Merry Christmas And A Happy New Year!

 Another year is just about done, and I hope you all have a safe and happy one.

Just don’t over do the punch…

Here’s a few toys I’ve done, all ancients this time.

First up some Romans, mostly Airfix with new bingo chip shields. The originals went astray and I bought these guys sans scutum. I love those old Giant officer figures.

Next up is more Marx Madness. Captain Gallant figures manning Airfix Roman chariots as Persians, and some Persian cavalry from Giant knights.

And finally, a work in progress from a quarter century ago. Spartan hoplites from Marx Captain Gallant figures with plasticene shields, helmets and cloaks. The spears are florist wire and pop off if handled too much, so I made a special box just for them to be stored in. 

Well that’s it this time. Best wishes for the New Year!

Winter Update

 Not much new this winter, except all the snow.

We don’t get the big snowfalls like people down east with those Nor’Westers or people in Colorado with the huge snowfalls.

But we do get blizzards, which is sustained high winds and snow.

This year they’ve been a near weekly occurrence and we are getting blocked in by all the drifts.

So it’s been a great time to do favourite tv and movie rewatches, read a book and paint toy soldiers.

Here’s a scene reminiscent of Valmy. Hong Kong soldiers made into Revolutionary war period French.

Next are a few Thirty Years War types. The large base is a terico, made of figures from one box of Mars figures. The pikes are those provided in the set and a bit of an experiment on my part. I used to just use florist wire, but after I dropped a biscuit tin full of pikemen, I kinda walked away from them. These soft plastic pikes may not be painted (yet) but they stay in place. 

These next guys are actually lead 25mm Minifigs S range if I’m not mistaken. I bought a bunch of broken figures and these guys were in them. No swords, but they look ok on those Giant copy horses. Also there is  a squadron of Warrior Miniatures 25mm French Cuirassier.  

And finally here’s some of those medieval figures I bought and featured in the last blog post. They paint up nicely.

Blemmyes: An Early Dollar Store Army

 I started these guys in the early 90’s.

I saw the listing in the WRG book “Armies and Enemies of Rome” and it listed Blemyes as having elephants and cataphtact cavalry. Most of their forces were skirmishing archers.

I saw other lists for them, Irregular Miniatures offered an army in their 25mm lists (now rebranded as 28mm to stay relevant with the trend to larger figures) with elephants, archers, cavalry and camels.

So I was hooked.

Modern spellings have changed to “Blemmyes” or “Blemmae”

As for their battles, the Wikipedia entry is enticing:

“ The cultural and military power of the Blemmyes started to grow to such a level that in 193, Pescennius Niger asked a Blemmye king of Thebesto help him in the battle against the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus.^{[citation needed]} In 250, the Roman Emperor Decius put in much effort to defeat an invading army of Blemmyes.^[13] A few years later, in 253, they attacked Upper Egypt (Thebaid) again but were quickly defeated. In 265, they were defeated again by the Roman Prefect Firmus, who later in 273 would rebel against the Empire and the Queen of the Palmyrene Empire, Zenobia, with the help of the Blemmyes themselves. The Blemmyes were said to have joined forces with the Palmyrans against the Romans in the battle of Palmyra in 273^[13]

The Roman general Marcus Aurelius Probus took some time to defeat the usurpers with his allies but could not prevent the occupation of Thebais by the Blemmyes. That meant another war and almost an entire destruction of the Blemmyes army (279-280).^[13][14][15]

During the reign of Diocletian, the province of Upper Aegyptus, Thebaid, was again occupied by the Blemmyes. In 298, Diocletian made peace with the Nobatae and Blemmyes tribes, agreeing that Rome would move its borders north to Philae (South Egypt, south of Aswan) and pay the two tribes an annual gold stipend.^[16][13]”

^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blemmyes}

I decided to use the dollar store generic WW2 toys that were in abundance and add in toy elephants, camels and use Giant Indians for cavalry.

My first lot of soldiers were the “follow me” GI.

The problem was the bow.

Shields were easy, hole punch rounds, and the quivers were clipped round toothpicks.

But the bows were tough.

Metal didn’t bond well with plastic and fell off if bumped or picked up.

So I tried using dried pine needles of an appropriate size.

They were also slightly curved. But they eventually snapped off leaving me in the same fix.

So I ditched them and went with a running figure, rifle painted as a spear.

The cavalry turned out really nice, I think anyway.

The cataphracts have plasticine armour and a slung spear, no kontos were used.

I recently added a few armoured officers, from the Zvezda Alexander Nevsky box.

Some Late Roman/Byzantine Soldiers Plus Some New Dollar Store Items

 

These are some infantry, just toys from the Risk game “Godstorm!”

