Farewell to Tommy

Finally completed 'Tommy' as the year draws to a close and what a journey it has been!  This was my first attempt at a larger scale (54mm)  and came about by been constantly 'bullied' into it by my good friend 'the Provost Marshal'.  I picked the model up at Euro Militaire 2011 from, the then, relatively new company 'Tommy's War'.   The process has already been described in the following posts;

Tommy's War

Fleshing out Tommy

Tommy's Tailor

so I won't repeat myself here, other than to say whilst relatively pleased with the results I am delighted to have him move off the painting table!  A great exercise from the point of view of having to 'relearn' miniature painting techniques, as many of the tricks or shortcuts simply do not work at this scale.  

The final stages incorporated the texturing of the base by simply using a generic household filler, forming small craters which I hoped to be water filled puddles.  Bits of stone, twigs and sand all played their part in the final build, not to mention roughly twisted lengths of wire to form barbed wire pickets.  The barbed wire itself came from Games Workshop.  Final touch was a little casting resin with some added colour for the puddles.

28mm Roman Marines

These rather splendid fellows are here as a direct result of my seemingly obsessive search to find miniatures that, in some way, illustrate the most recent book to leave the bedside table.

Now I know very little about Ancient Roman history other than what is portrayed on the silver screen or written in popular literature and even less of the Roman Navy.  If I'm brutally honest I don't suppose that I had given  much thought to a navy at all, until I read the opening chapters of Conn Iggulden's 'The Death of Kings'.  Here the fictional exploits, although I understand there is some factual basis, of a young Julius Caesar unfold.  The wonderfully vivid descriptions of the warfare aboard Roman galleys at this time certainly fired my imagination and so you can imagine my delight to find that 'Warlord Games' actually produce a set of Roman Marines!  Given my painfully slow rate of progress at present I've opted to do only one of each pose.  

I'm becoming more and more impressed by 'Warlord Games', great sculpts, fantastic service and some very shrewd alliances;  I was able to also pick up a set of shield transfers originally created by 'Little Big Men Studios' on the same site.  Will certainly be looking at returning there when I get round to reading the next instalment.  

'Civil War News' page added

Just the briefest of posts to launch the new 'Civil War News' page; the tab is located just below the title banner.  A gift from my father many years ago this hugely impressionable set of trading cards recently resurfaced and I was horrified to find that there were gaps in what was once a complete set.  Fortunately with the magical infoweb at my fingertips and those good people at 'Fleabay' I have been able to put the collection back together again without too much of a financial drain!

The set has already inspired the construction of a diorama with 'Through the Swamp' so it seemed only fitting to give the rest of the cards a permanent page; who knows perhaps  there will be future projects lifted from their lurid and violent depictions of the American Civil War.

Book Review#7. - The Death of Kings

The Death of Kings, book two of the 'Emperor' series by Conn Igggulden and what a rip roaring read this turned out to be!  Our two main protagonists are found fighting for their names and lives in far flung corners of the Roman Empire.  Julius Caesar starts the adventure aboard a war galley before been captured, ransomed and abandoned on the North African shore.  Trouble and glory seem to follow as he looks to build a force to avenge his honour.  Meanwhile back in Rome, Brutus is trying to return the disgraced Primigenia Legion to the rolls of the Senate; a task that will involve making shrewd political alliances.  When they finally meet again it is only just in time to march out in defence of Rome as a slave uprising led by the rebellious gladiator, Spartacus is threatening to consume their beloved city.

Fantastic to see the return of Tubruk and, the now one armed, Renius; great characters both and the guardians of the two young men.  Fast paced, great battle sequences and a wonderful insight into the day to day life of this most brutal of times.  Thoroughly enjoyed this as the fictional page turner that it is meant to be; although ultimately based in fact, Conn Iggulden makes no apologies for his invention and the narrative is all the better for it.  If you enjoyed 'The Gates of Rome' then you will really enjoy 'The Death of Kings'.  Now all I have to do is decide which miniatures to paint to represent it!  Without doubt worth everyone of its four crowns.

Deck the Halls!

Well it's official, Christmas is coming!  Throughout the land one can hear the sound of tearing cardboard as chocolate filled advent calendars are attacked with a ruthlessness normally associated with a pack of starving hyenas.  Add to this our seemingly annual forfeit of good taste as houses are festooned, within an inch of their structural integrity, with every conceivable LED display and flashing light, not to mention the endless repetition of a 'Fairytale of New York' on the wireless radio and you know that the season of 'Good Will' to all, has well and truly arrived.

Now please don't go and think, for one moment, that I've gone all 'Bah Humbug', far from it - I love Christmas and once again I'm looking forward to spending time with loved ones, reflecting on another year gone and ultimately giving thanks for all that is right in the world.  To that end I have decided to give all visitors to '28mm Victorian Warfare' a virtual Christmas gift in the shape of these rather festive decorations.

Just to set the mood please feel free to pour yourself a virtual glass of sherry and indulge in one of my favourite Christmas ditties: Jona Lewie's, 'Stop the Cavalry'.

Now the only thing left is not to forget to take the decorations down before Twelfth Night!  Happy Christmas all!

Just as a very brief aside as I'm mentioning gifts; I was delighted to have all my Birthday goodies arrive through the post this week.  Quite a little stash in the end and a huge thank you to family and friends who have helped to steepen the sides of my ever growing lead mountain!  

Corpulent Zulu Chief

With commitments at work demanding much of my time the painting output seems to have slowed somewhat; akin, in fact, to a  dripping tap.  I have found that the only way to maintain any progress at all is to have a batch of 'one off' or solitary figures on the painting table. A case in point would be this wonderful character.  He was a bit of a 'lucky dip' as  there was no picture of him on the 'Redoubt Enterprises' website,  he was just simply listed as a 'Corpulent Zulu Chief'.

Once again the Redoubt sculpts are big, full of character and seem to take paint particularly well.   I've certainly enjoyed working with them, but again he does rather tower over the others. 

A wonderful excuse to have a go a leopard print headband though!

Chaplain George Smith

This simple, but rather splendid miniature is part of 'Redoubt Enterprises' Zulu War range and a welcome addition to my growing Anglo-Zulu War collection.  Chaplain George Smith had accompanied Centre Column to Rorke's Drift.  This Tall man, with a great red beard, was seen distributing ammunition to the men from a haversack all the while exhorting them not to swear throughout the battle.  His black, civilian coat was said to have faded to green.  He can be clearly seen in Alphonse de Neuville's painting entitled the 'Defence of Rorke's Drift', painted in 1880.  The artist has chosen to depict the dramatic evacuation form the hospital for his theme but has rather condensed the time frame for the sake of dramatic effect.  

Detail from  de Neuville's, 'The Defence of Rorke's Drift' 

Now interesting enough I may have found mention of the Reverend Smith being a tall man, but it would appear that he was more like a 'giant of a man', just look at him in comparison to some of the other characters from the battle; you certainly get your money's worth with Redoubt!

From left to right:

Colour Sergeant Bourne - Empress Miniatures, Chaplain George Smith - Redoubt Enterprises, Rev. Otto Witt - Foundry conversion, Private Hook - Empress Miniatures.