Wonderful work!… useful for wargaming?… I guess not at all… but at the current prices of wargames figures in 28mm I understand the trend.
Happily for all of you I have never tried to be an “influencer” (chicks do that)… I do not care at all what is what you are doing with your hobby as long as you have fun with it!
Quite static piece if you ask me.
Enjoy for what it is!
Another example of Military Modeling in 28mm… as seen in facebook… the chap got a medal for this one or other similar published there… Congratulations! (suspect the work is from Francesco Thau)
Today’s pic is a reminder of what we really do… nothing to do with REAL WAR who should be banished IMHO… those unable to distinguish between those concepts are to be pitied. I guess genetically programed to fight to survive it is very difficult to do not fall into the Von Clausewitz’s trap … it is not right to pursue diplomacy and politics by “other means” and that’s that.
It was a necessity… specially for the small cabinet… the “TOKIO Tube look” is gone… so are The French Foreign Legion and the late British Empire (Kakhi)… gone to my old office to play A GENTLEMAN’S WAR with them…
So there you have it, the part of the collcetion in action stances is gone back to wargaming in Andorra la Vella… and the “ceremonial part” stays in Pal.
About time if you understand me. Yesterday afternoon it was a lot of work putting the Toy Soldiers in boxes to be moved and reorganizing the display on the small cabinet… the whole of six shelves was “gone”… but the result is satisfactory… I was already told once in Facebook that my figures needed space to “breathe”… alea jacta est.
Enjoy!
The French Foreign Legion and supports… are gone to another cabinet in my office.So did the Kakhi British in Afghanistan… 6 shelves emptied in total…This is the new look…You could do with some close ups but you got the idea alright!There it is… door closed and all tip top.The “big” cabinet slightly thinned down in numbers…There you have it… closed down and “up to the nines”…
I do not know if it is the current fashion… but nowadays Facebook is full of examples of those kind of games. Toy Soldiers/54mm/Fun… not that 6mm has lost its appeal of course…
It has been a long time since I painted myself a 54mm miniature!… but here we are (well… me) doing it as if time had not passed by. The Heliograph party (2 figures) and the Regimental Colour of the Gordon’s coming quite nicely using Andrew’s Toy Soldiers as a very useful guide! On the pure painting side I am using too many tricks nowadays… old Humbrol enamels (not dried up), Vallejo I guess and Poska markers… and in the end Gloss finish to be sure!
On my last edited entry on the subject if all goes to plan you will see the final version nowadays still pending gloss varnish of course!
I do found more and more difficult to show my own pet subjects by fear of being boring and tiresome, you must understand that collectors and wargamers are in a state of constant doubt, what will I do next?, do I buy this or that (evidently enough budgets have limits), painted or unpainted (that means I will have to paint myself!)… is what I want available?… or affordable?… it is quite more complicated than you think… and my mind juggles and jumps from one option to another several times a day! Once a decision taken one goes to considerable pains to get the goal, sometimes considerably annoying everyone whom has items commercially available… more or less.
The actual three “new” additions on the foreground
Enjoy your hobby.
Close up of the group used to work the results.Work in progress…A week before…Same as above…Working place… if that qualifies as work… which I doubt!
I woke up today and for the life of me I could not remember what I intended to post today!… to my delightful surprise I stumbled in a post from Andrew at REPLICA… and here you have a choice of pics (there are more on Facebook in the group mytoysoldiersandme). Damn good news… I hope he is back in the saddle again for keeps… Enjoy!
A fine General! (with ADC)FusiliersTerritorialsExotic uniforms…
It looks old fashioned I agree but I personally find delightful… I could indulge in it myself because I have enough 54mm Toy Soldiers to do it properly BUT… the idea of an scenario FASHODA like incident pitting British against French is complicated… first I would have to move the figures from its present place to Andorra la Vella… and then… once done (not so easy task if you are a maniatic like me to avoid chipping of the paintjobs) it means I would have to reorganize the minis in the cabinets yet again!… NOT sure at all… better stick to 6mm in Andorra la Vella and keep the 54mm collection in Pal.
Yesterday I started painting the 4 figures provided by Paul Watson… doubts about posting the process or limit myself to the finished job… nagging doubts!
Really you can field exotic uniforms of Yeomanry and Volunteers that way, curiously enough THE BATTLE OF DORKING intended as a “depressing and alerting” book is somehow revered by the wargames fraternity as an opportunity to turn the tables on the willy foe! (You need all sorts you know…)
My first love when I discovered metal soldiers was the Waterloo battle (see elsewhere in this same web page), then I was convinced that it was a British/French affair (lol)… much later I discovered the King’s German Legion, The Hanoverians, The Dutch&Belgian, the Nassauers and of course the Prussians! (LOL). It was a long journey… and now at seventy I know that the main pleasure was in the “journey”… all those years buying books, reading about it, checking (and double-checking ) my Armies compositions etc etc etc.
It was a great hobby, and I was entertained for more or around thirty years by it!… I have no regrets. But I must comment that one of the things that put me out of it was when the “finish of the painting job” become Military Modeling like!… I have nothing against it mind… but in my mind the point was not there, the pic of today shows what can be achieved in that scale (and inferiors too) by extremely good painters. Transforming a wargames unit (I must admit I was more Toy Soldier focused) in a mini diorama. You need all sorts you know!… Suddenly my painfully researched and balanced Waterloo Armies looked as “past” as a British Two Seater if you know what I mean (my other hobby been cars). So I quitted.
Military Modeling like minis…
Not wargaming mind, I still have the thrills!, but you’ll need a magnifying glass to see my 6mm ACW paintjobs! (lol again)… seriously even having a permanent quite big table (see elsewhere in the webpage) I love to have more “room to manoeuvre”… “no secure flanks”… and “lines of supply”… I understand perfectly the trend to downsize the minis and have more fun with the game itself. Now I simply collect in the traditional 54mm scale (as I have always done), display them on cabinets ad hoc… and wargame in 6mm.
Mind, I still love those units as the pic of today shows but my time for them has passed away, nor I have the room to field them, nor the funds or time to get them “right” (I have abstained to enter in the argument of “parade look” versus “campaign look” on purpose… I always preferred the former…).
So, without much more to say today… I will let you ponder on it. Enjoy.
That glorious moment when the job is done!… a close look at the matt will show you the hard work and love put into those Toy Soldiers… Ready to March and Fight on the Tabletop!… and remember the main thing TOY SOLDIERS never die…
Those are not mine at all but I can understand the pride of the painter!