tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49910762258849112432024-03-13T10:19:58.030+00:00Tarleton's QuarterWargaming the American War of Independence (and other things)Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01431052344684945450noreply@blogger.comBlogger533125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4991076225884911243.post-36247458380080228592023-05-15T19:38:00.004+00:002023-05-15T19:38:52.013+00:00Navarre Infantry - 1st battalion<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7713.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7713.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">This is the third unit of Carlist infantry I painted towards the end of 2020 (I was determined to erase my Carlist War lead-pile). I assigned it to Navarre, for no particular reason. The troops are wearing the same greatcoat and trousers uniforms as my <a href="https://gilesallison.blogspot.com/2010/08/guipuzcoa-infantry-1st-battalion.html" target="_blank">first Guipuzcoa battalion</a>, although I used a deeper red for the trousers. It's quite a smart look, I think. Navarre, a northern province in Spain that bordered on the Basque region, was a natural recruiting ground for the Carlist cause. The province's rugged, mountainous terrain made it difficult to subdue, and consequently it managed to maintain a semblance of autonomy from the middle ages into the 19th century. In fact, it was only with the Carlist defeat in 1841 that the province was brought fully into the territory of the Spanish crown. Conrad Cairns tells us that twelve battalions were raised in Navarre for the Army of the North, together with the elite <a href="https://gilesallison.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-basque-country-of-north-eastern.html" target="_blank">guides</a>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I remember that at this stage in 2020 I was having real problems painting the faces. I hadn't yet bought my glasses, which I now have to use for any type of painting, and so I found the eyes particularly difficult. Some of them are pretty crappy, to be honest; but others are ok. The great thing about these figures is that there's not much detail on them outside of the faces - just overcoats with minimal kit. So they were good figures to do whilst I was beginning to feel a bit visually impaired. I'm going to need a few more units like this. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><p style="text-align: left;">20 figures. Painted December 2020. Flag by Adolfo Ramos.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7712.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7712.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7708.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7708.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7707.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7707.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7709.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7709.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7714.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7714.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01431052344684945450noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4991076225884911243.post-32855675938576066172023-05-10T23:27:00.000+00:002023-05-10T23:27:46.898+00:00Valencian volunteers - 2nd battalion<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7751.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7751.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="text-align: justify;">This is the counterpart to the other unit of Valencians that I posted on Tuesday. A "brigade" photo is below. There's no much else to say that wasn't in my earlier post. The jackets and berets were painted using the Foundry "Deep Blue 20" palette. I like the poses of these figures, particularly the command figures (there's an excellent drummer with a bandaged head in the second row). There's lots more FCW stuff coming up - more Carlist infantry, then Isabelino high command and cavalry. Once that's all posted, I'll get up to date with the Paraguayan War. After that, it will probably be time for some Frostgrave and 7-TV! </span><p>20 figures. Painted November - December 2020. Flag by Adolfo Ramos.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7753.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7753.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7755.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7755.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7754.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7754.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7756.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7756.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7722.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7722.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01431052344684945450noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4991076225884911243.post-62813784358878139362023-05-09T11:44:00.001+00:002023-05-09T11:44:41.955+00:00Valencian volunteers - 1st battalion<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7715.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7715.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: justify;">Now that Salute and the Coronation are out of the way, it's time to return to full-time blogging, with almost 4 years' worth of stuff to photograph and post about. I'm going to start catching up with some First Carlist War units. I painted two units of Valencian volunteers in autumn 2020, having spent most of Lockdown painting fantasy stuff for "Frostgrave". The Perry range has two poses of these troops, marching and a more aggressive advancing. Most of the Valencians troops were part of Cabrera's Army of the Centre, so they can join my </span><a href="http://gilesallison.blogspot.com/2013/01/ontoria-hussars.html" style="text-align: justify;" target="_blank">Ontoria Hussars</a> and <a href="http://gilesallison.blogspot.com/2012/06/cabreras-guard.html" target="_blank">Cabrera's Guard</a><span style="text-align: justify;">. But both the Perry-published Conrad Cairns</span><span style="text-align: justify;"> book and Gabriele Esposito's Osprey MAA state that there also two battalions of Valencians in the Army of the North, the troops having been raised in a Carlist march across Spain in June to December 1836. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span>Cairns states that there were seven battalions in the Army of the Centre and some of these were dressed in trousers and greatcoats, so much like other Carlist troops. He also states that "some replaced trousers with the traditional zaraguell, a white kilt word by the inhabitants of the countryside around Valencia". Esposito states that the first four battalions had dark blue greatcoats and white trousers, whereas the remainder had blue jackets and wore elements of civilian clothing, like the Zaraguell. So that's what we have here. I probably should have mixed up the waistcoat colours a bit more - they are mainly brown, albeit different shades of brown, drab and khaki. The flag is a "black banner", which were known to have been used by the Army of the Centre. Apparently these troops were not particularly reliable, being more suited to hit-and-run skirmishing than stand-up engagement.</div><p></p><p>20 figures. Painted October-November 2020. Flag from Alberto Ramos (I think). </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7716.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7716.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7717.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7717.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7718.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7718.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7719.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7719.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7721.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7721.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01431052344684945450noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4991076225884911243.post-40574196599834832862023-04-23T14:53:00.004+00:002023-04-23T18:04:17.619+00:00Salute 2023<p style="text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8384.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="150" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8384.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><br /> <span style="font-family: inherit;">This blog has had more false starts than the Grand National, but this time it really is returning. I was going to post some stuff this week, but thought it would be better to wait until after Salute, because that always begets a long post that will bury anything posted earlier. A few things have happened which have re-focused me on the historical hobby, although recently I've also been having a lot of fun painting figures for the 7-TV game systems. Painting some AWI for a friend before Christmas helped the historical bug return, and also there's now a chance of some regular gaming. </span><p></p><p style="text-align: justify;">Anyway, Salute. It was good to be back, and I had no idea that Salute and I have something in common - we both turned 50 in April this year. I arrived at 10.20am and made the mistake of alighting the DLR at the stop after Custom House - yes, that next stop was closer to the show entrance, but it wasn't closer to the end of the queue, which I reached by walking almost the entire length of the Excel Centre. That said, whilst the queue did look horrific (and I heard an Excel steward express concern to the Warlords on that point), it moved reasonably quickly.</p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;">Immediate thoughts:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;" /></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">- the crowds were back after a quiet 2021 (and a non-existent 2022), as were the overseas attendees.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">- Salute remains a showcase for the miniatures hobby at its widest - I reckon the split between fantasy/sci-fi and historicals must be almost 40:60 now; personally, I don't mind - the former games usually have spectacular terrain and must pull in a younger crowd. </span></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">- as seems usual now, there were lots of smaller 3x3 or 4x4 games; these used to be largely fantasy/sci-fi but now include a lot of historical games as well.</div></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">- some of the games are repeats of "advert games" - very nice looking, but they seem to appear every year and don't change. </div></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">- it seems that the days of loads of "wow" large historical games have gone, with the focus often on smaller, more concentrated games;</div></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">- the WW2 games are now where a lot of the "wow" factor is, particularly in terms of terrain.</div></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">- each year there are more families and children; this year there was even a drawing area with tables where the really young kids could do colouring etc.</div></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><div style="text-align: justify;">- maybe I missed them, but there seemed to be fewer traders selling historical terrain this year, for some reason; on the plus side, however, there were traders selling decent brushes (which doesn't always happen). </div><div style="text-align: justify;">- the Warlords have sorted out previous issues with lighting and ensuring enough space to move around the show; of course bottlenecks around favourite traders remain an issue (and gentle note to others: please don't block the entrance to a trader in order to have a chat with the mate you haven't seen for ages). </div></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;" /></span><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;">Purchases included a load of stuff from Caliver (Ottomans book, Sudan painting guide, Jon Sutherland's colonial Indian rules and scenario books), some fantastic brushes from Artmaster and a collection of random Perry metals. I also met up w</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;">ith Rob and Stefan from the Writtle Independent Gamers, which is the club that's nearest to me in Chelmsford and which I'm intending to join. </span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;">So, to the games....As always, apologies to those I missed; I went around the show twice and thought I'd seen everything, but looking back through the list of games it's clear there were a few I overlooked. I should also apologise for the relative lack of close-ups. This is because when I sifted through the photos at home it became clear that a lot of the close-ups were out of focus - lesson to self: bring your glasses next year.</span></span></div><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16.25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Hornchurch Wargames Club's "Ntombi River" - 28mm Zulu Wars. I liked how the colours of the terrain immediately created a sense of place:</span></span><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8370.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8370.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8375.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8375.