Letting Go

Two sayings spring to mind:

• Too much is not enough.
• SABLE - Stuff Accumulated Beyond Life Expectancy.

After religiously following the first bit of advice I am now trying to deal with the second bit.

It is hard to do, but by doing so I earn all important Brownie points with my partner: I've got to learn to let things go, well, a few things.

My Napoleonic focus is clearly 15mm (although I do have some 6mm).  The 6mm came from James and so it was excellent to be able to pass on to him this accumulation of 1/72nd Napoleonic figures, some of which I've had for decades, others only a few years.  Of course I can't just let things go, I had to photograph them and post them here.

But most importantly I had to find them a good home, and in a bit of serendipity I was sitting next to James Fisher in the movie theatre (The Three Musketeers - Milady) and was chatting beforehand.  He had been to Tactics and bought some 1/72nd figures and in the belief that more is better, I offered him some surplus figures I had.  Better still I was able to find them when I got home and drop them to him at the club that evening.  My partner even provided the bag to put them all in, thereby earning me an extra Brownie point (as it was a lovely Koko Black carry bag, not needed, but too nice to just throw out - plus the boxes fitted perfectly!)

C'est magnifique!

But they weren't ever going to be painted and based, 

never mind see the top of a table.

A dream.

Had ideas for some skirmish action,

as well as just much needed support units 

for those Napoleonic campaigns I was going to do in this scale.

This pack is really old.  

I found it in a toy shop and was amazed as it was just what I needed...

But obviously not.

Beautiful for the box art alone.

These were for the Quatre Bras scenario that I thought I would reproduce

 in 1/72nd having already done it already in 15mm (with plans underway for 6mm as well).

Again, for Quatre Bras.

I think I had two packs as they came as a mix of hussars and dragoons,

and I did complete one 12 figure unit.

Better still here is a blog post on them.

Officers were always in short supply, so this pack was a God send.

Excess.

But at least I had plenty of fun with them as can be seen 

here, here and here.

A mixed bag.

And a surprise.

The First to Fly the Coop

I'm an only child and my parents thought it would be a good idea to give away my toys if I didn't use them regularly.  Either that or them having grown up in the Great Depression and then lived through WW2 and the rationing aftermath made them quite frugal which has rubbed off on me.  As a consequence I now horde everything and give nothing away.  So when I do it is special.

 Thunderbolt, probably made this in the last thirty years, possibly a bit older.

I remember Atlantic City was a trigger having seen the movie (which has nothing to do with US warplanes I might add, I just liked it and Susan Sarandon)

 Pretty sure this dates from my teens back in the 1970s.

Both of these planes have been despatched to Julian of the ANF.

These poor chaps have been languishing since October 2014.

They have now found a good home with James of the ANF.

This image is dreadfully blurry, 

but better ones exist in posts under the Waterloo 1815 label

Waterloo Dutch Belgian Horse Artillery

This is my second attempt to paint up two batteries of Dutch Belgian Horse Artillery for (one of) my Waterloo projects.  My first attempt can be seen here:  http://onesidedminiaturewargamingdiscourse.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/waterloo-dutch-belgian-artillery.html

I took four Waterloo 1815 figures and removed their backpacks and replaced them with pouches. They have painted up okay, but as I am finding with this project, the varnish is turning them glossy.  I still haven't decided if that is how I will leave them, but it is good enough for now.

A poor attempt an arty shot using an uncharacteristically cloudy sky for Perth.

An unintentional "wet look" to the ground.

It's a bit more noticeable in this photo and the following ones, but I did a bad job on the gun elevation, made worse by the scenic effect on the basing as the wheels are indented, but the trail slightly elevated by the plaster I used to build up the base.

I like the pose of the guy looking hopefully out into the distance while the ball is more likely to bury itself six feet under just a few yards in front of him. 

The guns are detachable.  A style which produces a few loose cannon.

This last photo was taken using a flash, the rest are all natural light.

While I am still thinking up the best way to show unit status etc, it never hurts to have a few casualty markers and so, using the trusty Airfix set, I painted up these three.  The fallen jager is the companion headswap to the officer I did for the Belgian infantry. 

Waterloo Dutch Belgian Artillery

Typical.  I paint up a few of the Waterloo 1815 Dutch Belgian artillery as what I think will pass as horse artillery and a day later find this great uniform reference: http://centjours.mont-saint-jean.com/uniformes_uniteBR.php?uniformes=59&nation=3.

It is worth reproducing the uniform plate here as encouragement to go and visit the site: http://centjours.mont-saint-jean.com/images/liens/banniere.png

The site is a challenge to navigate, especially with my limited (and failure to improve) French language skills.  I only stumbled across it because I was researching the Dutch-Belgian Carabiniers and then through following what turned out to be some kind of reenactment group forum.

Anyway, until this set back I was really pleased with these guys, but now...

This guy actually is a horse artillery officer.  I did him to be a stand in staff officer for Shako.  The uniform including whiskers is based on the Uniforms of Waterloo plate 35.

Well, these guys look like foot artillery now.  Only things wrong are the absence of a red tip to their plume and the presence of the red stripe on their pants, easily fixed, but I did such a good job on the stripe plus the grey of the pants was a mix.

Animation is great and they were a treat to paint.

Being out of focus only makes them more animated.

Just look at that lovely red stripe.

I just need to paint the blue grenades on his coat tails and he is as perfect as I would want.

So, instead of four horse artillery gunners which would have given me the two horse artillery batteries I want for my Napoleon's Battles OOB, I now have four foot gunners which I don't want.  I have plenty of spares so I might have a go at converting, which would be good practice before I tackle the carabiniers.