HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH

Following on with a more cheerful post, here is a 54mm figure I painted a while back as the start of a 54mm Funny Little Wars project, but based in The War of the Spanish Succession (I'm calling it Funny Little Wigs). I plan to paint a small force each for the allies and the Franco-Bavarians and am making good progress with the former.

A rather nice figure from Tradition, but Rose Miniatures do an even better version of the Duke which I hope to get hold of (for Christmas). 

AM I BEING OVER SENSITIVE OR IS THIS JUST AN EXAMPLE OF TERRIBLE CUSTOMER RELATIONS?

Well I needed a boot up the jacksie to actually post something on this blog....we have been camera less and without a pc for a while,, and although I have been busy painting (and gaming surprisingly) I have had little inclination to post much...apologies to followers one and all.

Anyhow, Steve Weston toy soldiers provided the catalyst to get me to write this post, but unfortunately in a negative way. here follows a copy of the email conversation we have just had

following on from a enquiry about a Replicants set.

MY EMAIL
Thanks Steve, could you send me an execution set please? I can send you a cheque if you let me know postage costs or pay by paypal if you prefer. I'm also looking for a UK source of Supreme knights and Vikings (primarily for my son)...any ideas?

THE REPLY (my thoughts in bold)
Hi Mike, the minimum P+P is £4.20  for the first kilo ("but I only want a few figures"), total for this order would be £13.20 with P+P but you could add a lot more figures to this which would not change the P+P price.

you want to give your son figures made by Supreme?("yes") do you also feed him MacDonalds? ("No") Shame on you both counts! ("I feel so much better having been falsely labelled as a neglectful parent")

Paypal? Surely you are not still encouraging them and their ridiculous fees? ("I have never paid them a penny and wish to save my own time and money as well as using less paper for ecological reasons")

Payment by cheque , Postal order (remember them ?) ("Yes, I am not suffering from Alzheimer's Disease or Vascular dementia") or card.

Thanks Steve (" you're welcome, any time you want to randomly insult someone, I'm your man.")

perhaps I am being a bit touchy, but working in retail myself, I had always understood it was good policy to make the customer feel valued so they come back again. It's fine to think some of them are complete morons, but ideally you keep those thoughts to yourself so they come back and spend more money. I think Mr Weston believes he has his customers over a barrel being the only stockist of Replicants figures...in a way he is correct, but this doesn't give him licence to insult them with impunity. He infers that because I am enquiring after these (I think rather nice) figures (lifted from the excellent Penny Whistle blogspot)

I feed my kids junk food (ie. don't care for their well being)

I could answer that

1.. I hold the opinion that a lot of the figures he stocks are pretty flaky
2. By using post and cheques I am wasting paper, time and my own money
3. His own postage fees seem pretty ridiculous (they are only a few pieces of plastic for Gawd's sake)
4. Even if we did feast upon big Macs daily it's none of his damn business.
etc etc. (any more comments I might make would be most welcome).

Unless I can get hold of the priest figure from the Replicants execution of Charles 1st set elsewhere  I suspect I will go ahead and place the order with gritted teeth but honestly...some people.

I had a similar experience a while back from Minden Miniatures.... a polite enquiry on postage costs (not specified on the webpage) brought forth a torrent of abuse (containing swear words) along the lines of " how the f.... do I know postage costs unless you place an order  and tell me what you want". Needless to say that time I didn't proceed with the order. (scroll right down to comment if you would like to.... I can't seem to get rid of the gap between the end of this post and the comment box!)

A CASTLE, TWO PARTERRES, AND A GROVE OF ORANGE TREES

We piled into the car today and headed up the Wye Valley to Goodrich castle. Last time I was there was in 1997 with the ECWS taking part in a brilliant siege with earthworks , gabions etc , probably one of the best re-enactment events I've taken part in.

English Heritage have tarted up their reception area, and racked up the prices, but there were some interesting exhibits,

Roaring Meg, the only surviving ECW mortar used in the 1646 siege

Two gargoyles I don't remember from my 1997 visit.

The Norman keep

The castle seems to grow out of the rock

Some lovely Herefordshire/Monmouthshire countryside

George tries his hand at the mysterious art of gunnery.