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8372.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8372.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8373_fZBnQst3hL12Yabj6ccFTh.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8373_fZBnQst3hL12Yabj6ccFTh.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8371.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8371.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wargames Illustrated's Italian Wars game:</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8379.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8379.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8382.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8382.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><br /></span></div></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8380.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8380.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8389.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8389.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8388.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8388.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8384.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8384.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8385.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8385.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8383.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8383.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8386.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8386.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8387.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8387.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16.25px;">Rubicon Models had a brace of terrific-looking Vietnam games:</span></div><div><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16.25px;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8390.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8390.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8392.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8392.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8393.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8393.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8391.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8391.JPG" width="320" /></a></div></div><p><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16.25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">London Wargames Guild had a "Cold Doings in London" 28mm skirmish game. I wasn't quite sure what was going on here, to be honest; neither did the players, from the sound of it! Magnificent terrain, though. </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8376.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8376.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8377.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8377.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8378.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8378.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16.25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Lardies had a number of games, including a trio of WW2 stunners (one of which was the Arnhem game they recently took to Holland):</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8398.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8398.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8397.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8397.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8399.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8399.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8401.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8401.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8400.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8400.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8402.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8402.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8406.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8406.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8405.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8405.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Also in the "Lard Zone" was Dave Brown with a 15mm Napoleonic game using his "General d'Armee" rules:</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8420.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8420.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8421.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8421.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>Crooked Dice has a couple of participation games of 7-TV going, including this one with some marvellous terrain:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8424.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8424.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16.25px;">Jon and Diane Sutherland's Battle of Leuctra:</span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8407.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8407.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8409.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8409.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8410.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8410.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8408.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8408.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">15mm WW2 action - Carentan from Retired Wargamers Reloaded:</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8411.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8411.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8414.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8414.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8412.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8412.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8413.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8413.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8415.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8415.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16.25px; text-align: left;">The Indian Mutiny in 28mm from Hailsham Wargames Club had some excellent trees:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16.25px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8416.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8416.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8419.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8419.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8417.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8417.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wyre Forest Wargames had an "imaginations" game in 6mm, featuring figures painting by a number of people during Lockdown. The game set up and figures are being sold for charity:</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8425.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8425.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8426.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8426.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8427.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8427.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Warlord Games had their new ECW "epic" scale figures on the table:</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8428.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8428.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8433.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8433.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8429.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8429.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8432.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8432.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8431.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8431.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8430.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8430.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16.25px; text-align: left;">Hugo's Heroes had a number of games. The first was Swedes and Finns v Russians in the Battle of Oravais in 1808. It was presented in two scales, with the 28mm game using the lovely Perry range:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16.25px; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8350.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8350.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8423.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8423.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8352.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8352.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Secondly, they had a couple of WW2 games based around old Airfix models such as the gun emplacement and pontoon bridge:</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8358.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8358.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8359.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8359.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8354.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8354.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8355.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8355.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8356.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8356.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8357.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8357.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p>Nigel Emsen had a 1/72 scale ACW game using the "Muskets & Springfields" rules:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8364.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8364.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Caseshot Publishing had the Battle of Castiglione, 1796, in 15mm:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8362.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8362.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8363.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8363.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I wasn't sure who was responsible for this impressive ACW ironclads game:</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8360.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8360.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8361.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8361.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">An amazing "Battle of Fallujah" from Maidstone Wargames Society:</span></span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8324.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8324.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8325_kgxE5Rf3pzZtpZUqEdHaof.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8325_kgxE5Rf3pzZtpZUqEdHaof.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8327_ri4XLrLembmNBg7Zo1sQEK.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8327_ri4XLrLembmNBg7Zo1sQEK.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8326_gYsvgdKrkSGR6j99RK67tX.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8326_gYsvgdKrkSGR6j99RK67tX.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This looked like Republican Romans v Carthaginians, but I didn't catch whose game it was:</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8365.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8365.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8367.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8367.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Two of the many small-scale fantasy skirmish games:</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8328.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8328.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8335.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8335.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16.25px;">Peterborough Wargames Group's Dambusters Challenge:</span><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8322.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8322.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16.25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Battle of Ferozaphur by Crawley Wargames Club, First Sikh War action in 15mm:</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8329.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8329.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8331.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8331.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16.25px;">A SYW games from Ardhammer Group, using 30mm "flats":</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8332.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8332.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8333.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8333.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8334.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8334.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">1/72 Wargames' "Kaiserschlacht 1918" game:</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8339.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8339.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8340.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8340.