The Mystery of the Fourth Wargamer: or The Devil Throws the Dice

Gentlemen,

let me invite you to close the curtains on the snow swirling outside. Draw closer to the fire and settle back with a glass of something to fortify the nerves.

I was chatting the other day to my old chum Harry Pearson, you remember he did a lot of research on the origins of Wargaming when he was writing up his Magnum Opus 'Achtung Schweinhund'. One of the fascinating aspects was the close association that developed back between the wars between wargaming and the study of the occult. Harry records how the great beast master Alistair Crowley and Dennis Wheatley, author of the Devil Rides Out were both keen wargamers.

However Harry is a little vague on what role, if any, the wargame played in Black Magic Rituals. Was a unit's reaction, for example, decided by counting factors or reading the entrails of a Black Cock . I decided an outright question was the best approach but all Harry did was turn pale and mutter something about not meddling in affairs best left alone before hastily leaving.

However I could not just leave it and I believe I have discovered evidence that the wargame may have had a more central and sinister place in the occult practices.
Look at the picture above. Published in John Garratts Model Soldiers 1959 it purports to show a wargame in progress. But does it ? Look at the central figure chanting from a book, the two identically posed acolytes surely those grins denote a state of drugged frenzy. And what do you make of the background? Why are they playing in front of a giant and rather ragged paper screen? What horrors do they wish to conceal.

"Oh enough," you scoff, "This is merely fanciful stuff".

So be it, but, look again gentle reader and tell me who is casting the fourth shadow?

Consider, the light is falling from the left and casting a shadow to the right of the figures. Three shadows are clear but who does the central one belong to? He cannot be out of picture since the shadow of the left hand gamer (or should I say worshipper) falls OVER his shadow. He could be behind the paper but look at the top of the wall no gap is apparent and if a door was behind we would see the outline of that as well.

No only one answer fits the facts a fourth gamer is about to materialise in the middle of the group. I would go as far as to be certain that the Prince of Darkness is about to appear to his followers.

In fact,.. Just a moment I can hear a scratching at the window, I must go and make it secure, I will be right back...................

In Wedge we Serve

Regular readers will be aware that at this contemplative time of year it is my wont to reflect back to an earlier and possibly more agreeable age. Above we see the typical wargamer of the post war years relaxing at his painting table. The gentleman in question is an American and seems to have stepped straight from the pages of a Nero Wolfe mystery. You will no doubt notice the rather natty summer weight double breasted suit, such informal attire for gaming became acceptable much earlier in the States than in stuffy England. I believe his 'fraternity ring' marks him as a Harvard or Yale man as indeed most model soldier collectors were back then. Yet there is a danger in deducing too much from these faded photographs. Wargaming is dreadfully lacking in written evidence for these early years and much like the Archaeologist we find ourselves forming complete systems of gaming from a tiny shard of dice or a crumpled piece of cardboard building. This is at best problematic so often the safest answer is simply to admit that we know very little of how these early gamers actually carried out their wargames.

Take the example above. One of the best known of early images of gaming taken from the great work Charge.
And detailing the battle of Sittangbad, yet look closer. What is that item in the top left corner? Yes the one running alongside the river with a Light Infantryman standing on it. I have tried telling myself variously that it is an improvised breastwork or a wharf of some kind.
But Please lets be honest, it is a Wedge. Pure and simple a Wedge in the middle of the battlefield. Why? I have no idea. Oh well just an isolated anomaly you say, but wait look at this picture of a group of US gamers taken some time in the fifties. Quite a lot to comment on in this picture I think you will agree and will return to it * but just for now concentrate on the far right of the table.

Yes that's right the gamer laying out his figures is clearly using a wedge to assist him. What did it do? and why did such a common and essential piece of equipment simply disappear from the history of the hobby. Perhaps one day we will now but for now we can only speculate.