After visiting the castle we went on to Westbury Court Gardens, a rare surviving example of a late 17c Dutch style water garden

A fine canal

Neptune reigns here (I am writing a paper on pagan imagery in 18c gardens, but may have to include this as he is 1690's)

I can just imagine Mr. Neville from the Draughtsman's Contract setting up his easel here.

The pavilion from the end of the long canal.

All in all a jolly day out mixing warfare and gardening.

THIN RED LINES

The usual apologies for not posting for a good while, I've just been bone idle combined with a large black dog hanging about in my head . Every so often (usually in the Autumn) I feel like chucking all my figures out of the window and starting a single project from scratch, one that doesn't need rare and hard to source figures and provides a game with nice neat lines of soldiers in uniforms found in handy reference books and not too much imagination.( I suppose it's a comfort thing, like putting on a favourite jumper or cravat after a long and tediously hot summer).
 This generally means any conflict between 1700 and 1900. Seven Years War and Napoleonic don't really float my boat (although I do like Napoloeonic Bavarians and Brunswickers), but I have always had a real interest in The War of the Spanish Succession. The uniforms are attractive, but not too complicated and of course the wigs are a bonus. There is a good supply of uniform and reference books (including plenty of eyewitness accounts) but not an overwhelming amount. Likewise the figures are readily available, but not too much choice. I find the 28mm figures out there a bit bobbleheaded, so that leaves a choice of 20mm, 40mm or 54mm. The latter ticks the toysoldier box and inspiration can be found at the wonderful (but sadly quiet) blog Vauban and Shandy . 20mm are cheap, the rank and file coming from Zvezda's Infantry of Peter the Great . Zvezda likewise do artillery and some cavalry which could be supplemented with Irregular and Les Higgins figures , they also paint up nicely with a nostalgic "Airfix" feel. I have never painted 40mm figures before but I have a Marlburian officer I picked up on ebay and it's a nice scale. Figures from Irregular , supplemented with Price August semi-rounds, the cavalry would have to have the coat tails converted.

Just to get in the mood, and wielding a paintbrush again, I tried painting a few plastic Zvezda infantry as British foot. I was quite pleased with the result, 10 figures in an evening using white undercoat, and then yacht varnished.

NEW ROBIN OF SHERWOOD FIGURES FROM CONQUEST

Hot on the heels of my last post, I got a message today from Mike Hoddinott at Conquest Games telling me the next 4 figures in their Wolfshead range were out today. I have been waiting for this second pack for over a year now so I was very excited.

On viewing the figures I was a little disappointed by the Herne the Hunter figure, but having done my own conversion of this character it doesn't matter too much, The Nasir figure is good  but the beard looks a little full, Mark Ryan the actor sporting more of a chinstrap

The Marion figure looks quite good, or will do when painted as a redhead and Much the Miller's son could do with more curly hair, but nothing that can't be rectified with a bit of milliput or greenstuff. I suspect the figures fit in with the last pack and are thus 25-26mm so quite small compared to most current Norman figures, but this will make the outlaws harder to hit in combat. Order has been placed and hopefully the baddie pack will be out soon.

FATHER'S DAY

Things have been happening on and off on my other blogs, but little related to this one which seems to be reserved now for historical gaming stuff and general everyday life . I haven't been doing much hobby related recently other than painting fantasy figures , but as usual there are several projects simmering away in that shrivelled husk of grey matter I call a brain. One of said future ideas got a bit of a rattle today as I received this splendid book from my 3 sons for Father's Day. Hooded Man vol 1 by Andrew Orton, a geeks (er...I mean dedicated fans) guide to the first two series of Robin of Sherwood. Time to don a mullet wig and seize my trusty replica of Albion, Robin Hood's sword. Thanks boys.

Slowly stockpiling the figures for some skirmishes based on the TV series. 

H

LOOKING FOR CASTLE GATEWAY

Tarnation, I just missed this gateway on ebay (forgot to adjust my final bid). I had already painted and based this piece as a Hordes of the Things stronghold in my minds eye , so if any noble readers can tell me what make it is and if I can still get one I would be most grateful. I have seen them at shows over the years but not recently.