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8342.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8342.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">All Hell Let Loose had "The Glosters Last Stand" in 6mm. The figures were quite difficult to spot:</span></span></p><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8343.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8343.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8344.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8344.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: "helvetica neue", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16.25px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Cornwall Wargames Association had this game using the Mark Copplestone "Little Soldiers" range:</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8308.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8308.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8309.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8309.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8337.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8337.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8338.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8338.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>The guys from Cornwall also had a large "Blood and Plunder" game: </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8304.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8304.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Another good-looking WW2 game, but I didn't catch who was doing it. Maybe the Anschluss Publishing Eastern Front game?:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8336.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8336.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>The Continental Wars Society had a Franco-Prussian War games using the latest Perry figures:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8319.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8319.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8320.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8320.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>Newbury and Reading Wargames Society had a "Banzai - Seventeen Thousand Samurai" game:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8305.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8305.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8306.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8306.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8307.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8307.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p>An impressive "Antigonus at Bay, Ipsus 301 BC" game was courtesy of To the Strongest:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8345.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8345.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8346.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8346.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Old Guard had Austerlitz in 25mm, with stunningly-painted figures:</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8314.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8314.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8347.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8347.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8317.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8317.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8315.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8315.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8316.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8316.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 16.25px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Last, but not least...Warhammer 40K:</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8313.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8313.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8312.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8312.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8311.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_8311.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01431052344684945450noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4991076225884911243.post-13770219539539056682022-09-20T20:06:00.000+00:002022-09-20T20:06:29.020+00:00Returning shortly<p><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7870.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7870.JPG" width="320" /></a></p>My neglect of this blog has been utterly woeful, but I'm really hoping to kick-start it back to life this week. There's no point in trying to explain the radio silence over the past (almost) year; work, family, even fading eyesight and associated issues all play their part. But hopefully what I post from now on will still be of interest to some people and, like many wargaming bloggers, I will have the satisfaction of knowing that at least what I'm churning out will be on view on the internet, even if the toys themselves largely remain hidden away. Some pics of recent things whilst I get organised again are below. <p><br /></p><p>Work completed but not blogged about covers: Warhammer 40K; Frostgrave; Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago; Gaslands; 25mm Gladiators; 7TV; First Carlist War; War of the Triple Alliance; ACW; Napoleon in Egypt; some AWI. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7883.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7883.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7889(1).JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7889(1).JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div> </div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7881.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7881.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7846.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7846.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7722.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7722.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7779.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7779.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7568.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7568.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/052.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/052.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/028.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/028.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/018.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/010.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01431052344684945450noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4991076225884911243.post-23073838855681028972021-11-13T19:50:00.001+00:002021-11-13T19:50:59.535+00:00Salute 2021<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/20211113_111050_(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/20211113_111050_(1).jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />It was good to visit a wargames show again today. I understand that Salute won't return to its usual April slot until 2023, and I wonder if the November date affected the attendance and numbers of games and traders who were there. It did feel down on those compared to Salutes of the past. The Excel hall seemed more cavernous this time, with large open, unfilled areas - I don't know whether that was due to continuing social distancing requirements or because some games and traders had dropped out (I heard that 3 traders cancelled at the last minute). A couple of the people I spoke to who were hosting games drew attention to the costs of Covid-tests and increased hotel prices, and I think those of us who attended the show should perhaps appreciate more than usual the effort that the clubs put into attending Salute and giving us games to enjoy.<p></p><p>This year I had both the boys in tow - Hugo's third trip and Monty's first. We arrived just after 11am, early enough to receive bags with the free figure of a 1940s boy playing with a toy Spitfire (life-size models of which were in the hall). We had lunch at midday, returned to the hall just after 1pm, and within 5 minutes Hugo was complaining of not feeling well and we'd left by 2pm. So it was a pretty short trip, which explains the lack of photos. That said, the show did feel quite "game-lite" - there were some stunners, as the photos show, but otherwise I thought the games were mainly very small, skirmish-type ones (often plugging particular systems and ranges). Looking through the show guide, it looks as if a few games were no-shows or otherwise cancelled. All that said, looking through the photos I took I see that all the major game types were well-represented and the show gave a good idea of where wargaming is at these days. </p><p>As for shopping, my main intended purchase was a total non-starter as Dave Thomas's Perry Miniatures stock didn't have any Carlist or Paraguayan Wars figures. So tonight I'll have to put in an order at PM for the figures I need to finish various units I've been working on recently. But I was pleased with various jungle terrain items from a new trader whose name I can't recall, some lakes from Kallistra and some more Last Valley trees - all to be seen in some Paraguayan action soon.</p><p>And so to the games. As always, apologies to those I missed (which this year were many). </p><p>The Warlords had "Wellington in India", using figures from Stuart Asquith's collection. This was very much "In the Grand Manner" and one of the best-looking games in the show, I thought. It also made me wonder why the period isn't covered by more figure ranges (yes, Alan Perry, I mean you):</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7806.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7806.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7807.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7807.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7808.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7808.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7809.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7809.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7810.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7810.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7811.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7811.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>Some of the "advert" games next. I liked the "Blood Red Skies" Pacific games, not least because I'm trying to get the boys interested in this "it's like X-Wing but in World War II":</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7792.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7792.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>The people who do "The Drowned Earth" skirmish game always have some fantastic terrain:<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7833.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7833.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I've no idea what this was, but the terrain was very good:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7823.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7823.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7824.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7824.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Monty was very drawn to the "World of Twilight" game and display; wonderful and imaginative sculpts that were beautifully painted - but pretty pricey, to be honest:</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7795.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7795.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7796.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7796.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7812.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7812.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7813.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7813.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7814.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7814.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7815.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7815.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Loughton Strike Force had a 15mm "Stalingrad" game. The table was very high, and I suspect there was some "underground" action going on at the far end of the table. I meant to go back later to investigate, but sadly didn't. But the terrain was stupendous:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7797.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7797.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7799.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7799.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Grimsby Wargames Club had another good-looking WW2 game, this time in 10mm. There was even a "working" cinema for the wounded, which played real news-reel footage:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7802.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7802.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7803.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7803.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7804.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7804.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7805.