The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

I have been doing some tidying up on my ailing laptop as it has developed a rather worrying chesty wheeze and I concerned that I may need to upgrade.  That being the case, I felt it prudent to 'back up' the files and what not including a vast amount of photographs of toy soldiers in various states of readiness.  Some of the images that I came across were as a result of a wonderful little distraction back in the summer of 2021 and so I thought I would take the opportunity to share them here.

I try to catch up with a couple of blogging chums every year and at this particular visit it was suggested that we try something a bit different in the shape of a Cowboy skirmish game called Shoot N' Skedaddle from Turnstyle Games.  This is a 'rules lite' game that sees the combatants field a posse or gang of Cowboys from either Lawmen or Outlaw factions with Neutrals being available to either side.  

Having decided that I was going to field a gang of Mexican bandits the wonderful 'Artizan Designs' came to my rescue with their characterful Banditos, but with them came Ill Buono, Ill Brutto and Ill Cattivo.  Simply a joy to paint all was going well until the varnishing stage, where a distinct lack of attention on my behalf saw me overdo the matt spray and left some rather nasty pooling.  Although disappointing, it wasn't terminal and actually at arm's length barely noticeable.  To round out the gang, I re-based a With the a couple of miniatures that I already had kicking around and so phase one was complete!   

Happy Christmas One and All!

Not known to look a good diversion in the mouth, James and I have produced our own Christmas card this year.  Using many of this year's builds, along with a few new friends, we fashioned the above card as a bit of fun and by way of thanking all those who have offered us their support for our endeavours this year.  

Now safely ensconced in the bosom of respective families, we hope to enjoy the festive season, but rest assured good reader we will be back in the New Year with more updates as we race to get the Schloss ready for Salute! 

James has produced a hilarious, if somewhat irreverent, 'making of' post to accompany the card at his wonderfully creative 'Make it Miniature' Blog, just follow the link HERE.

So all that remains for me to do is to wish all visitors to '28mm Victorian Warfare' a very Happy Christmas and a productive New Year.

A work in progress!

There comes a time in every project when you start to worry that you are not making the progress that you should.  It doesn’t matter if this is the slog through a unit of troops or a substantial terrain build, the thoughts are the same, ‘will I ever finish?’  James and I have been having similar feelings regarding the Castle build and so we took the opportunity to take stock of progress, assembling the four boards that make up the playing area and arranging the elements that we have done to date.

Since the return from the half term break, James has been working solidly on establishing the road way between the Gatehouse and the Castle.  This has not proved as straight forward as it sounds given the lack of readily available photographic evidence, but James, as ingenious as ever has come up with several clever solutions that hint at the castle’s past whilst expanding the playing area.  As this was the first time we had seen the four boards in situ, as it were, the enormity of what needs to be done hit home and has galvanised us to push on with the landscaping, putting aside the diversions that we so enjoy.

In order for the castle to stand proud, it needs to be raised above the rest of the landscape and James is having to construct a series of piers to support the structure.  These will be locked in place with lashings of expanding foam filler and loft insulation boards as has can be seen in the bridge section.  Lots of lessons are being learnt on the job, but progress has definitely been made.  

I appreciate that not everyone enjoys a work in progress post, but hope you will indulge us in a bid to keep the momentum going!

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…and so to bed.

Regular readers to this most humble of weblogs might recall mention of James’ designs for some Barrack Room furniture, first seen as part of the ‘Commandant’s Office’ instalment back in September.  

These seemed like the perfect way to fill the large space above the great hall, but when it came to painting we noticed that the locker design was a little tall when seen alongside the bunk beds.  

Apparently this wasn’t a problem and with his usual positivity James set about adjusting the scale on the drawing, this time including a couple of coat hangers to the sprue for good measure!  Once completed it was a relatively straightforward matter of applying some colour, but I did indulge with a spot of weathering and a highlight or two, just because I was enjoying the pieces so much.

We have always been keen to encourage any form of collaboration with James coining the phrase, ‘The Castle the Internet Built’, in recognition of all of you that offer your support and assistance in bringing this, absurdly large, project to fruition.  One chap in particular, Dave Stone Esq., was keen to make this contribution more tangible.  As soon as he saw the beds Dave suggested that he might be able to help with the mattresses.  As owner of the highly respected ‘Wargames Terrain Workshop’ the purveyors of imaginative resin scenery, Dave, seemingly in no time at all, had created three mattress options including one where the occupant was still fast asleep.  

A flurry of emails later and we had in front of us the requisite number of mattresses required to complete the job.  As with any of Dave’s work the casts were clean and crisp, not an air bubble in sight, although they were a startling green colour! Once primed it was, again, just a simple matter of adding some colour to sell the illusion.  