* shall discuss some of the disturbing aspects of this image on Christmas eve as being a time more suited for the unusual and supernatural but in the meantime may I invite you to study it and decide whether you can discern anything strange.

Good Enough? What does that mean to you?

For me last years high points, were the works of Messrs Grant and Olley, and the finest of their books has to be Wargaming in History. In my opinion right up there with Charge and The Wargame.

No shortage of inspirational and thought provoking material, but the last week I have been mainly pondering on:

"It will be most unusual for wargamers to collect and paint armies of a particular period without an interest in the history and an understanding of the tactics of the troops and their uniforms."

For myself that is something of an understatement, all too often raising a new wargames army had been akin to taking a tiger by the tail - impossible to let go. Casually picking up a few 20mm figures for the Spanish Civil War because the Civil Guard hats were funny, resulted in a fifteen year study of the war (so far) and a couple of thousand painted figures, vehicles and buildings.

Perhaps that is the reason why I could never really come to grips with the 18C imaginations. I liked the idea well enough but frankly so much of it seemed to lack any substance or, to be honest, relevance to anyone apart from the author. I found myself very much more attracted by Peter Young's distinction between Imaginary armies and Fictional ones. Fictional characters and armies operate within the framework of a real world but one that is slightly skewed. Of course to do this it is necessary to actually know something of the world in which they are set, and I know absolutely nothing about the functioning of the Reichskrieg.

As a result I have spent much of the last month trying to come to terms with the Holy Roman Empire in general and the 18C Reichsarmee in particular. I now know how many Electoral Circles there were and which were ecclesiastic or secular. I can tell you the difference between a Landgraf and a Margraf though my spelling of either is pretty dodgy. I can list the rivals to Prussia as dominant states in the Empire at the end of the 17C. (Bavaria, Saxony, Hanover and Munster, since you ask. ... Munster????).

And how exactly does all of that enhance my wargaming? I don't know to be honest but the truth is that it does. I am looking forward to finally getting to terms with the period as next years big project. I have sorted out the figures that I wish to use and planned a painting style that will be quick and simple. I shall try to raise four small armies for the States of Hanover, Bavaria, The Ecclesiastical Circle of Munster, and Bohemia.

Above can be seen the first rough drafts for Bavaria, Hanover and Bohemia. (spot the fictional one) And below the first finished recruits for the Bohemian Wenceslas Regt of foot. You may notice that one figure is black lined and one is not. I think that I shall not bother black lining this army, to my mind the difference is not worth the time required and when the figures are glossed to a degree that a Guards RSM could see his face in them then it will not be that visible.

In conclusion we are looking at a project which is set up to be rather heavy on research but light on painting. Good enough? Well only time will tell on that but I am interested in how other people arrive at these decision's.

Hopefully more on these armys in the New Year, but next I shall return to my traditonal Christmas posts on Wargaming BF (Before Featherstone)

Whatever happened ...to that Flanderkin bloke?

Big John Wayne, The Duke himself, was given to saying " Never apologise its a form of weakness" .

Nevertheless, and with due respect, I feel a word of apology is due to the many who have clicked on this site in the vain hope of an update. Lack of Inspiration? Laziness? Aching shoulder? A bit of all those but it suddenly occurred to me that Christmas is almost upon us and I will wish to take another seasonal look at 'Wargaming Before Featherstone'. I had better blow the dust off the keyboard and get in a little practice first.

So let us take a quick canter through the events of the last six months. I have been mainly painting the new 30mm Franco Prussian range from Peter Johnstone at Spencer Smith Miniatures. These are a new 'Classic' range of genuine 30mm figures. The best news is that they match perfectly with the old but incomplete Willie range.
Most of the painting has been done for display models for SSM, though I have managed to put in a few for myself. So I can hardly claim to be a disinterested party, nevertheless I think these are a great range and it is

wonderful to actually be able to buy new 30mm castings. On which point I would also praise the Jacdaw 30mm figures from Old Glory UK, but more on those at a later date.
div> I have also enjoyed painting the 25mm Stadden range of Crimean figures. When you think that these were designed over 50 years ago they are amazing. Above a Guards officer stands next to a Foundry figure.