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7805.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">I didn't catch the people behind this recreation of the "Band of Brothers" Brecourt Manor attack, and they aren't listed in the show guide. The terrain was very good and the large trees really gave a sense of place and a proper dimension to the confined gaming space: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7816.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7816.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7818.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7818.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7819.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7819.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>There were two 25mm pirate games, and I'm not entirely sure which was which. This may have been the Leicester Phat Cats "On the Plains of Panama" game:<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7793.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7793.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7794.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7794.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>I think this was Hornchurch Wargames Club's "Black Sails" game - a massive table and pirates galore:<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7820.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7820.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7822.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7822.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Caseshot Publishing had a 15mm "Wellington at Bay 1812" game, of the Battle of Villamuriel on 25 October:</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7825.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7825.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7826.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7826.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>Skirmish Wargames presented a 54mm Mexican Revolution game:</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7827.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7827.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7828.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7828.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Wyre Forest Wargames has a massive 6mm Battle of Poltava:<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7829.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7829.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7830.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7830.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7831.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7831.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7832.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7832.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Finally, I think this was "Panzer Lehr Counter Attack, 1944" by Anschluss Wargames: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7834(1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7834(1).JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7835(1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7835(1).JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7836(1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7836(1).JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01431052344684945450noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4991076225884911243.post-24502642860711224152021-10-26T11:05:00.000+00:002021-10-26T11:05:53.986+00:00Paraguay: 6th Infantry<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7745.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7745.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />My sixth battalion of Paraguayan infantry consists of the Perry advancing packs but also two command figures from the former Kings Carbine range. I had these figures left over and I think they look fine mixed in with the Perries. A tad shorter and thinner perhaps, but not so much that you'd really notice. I'm trying to vary the size of my Paraguayan battalions, so this is an under-strength unit of 16 figures. I should have put a few more figures in white, rather than red, shirts, as the standard bearer sticks out a bit <p></p><p>In order to try to speed up the process, I use only two colours on the flesh of my WTA figures. I used to use the Foundry "South American Flesh" palette, but then the highlight "C" colour dried up and the "B" colour starting getting a bit gooey. So I then starting using the base "A" colour and GW "Cadian Flesh" as one highlight (which approximates to the Foundry "C" paint). This works well, save for the fact that some of the faces look a bit undercooked and, well, crappy, with only one highlight. So I'm continuing to experiment, but to be honest the faces of these and other recent figures aren't really up to scratch (see, for example, the figure on the far left in the first photo below). This is also down to what I mentioned a couple of post ago, namely clearly deteriorating eyesight - I now find it very difficult to see fine detail except in bright natural light. Hopefully a pair of glasses will help.</p><p>Work has prevented posting over the past few weeks, but I'm hoping to post more regularly now. There are some Argentinians for the WTA on the workbench, together with the first AWI for a while, which I'm painting for a mate in the US.</p><p>16 figures. Painted July 2021. Flag by Flags of War.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7746.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7746.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7747.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7747.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7748.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7748.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7749.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7749.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7750.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7750.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01431052344684945450noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4991076225884911243.post-20719354748164003112021-09-27T20:09:00.000+00:002021-09-27T20:09:25.259+00:00Paraguay: Artillery (1)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7771.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7771.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />Apologies for the post silence. If truth be told, the weather in the UK the past 2-3 months has been so bad that I was unable to take any photos outdoors in decent sunshine until the beginning of September, and then work took over. But I now have about a dozen posts-worth, so all is set for the next few weeks.<p></p><p>This post shows my initial artillery sets for the Paraguayans. For the War of the Triple Alliance range, the Perries have released some packs with 6 crew figures but no guns. For these, you are directed to the plastic guns produced for the ACW range (available either as part of a box with ACW crew or as separate sprues. So I bought a couple of sprues and a couple of limbers as well, so I can have the latter placed behind each gun. To be honest, it's a more expensive way to build artillery, although I suppose the plastic guns give you more options. I hope that at some stage the Perries give us enormous 24-pounder plus guns, which both sides used in fortifications. But for now, one has 6 figures per gun, which in pose terms works out at 5 crew around the gun itself and then another dealing with ammunition. So I've put the last figure from each of the two packs with a limber as an ammunition carrier.</p><p>I found the figures tricky to pose effectively around the guns. The painted examples on the Perry website are perfect, but you can see that the ventsman, for example, can't reach the vent. Also, the poses of the two crews mean that the guns don't sit side by side on the bases. I used the Renedra 65mm x 90mm bases that are available from Perry, which give you sufficient space for each of the crews but not in a way that positions the guns themselves in the same place. I had little idea of what colours to paint the guns' woodwork, so I did them in "ACW green" (which isn't much different to how I'd paint "French Napoleonic ochre"), so the guns and limbers can be removed and used for ACW crews. </p><p>12 figures, 2 guns and 2 limbers. Painted June 2021.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7766.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7766.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7767.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7767.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7768.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7768.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7769.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7769.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7770.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7770.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7772.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7772.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7773.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7773.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7775.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7775.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div>Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01431052344684945450noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4991076225884911243.post-75904002791129418602021-07-19T11:36:00.001+00:002021-07-19T11:36:24.950+00:00Paraguay: 5th Infantry<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7632.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7632.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />This is my second Perry Miniatures firing line battalion. This largely uses the same rank and file figures as the previous unit, although with fewer figures in chiripas, and has the balance of the standing command pack, which includes an officer smoking a cigar. The close-up of that figure in the photo below shows that I need to revisit his sash, as there is clearly some over-zealous black-lining. Also, I admit to finding it much harder these days to paint Perry faces as well I used to. I'm 48 now and haven't felt the need to wear glasses until late last year, when I started to find it difficult to focus on things like Perry faces unless I was painting them in direct sunshine. I think a lack of decent "extreme detail" brushes was partly responsible, but I've realised I'm going to have to get an eye-test sooner rather than later. My younger brother started wearing glasses years ago, so at least I can feel slightly superior on that point (and I have more hair...).<p></p><p>The whanau and I were on holiday in Dorset last week (hence the lack of posts) - a much needed break and our first "holiday" away from Chelmsford since October 2019. It's been a long time since I last added to my "<a href="http://gilesallison.blogspot.com/search/label/Visits" target="_blank">Visits</a>" label, but I'll post about Nothe Fort in Weymouth at some stage. We also visited Bovington Tank Museum, which is one of the best museums I've ever been to; but there was so much stuff I didn't take any photos - just didn't have time to do the place justice.</p><p>20 figures. Painted December 2020. Flag by Flags of War.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7633.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7633.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7634.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7634.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Only one decent chiripa in this battalion</div>Giles 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/06927427848648258226noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4991076225884911243.post-89210563546021994162021-07-08T21:57:00.001+00:002021-07-08T21:57:56.803+00:00Uruguay: Libertad Regiment<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7569.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7569.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />The Uruguayan army was very small in comparison to those of the other belligerents. Uruguay achieved its independence in 1828, but internal political rivalries soon resulted in civil war. As with Spain's Carlist Wars, the struggle was between "liberal" and "conservative" factions (called the "red" and "whites" respectively) and various overseas countries sent troops to assist the former, including the French Foreign Legion and Italian volunteers led by Garibaldi. Argentina had experienced a similar power struggle and came to the support of the conservative president, Manuel Oribe, by contributing a large number of troops. Brazil, however, intervened on the side of the liberals and this proved decisive. The war ended in 1851, when the 8-year siege of Montevideo was finally ended, and the liberal government rewarded Brazil for its support with a treaty of perpetual alliance and even some territory. The civil war flared up again in 1855, when the whites regained control of the government and Argentina and Brazil again intervened on opposing sides; but I'll discuss that in a future post. Suffice to say that Uruguayan instability, and the further outbreak of civil war in 1864-65, was a major causal factor in the War of the Triple Alliance. <p></p><p>A Uruguayan force, the "Army of the Vanguard", was despatched to assist the Allies in 1865. The infantry element consisted of 4 battalions, one of which was the Voluntarios de la Libertad (formerly known as the Voluntarios Garibaldinos). These troops were largely battle-hardened veterans of the civil wars and are considered to have been some of the Alliance's best troops.