Perry Plastic British Infantry of the Sudan

I purchased some of Perry's recently released plastic British Infantry at Salute this year, for gaming in colonial Afghanistan or the Sudan and have thrown together a quick overview of what I think of them.

At this point, I should inform you that there is an excellent review  compiled by Stefan over at Monty's Caravan which is worth checking out.

Due to my usual slow progress in all areas, I have only managed to complete one infantry sprue so far, but have formed enough of an impression to hopefully give you all a helpful heads-up.

Here are the two types of sprues contained within the box; you get six infantry sprues (left) and two command sprues (right) giving a wide range of options for firing, loading and 'at the ready' positions for the private infantrymen, along with officers, drummers and sergeants on the command sprue. There is even a dog, Bobbie, a survivor of the Battle of Maiwand in Afghanistan between the 66th Regiment of Foot and local Afghan tribesmen in 1880.

Included in the box are some useful painting and construction guides, along with eight regimental colours, giving you the option to parade your men as a variety of colonial British troops (although, disappointingly there are no colours for use in the Sudan, despite the set being designed with that theatre in mind, albeit, as an afterthought, possibly).

A few of my favourite poses so far - with the usual apologies for my poor photography skills - illustrating what can be achieved with only limited modelling skills. I really like these figures and all are well detailed and proportioned with a wide range of possible poses. My limited painting skills are such that I go for the worn, dirty look; which is in keeping with desert deployments.

If I have any criticism it is with the sometimes fiddly assembly required; particularly with some of the riflemen and their two-part arm construction requiring a degree of dexterity (I am in no way ham-fisted, by the way) to achieve the desired effect. However, with practice, this was soon overcome. The lack of suitable colours for the Sudan, as already mentioned, was also a slight let down; if anyone knows of suitable examples elsewhere, I would be grateful to find out.

                                    

Finally, an 'action' shot of three Tommies facing up to a couple of plucky Perry plastic Fuzzies to give an indication of size, which, I think you will agree is spot-on.

All in all, I recommend these to any fans of colonial gaming and look forward to additions in this plastic range.

That's it, for now.

Monty

Pinkertons

Rumours of my (gaming) demise have been greatly exaggerated. I am very much still going and (just about) painting a few bits and pieces, in no particular order.

I will get round to posting stuff soon; it's just that I simply have had too much on of late; a familiar cry, I hear you say, but true, nonetheless (boo, hoo).

What I have been tinkering around with, however, is Great Escape Games' excellent Dead Man's Hand range of Wild West figures for my planned western skirmish game.

The first batch was a present from my long-suffering woman; Pinkertons - which I have almost finished and have enjoyed painting.

 "And they're off!" The first batch cleaned up and mounted, I picked these four out as my initial favourites and have been impressed with the detail generally on the Great Escape stuff; bags of detail and character evident in the sculpts.

Here they are finished up in my usual style; my painting skills are limited, so I opt for the 'well-worn' grubby look - which I feel is more realistic and in keeping with the period than the 'cleaner' -but, admittedly, far more skilled - approach. Well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it :)

Finally, the obligatory 'in scene' shot; I appreciate the quality of the picture is poor; it was taken last night in poor light after a couple of sherbets...whoops!

I am determined to actually achieve something after a prolonged period of inactivity and return to some semblance of gaming, with the small and hopefully achievable  skirmish approach the method of getting there.

Rules set to use? Well, as always my favourite - THW and their freebie Chain Reaction; which, in my opinion is a cracking approach to small-scale battles with bags of options to tweak and adapt to your needs - excellent solo option too.

That's it, for now.

Monty

Rogan's Bar

The little woman recently bought me 'Rogan's Bar' by 4Ground for my birthday and I've finally got round to almost completing it; I'm still not decided how to base it - on a dedicated table or on its own base for more flexibility. Apologies for the poor pictures, they were taken in haste on my phone.

Anyway, here it is, 'out of the box', with John Bridges posing on the boardwalk for scale. None of the edges or joins have been painted yet; although, it doesn't look too bad as it is, I think.

However, I did decide to 'tart it up' a bit and here is the result of painting  all the edging and joins to match, as well as dry-brushing the roof and boardwalk , etc.

