doing other things.

They look more Military Modeling than I thought… my intention was to use them as Toy Soldiers… but I do not know… the casts are truly excellent… practically they painted themselves!… such detail for a 54MM… what you find at default is probably my painting job…

Now… to gloss varnish or not… that is the question! (Finally did varnish them)

Enjoy!