</p><p>When I painted thus unit, I didn't understand why the command pack features 3 figures that are the same as the rank-and-file pack. It was only when I saw Alan Perry's own painted version on the Perry Facebook that I realised the strength of the battalion was such that you don't need many figures. Hooker gives a strength of just 324 in 1866, which gives 8 figures at 1:40 or 16 at 1:20. So I've rather messed up by painting 18 figures, and should have done my research more competently. I suppose I could always paint up another command pack and try to flog the extra figures on ebay. The uniform is a very fetching, Carlist-inspired one. For the crimson trousers I used the Foundry "Shadow Pink" 18 palette. I like this unit a lot, despite completely failing on the numbers front.</p><p>18 figures. Painted November 2020. Flag from Flags of War.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7571.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7571.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7573.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7573.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7574.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7574.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7538.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7538.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7540.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7540.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01431052344684945450noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4991076225884911243.post-7971569370937463582021-07-05T11:10:00.000+00:002021-07-05T11:10:40.283+00:00Paraguay: 1st Cavalry<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7606.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7606.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />This is my first unit of Paraguayan cavalry. As with the infantry, I haven't tried to make any distinction between "line" and "militia" in the unit's composition - I'll decide what they are in accordance with the relevant scenario. Perry Miniatures make several packs, a couple of which are described as militia and do have a more casual look about them; so I might use those for the next unit. The books I've read about the war suggest that the Paraguayan cavalry was excellent and, at least before shortages of manpower and mounts took hold, the best cavalry out of all the combatants. The strength of cavalry regiments seems to have been between 400 and 500 men, so 12 figures works out at around 1:40, which is the ratio/scale I'm working on (in terms of full strength units). As with the infantry, I intend to build up cavalry units of varying sizes to reflect battle casualties etc.<p></p><p>The cavalry's hats had a different design to those of the infantry - a sort of "fleur de lis" shape. The spurs were quite large as well, called "nazarenas". All the figures have blankets and other bits of "furniture"; I probably should had added a few more stripes to these items, but I didn't was to overcomplicate the look of the unit. I enjoy painting this sort of irregular cavalry, particularly with the more colourful horses.</p><p>12 figures. Painted December 2020. Flag and lance pennants by Flags of War. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7607.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7607.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7608.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7608.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7609.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7609.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7610.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7610.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7611.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7611.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7551.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7551.JPG" width="320" /></a><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7548.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7548.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01431052344684945450noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4991076225884911243.post-81894770752189789062021-07-04T10:19:00.001+00:002021-07-05T07:27:03.628+00:0033rd Virginia<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7518.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7518.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>As it's Independence Day, and because I promised David Bickley, I thought I'd interrupt the War of the Triple Alliance to post some ACW. This is the 33rd Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment, which was raised in April 1861, largely from men in and around the Shenandoah Valley and was one of the original members of the "Stonewall Brigade" that won praise and respect at the battle of Bull Run/First Manassas. The regiment then travelled with the brigade to the Shenandoah Valley, where it participated in Jackson's campaign. In June 1862 Jackson marches his command to join up with General Lee, and the 33rd Virginia saw action at Gaines' Mill and Cedar Mountain. The exploits of the Stonewall Brigade are well know, so I won't repeat them in detail here. Suffice to say that the 33rd Virginia was engaged in the major engagements of Second Bull Run/Second Manassas, Antietam, Chancellorsville and participated in Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg. The regiment suffered badly in the Wilderness campaign of May 1864 and by the time that Lee surrendered a year later the regiment fielded fewer than 20 men.<div><br /><p>When I started painting historicals again last August, I looked at what painted Dixons I had left from the last time I was painting ACW (back in 2013 - see <a href="http://gilesallison.blogspot.com/search/label/American%20Civil%20War" target="_blank">here</a>) and decided to build out a couple of units using those and unpainted figures I had left over. It turned out that I only had around ten painted figures, in a variety of poses, and so in the usual way I put in an order to Dixon to fill out a couple of regiments, and that led to buying a couple of Union regiments, which in turn led me to paint up all my outstanding Rebels, which then required more figures to be bought top finish off various units etc. So this is the first of several units I've been working on since last Autumn. I've spent most of this year working on this ACW collection and the Great Paraguayan War (with the odd foray into Warhammer 40K to keep the boys quiet).</p><p><br /></p><p>Whilst I painted up a couple of First Bull Run units using the Perry Miniatures early war figures just for fun, my ACW ambitions are very limited (and clearly very slow-burning) - basically just Jackson's Valley Campaign of 1862. In Paul Stevenson's "Stonewall" scenario book, the 33rd appears as 16 figures for First Winchester and 14 figures for Kernstown. Normally I'd use a GMB flag, but Dixon figures have "cast-on" flagpoles and given the size of GMB flags you often need to cut the pole in half and insert something else to create more length. I saw that Dixon themselves sold flag sheets which were stated as being designed for their figures and I thought I'd give these a go. The flag is quite a bit smaller than GMB, but perhaps more akin to the size of Confederate flags that one sees in Don Troiani's paintings, for example. </p><p>16 figures. Painted July 2012 and August 2020. Flag from Dixon Miniatures.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7521.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7521.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7522.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7522.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7525.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7525.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7519.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7519.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7520.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7520.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7524.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7524.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div><p></p></div>Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01431052344684945450noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4991076225884911243.post-83598556551381759072021-07-02T10:19:00.002+00:002021-07-02T10:19:39.549+00:00Paraguay: 4th Infantry<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7627.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7627.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />This is the first unit using Perry figures. There are two packs of firing line Paraguayans in the Perry range, and of those twelve figures only two wear a chiripa and none have blankets. The advancing and charging packs have many more figures in chiripas (or with blankets), so one senses a different approach with those later releases. There are two painting mistakes with these figures. The first is that I failed to do my research properly and assumed that the long curved object on the back of one of the firing figures was some sort of metal trumpet. In fact, it's called a "turu" and it's a traditional musical instrument made from bull horn. So not bronze or other metal in any way. I only realised the mistake after I'd based the unit, so I didn't bother trying to re-paint it.<p></p><p>The second mistake is on the coloured cockade in the centre of the caps. This cockade should be blue, white, and then a red centre; but I've instead done red, white, and finally blue. Most of the sources/pictures I've seen have the former, although I see the plate on Paraguayan infantry in the Esposito Winger Hussar book has the latter - maybe a mistake by Guiseppe Rava (he gets in right in the relevant Osprey MAA). This is an error I've carried over to all units I've painted since this one. To be honest, I find it's the decoration on the hats that's the trickiest part of painting Paraguayan figures.</p><p>20 figures. Painted November 2020. Flag by Flags of War.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7628.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7628.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7629.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7629.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7630.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7630.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7631.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7631.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">The magic bronze turu</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01431052344684945450noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4991076225884911243.post-63779701669616535742021-07-01T06:29:00.000+00:002021-07-01T06:29:29.545+00:00Paraguay: 3rd Infantry<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7613.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7613.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />Just a short post today, as this is the third and final of my Kingscarbine Miniatures Paraguayan infantry battalions. The figures are those as used for the previous two units and are painted in exactly the same way. I use Citadel paints for the red shirts - "Khorne Red", then "Evil Sunz Scarlet", then "Wild Rider Red". I'm afraid to say that it's been so long since I last painted AWI British infantry that I can't recall what formulation of red paints I used for those - I think the final highlight was something different, as my earlier AWI British look a bit more orange than these Paraguayans do. Like the second unit, this one looks more "militia" than "line", although I'm not really sure there was any practical distinction in the war, certainly in the later stages of it. <div><br /></div><div>With this unit I began to get my "chiripa mojo" and now I really enjoy painting colourful, funky designs, which I expect have no semblance with what these items of clothing actually looked like. The trumpeter was one of the earlier figures I painted and I didn't really think the uniform through. I'd read somewhere that command sashes were red - so I gave him a white linen shirt as if you give a figure with a sash a red shirt as well you're just left with an awful lot of red. But nowadays I'd give him a red shirt and some sort of multi-coloured sash (like a lot of the Perry figures have). </div><div><br /></div><div>These are not my last Kingscarbine Paraguayans. I'm currently painting a unit that utilises various "leftovers" and it has two Kingscarbine command figures with the balance being Perry figures. They all look fine together. <div><br /></div><div>20 figures. Painted October 2020. Flag by Flags of War.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7614.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7614.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7615.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7615.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7616.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7616.