Plasticine Dreams

Here are some more of those cheap made in China toys I've been messing with. These guys are French style troops with plasticine hats, coats and packs, and toothpick guns and bayonettes.

The command grouping. An officer, a flag bearer, a pioneer and a drummer.

On their way to 48 ranks each some day.

These are an odd pose that I'd thought I'd use. They are the "Follow Me!" WW2 US G.I. officer waving his hand and a pistol. Plasticine tricornes and a toothpick gun and now they are marching enthusiastically. At least I hope so....

Some Pom-pom trees, just a nail, a poker chip and one of these fluffy pom-poms you see at the craft stores.

The start of something new. French style hussars from plastic cowboys and indians I bought from a guy in Thailand. I removed the head and an arm and replaced with 20 gauge florist wire from Michaels. Then I built up the arms with a thick contact cement, and added plasticine for detail. The horses are Giant knock offs, but these are thicker with sturdy legs.

A French General

A shame this picture didn't turn out. I'll replace it eventually. Again, this is a chopped up cowboy figure.

A French Hussar General from the Funcken Lace Wars book, and an ADC.

I rather like these guys.

Arquebusiers de Grassin from the Funcken book. Riding two to a horse. On a sad note, I read online that Mr. Funcken recently passed away. He was a real talent and very influential to many wargamers. In point of fact, I recently purchased 2 seasons of "Callan, and one of Mr. Funcken's book was used by a character as a reference.

A full regiment of Imagi-nation Dragoons. These are all the Thai cowboy figures with plasticine additions, including the trumpet and flag.

The full regiment. Silly pose perhaps, but these guys are loaded for bear! Pistols and carbines and no reins!

Here's a look at those Thailand imports. Very affordable and with new poses I've never seen before. The plastic is nice and soft, carves easily, is easily drilled, takes glue and acrylic paint. I've more on the go. I'll post again soon.

Wargames Factory War of the Spanish Succession

Wargames Factory is a real inovator in that they create figure sets that are plastic, a large 28mm in size, with customizable heads and body parts and accessories. I picked up a couple boxes, infantry and cavalry for about $20 each. The infantry make 36 figures and the cavalry 12.  They also offer spare bodies in groups of 12 for sale as well as any other parts, on ebay and at their website. I ordered more and ended up with 144 marching figures, some of which are here:

They paint up well, and they really are nice and sturdy. The hard plastic bayonettes have taken some abuse and they remain OK. Wargames Factory is now releasing their artillery and mounted commanders sets. I highly recommend these for anyone wanting to try a new period without a lot of upfront cost.
They also do ancients, samurai and World War 2, and fantasy as well.

El Cid

I picked up a copy of Games Workshop's El Cid source book.
It was the usual well produced and colourful item that got me to make some Spanish figures from what I had to hand. To whit, HaT Spanish and Gaullic cavalry, some home cast Normans and some Revell ones, and Airfix and Italeri foot soldiers. The flags are really what sold me to do these:

More Thirty Years War

Here's a few more Dollar Store Thirty Years War guys and some from the Russian maker Mars.

It's somewhat unfortunate that makers often focus on famous units, even if their actual number was very small.

Wikipedia mentions that the famous French Musketeers were a small unit of some 150 men at this time.

Anyway, I have 2 units of men on foot painted up and 3 mounted. The Mars set doesn't have mounted troops, so I just did a conversion with Giant horses. I also made a Conde like figure from an Australian.

My penchant for big flags, these made out of hobby wooden squares, continues apace.

On the good news front, Mars has made a fine artillery set, three per box with crew and 6 mounted figures (2 poses), as well as others from this period to come. I hear tell that some of Cardinal Richelieu's guards are on their way.  D'artagnon, ou etes-vous?