This extra bit of work is well worth it I think, and  improves an already realistic-looking kit. I must admit, I really like this range and feel they really stand head and shoulders over whatever else is available out there at the moment.

The plan is to build up a town of around six buildings for small skirmish games using Two-Hour Wargames Chain Reaction rules. Although, as usual,  I'm sure my cunning plan won't be completed any time soon...

That's it, for now,

Monty

4Ground Medieval Dwelling

I'm very conscious there has been very little blogging of late; my work/life schedule has taken a massive bite into my free time in recent months, although I have been (sort of) productive during this time; no reports have made it online.  

Having said all that, the academic year is grinding to a close and with it, most of my current commitments; which should allow more blogging again...

Anyway, enough of my blubbing and on with the update! During a great visit to Salute recently, what stood out for me was the very prominent 4Ground kit that seemed to dominate a lot of the display games. I always had an open mind about laser cut buildings and their inherent qualities, but having seen them firsthand I have been sold; yes, they probably don't look as convincing as resin/plastic etc, but given the time saved, flexibility and so on, they are hard to beat. Not only that, they do look impressive 'in the flesh'.

I decided to take the plunge and try one out, hence the Saxon/Medieval dwelling here,which I picked up for £14, which is fairly reasonable. For those who haven't encountered the model before, I found it very straight forward to build. The only 'dodgy' bit, I think, is the so-called 'teddy bear fur' used for the thatch. However, once it is treated with a PVA/water mix as outlined in the instructions, it isn't too bad. I may yet wash and dry brush it to give it a little more depth.

The interior, out of the box is a little sparse, so I painted and dry brushed the floor before adding some brown static grass as 'straw', along with some firewood and 'ashes' in the fire box.

I intend to base the dwelling and add some wattle fencing, currently on order from Northstar to create a centre piece for a bit of Dark Age skirmishing - probably using THW's Swordplay rules.

Finally, the obligatory scale shot, using a couple of Conquest Games' Norman Infantry; as you can see, they fit very nicely. To sum up, I think 4Ground are the way ahead and ideal for skirmish-type games and intend to order a few more.

That's it for now,

Monty 

Bolt-Action Ruined Hamlet Part 2

Some time ago I posted about the Warlord Games Bolt-Action Ruined Hamlet I had acquired; well, finally, here is the update. However, I have - in true fashion - only completed one, so far; due to my wandering attention and unfocused approach to all things wargaming.

  

The box contains three sets of these components, which allow the construction of a ruined farm-type house and/or two smaller ruined structures; depending how you decide to utilise them. There does appear, upon closer inspection, to be a discrepancy between the two doorway sizes of each set, in that one appears to be 1/56 scale and the other, closer to 1/72; although, to be honest, I didn't find this to be a major issue once construction had taken place. 

The older, rural nature of the buildings these kits are depicting, would probably lend itself to irregularities in construction (that's my take on it, anyway).

Here is one of the finished products, which I mounted on some stiff card - please excuse the poor photography (I used my phone under the kitchen lighting, as usual).

I added some additional 'rubble' using sand and cat litter and employed some old coffee stirrers to act as battered, floor boarding  for the interiors.

As you would expect, there was a fair amount of filling and cleaning up of join lines during construction; but, overall the model was very clean and flash free.

To keep costs down I used black car primer to undercoat and Dulux match pots to paint the building , along with some commercial matte varnish, all of which, I think, achieved their respective aims for a fraction of the cost of 'dedicated' wargaming products.

I plan to use all three buildings as part of small-scale Normandy-type skirmish games and have recently got hold of some Bolt-Action plastic British and German infantry to use for these - more of which later.  Although, as a brief insight, here are a few 'Tommies' to illustrate how the structure fits scale-wise.

To sum up, for those into 28mm gaming from Pike and Shotte to modern, you really can't go wrong with these as an addition to your table top; just do what I did and shop around for the best price beforehand.

That's it for now,

Monty

28mm Judge Dredd Lawmaster

The little woman came up trumps again and got me Judge Dredd, Judge Anderson and their awesome Lawmaster bikes from Mongoose Publishing, for my birthday - very nice they are, too

The Judge Dredd range is ever-expanding and Mongoose plan a raft of additions over the coming months, which is all good stuff for a life-long 2000 AD fan such as myself.