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Obligatory back row chiripa and blanket shot.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7617.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7617.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div></div>Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01431052344684945450noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4991076225884911243.post-47643509635479352092021-06-30T07:16:00.000+00:002021-06-30T07:16:30.528+00:00Brazil: 1st Infantry <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7581.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7581.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />This is the first battalion from Brazil, which supplied the largest contingent of troops for the War of the Triple Alliance. As with my Paraguayans, I'm simply assigning numbers to these units in consecutive order. Brazilian line infantry battalions did have regimental distinctions up to February 1866, when the decision was taken to modify and simplify uniforms in light of the expansion of Brazil's army as a result of the war. That expansion saw the regular infantry increased to twenty-two battalions, of which the first seven were fusiliers and the remainder "cacadores". In addition to these units, Brazil could field a large number of national guard and local provincial troops. The "paper" strength of each fusilier battalion was 882 men in eight companies; so I've modelled them as being 20 figures, which give a scale of about 1:40 (allowing for some battle casualties). That said, the Allied order of battle for 1865/66, as provided by Hooker in his Foundry book on the war, gives strengths between 370 and 500 for the Brazilian regular battalions, which brings us closer to 1:20. I'm still in two minds over unit strengths - I've already decided to drop the Argentinians down to 16 figures; I might do the same with the Uruguayans.<p></p><p>These are Perry Miniatures figures. Their website shows the various options for painting these figures. I've gone for the dark blue service dress tunic with white, summer trousers. The barrack caps probably should have white middles to them. I used the Foundry "Union Blue 111" palette for the tunic and the "Deep Blue 20" palette for the blanket rolls (to add a bit of variety between the blues). For the flesh of all the troops in this war, I use "South American Flesh 119" palette. The "Union Blue" palette has become my default dark blue, which I've also been using for Argentinian infantry and, naturally, ACW Union troops.</p><p>20 figures. Painted November 2020. Flag from Flags of War.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7582.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7582.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7583.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7583.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7586.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7586.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7587.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7587.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div>Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01431052344684945450noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4991076225884911243.post-27803799741373049452021-06-29T09:31:00.000+00:002021-06-29T09:31:38.497+00:00Paraguay: 2nd Infantry<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7597.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7597.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />This is the second battalion of Paraguayan infantry, again using the older Kingscarbine figures. The only substantive difference from the 1st battalion is the different officer figure, who here wears a red shirt rather than a dark blue frock coat, and a couple of soldiers wearing white civilian shirts. I suppose this makes the unit look a bit more like militia than regular army, but in my Paraguayan forces there isn't really any distinction between "line" and "militia". One of things I've noticed about building Paraguayan units is that you end up with figures in the back row which are wearing the kilt-like "chiripa". This means the colourful designs on the chiripas are difficult to see when taking photos of the front of the units. <p></p><p>When I painted the first unit of Paraguayans I didn't really bother with fancy designs on the chiripas, but then Alan Perry put out photos of his figures sporting very colourful chiripas and I thought I'd better up my game a bit. Also, the Paraguayan figures are all going to look the same, so the chiripa is the only way to add some variety to the overall look of the figures. So now I make much more of an effort, which means each post will feature photos of the back row of the figures. </p><p>20 figures. Painted September 2020. Flag by Flags of War.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7598.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7598.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7599.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7599.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7600.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7600.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7603.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7603.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7604.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7604.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7601.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7601.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01431052344684945450noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4991076225884911243.post-82582118101304904442021-06-28T09:49:00.001+00:002021-06-29T09:25:58.855+00:00Paraguay: 1st Infantry<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7597.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7597.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />This is the very first unit I painted back in 2013 (and originally featured <a href="http://gilesallison.blogspot.com/2013/12/first-paraguayan-war-unit.html" target="_blank">here</a>). I've added a few more figures and I think a new blog post is in order given that this unit kicked off what became a rather slow-burning project until the Perry Miniatures range came out in 2020. The figures are from Nuno Pereira's <a href="http://kingscarbinepaintshop.blogspot.com/p/paraguayan-war-range.html" target="_blank">King'scarbine Miniatures</a>, and sculpted by Steve May. These figures are currently out of production, but may return to the market at some stage. Nuno's on Facebook and will no doubt say when the figures become available again.<p></p><p>I like these figures. They are a bit slimmer than the Perry figures but are perfectly compatible. I probably wouldn't mix the two ranges in the same unit, but they look absolutely fine together on the tabletop. The poses are different - these are perhaps more proper "marching" rather than the more fluid "advancing". The Paraguayan Army of course had numbered battalion of infantry, although from what I can tell there were no units distinctions - they all wore the same clothes. I've numbered my units consecutively, but with no attempt to replicate the units in real life. This "1st infantry battalion" is a unit of 20 figures, which does chime with the strength of 760 men that Hooker gives for unit in 1865-66. </p><p>The flag is hand painted because back in 2013 no one made the Paraguayan flag in 25mm (nowadays the excellent <a href="https://www.flagsofwar.com/collections/war-of-the-triple-alliance" target="_blank">Flags of War</a> have a full range for the War of the Triple Alliance). The obverse side has the the national coat of arms of Paraguay (a yellow star surrounded by a green wreath capped by the words REPUBLICA DEL PARAGUAY), all within two concentric circles, while the reverse has a yellow lion below a red Phrygian cap and the words Paz y Justicia ("Peace and Justice"). It was a bit of a pain to paint, I recall. Something my family acquired during Lockdown is a cat, Millie. I made the mistake of leaving this unit out on the kitchen table after taking the <a href="http://gilesallison.blogspot.com/2020/12/the-war-of-triple-alliance.html" target="_blank">December photos</a>, and when I was putting it away I noticed that our little kitten had been nibbling the corner of the flag. I was mortified at first, but then I thought that it adds a bit of battle damage; so never mind. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7624.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7624.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">A chewed flag</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7555.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7555.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">The culprit</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7553.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7553.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">These look quite chewable as well</div><p><br /></p><p>This is the first of 3 Paraguayan units using the Kingscarbine figures. They are all in the same pose as only 3 packs of infantry were released (as well as 2 very good Brazilian officers; I've painted them and intend to create some sort of command vignette). These were painted before the Osprey MAA and Winged Hussar books came out, and before the Perries released all their stuff. So I made up bits of the uniforms as I went along - hence brown and buff "civilian" trousers, which in reality should have been just white/off-white. </p><p>The buildings are from <a href="http://www.tablescape.co.uk/Catalogue/Mediterranean/MediterraneanRange.htm" target="_blank">Tablescape's Mediterranean range</a>; the mat is <a href="https://www.tinywargames.co.uk/online-store/Coastal-right-6-x-4-feet-p50990466" target="_blank">Tiny Wargames' "coastal"</a>; the cat was £300 from a family in Chelmsford (much cheaper than a puppy). </p><p>20 figures. Painted November 2013.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7626.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7626.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7620.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7620.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7621.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7621.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7623.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7623.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div>Giles 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/06927427848648258226noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4991076225884911243.post-27747317766704664272021-06-27T19:56:00.000+00:002021-06-27T19:56:00.009+00:00The War of the Triple Alliance (2)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7543.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7543.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /> I honestly didn't think it had been January since my last post. I was aware that I wanted to post all my Napoleon in Egypt figures before posting about anything else, but those went into my basing backlog and nothing happened as a consequence. But today I took proper photos of all my completed Great Paraguayan War/War of the Triple Alliance units to date, so I'll be writing about those over the next couple of weeks or so (14 posts' worth). Since I posted some initial "group" shots last December, I've added another Brazilian infantry unit, the Uruguayan "Libertad" infantry regiment, and I've completed the Paraguayan cavalry unit. I've recently finished some artillery for both sides and more Paraguayan infantry, and have started by first Argentinian infantry battalion. Before that, I spent most of February to May painting Dixon ACW - loads of stuff, including Federals and artillery, that's also stuck in the basing pile. <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7588.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7588.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Another view of the Alliance forces to date</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7612.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7612.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">A brigade of Kingscarbine Paraguayan infantry with a Perry cavalry unit</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So things are finally back on track, I think. For those interested in this period, I can recommend the new book "Borders of Blood" by Victor Barone, published by Caliver and also sold by Perry Miniatures. This gives a run down of the history of the war, organisation information in respect of the various armies, and has loads of photos from the Perries and the author's gaming group. But the bulk of the book is a set of rules for the period and some scenarios. I haven't digested the rules themselves yet, but they have a card activation deck that looks interesting and the rules take account of details specific to the period such as the effects of the weather (heavy rain and half the Paraguayan muskets don't fire) and the marshy terrain. The book also collects in one place all those uniform guides from the Perry website.