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.