These figures are great fun to paint in a straightforward toy soldier style and really look the business in a nice coat of gloss varnish.

I also took a giant step forward with a chance buy on ebay which got me all my mini fig S range Heavy Brigade with one click of the button. This is how they arrived and apart from a re varnish I don't think I can improve on the original painting.

Finally just so that not everything is Old School and pre 1970, I have been painting up some of the excellent redoubt French Indian Wars figures. I bought these when they were first released 10? years ago and finally have been painting them this summer. A very welcome contrast to the other figures.

So nothing of any literary merit, just a shopping list really. Still it has actually broken the barrier of the first post again. Who knows perhaps in my next post I may manage something a little more interesting.

Whatever happened to.....

A Bad, Bad, Man.

Here we are again, summer break over. In fact I have hurt a nerve in my shoulder which meant I could either paint or type, so I selfishly took the painting option. I have been painting some of the brand new 30mm figures from Spencer Smith more about them shortly. And more about painting and thoughts on the results of our poll.


But first let us start off by returning to the roots of this blog, Flanders and Corporal John. From time to time I have put up notes on various books to do with the War of the Spanish Succession. Last week I was lucky enough to track down two fairly rare memoirs by unabashed rogues. The first one by Peter Drake, I found a relatively cheap copy in California (£12, even after adding postage a once in a lifetime bargain) Inspired by this I started looking for a book often referred to but rarely seen.

The Expert Swordsman's Companion" or "The True Art of Self Defence" by Donald McBane. Glasgow 1728.

This book is that rarest of memoirs, the writings of a genuinely bad man. Those of us who love the writings from the ranks are painfully familiar with soldiers who have got religion and intersperse Methodist tracts with selective memories. Or the illiterate but honest soldier whose book is "as told to the Rev. Blogs." Here across three hundred years a man speaks directly to us who admits to being a brothel keeper, a pimp and a professional duellist.

He sees service at Killicrankie and most of the battles and sieges of the Nine years War and the Wars of the Spanish Succession. His book provides excellent and direct accounts of his experiences in these actions. But although the various Highlanders, French and Bavarians do him great harm it is as nothing compared with the beatings, stabbings and shootings he sustains in fierce turf wars for the control of the army's travelling brothels.

The memoir has escaped uncensored because it is contained bound within the authors guide to sword fighting. Even this is no academic treatise but gives a measure of the man.. It contains advice never to turn your back once a challenge has been given and hints such as butting and carrying a pocket full of sand to hurl in your opponents face.

After a few hours on the Internet I found the whole text was contained within a book on highland swordsmanship. The excellent Caliver books had a copy and what an enthralling read it is, though it sometimes seems more like the script for Deadwood than a military memoir.

At times Mcbane is extremely funny in a black sort of way but just a couple of extracts to convince you that this is not your average lovable rogue we are dealing with here.

After an absence McBane returns to the camp to find that one of his whores has married a soldier. Fair enough, he responds generously, but I expect the usual rate from you every week without fail make it how you will. Unable to protect his wife the soldier has no choice but to desert and they flee together (one hopes they escaped the provosts noose and McBanes murderous henchmen.)

Later in life after leaving the army McBane makes his living by provoking less able swordsmen and then backing himself to win the fight.

One might say this book has the virtue of honesty, but one wonders what he has chosen not to tell us about himself. A fascinating aside from this book is the insight it gives us into the way the British Army controlled the brothel trade through its muscle. Something not prominent in most regimental histories.

Those who want to read more about McBane can buy the book for the complete text.or try this excellent website for a flavour..

http://www.aboutscotland.co.uk/theroyalscots/histmcbane.html

Interlude

In the best tradition I now bring you a soothing interlude while the votes are counted and our team of pundits synthesise your comments.

