20mm 1914 German Infantry

Incredibly it has been over 4 years now since I added to the Battle of Mons collection. I had 19 remaining German infantry which as you can see are now complete.

I still intend to use the "Crush the Kaiser" rules which I have played a couple of times now. A new order has been placed with Tumbling Dice for the outstanding infantry figures to make up a whole battalion, plus limbers for the already complete guns.

"Small" 20mm figures from Tumbling Dice

My most important purchase for 2019 however is a new lamp so that I can improve the lighting on my photographs! It should arrive next week.

I am quietly confident that 2019 will be a better year for figure output and even some games (I  only played one in 2018) due to a transfer of departments planned for April. Mainly office based, working office hours and weekends off. Just like normal people.

Wishing you all the best for 2019,

Matt

Bringing Up the Guns

I finally have something new to show for October...hoorah!

18pdr Limber & Crew from the Tumbling Dice "Old Contemptibles" 20mm range.

 It has been a very unusual month...two weeks ago I was transferred to a completely different department with 48 hours notice and have not stopped running myself ragged since then. No hobby time at all but fortunately they honoured my previously booked holiday and so I was able to finish this little arrangement to add to my 1914 BEF collection.

Hopefully things will calm down after a while otherwise my (already slow) painting output will become positively glacial. For now though I have a few more 1914 German infantry prepped and ready for painting-hopefully finished before I go back to work next week.

After that I intend to have look again at some of the "classic" 19th Century Continental Wars.

British Infantry 1914

As the highly imaginative title for this post says at last we have the beginnings of a British Rifle Company to add to the BEF. For some reason the colours seem a bit muted in these shots.

 I am actually running low on TD figures and in particular do not have many more British infantry left in the lead pile. However I have promised myself no more figure purchases for a while (certainly not until next year), so I will just have to finish up what I have*.

Next up will be some additions to the British 18pdrs, followed by more Germans.

*HUGE caveat on the new Airfix WW1 releases!

A Nice Big British Gun

I thought I would pick up with the British to start with this month and what better than a little morale boosting support in the shape of a 60 pdr? Tumbling Dice figures and models again and although they are "wargames" figures I do believe they make a lovely little vignette.

 

Sadly they do not produce a limber for this piece nor can the barrel be modeled in the transporting configuration however I have found a company that do so watch this space!

 

 A Medium Gun battery for "Crush the Kaiser" consists of 1 gun and 5 crew-including the FOO. I have placed the FOO on the base just because he looks good with the gun and will mark his real position on the battlefield with a suitable map marker.

Anyway I am working on the first British rifle company and more 18 pdr artillery. May even have something to post again by Sunday. 

German Gun Line 1914

Ready to pound the BEF...

 I have managed to fix the problem with the back to front gun shields and we now have a suitably impressive looking gun line to support the Kaiser's infantry. Once again, figures from the lovely Tumbling Dice "Old Contemptibles" range. 

I have the British artillery next in the WW1 painting queue and am looking forward to adding a bit of khaki to the collection.

...this time with the gun shields the right way round!

However, next up are the long overdue ACW cavalry. Once these are done I am free to push ahead with my own projects, primacy for the rest of this year will be the Great War collections.

Bavarian Artillery 1914

 I must admit that I thought twice about posting these pictures. I was most impressed with the results of my first Tumbling Dice German artillery in the shape of the 77mm Feldkanone. That is until I realised "the mistake".

Now even though the  artillery crew helmet's should have a ball rather than the spike (except for the Bavarian artillery) I can live with that.

 

No, the problem is one of my own making - I put the gun shield on back to front!

I will have to pull this one and the half completed one apart and do it properly. Bit of a pillock really!

This is the second "Doh!" moment in relation to these figures this week. I did seriously consider using the WW1 plastic figures from Airfix for my 1914 collection. However I decided against it on the grounds that while I could convert the ACW artillery into German and French pieces, it would be time consuming and fiddly.

So, what do I find out?  40 odd years down the line Airfix are finally filling the gap and producing 1914 French infantry and artillery, plus German and British (13pdr) artillery too. Available by the end of this year apparently. I'm sure I will be able to find an excuse to buy a box or two!

For the next post I am going to fix the artillery and finally finish those ACW cavalry I have been putting off for too long.

More German Infantry

 

As promised I have added to the German infantry. My main concern, with such a long break in between painting sessions (2 years), was that I would not have the same paints or forgotten which one's I used. Fortunately I found a scrap of paper which listed the colours in the tin of unpainted stuff. None of it was a dried lump at the bottom of the pot either. Very handy!

I am moving back to the British artillery next as I wait for more round individual infantry bases. Plus it makes a break from the field grey. 

However, my next post will be a small digression onto the War Between the States and more figures that are unrepresented on the internet.

22 figures, less than two companies-these units are going to be big.

10 more Tumbling Dice German infantry completed April 2014.

Looking Back To 2012

So, while I wait for the paint to dry on the latest German infantry, a quick look back at what I managed to complete in 2012. 12 infantry, 1 artillery piece and a MG and crew. Clearly I need to up my game here-"Crush the Kaiser" has over 50 figures per German infantry battalion for example. 3 battalions to a regiment. I definitely need to burn the proverbial midnight oil.

What I hope does show in the photographs is the charm of these little figures. The Tumbling Dice "Old Contemptibles" range has been around for years now, it covers the whole conflict and is very reasonably priced. Stood side by side with 1/72nd scale plastics they appear small-but they match well enough when spaced out the wargames table. Besides the range has pretty much everything you need in one place.

But enough rambling. I hope that the bases on my next batch dry sooner rather than later (I decided to use oil colour and a "quick dry" additive as the base coat a few hours ago - still looks wet to me!). Will post them as soon as I can.

Tumbling Dice 20mm figures completed 2012.

So What Is Approaching?

When I stopped blogging last year I began to either box up my old figures or sell them off. I had a lot of figures and the family needed the extra storage space. I have sold off a great weight of painted and unpainted lead. All those Airfix figures are gone as well. The family have a lot of attic space but what was left for me?

In 2012 I started to collect the rather charming 20mm WW1 figures from Tumbling Dice. Fortunately they were not disposed of and as 2014 marks the centenary of the conflict I cannot think of a better place to pick back up on the hobby. I have painted a few more German infantry and just need to finish the bases before I photograph them.

I have settled on the "Crush the Kaiser" rule set ( a couple of solo runs with unpainted figures has already produced enjoyable results). So it is back to the painting table and try and remember the colours I used when I started.