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The section on army organisation made me think that my units strengths aren't quite right. I was aiming for 18-20 figures for each unit across all combatant nations, but it seems clear that Brazilian and Paraguayan units should be larger than those from Argentina and Uruguay (at least for the earlier part of the war). I'll touch on this in other posts, but I think I might use the following strengths:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">- Paraguay: 18-24 figures;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">- Brazil: 18-20 figures;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">- Argentina: 16-18 figures;</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">- Uruguay: 12-18 figures.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">If anyone has other views, please do let me know. Finally, as I'll be blogging about this period for a while, Kiwi wargamer Mark Strachan has a fantastic collection on this blog (amongst lots of outstanding collections: his WTA stuff is <a href="https://stracmark.blogspot.com/search/label/Great%20Paraguayan%20War" target="_blank">here</a>. </div><br />Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01431052344684945450noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4991076225884911243.post-31666355284398719352021-01-25T12:29:00.000+00:002021-01-25T12:29:08.744+00:00Napoleon (2)<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7527.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7527.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>This is the Napoleon in Egypt personality set from Brigade Games. Perry Miniatures don't have a Napoleon figure in their Egypt range, presumably because the range is more orientated towards the British intervention after Napoleon's departure in August 1799. Before Christmas I put in an order with Brigade Games to take advantage of a sale and to buy some of their new(ish) AWI figures, and I couldn't resist this set and a couple of other Egyptian campaign things. I was going to blog next about my recent ACW units but thought I'd just finish off these French bits first. This is my second attempt at Napoleon, after the rather massive piece I did for a Salute Waterloo game many years ago (see <a href="http://gilesallison.blogspot.com/2007/04/napoleon.html" target="_blank">here</a>). I won't both with any sort of potted biography of Napoleon, even one limited to the Egyptian campaign, but rather will post some observations on the paints and colours I used, in case of interest, and some inspiration. <p></p><p>Back in 1799 Napoleon was 30, trimmer and fitter than at Waterloo. His Egyptian adventure captured the imagination of French artists, and Jean-Léon Gérôme painted three depictions of Napoleon in Egypt which show a young man who is quite different to the corpulent Emperor of several years later. Gérôme painted a number of middle eastern scenes and had travelled in the region in the 1850s. His three best known Napoleon paintings are below. These are very atmospheric paintings, a long way from heroic battle scenes like the work of Horace Vernet, for example. Commentators have noted how these paintings are quite psychological, with Napoleon seeming deep in thought or contemplating some aspect of his destiny (there's a good analysis of the second painting <a href="https://www.clayton-payne.com/artworks/9364/" target="_blank">here</a>). I found these quite inspirational. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleon_-_Gerome_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="553" height="320" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleon_-_Gerome_3.jpg" width="221" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Napoleon in Egypt, circa 1863</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleon_-_Gerome_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="528" data-original-width="800" height="211" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleon_-_Gerome_1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Napoleon and his General Staff in Egypt, late 1860s</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/Napoloen_-_Gerome_2.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="366" data-original-width="700" height="167" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/Napoloen_-_Gerome_2.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Bonaparte Before the Sphinx, 1886</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><p>I had to re-find the paints I'd used for the Dromedary Corps vignette. The base coat was Citadel XV-88, then various layers/touches of Tau Light Ochre, Bestigor Flesh, Ushabi Bone and Foundry "Base Sand" and "Boneyard" paints. I had to look up the colour of Napoleon's hair, which apparently was dark brown (I had thought it was black). </p><p>Uniform information was sourced from the Osprey MAA and the first volume of Charles Grant's "Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign". Those books suggested that the uniforms of the high command were often adapted at the whim of their wearers, particularly the hat plumage. The chap with the telescope is supposed to be a general de brigade (hence the light blue sash) and the mounted figure is a general de division (hence the red sash and plumage). I tried to paint as much decoration on the camels' saddle cloths as I could without over-cluttering. The cloths on Napoleon's saddle are sculpted such that there's a lot more cloth on the left of the figure than the right, so the pattern looks a bit uneven. I wasn't entirely sure what sort of animal the skin on the horse was supposed to be, but a leopard looked appropriate. I had originally intended to place a few bricks and perhaps a bottle cork at the back of the base to suggest some ruins, but decided that would look too busy. So I'm sure more could be done with this set to jazz it up, but I'm pleased with how it came out and it didn't take long to do. </p><p>3 figures, 1 horse and 2 camels. Painted January 2021. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7529.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7532.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7532.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7535.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7535.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7533.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7533.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7534.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7534.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7536.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7536.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01431052344684945450noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4991076225884911243.post-31000320137222158702021-01-12T18:21:00.001+00:002021-01-12T20:08:50.725+00:00Regiment des Dromedaires (1)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7509.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7509.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>As a coda to my current batch of Napoleonic French, this is the Perry pack of sitting camels and guard from the Régiment des Dromedaires, the camel-mounted unit created for service in the Egyptian campaign. This was quite small, being two squadrons each of about 250 soldiers, and fought as mounted infantry. Perry Miniatures have mounted and dismounted figures, and <a href="https://brigadegames.3dcartstores.com/French_c_346.html" target="_blank">Brigade Games</a> have some nice models as well. This set is clearly the equivalent of a cavalry horse-holder. Two camels doesn't really cut it if you have a unit of 12 figures on the table, and I did think about whether I should buy a second set and make a larger base; but in the end I just went for this "as is", given it is likely to be a while before I paint more of the Dromedary Corps. <p></p><p>This set had lain half-finished on my painting for the best part of 2 years, and I finally finished it off at the beginning of the Covid lockdown. I really wish I could remember what paints I used for the camels; it was a number of Citadel paint mainly, I think, with some Foundry highlights. I really need to write things like this down in a notebook. I owe thanks to wargaming and wine-loving chum John Baxter in Melbourne who emailed me an excellent article (in French) about the regiment and its uniforms a while back.</p><p>1 figure and 2 camels. Painted February 2020.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7507.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7507.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7505.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7505.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7503_(1).JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7503_(1).JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7506_(1).JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7506_(1).JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7508.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/IMG_7508.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01431052344684945450noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4991076225884911243.post-2277347095873728722020-12-18T16:18:00.000+00:002020-12-18T16:18:38.011+00:00The War of the Triple Alliance<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/001(2).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/001(2).JPG" width="320" /></a></div>I<span style="font-family: inherit;">'m behind with basing and photos (I've painted 13 different units since August) but I did manage to assess the current state of my Great Paraguayan War/War of the Triple Alliance project and so thought I'd post them here. I can't believe <a href="http://gilesallison.blogspot.com/2013/12/first-paraguayan-war-unit.html" target="_blank">the first unit of Paraguayans</a> was painted 6 years ago. On the Paraguayan side there are three infantry units of Steve May sculpts for Kingscarbine Miniatures (which aren't currently available), two Perry Miniatures firing line units, and the beginnings of a 12-figure cavalry unit. On the Allied side, I have one regiment of Brazilian infantry and with another on the stocks. In fact, my pre-Christmas schedule is to finish this off and the Paraguayan cavalry. Then it will be on to some Uruguayans and whatever's in the two boxes from the Perries that arrived addressed to my wife the other day.... </span><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/013(2).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/013(2).JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">The flags are mainly from </span><a href="https://www.flagsofwar.com/" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank">Flags of War</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">. These are a total lifesaver, as I wasn't relishing the prospect of painting more flags (the larger Paraguayan flag is one that I painted 6 years ago, and which got nibbled the other week by our cat, Millie) and I was having problems with the flags uploaded on the Perry website. Flags of War also do lance pennants in any colour you want. The palm trees and broken walls in the photos are all scenic bits I made for Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago last year; I think they look ok-ish for South America.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">My immediate plan is to get to 10 infantry units per side (perhaps a couple more on the Allied side to reflect the three different contingents), a bit of cavalry and then take stock. All infantry units will be between 18 and 24 figures and cavalry units will be 12 figures. That's not particularly historic, but provides a manageable set-up. I'll post about these units separately in due course, and will start with the original one again as I added more figures to it.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/003(1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/003(1).JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/005(2).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/005(2).JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/008(1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/008(1).JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/007(2).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/007(2).JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/009(2).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/009(2).JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/004(1).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/004(1).JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/010(2).