This week I have been painting Renegade ECW. After the avaunt gard heresies that we have been wrestling with it was rather calming to go back to a nice bit of highlighting and washing. In truth I was mainly motivated by the price when I bought these figures. However like many modern figures they paint up very easily and come to life in a most pleasing manner. They are destined for Charles Gerrard's regiment of foot in my slowly forming English Civil War armies. I had originally intended to finish these in time for the 350th anniversaries

But who wants to let artificial deadlines spoil their hobby?

feedback and update

Firstly thank you to everyone who has voted or contributed to the comments. I have added a little more information for the last 48 hours before the poll closes.
First off a quick look at the originals in the Crimea. I think you would be hard pressed to see what colour the turban is from this very early photograph. However I think it is fair to say that it does not stand out from the fez in a particularly striking way.

Taking the widespread advice to lighten the shade of green I took up a fairly bright shade, put it on the turban and to my mind it is an instant improvement. The striking thing is that a shade which is far too bright and sickly shade works in the context of scale and surrounding colours.

I shall say no more until the poll closes, but I do want to thank everyone in the UK who has overcome a certain weariness with polls and raised the energy to vote hre.

What would you do?

I have been researching the French army a little more and discover that the Zouave regiment I had painted actually had a green turban at this time , not white as I had painted them. No problem, a stroke of paint and they were altered. But then an amazing thing happened. When viewed from four or five feet away the turban which had been clearly visible simply disappeared. Not only that but the fez and face also blurred together into an indistinguishable blob.



It is quite amazing the way that effectively it creates a kind of camouflage effect. But worse than that figures which were obviously zouaves are now pretty indistinct.

Here then, is vital question. Is historical accuracy the overriding factor? The turbans were definitely green. But they look better in white. Not just more attractive but they convey the style of the figure much better.

I know most of you being civilised and worldly wise will say, "My dear chap,they are your figures do them as you wish." Quite so, but what would you do if they were yours. I am genuinely interested in what is a fairly fundamental question but one which is taken for granted and seldom discussed. I have placed a poll on the left column where I should be obliged if you voted, but please feel free to add additional detail in the comments.

A trial game

Sometimes one needs to have a game to assess what what work is still needed on a project. When Martyn T. visited last week I put on a Spanish Civil War Game which was really an exercises in identifying the gaps, nevertheless we managed to spend a very pleasant sunny evening playing through a fictitious scenario from Autumn 1936. The Army of Africa is sweeping upwards ever nearer to Madrid, taking one town after another in a premature blitzkrieg.
Here at Ciudad del Juguete two companies of Civil Guard and a handful of the local agricultural labourers are prepared to defend the town anticipating that relief will be arriving from the regional capital.

A regt of Moorish cavalry and an infantry Tabor are the first to arrive supported by an armoured car. The cavalry moved around to the further side of the town while the infantry moved into place for a direct assault.

The supporting unit of motorised Foreign Legion advanced down the road but came under fire from militia who ambushed them from the cover of olive groves. The two leading vehicles were damaged and blocked the road to all further use.

On the far side of the board the Republican column threw a very useful die and began to deploy almost from the start of the game. Advance units of Assault police and an armoured lorry swung straight into the town while buses filled with Anarchists set off down the bypass to take on the moors.

The Assaultos motorcycle combinations are Russian WW2 with a different paint job. The bus is a plastic kit from a railway shop. The Bull came around the neck of a bottle of Torres red wine.

The final picture shows the scene at the end of the afternoon. In the foreground the infantry is about to break through the last resistance on the barricades. The armoured car has been unable to find a way through the defences and has neglected its allocated task of providing fire power to the cavalry who can be seen entering the town on the far side. However it is too little too late. To stand any chance the Nationalists should have been in the town before the column arrived.

Martin had some luck in getting the column so soon and in knocking out two vehicles, however his clever use of ambushes and resistance in depth were the main reasons for a clear cut victory on his part.