Dredd and Lawmaster in their component parts; there was considerable filing, application of green stuff and manipulation of (his) limbs - tentatively with pliers - to enable the great man to 'sit' correctly during the usual clean-up phase.

Partial assembly with all parts receiving an undercoat/prime with some black car primer; I based the bike on a recycled plastic base from some 28mm plastic figures after drilling and pinning the wheels due to the model's considerable weight.

Almost complete, awaiting final highlighting and gloss varnishing...

...and he's off! The Judge roars away to rid Mega-City One of its lawbreaking creeps...

I really enjoyed completing this model and love the chunky version of Dredd's iconic bike Mongoose have created. I shall finish Anderson in due course (all hair flowing and Lawgiver drawn) and post soon.
Meanwhile,this range comes highly recommended to all JD fans and those wanting some high quality sci-fi figures for skirmishing/displaying.

That's it for now,

Monty

Conquest Games 28mm Norman Infantry

Here are the first of my Conquest Games Norman Infantry that I received as a Christmas present from my lovingly sympathetic (to my "silly little soldier thingies") woman. I have been unfeasibly busy just lately due to relocating, being made redundant and leaving my previous career of twenty-nine years to starting a new job, to do anything else on the creative front; so these will have to suffice for now.

However, that said, I must say that I have been impressed with these latest additions to the ever-increasing multi-part plastic range from various companies now available on the market. It is possible to make up to forty-four Norman infantry soldiers wearing varying degrees of protection and armed with a variety of weapons, including Danish axes, swords and spears. Most carry the famous Norman kite shield, although there are a couple of round shields per sprue if you prefer to add a little more diversity to your troops' appearance. most are helmeted in a variety of head dress, although some are bare-headed and sport the distinctive Norman barnet.

One of the two command sprues featuring a handy 'dead' marker. The detail and sculpting is excellent throughout, although the figures are a little tall - 30mm toe to eye - compared to other similar ranges, which may cause a problem when it comes to matching them off against each other.

I painted up a selection of four initial examples, including the armoured knight from the command sprue and was pleasantly surprised. All figures are nicely proportioned and dynamically posed. In addition I used the excellent shield transfers from Battle Flag to complete the look.

 

I prefer versatility with my miniatures and so have based them individually, but in this case, added a scratch-built unit stand to allow figure removal.

 

To sum up, a great example of a quality product of my favourite early medieval troops just waiting for some dedicated Saxon opposition - can't wait.

That's it for now,

Monty

Battle Flag

This is a very quick post -  with poor phone photography - to hastily highlight the excellent quality and fantastic turn around (two days) of Battle Flag's very impressive shield water slide decals; in this case for Conquest Game's lovely Norman Infantry.

Here they are, jaunty photo angle and all, in all their glory - yes, I know, there is a horrible flash obscuring part of them; but they are amazing quality. Suitably 'grubby' with blood and mud effects spattered over them - perfect; I've never been into 'day-glo' historical figures, the grubbier, the better, I say, so they suit me ideally!

That's it for now,

Monty

Warlord Games 'Boadicea Triumphant!'

I've almost finished Warlord Game's excellent 'BoadiceaTriumphant' model and have attempted to do it what limited justice I could.

I would have completed it weeks ago as unlike me, I decided to mount a big push and get it done in relatively quick time.  The little woman had, after all, bought it me over a year ago and it was only fair I should make an effort to show her the completed version in order to ensure her continued procurement policy towards my chaotically disorganised hobby. However, my hospital stint and four weeks' convalescence put paid to that and so it was inevitably delayed.

The constituent parts prior to clean-up and priming; the figures have a nice, heroic feel to them, with 'Boadicea' herself bearing a passing resemblance to actress Alex Kingston, who, coincidently featured in a woeful television drama about the warrior queen some years ago.

There's not a great deal of room aboard the chariot, and so with this in mind and to ensure a good grip, I drilled locating holes in its bed and pinned the models' feet to assist their gluing later.

The (almost) finished model;  due to the unforgiving scale, I drilled the horses' bits prior to priming in order to feed thread through to act as reins but have yet to fix them. The problem will be where to feed them to as neither of the figures has been sculpted with them in mind.