I have some other infantry, loosely based on the Hinchliffe figures and WRG book “Armies and Enemies of Rome”, that I posted here: http://dougssoldiers.blogspot.com/2015/10/some-photos-i-found.html

Here’s a wider shot:

The cavalry in front are Emhar rowing Vikings with plastic shield on Giant recast horses.

And another

I have a metal command figure I picked up on eBay. He might be a stand in for Justinian or Stilicho. As an aside, author Kieth Roberts book “ The Boat of Fate” has a vivid description of Stilicho. An excellent book on late Rome set in France, Spain and Britain. One of my favourite re reads.

Next up is a regiment of British Waterloo Hussars. These are some of those guys I picked up a while back from eBay. I did some touch ups to the chipping of old Humbrol paint and coated with a seal of wax. Nice figures but the original owner never painted up the trumpeters or kettle drummers.

Finally some new made in China dollar store toys.

New poses!

And they are close to 1/72 scale!

Unfortunately I had to get these on eBay and not my local store. I guess with shipping backlogs it will be some time before I see them here.

Anyway, here’s the eBay photos which show the poses in two colours and an idea of their size:

Here’s my own size comparisons:

Top row left, Airfix Paratrooper pretty close in scale, next pair is the  1/76 scale “Follow me” GI officer who is towered over by the new guy.  The last two pairs are Airfix Waterloo French and they aren’t too badly matched size wise.

Bottom row: a made in Hong Kong GI next to the new pose, quite a difference, and finally a couple of pairs of 1/76 scale Matchbox figures being dwarfed by the new guys.

Over all the new figures are crude, but the  poses are unique and for me, someone who cuts them up, drills them and slathers them with plasticine, I have to say I’m pleased. Some poses have wide spaced legs which might make mounting them on horseback that much easier.

Anyway, a curiosity perhaps, but one with some use.

Some Oddments I’ve Been Working On

 I’ve taken a bit of a break now that the lock down is over (for now…) by getting out and walking and listening to podcasts.

So here’s some items I’ve had on the go for a while now…

Polish Napoleonic lancers from the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, and a couple of fanciful horse guns. Giant toys with Esci riders. The lancers are Esci lancers on Thai Giant copies with plasticine shebraques.

Austrian foot artillery and an ammunition wagon. Odd looking  perhaps but I based it on a Minifigs model I saw in a French wargame magazine, “Uniformes”.

A selection of stuff. Heading is a group of Mexican militia. Suitable for Cinco De Mayo or even the Mexican Civil War. Converted Indians from the Lucky toys Revolutionary War Set.

Next is a toy coach I dolled up to be a European coach, suitable for a highway man or woman (Mary Ferrers) or for Marlborough to offer to Clerembault.

In the centre  is a Hinchliffe 25mm Marshal Murat from their Personalities range. I always had a weak spot for Hinchliffe. The other weak spot was in my wallet which couldn’t afford them way back when.

The coach again making a hasty exit stage right.

Finally a mix of 25 mm figures. I often buy mixed lots of figures and this is a result. Several Spanish generals painted up rather fancifully, one was horseless so he got a plasticine saddle and a Thai Giant horse. The Royal Foot Artillery guys are manning a gun from Eagle Games.

In the back are a couple of Minifig ADC’s painted up as fanciful dudes, maybe Spanish?

And the rest are Prince August Waterloo figures. I love finding these in eBay purchases as their lack of detail and over all smoothness make them true toy soldiers that look great in bright colours and gloss.

Well, that’s it for now.

I’m still working on Edgehill. Hope to have it up soon.

French Napoleonic Hussars

 Here’s some more of my figs. This time it’s mostly Italeri’s first release of French hussars.

Two regiments, the 3rd leading the 7th. I used Funcken’s books on the Napoleonic wars as a guide. I also used Airfix British Waterloo Hussars as is for elite troopers. I mixed in a few Hat horses as well.

A few observations on the Italeri figures. Disappointingly, they mostly lack a pelisse. Now I don’t know why, but my idea of a hussar is a fancy uniform, and a coat on the shoulder flying out behind them as they charge forward. Why Italeri opted for such lack lustre figures, I’ll never know.

Also those Airfix figures are going on 50 years old. But Italeri are lucky to have been existent for half that time, yet they are brittle as wax. Horse tails, arms, legs, all snap off with the least provocation.

Anyways...

I also am putting up some shots of a fun diversion I did during the last Covid shut down. I took some of my banged up Giant artillery caissons and added some gunners, and a base of generic horse artillery riders made from cowboys.

An interesting aside, I should have rewatched Ridley Scott’s “The Duelists”, as Kieth Carradine’s character was a Third Regiment Hussar:

I shoulda used a dull grey...

C’est la Guerre.....

*******

some more pix