Having this collaboration arrive in the post really lifted our spirits at a point where the magnitude of what we were trying to do was starting to sink in.  The fact that Dave wouldn’t take any payment for his labours only further confirmed our belief that we are truly lucky to have the support of all of you that frequent this cosy corner of the Blogosphere.  

A huge thank you to Dave and ‘Wargames Terrain Workshop’ for your contribution to ‘The Castle the Internet Built’.

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Chocks Away!

Given the interest generated from my last post, 'Flight of the Storch', I am delighted to be able to post a couple of shots of James' latest diversion, a 1/56 scale model of that most iconic of aeroplanes, a Hawker Hurricane.  Pictured here alongside the rescaled Storch, it is already taking shape and looking superb!

This will also give me the opportunity to bring to your attention James' new blog, 'make it miniature'.  A venture that will allow James to go into more detail regarding the design process of some of his builds and give a fascinating introduction to some of the techniques that he employs.  I have made no secret of my admiration for this man's ability to fashion, seemingly, anything from the most humble of materials and delighted that James is going to share this process with a wider audience.

The first post is up and ready, so do head over and have a look if you get the chance.  Link below:

1:56 Hawker Hurricane Part 1

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Tentative Beginnings

It's all very well running headlong into a new project, buoyed by the childlike, naive enthusiasm that never seems to leave us, but then comes the reality check, the moment when you stop and ask yourself, "what on earth am I playing at?"

To his great credit, James had seen this coming and had started to consider a project management spreadsheet, something that now seems a rather splendid idea as I run around like like loon deciding what to do next!  We also considered trying to record some of the progress made via blog or Instagram posts as a way of encouraging vicarious collaboration from a wider audience, and so this is one of those posts.  As we broke up for the summer holidays our respective tasks were clear insomuch as James was going to battle on with the castle design, whilst I was going to consider the feasibility of building a game around the structure.

I am now starting to finally relax and have put the thoughts of a difficult academic year behind me; this mental decluttering has allowed me to give some time to the prospect of the rules for the game.  I have fleshed out my original thoughts, and although very much a work in progress, they have been offered up for consideration to others.  This is all very exciting as it is something completely new to me, but it remains the painting and modelling aspect of the hobby that I find the most relaxing, not to mention rewarding, and so have indulged in a little 'palette testing'.  I had a sprue of 'Warlord Games' plastic American G.I.s which were attached to the front cover of a copy of 'Wargames Illustrated'.  These have been duly assembled and based and colour has started to be added, aided by some rather splendid reference material that I have amassed along the way, but what I really wanted to try was a tank!

This is a completely new era for me and I was keen to cut my teeth on some Allied Armour and so ordered up a 'Warlord Games' M4 Sherman Medium Tank.  Gluing together the plastic kit took me right back to my youth, when young Master Awdry would spend many a happy hour assembling various Airfix models, the heady aroma of plastic cement filling his nostrils.  

Assembled straight from the box, without any additional customisation,  I was fortunate enough to be directed to the rather wonderful 'John Bond's Wargaming Stuff'.  What a veritable mine of fabulous work this turned out to be, carefully ordered and clear to follow.  I shall refrain from repeating John's post, suffice to say that I followed it almost to the letter.  A couple of notable exceptions being that I was fortunate enough to have a spray can of Tamiya Olive Drab that worked well for the base coat and used some of the 'Games Workshop' Typhus Corrosion along the edges of the vehicle.

I have to say that I was rather pleased with my first efforts, but have subsequently realised that the tank involved in the battle was in fact a later version,  M4A3E8 or Easy 8 Sherman, fondly known as Besotten Jenny - I have so much to learn!

So we are off an running, so much more to do, but having a lot of fun along the way!

We're going to Salute 2020!

It might seem a tad early to be considering a visit to one of the biggest independent, one-day wargaming and gaming events in Europe, but Salute is very much on our radar at the moment and I am thrilled to be able to share some exciting news with you here.

Schloss Itter at the time of the War.

So taken, were James and I, with how much interest and curiosity that the Pegasus Bridge project generated, all through its construction and beyond, that we were keen to repeat the idea and ultimately see if we could take it that bit further. 

 An obvious starting point was to celebrate the 75th anniversary of V.E. Day, 8th May 2020.  As we looked around for a suitable tale to tell we stumbled across the Battle for Schloss Itter, the incredible story of a group of German Soldiers, American G.I.s and French Prisoners of War that fought alongside each other in the final days before the War in Europe came to an end.  This really is the stuff of Hollywood, but this remarkable true story would be perfect for a lecture to the school and would provide us with another modelling challenge - Austrian Castle anyone?!

As with Pegasus Bridge, our primary goal is education and given the increased scale of this project we are keen that the pupils will be able to contribute in the construction in some way and hope to hold a club in the Spring term.  As I mentioned at the start we are keen to push ourselves that little bit further, and that progression is leading us down the totally unfamiliar path of game design.  