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/images/o117/GilesAllison/010(2).JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p>Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01431052344684945450noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4991076225884911243.post-17901839197350537222020-11-30T12:43:00.004+00:002020-11-30T12:43:46.483+00:0075th Demi-Brigade<p><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6772_zpsrzzoswm1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6772_zpsrzzoswm1.jpg" width="320" /></a><br /></p>This is my third completed unit of French infantry for the Egyptian campaign. The 75th Demi-Brigade appears in just two scenarios in the GdB book, The Pyramids (60 figures) and Alexandria (24 figures). This unit is designed for the latter, and given it's 24 rather than 36 figures I've provided it with two flags rather than three. I've mentioned before that the GdB scenario book doesn't always divide up the demi-brigades into individual battalions, which I assume reflects the fact that some battalions were absent on garrison duty. So for the Alexandria scenario, for example (which is the French attach of August 1799, not the British attack of 1801), the orbat has the 18th, 32nd and 22nd Light demi-brigades in two specific battalions, whilst the 13th, 61st and 75th are just given one unit each of 30, 36 and 24 figures respectively. This all makes for a decent amount of painting - for the French forces in this scenario you need 300 infantry, 8 guns and crew, and 26 cavalry. But you can see that it's "AWI" in size, and with much less cavalry and artillery than you might usually expect for a Napoleonic battle. Of course Alan Perry hasn't made any Albanian and Ottoman forces to provide the opposition as yet; I really hope we does one day as otherwise one's limited to French v British games in this theatre, which I think would be a shame. In the very interesting video interview with Wargames Illustrated, Alan said he'd do Ottomans at some stage. and I know Black Hussar Miniatures (formerly Westphalia Miniatures) do Napoleonic Saudi and Afghan figures, but I don't know whether they are in any way suitable. <p></p><p>That's pretty much where I got to with the Napoleon in Egypt project. I also painted 6 figures of the 88th Demi-Brigade (another 36 figure unit), but that's remained unfinished since 2017. There's a small "vignette" which I'll post about next, but in the meantime here's the current state of things:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6782_zpsddlsehk9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6782_zpsddlsehk9.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6793_zpselisjtnx.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6793_zpselisjtnx.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p>24 figures. Painted July/August 2017. Flags from GMB.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6775_zpsjw3y2wg8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6775_zpsjw3y2wg8.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6776_zpsvdov6zcx.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6776_zpsvdov6zcx.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6773_zpsdvssm0ry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6773_zpsdvssm0ry.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6774_zpsaj0bpdm9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6774_zpsaj0bpdm9.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6778_zps1pzc30kc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6778_zps1pzc30kc.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6781_zpsslyutqv0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6781_zpsslyutqv0.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01431052344684945450noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4991076225884911243.post-56947133402807538282020-11-25T12:23:00.000+00:002020-11-25T12:23:17.129+00:004th Legere Demi-Brigade<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6801_zpszvm9d1ye.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6801_zpszvm9d1ye.jpg" width="320" /></a></div> I'll continue posting about the Napoleon in Egypt figures I painted three years ago while I catch up with basing and photographing more recent things. This is a unit of skirmishers representing the 4th Leger Demi-Brigade. In the "General de Brigade" scenario book the units appears twice: 30 figures for The Pyramids and 12 skirmishers for the battle of Alexandria on 1 August 1799. The demi-brigade began the Egyptian campaign consisting of 2 battalions and over 1,000 men and I don't know why the Alexandria scenario only lists 12 figures. The Osprey "Napoleon's Egyptian Campaigns" provides the coat as: light green with dark brown (crimson) facings with white piping. As is usual for French Napoleonic light infantry, the trousers are dark blue. So this unit is a good example of "colour" of this period. <p></p><p>Incidentally, in this series of Napoleon in Egypt posts, the middle eastern style buildings are by Touching History and the mat is "arid green" from <a href="https://www.tinywargames.co.uk/" target="_blank">Tiny Wargames</a>. Not much else to say, really. The 75th Demi-Brigade are next.</p><p>12 figures. Painted July 2017.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6795_zpsowhjnhsu.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6795_zpsowhjnhsu.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6797_zpsqsgidlpf.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6797_zpsqsgidlpf.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6796_zps7vwyobqu.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6796_zps7vwyobqu.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6800_zpschbtlgri.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6800_zpschbtlgri.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Giles 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/06927427848648258226noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4991076225884911243.post-87170186829006997042020-11-19T15:36:00.000+00:002020-11-19T15:36:51.866+00:0069th Demi-Brigade<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6756_zpsolagjvzi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6756_zpsolagjvzi.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I thought I'd begin catching-up with my Napoleon in Egypt figures, which will take 4 posts. I began this period because I was taken with the Perry Miniatures figures and it seemed an interesting, and colourful, Napoleonic side-show (about which I knew very little). There are some good resources out there, including the two Caliver-published books by C.S. Grant and Eclaireur's volume of scenarios for "General de Brigade", called "Against the Ottomans". This last publication has formed my list of units to work on, although I've left out the Battle of the Pyramids scenario because the unit strengths for that battle are huge (by which I mean infantry regiments of 48 to 60 figures). The 69th Demi-Brigade appears in two other scenarios, El Rahmieh (9 May 1801) and El Khanka (16 May 1801), both with a unit strength of 36 figures. <p></p><p>Representing the French demi-brigades for this campaign is not straightforward. Each demi-brigade consisted of 3 battalions, each of which consisted, on paper, of approximately 1,000 men. That explains why an early scenario like the Pyramids has such large units. However, by 1801, which is the phase of the campaign which I'm interested in, the battalions were reduced in strength. The GdB scenarios don't state how many battalions are in each demi-brigade and presumably the unit strength is a composite figure. The battalion structure was 1 grenadier and 8 fusilier companies, but the latter were reduced to 4 in 1799 to take account of casualties. My this 36-figure unit I have one stand of grenadiers and five of fusiliers, and this is clearly no attempt to replicate the individual battalions but rather to have something that looks good. One could, I suppose, have two stands of grenadiers and four of fusiliers, which might actually be more accurate. Each of the three battalions carried its own flag, so you then need to decide how many flags to allocate to your demi-brigade unit. I decided to give three flags to the larger units and two flags to the smaller one. Again, there wasn't that much thought behind that decision, other than the fact that if you give everything 3 flags you need a lot of standard bearer figures and to buy those you'll probably end up with left-over officers etc. That said, I understand that the third battalion of the 69th was on garrison duty during 1801, so this demi-brigade should in fact only have two flags. Never mind...the GMB flags are so good is seems a shame not in include as many as possible.</p><p>36 figures. Painted May-July 2017. Flags by GMB.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6764_zpshge0eoeo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6764_zpshge0eoeo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6757_zps7rdnmdpi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6757_zps7rdnmdpi.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6758_zpsm6fdtltp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6758_zpsm6fdtltp.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6759_zpsp38yi68q.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6759_zpsp38yi68q.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6760_zps7r4uur4o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6760_zps7r4uur4o.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6761_zpsuvekepb7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6761_zpsuvekepb7.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6762_zpsfyt1pe5m.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6762_zpsfyt1pe5m.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6763_zpsfbyvxsoq.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/Napoleonics/.highres/IMG_6763_zpsfbyvxsoq.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />Gileshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01431052344684945450noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4991076225884911243.post-27825580133177518892020-11-11T23:20:00.000+00:002020-11-11T23:20:38.062+00:004th Continental Dragoons<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/.highres/IMG_6820_zpszalmnveg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/.highres/IMG_6820_zpszalmnveg.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />This is another unit I painted up years ago and failed to blog about (another being the Knyphausen Fusilier Regt, which I painted 12 years ago and then realised the cuffs were in the wrong colour - I'll sort that out shortly).<div><br /></div><div>It wasn't until December 1776 that Congress, after much lobbying by George Washington, authorised the formation of regular cavalry units. Washington arranged four regiments and this was approved by Congress in March 1777. Washington gave command of the 4th regiment to Stephen Moylan, an Irish Roman Catholic who had held a variety of senior staff positions, including acting as Washington's secretary and the Continental Army's Quartermaster General, and later fell out badly with <a href="https://gilesallison.blogspot.com/2011/06/count-casimir-pulaski.html">Count Pulaski</a>. The 4th recruited mainly from Pennsylvania and Maryland and seems to have mustered its troops much more quickly that the other 3 regiments. However, sources suggest that none of the dragoon regiments ever reached their full strength and most only had between 120 and 150 effectives at any one time. <br />
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In the "British Grenadier!" scenario books the 4th Dragoons appear only once - a 4 figure unit at Whitemarsh, a large battle fought in December 1777 near Philadelphia. As these are Perry figures they come in packs of 3, so I thought I might as well just paint up all 6. I was planning on doing all necessary American cavalry units with the lovely <a href="https://gilesallison.blogspot.com/2016/03/eureka-miniatures-awi-cavalry.html">Eureka figures</a> (which come with interchangeable hats), but then the Perries came out with specific figures for each of the Continental dragoon regiments so I decided to use those. That said, strictly speaking, these figures are in their later uniform and so different to how they would have looked at Whitemarsh. When the regiment was formed it was given a stock of British uniforms that had been captured at Saratoga, so red coats faced blue and leather caps. Washington ordered the troopers to wear linen hunting shirts over these coats to avoid confusion (given that the coats were the same colour as the British 16th Light Dragoons). Some time in 1778 or 1779 the uniform was changed to the green faced red coats and tarleton helmets that you see here.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/.highres/IMG_6821_zpsys5holka.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/.highres/IMG_6821_zpsys5holka.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br />
When I was painting these figures and the Perry <a href="https://gilesallison.blogspot.com/2017/09/militia-cavalry.html">militia cavalry</a> (and also a Warlord Games model of Napoleon's carriage, which I painted but then couldn't work out how to put together) I tried to make the greys a bit more "lifelike" by using photos I'd taken of a troop of grey horses in Vienna as a reference. I'm quite pleased with the result, which involve a lot of "wet blending" and trying to get the dapples in a realistic pattern. Did all American trumpeters ride greys (or grays if you prefer)? Who knows, but I like painting grey horses.<br />
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6 figures. Painted August-September 2017.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/.highres/IMG_6819_zpsjnrwqya1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/.highres/IMG_6819_zpsjnrwqya1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/.highres/IMG_6815_zpsu7kcnksu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/.highres/IMG_6815_zpsu7kcnksu.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/.highres/IMG_6817_zpsswyz0y8i.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/.highres/IMG_6817_zpsswyz0y8i.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/.highres/IMG_6822_zpsss2cmjqu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/o117/GilesAllison/.highres/IMG_6822_zpsss2cmjqu.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Giles 2http://www.blogger.com/profile/06927427848648258226noreply@blogger.com5