And what did I learn. Masses more basing needed especially for the vehicles. I must make divisions in the storage boxes so that each unit can be lifted out easily without having to check every base and I don't like the coloured line around the base it doesn't help that much and is ugly. I have painted far more basic infantry than I need but support weapons are erratic mainly because I have not based them and I need a whole batch full of transport. Apart from that it's looking pretty good.

The rules were a big chunk of Contemptible Little Armies with some homemade bits nailed on. They worked well on the whole but Artillery needs some work and I need to read up on how a spotter works before wireless communication.

The terrain was simple and deliberately toy like (and I do know that hedges are rare in Southern Spain) but it gave a table that was easy to fight over and still had a little character. With Martin's cheerful cooperation we were able to make a lot of progress and still have an enjoyable game.

A sleepy day in Ciudad del Juguete

coming soon to a Blog near you.

Gallic - c'est tout

I have had to bring painting to a halt this week and prepare to play a game or two. Martin T is visiting for two days and bringing with him some of his lovely medieval German collection. That will be one game and I am putting out some of the Army of Africa together with mixed bunch of militia, Anarchists and security forces. Autumn 1936 and two columns fight for the possession of a regional capital in dusty Estramadura.

So, conclusions on what I have done so far?

I think it is unarguably true that if you get far enough away from the figures then the simple one looks better than the detailed and shaded style. It follows that there is no such thing as best painting only that that you prefer. That choice may be based on factors such as skill, enjoyment, cost, available time or even whether you prefer to be in the same room as your figures when playing.

For myself I think I am still compromising too much with these figures. On the next regt. that I paint I shall only paint the bayonets in silver. The muskets do not stand out at a distance and can be left unpainted in black. The logic of this style seems to be leading to a basically unpainted figure with a few splashes of flat bright colour, whether I could ever be happy with that I remain unsure.

Ultimately the only worthwhile test will be when I use these figures in a game.

Gallic: comments

Thank you for the interest in this subject.

Jim makes the excellent suggestion that one can get an idea of the effect by standing well away from the screen. I have experimented and this does work although I found I needed to be about 15 feet away in the next room. In order to prevent you having to stand at the bottom of the garden I have posted a smaller image of the figures. This seems to work from about 6-8 feet away.



I should emphasise that this is an experiment I do not envisage using it on my collection of 30m Willie and Stadden figures. However I am optimistic that it might help me put two plastic 20mm nomad horse armies on the table instead of having them on their original sprues for the next 20 years. I am enjoying doing it and I am learning something though I am not sure what yet.

Charles, vin rouge nights are all to few at present so any excuse is welcome. I suppose that afternoons spent lounging in a crowded bar eating rillettes and crusty bread with red wine that could strip chrome are a thing of the past. Where could you get enough cigarette smoke from these days? Failing the authentic ingredients a couple of slices of mothers pride and a bag of hot pork scratchings should give that proper Tabac feel. But where does one get a simple vin de table these days? Everyone has upgraded so much that the old fashioned red plonk is virtually unobtainable, if anyone has any good ideas I would love to know.

Ross makes the point that there is no standard distance to view a figure from. I suppose if one was painting two armies the one likely to be on the far side of the table is not worth investing so much time in. You will note that I am trying these ideas out on the cheapest figures that I can find and on an army I want quickly. My initial thoughts are that it will work best on a simpler uniform late 19c or Marlburian I am unconvinced on how much could be left off say Napoleonics. However it does raise the prospect of having armies that one might not otherwise get round to. Two hat plastic armies might be affordable in every sense of the word.

I will not bore everyone by going into great detail over the painting on black, I am making the same discoveries that everyone else did years ago. I used black because I wanted to base the figures first and I reasoned if I could not reach all the figure with paint it would not matter with black undercoat. I found difficulty in seeing the detail on the figure and judging where the brush point was. I also had trouble covering black with red and needed three coats. I now understand why Games workshop paints are so popular. Mr Asquith suggested dry brushing with white before starting painting and I am trying this on the next lot. I fear that I may have been a bit more heavy handed than he advised, ah well.