In short we have decided to design and build a participation game to commemorate the Battle of Schloss Itter ahead of the 75th Anniversary of VE Day.  To use the model to illustrate a talk to the school, but also to take the game to Salute 2020, just because it would be an awesome thing to do.  Having registered with the South London Warlords we were thrilled to receive the news that we have bagged one of the Early Bird slots and have had the 'green light' to "crack on with whatever bit of genius/madness you have planned."

So crack on we have!  Working form photographs taken at the time of the battle, James has started to map out the floor plan of the castle, getting a sense for how we could construct it.  This is no mean feat and I am continually impressed at the skill James displays in bringing the past to life.  As we broke up for the summer holidays a couple of test pieces had been cut and immediately we were staggered at just how big this project was going to be!

Castle and playing area, concept design James Walters

There may yet be concessions made in the interests of gameplay, but James' first goal is to create a castle that is true to the photographic evidence, otherwise what is the point?  The drawings are moving forward and I am happy to share them here to give a sense of where we are headed and to generate some momentum and excitement about the project.

Castle Design, concept design James Walters

I have been tinkering away with ideas for how to 'play' the battle, again trying to put education at the fore with a large smattering of humour, and look forward to running them past the more experienced gamers, Mike 'The Dark Templar' Reynolds and 'Bullcher Feb'.  

Castle and Gatehouse, concept design James Walters

Our goals for the summer holidays are to flesh out our ideas and hopefully start construction on some of the landscape elements, if for no other reason than to get a better understanding as to how the game plays.  I want to try and create a 'shopping' list of the miniatures needed and plan out some colour palettes whilst James wrestles with the intricacies of a castle, gatehouse and bridge!  

We hope to share updates as we progress, particularly of areas that might be of interest to the larger modelling and gaming world and would welcome any feedback or suggestions that you might have as we are acutely aware that we are somewhat out of our comfort zone, but relishing every creative minute of the experience.  

'Allo! 'Allo!

The keen eyed viewer may have noticed that there were some French civilians represented on the model of Pegasus Bridge.  It only seemed fitting to do so, especially in the case of Monsieur Gondrée, the cafe owner.  The only issue with this was that, try as I might, I just couldn't shift the idea of the cast of  'Allo! 'Allo! running amok on Pegasus Bridge.  This, of course, was a ludicrous notion and it was certainly not my intention to belittle the memory of those brave souls that fought for our freedom seventy five years ago.  That said it is a particularly British phenomenon to find laughter in the most direst of circumstances.  Who would have though that a comedy program about a small French cafe in war torn France would prove to such a hit, but a hit it was.  Running for ten years, 'Allo! 'Allo! was a firm favourite of Young Master Awdry.  The absurdity of the plots, the murder of the French language at the hands of Officer Crabtree and let's not underestimate the allure of Yvette's French accent on my teenage sensitivities, but where to find the miniatures?

A quick bout of web based research threw up some promising leads, with 'Artizan Designs', proving a rich vein to mine.  Martin Thornton, of 'The Life and Times of Mad Lord Snapcase' fame also proved incredibly helpful and was able to give me some suggestions for possible miniatures to convert to represent some of the other characters.

So it was that René Artois, Yvette Carte-Blanche and Michelle Dubois soon sprang to life.  They were closely followed by Colonel Kurt von Strohm, Herr Otto Flick and of course, Gruber's Little Tank.

It wasn't long before the whole affair was bordering on the obsessive, but it was great fun, particularly when it came to converting a couple of characters.  The first, Madame Fanny La Fan, saw a Hag's body chopped and then placed into a lovely resin piece from 'Charlie Foxtrot Models', the addition of some Milliput sheets helping to complete the illusion.  

Officer Crabtree, the British agent working undercover as a French Gendarme, saw another 'Artizan Designs' sculpt used, but with the addition of a truncheon and Milliput cape.  Finally the Resistance's master of disguise, Roger Leclerc, was created with yet another 'Artizan Designs' miniature, but this time with the addition of an MDF bicycle and strings of onions fashioned from some tiny beads.  

 With the addition of Flying Officers Fairfax and Carstairs, and a pile of stolen loot, sourced from 'Anyscale Models', and containing the infamous Fallen Madonna with the Big Boobies* the collection was at an end, at least for the time being.  That said if anyone can think of any suitable miniatures for the remaining characters then do let me know.

*Attributed to van Clomp.

So with a good proportion of the cast assembled, it seemed like a wasted opportunity not to take a few shots on the wonderful Pegasus Bridge model, the Café Gondrée, becoming Café René!

"I was pissing by the door, when I heard two shats. You are holding in your hand a smoking goon; you are clearly the guilty potty."

 Officer Crabtree