I was thinking of maybe scattering a spare Roman scutum onto the base and even fix a couple of (bent) pila into the side of the chariot to represent battlefield chaos, but decided against it as being too 'busy' and distracting.

Really enjoyed building this one and look forward attempting more Warlord stuff in the not-too-distant future.

That's it for now,

Monty



Happy New Year!

I've been wallowing in the annual festive fug  and all normal routine has been duly kicked into touch. However, prior to breaking off for Christmas I did complete a number of long term jobs I had on the go for some time and will post them upon my return to London in the New Year.

In the meantime a picture of my very modest Christmas swag will have to suffice - the little woman and I decided upon austerity measures this year due to the impending, delayed global financial collapse.  There are a couple of things missing, a few bottles of grog and  a blu-ray of one of my favourite films, Gangs of New York.

Two things worth mentioning; wargaming took a back seat on my austerity list, as I already have numerous uncompleted projects littered about the place. However, I can't wait to get my mitts on Conquest Games' Norman Infantry, which upon initial inspection, look great.

Another pressie I'm looking forward to getting to grips with is 'Decision Points' - the political memoirs of George W.Bush. We all know he is widely ridiculed - often unjustifiably - particularly among the naturally Left-leaning European press and has made a number of gaffes, usually during public speaking events; however, I find him fascinating and am looking forward to reading his account; my thoughts of which will be posted in due course.

2013 is a monumental year for me on a personal front, as redundancy looms which brings to an end nearly twenty-nine years service as a soldier in the British Army due to defence cuts. Suffice to say, new challenges abound!

All that remains though is to wish you all a very Happy New Year and look forward to more painting, gaming and blogging (but almost certainly not in that order!)

That's it for now,

Monty

The Butt of all Jokes...

My usual slow plod has come to a temporary halt due to me being laid up following a minor operation on the old Farmer Giles; with the post-op convalescence of which I don't recommend to anyone, proving a considerable pain in the arse - boom,boom.

Suffice to say, I am unable to sit comfortably ('ooh, er, missus') for any length of time to paint, and in any case, my modelling stuff lives at my work flat in London; so I am separated from it for at least another week  - doh!

However, prior to this unfortunate occurence, I was cracking on (no pun intended) in two unrelated directions - nothing new there - primarily on...Warlord Games excellent 28mm 'Boadicea Triumphant!' model, which the little woman kindly bought me for my birthday.

As you can see, the chariot remains distinctly unoccupied at present, although both Boudica and her faithful charioteer are prepped, primed and ready to go; I decided to approach this project as three separate parts; horses, chariot and figures to maintain impetus. This is probably the single most ambitious  model I have attempted, despite 'wargaming' on and off since 1996; therein belies the extent of my achievements and vision in this great hobby to date! In fairness, I tend to concentrate on smaller scales primarily, so perhaps I am being a little harsh on myself...ho,hum.

I had intended the horses to be both white (cliché, I know, but who cares?), but after a couple of cock-ups with the washes I was using - I tend to overdo them - they ended up like this, which I quite like. My aim is to complete the model by Christmas - I know, my ambitions know no bounds!

...and secondly, some Colonial British infantry from my favourite 15mm manufacturer, Peter Pig, and their excellent 'Patrols in the Sudan' range. Those that have read my sporadic posts in the past may recall my liking of Two Hour Wargames (THW) and these troops  are the first finished for use with their Colonial Adventures rules set. All of THW's products are designed to use any basing systems you may already have, so I decided to base my rank and file on multiple stands -  to allow flexibility for use in other rules sets -  and the NCOs on separate bases as originally intended.

THW games can be as big or small as you like - the latter of which suits me perfectly - and still give a dynamic, entertaining experience. They are equally suited to head to head, same side or solo play and are designed with all three in mind.

I will post more progress reports once I get up and running again; my apologies to those of a reserved or squeamish disposition regarding the introduction of this post; but I believe in spreading my self-pitying misery to as many unsuspecting recipients as possible in a vain attempt at sympathy; and we all know where that can be found in the dictionary... :)

That's it for now,

Monty