And finally, DC. I am completely in awe of your painting style. It is absolute perfection I should be distraught if I influenced you to change a brush stroke. I rank your work alongside Giles Allison, John Ray and Phil Olley as the very highest standard of figure painting.

A bit Gallic part 2 (pure and applied)

Hinchliffe artillery painted C1976 by Barry Warner, who painted many regiments of Russians for Peter Gilder's holiday center.

About seven years ago I hosted a large Napoleonic game at my house. Of the 3-4,000 figures in use I painted all but a handful myself. All of my figures were carefully shaded, dry brushed and washed in ink and pretty well what I would regard as the best I could do. But I was short of Russians and I dipped into an army I had acquired twenty years or so ago. All were Hinchliffe figures, many of them early period castings and all were competently painted in Humbrol straight from the pot without shading, lining or any other fancy frills.

To my surprise and dismay when the game was underway it was agreed that the antique Hinchliffe figures were the best looking on the table.

A corps of Russians with some annoying Hinchliffe jager in the centre.

I have reflected on this ever since and the conclusion is inescapable figures that look superb from 18" away do not keep the magic once on the table. Certainly if you are the one that has painted them then memory will supply the missing details to the eye and you will see the subtle beauty, but sadly to others they will be appearing dark and lifeless. Why this is I do not know but I suspect it has something to do with the eye being unable to register the colours and blurring them into a darker whole. I notice at shows that some people attempt to get over this by painting their armies in increasingly bright colours. And good luck to them, it certainly gives some eye catching results. But it never seemed to me to be a complete solution and so I pondered quietly on.

I began to make a little more sense of it when I read an article on the Japanese tradition that by eliminating unnecessary things, more necessary things come to the foreground.

Which brings us neatly to our last post on French artists. You will remember that the things which stood out to the critics of the impressionist movement were that the colours were flat blocks of unshaded colour and that the figures seemed to be unfinished by the standards of the time. However by eliminating all unnecessary detail and shading of colours and conveying only that information that the eye could take in as an impression they were able to create paintings full of light, life and energy.

So what would that look like as a wargames unit? I am not sure but I have had a first stab at applying the principles. Now here we hit the first snag, I cannot show you what the figures look like from five foot away in a good light. I can only show you a scan of them close up. I will try some photos under sunlight if we ever have some but in the meantime..

The figure on the left has what I would regard as the absolute minimum detail to convey the 'feeling' of the uniform. However when put on a table four feet away the red on the jacket has long disappeared and the face is distorted by the presence of a beard. The belt across the sash disappears but has the effect of making the sash itself look darker and duller. The figure on the right conveys just as much 'zoooviness' and looks much more vibrant and distinguishable. And yes the figure on the right does look unfinished to me too. I really want to at least put a beard on but I keep reminding myself its supposed to look like its not finished.
I tried to use a bright palette of colours: Maganese blue Coat, Cadium red trousers, GW vomit brown flesh.
I used yellow ochre for the pack and two shades of sky blue for sash and fez tassel. I wonder whether the figure would be cleaner if I kept to only one shade for both areas. The base is a home mixed green of Chrome oxide (Goblin Green) and flesh to give a neutral background.

Coming over a bit Gallic

I was thinking the other night about Paris in 1863, specifically about the Salon of the Refusal .

Well I cannot imagine that I was the only one to be spending time reflecting on how the French art establishment had become so stuffy and hide bound that it refused to exhibit the new paintings of Manet and as a result an 'alternative' exhibition created the seeds for Impressionism. Though it is possible that I am the only one thinking of it in terms of wargames figures. A typical Acadamie work. Not the best reproduction I am afraid, but if you look at the gladiators chest you can see the flesh shadowed in a way that might have used the foundry three colour flesh system.

