I Went Through My Camera

and I found some pictures I had passed over.
These are Little Lead Soldier French Napoleonic Cuirassier.
They are somewhat hard to find nowadays. Their price varies depending on the seller, some on ebay want $25 or more for a bag, and others are more reasonable. I have over a hundred bags from all ages, and I managed to buy these in a few large buys at a reasonable price. The miniatures have 10 or 11 cavalry with riders, and accoutrements like sabretache, muskets etc. They also come with a tin base. They way to put them together is with a soldering iron or some really good glue. I also found that there are often more riders than horses in the bags. And that's how I mounted these cuirassier on Giant horses.

Plasticine shebraques, wooden plumes.

 Some Guard Artillery crews.

 A while back I bought a bag or two of Old Glory figures. This I *think* is a Jan Ziska but I am probably wrong. He is from this pack: http://www.oldgloryminiatures.com/proddetail.asp?prod=DIF-37

 Some of my 204 Lucky Toys pile

A close up of my ubiquitous camp followers. They started out as Airfix copies of the WW2 8th Army figures. Wire, plasticine and paint conversions.
Some fun and favorite books which feature toy soldiers.

 There were three titles that I'm aware of. My favorite is Trenton, which features composite figures.

 This is a great book. I have a couple copies. One that's dog eared from years of use/abuse, and a better copy. Written by historian and wargamer David Chandler, it is a great read, but it also features three battles set up with Peter Gilder Hinchliffe miniatures.

 The back cover, showing Gettysburg, with Hinchliffe and Spenser Smith Miniatures.

 The battle of Daras. Belisaurius man handles the Sassanians with the help of some huns. I love this set up.

 The unachievable. Waterloo, looking from Hougomont to La Haye Sainte. Just beautiful.

Pickets Charge, so colourful.
Anyway, I hope you liked the mish mash. It does pay to dig through your camera's memory from time to time....

Something Different...

A year and a half ago I visited a North American Indian religious site. I took a bunch of pictures, and I thought that some wargamers might be interested in this sort of thing to model on a DBA camp or diorama.

 The area is a wide expanse of bare granite rocks in the Whiteshell area of eastern Manitoba. A series of designs were created by Indians long ago (First Nations peoples) and spiritual ceremonies were carried out there. Today it is seen as a religious site for these people, and visitors are asked to look but not touch as people today still visit and hold ceremonies.

Some of the rock forms are easily recognizable while others are not. There are also some overgrown with grass on the edges of the site.

Today First Nations people often leave offerings to spirits and past relatives. Tobacco, prayers, artwork, trinkets, coins are often left as offerings in prayer. Sometimes they leave colourful material tied to a tree.

Unusual for me, I happened upon a plastic WW2 German soldier toy and some dice. Wargaming follows me everywhere.
The area of the petroforms is wild. It's along a lake and the bush around it is typical for the whiteshell, not the easiest bush to walk through.

I saw some wildlife in the form of an eagle and some deer.

An Interesting Garage Sale Find

I found these card soldiers at a Saturday garage sale long ago. A friend was coming over to look at some of my old 54mm western toys with an eye to buying some, and I found these in a bag between a couple of containers.

These are printed on hard cardstock and quite large. I put a Garrison 25mm Cavalryman next to the last picture. Targeteer? That's one we don't often see on ECW wargame tables, unless it's Scottish or Irish?
Unusual paper soldiers with snippets of information. I wonder if any wargamers were introduced to the hobby with these paper dolls?