Napoleonic Update

Here's a unit of 28 Austrian Cuirassier That I did some 15 years ago. They started life as Esci French Cuirassier and with paint and plasticene they changed sides. Unfortunately some of the helmets have seen hard times.

Hat Industrie Nassauers. I doubt if I will make these guys into a large 48 man units. Nice figures, the plastic is a soft plyable type that takes paint well. Paper flags painted by me.

Austrians on their way to becoming 48 man units. Revell, Hat and Airfix, with some Hat Cuirassier and Italeri
French Hussars standing in as Austrians milling about in the background. The command figures in front are Giant conversions on better horses.

Close up of these commanders. Archduke Charles (in the greatcoat) keeps losing his plasticene hat. One poor devil seems to have slipped from the saddle in the heat of battle. Bad form old chap!

2 batteries of Airfix French artillery, with Esci guns and howitzers. Hat Ammo wagons to the rear. In front are a command group of a general/Marshal type with 2 ADC's. The Cuirassier (the 12th) have a blue, which the camera has really turned to almost a Bavarian cornflower blue. Perhaps I need new glasses.

In the background are foot Dragoons. Created with "Made in China" US WW2 infantry (plasticene again), they have lasted these 20 odd years. I have 2 full units of 28 of them...somewhere.

Those bright blue cuirassier.

The command group. I used a mix of makers here, and used Squadron Green Putty for detailing. The officer was a headless figure that I made a new head and hat for.

Three units of Airfix British Waterloo Hussar cavalry in the true Charles Grant "The Wargame" style. Unfortunately, one man on the right hand regiment has gone Astray, which is some where between Brussels and my basement.

Ykreol casualty bases. Certainly a macabre subject, and I took the plunge and ordered a bunch of them from a seller in Hong Kong. They paint up reasonably well, and are made of a plastic/resin compound. The detail is good. However they really aren't worth the price. A single box costs as much as a box of Italeri or Hat figures, so a bargain they aren't. Perhaps more of a curiosity. The company website promises large "Battle Sets". I bought one, of the Little Big Horn, which has some 80 horses and men casualties. I'll post these later. They also promise a Teutoberger Wald set and another in the near future. These were worth while, the cost around $30.

Russian Cuirassier casualties from Ykreol.

Italeri Czar Alexander.

Fanciful Russian conversions, a Chevalier Garde with a captured standard, and a couple of extra Cuirassier.

Russian Horse Artillery from Airfix, Hat and Giant. Only after I started did I realise that I gave these Horse Artillerymen packs. I didn't bother to shave them off. Oh well, c'est la guerre.

Neapolitan Foot Artillery Battery. The horses are Airfix Sheriff of Nottingham with plasticene acoutrements, Us cavalry rider and a Nottingham knight. I used florist wire for the shafts, and I found and saved this braided string about 30 years ago, and finally have a use for it.

Russian Foot Artillery. As you can see, the string and florist wire would liven up an otherwise stark base.

Old School Imagi-Nations Armies

A real mish mash here of lead and plastic, makers included are Garrison 25mm, Little Lead Soldiers, Scruby, Lucky Toys, Giant, Airfix, China, Revell, Zvezda and many others, some of whom I have no idea where they came from.
Note the explosions, an idea I've favoured for some time now.

Not Quite The Final Frontier

My Klingon-esque ship being hard done by courtesy of some green aliens ships that may have been Rawl Plugs.

Amarillo Design Bureau Federation Carrier with two Old Cruiser escort and 2 Studio Bergstrom frigates as consorts. The heavy wooden base is a necessity, as the mini is just too heavy for the plastic bases.

A Federation like cruiser about to give the order to "Abandon Ship!".

A bashed heavy dreadnaught.

As close as I'll get to a Federation like heavy cruiser with this lot. Small cruisers in the background.

Medium class ships made from poker chips and bits from other ships.

The fleet is growing.

I found a lot of these soft rubber space ships at a local importer store. On their own they aren't bad, but the UFO saucer types needed to be made more Federation like. The eraser like material is easy to cut with an Xacto. Also a lot of the ships can be cut up to make other smaller vessels. My Google bug a boo of misplaced text continues apace....

Dollar Store Thirty Years War

I often see these World War 2 figures at Dollar Stores around town. These are Australians, and apart from their intended purpose, I have used them in a variety of places, such as The Vendean Wars and as shown here, in the Thirty Years War. I must also appologize for the poor way some captions ended up on this page. This Google editor makes your post look proper in Compose mode, but once you Preview it, the text is all over the place. *Sigh*

Here's a shot of my Dollar Store converts facing off a Warrior Miniatures 20mm English Civil War army- or part of it.

The dearth of banners is my laziness. I have no excuse, especially after I picked up a copy of Edourde Wagner's magnificent tome "Armies of the Thirty Years War". Richly illustrated with detailed watercolours, it is worth every penny, which is what it will cost you if you find a copy. (*EDIT*) When I'm at the library I don't have my books to hand, and I looked and the book I refer to is: "European Weapons And Warfare 1618-1648" by Eduarde Wagner - ISBN 0706410/0-7064-1072-6, published by Octopus Books, 1979. Currently there is a copy on Abebooks that is going for $119, and another in German for $408. I got mine for around $120. Expensive but I felt it was worth while.

Cudgel men.

Mounted Pike Dragoons from Giant brand cowboys.

Here's an odd lot. They are the closest I have to Gendarmes. I know they shouldn't have shields and I left them black. These are home cast copies of an original Giant knight. Horses are a mixed lot, Giant, Revell and a few others.

Pikemen are made with 20 gauge florist wire.

The brace of pistols in the background are awaiting some future rainy day to try and make these Halloween props look like weapons worthy of display on the wall.

Old School Update: More Marx Madness

More Marx Captain Gallant figures.
As I said before I have a bunch of these and I have tried all sorts of simple conversions or just straight paint jobs to find a use for them.
First up is a pic of some US Civil War era figures. Union soldiers, Confederates and early war Zouaves.

Back to my 1866 Sadowa figures. This first group is a 40mm Austrian command set I picked up on ebay. They were in a sorry state of almost no paint and showing some damage. The figures are Kober (I think) and are meant to represent Austrians of the late 19th and early 20th century. The few paint flakes left were a medium gray. I decided to promote them to command my growing Austrian army. Their large size is in keeping with their stature as command figures and as grand dads of the wargaming ilk. Shades of Callan perhaps.....

The Austrian army has grown by 4 more battalions. I have done away with trying to add plasticine packs as they fall off quite readily. In fact I'm begining to think that "achoo!" is a secret Austrian order to "Drop Packs!". A lot of fiddly repairs every time I get them out.


The last grouping is an attempt to use some of the figures as a Wild Geese Regiment. I'm hoping that the addage "The bigger The Hat, The Better The Soldier" holds true on some future wargame table...