The establishment painters valued by the Académie used carefully blended layers of paint in sombre colours to achieve realistic and natural effects. brushstrokes were blended away and transparent glazes were used over the paint. The Acadamie was actively hostile to other styles of painting.

Manet began to develop a freer manner, creating form not through a gradual blending of tones, but with discrete areas of color side by side.Viewers were not used to flat space and shallow volumes in painting. To many, Manet's "color patches" appeared unfinished. The impressionists took further the laying side by side of
blocks of bright colour to convey light and movement. Impressionist art is a style in which the artist captures the image of an object as someone would see it if they just caught a glimpse of it.

This picture by Manet was painted in 1866 and was refused by the Paris Salon. It only hints at the palette and techniques which the impressionists would develop but already the flatness of the jacket is a world away from shading and highlighting.

I am not suggesting that blended and glazed effects were inherently 'bad'. In fact I feel that many modern figure designers and painters have a good deal in common with the English contemporary Pre Raphaelite painters. They both emphasise detail that would not be visible in real life, ignore the way that colour fades with distance and use a rich palette of vivid colours to get their effects.

A wounded cavalier. W S Burton 1856. Which of us would not be pleased to paint the rich detail on the cavaliers sash crisp and sharply outlined. Or to get the carefully blended 'three greys on the womans dress. And has that skirt been washed with a sepia ink?

to be continued................

Work in progress

Keeping it simple has been the theme of this weeks work and that has proved much harder than I expected.

Look at these Stadden 25mm Guardsmen, what could be easier just paint them how we used to 40 years ago.Simple block colours in toy soldier style, gloss varnish, lovely job!

And yet, I am wondering, those epaulets; do they really stand out enough or are they just a white blob? I could just run a black line around them to bring them to life. Of course if I do that then I really should black line the cross belts, and suddenly the toy soldier look is starting to disappear. The danger is that 'improvements will make the figures just like all the others that I own.

I have been planning a third Army to go with the British and Russians. French is the obvious choice and I have had the pleasure of reacquainting myself with an old friend:

The very first uniform book I ever bought. This is not my original copy, I sold that many years ago but this new copy has brought the memories flooding back. It is hard to use by the standards of to days books and lacks much detail but it still gives a broad sweep of a fantastic and colourful army.

I have planned to have French and British Armies which will be suitable for re fighting the invasion scares of 1846 and 48. The British are relatively easy as the Crimean army fits the bill perfectly. The French are a little more problematic and I have decided that the best compromise is to use the Strelets Light Infantry box, for line and light troops in the 1845 uniform.

Strelets are unfairly neglected, the plastic people don't like them because they look like like metal castings. The metal fans won't touch them because they are plastic. In fact I quite like them though they are even more infuriating than most plastic manufacturers. Each packet has one or two outstanding poses, real must have stuff such as the vignette below from the ACW commanders set. Then you have a whole bunch of bizarre stuff...

Zouaves playing football and teeing off at golf.

The aim is to knock out an army quickly and cheaply. you will notice that I have put the figures on to their bases before painting them and then sprayed the whole thing with black undercoat! Never let it be said that am unreceptive to new fangled ideas and fashions. Some people speak very highly of this style of painting so I shall give it a go and keep you informed of the results.


And finally.......... ON THIS DAY.....
175 years ago, Professeur Tournesol the noted Belgian inventor approached the British Admiralty with his idea for a self propelled barge. By using a cast sectional iron hull and abandoning paddle wheels for the top secret 'Tournesol propulsion system' he insisted it was possible to build a flat bottomed barge capable of carrying up to 300 men and supplies, that was capable of withstanding the rigour of the open seas and independent of wind power.

He was shown the door with little ceremony and advised that there may well be nations who had so little sailing skill that they would consider an enormous bath tub appropriate to consign their armies to a watery grave ,( the French sprang to mind), but that Britain had no need of a ridiculous foreign death trap.