CANNONS FROM CADW

We visited Raglan Castle on Saturday to celebrate Arthur's forthcoming birthday and had a jolly time. Rooting among the little gift area of the shop I came across these useful cannon pencil sharpeners. They look mid to late 19c to me...perfect in fact for Little Wars (other than they sharpen pencils rather than fire matchsticks). They were £2.60 each, but I also had a 10% discount as we are CADW (Welsh Heritage) members (cheaper and better value than English Heritage I'm afraid).

Has anyone any idea if they represent historical guns...perhaps Parrotts apart from the funny extra arms on the breach knob?

here is one of the guns (I bought 2 for myself) with some of the newly arrived soon to be Danish 1/32 ACW figures. Any info on Danish guns of 1864 would be useful. I have ordered a book from Helion on the Danish army but it has yet to arrive.

1864 DANISH TINKERING

Spurred on by a post today by Tradgardmastare , who is a fan of all things Danish, I grabbed a handy volunteer from a growing pile of 54mm ACW figures. I have no reference of Danish uniforms for the Second Schleswig War other than browsing the internet but the main differences seem to be the lower flatter cap and the double breasted coat. I trimmed the kepi down, and built the rear of it up with Vallejo putty, carved off the buttons and added a new coat opening and 2 rows of buttons and a set of muttonchops

I daresay the blanket roll and straps are incorrect, but as yet I have no book to refer to with Danish uniforms in (are there any available?)

Some re-enactors below

 On the subject of 54mm ACW, a hearty thanks to the Duc de Gobin, who recently sent me a very nice pile of figures he no longer needed, including some nicely painted chaps and some rare Timpo figures in there as well. Many thanks Darren. The generosity of fellow gamers is a thing to wonder at.  I have to admit I find it hard to part with any soldiers, I love 'em so much, so other peoples kindness is all the more marvellous to me. These chaps may find themselves pressed into service as Danes.

FLAT PACK TREES

I've just stumbled across this company Bold Frontiers producing cardboard trees which are excellent. The website is refreshingly frank about playing with toy soldiers too.

There seem to be 3 different packs, available individually or as a bundle for $33 Australian dollars. I think I will invest in some for the boys.

SPACE SAVING BUILDINGS

Apologies for not posting for some time, work and general business gets in the way, at least Blogger is letting me post pictures again...hurrah. An enforced day off from work due to galloping gutrot and the arrival of my 50th follower (welcome Baconfat, thanks for following) prompts me to get my behind into gear.

A couple of bloggers have been dabbling with space saving terrain recently, and I really like the effects of 2d scenery, much like stage scenery as Tradgardmastre said. I actually painted these buildings about a year ago during lunch hours sitting in one of the polytunnels at work (my colleagues think I'm cracked, which is fine), but as usual I have only just got round to photygrafting them . 3mm MDF each house made in 2 parts.

They look quite Cotswoldy , and should do for ECW or FLW's. I have a church half completed, so maybe I should creep back into the polytunnel before the weather warms up and makes it too hot.

CASTLES AND VILLAGES

Taking the opportunity to use up a couple of days of 2012 leave, I took yesterday and today off. Yesterday we headed over the old Severn Bridge to Chepstow castle and laid siege to it

The victorious army storms the drawbridge into the barbican.

 The castle is certainly situated in a dramatic location, and the use of natural defences is stunning, the River Wye being visible on the right, flowing past the base of a sheer cliff on which the castle is perched. 

Today we visited a slightly more peaceful landscape in the form of Boughton-on-the-Water model village
http://www.theoldnewinn.co.uk/model-village.html

 A fine testament to the English eccentric (building model houses and miniature landscapes....potty). The model, built in 1937 is a 1/9th scale replica of the heart of the Cotswold town, complete with flowing river, bridges and miniature gardens.

Here George displays a worrying interest in the Aston Martin (?) parked outside the largest domicile in the village.

Some of the buildings are starting to show their age a bit, but it was a great day out. From the little shop I picked up this splendid title

Absolutely tailor made for the outdoor wargaming enthusiast, and I heartily recommend it to any FLW enthusiasts who plan on building more permanent terrain in their gardens.

Here is the blurb from the back of the book

 "This book is about an absorbing new hobby-how to make a miniature living landscape. It might be as small as a window box or large enough to hold a model thatched cottage with trees, forests, lakes and downs. This is an entirely new gardening activity and one that will fascinate all those, young and old alike, who are interested in gardening or are looking for a new pastime.

The plants and trees are individually described, and instructions and advice are given on the various containers which can form a home for the miniature landscape. Planting and care, fencing gates, brickwork, tools, pottery, nailing, painting, streams and farm equipment are all clearly explained. The book is about the fun, adventure and pure pleasure of creating an individual tiny world..."

I think we can all relate to the last sentence. I can see a sudden surge of miniature plants (all suitable varieties listed in the book, some of which I have never heard of) being stocked at work as soon as we start buying in stock again...

THE BIG CHEESES

Continuing with some FLW figures here are a couple of Black army Generals from Dolp Figures.

I hope to cast up some figures myself soon and am scouring my old 28mm boxes for candidates to melt down. Does anyone know the best place to get good casting metal, as Prince August is rather pricey (I wish to remain on good terms with the Vicar, so Church roof is out).





ARMY BLACK STARTS IT'S MARCH

At the start of the year I swore not to undertake any new projects, but within days I was captivated by the shiny soldiers on the Tin Soldiering On blog, and the whole idea of actually firing cannons at them to knock them over, just as I did umpteen years ago. The idea formulating is to build armies for The Invasion of 1910 as written about by William Le Queux.

First off some Germans

The bodies are White Metal Mail and the heads Irregular.



ARBORICULTURAL FUN

I was looking at my 54mm figures despondently on yesterday, wondering how on earth I was ever going to get enough terrain made to have a decent layout/game, when I remembered this picture I had seen on the Irregular Miniatures website

using some very simple slot together houses and basic walls. Also on Mannie Gentile's wonderful blog
http://toysoldiersforever.blogspot.com/

he shows how to make some fantastic flat pack trees. Well, as I am drifting towards the toy soldier approach rather than the wargaming one, I rather like the idea of flatpack scenery, and it's just the sort of thing my Dad would have made for fun (not that he was a soldier collector). I have just spent a pleasant hour in the garage cutting out nice shapes of trees and bushes, and fully intend to do more tomorrow and then have a bash at some houses and a church

Some shrubs, oak trees, limes and poplars.



For stability I will drill holes in the base of the trees, and make some circular stands with dowel inserts to hold them up.

NEW COOKER

Took delivery of this hotplate today as I have ordered some moulds from Prince August and plan to start casting 54mm Toy soldiers. Back  in 1982, I had some Prince August orc moulds and cast up thousands of the little blighters, but this was using molten lead in an old cast iron ladle balanced on a camping stove (what were my parents thinking of?).
This time I plan to be a bit more safety conscious!