More shiny toys.

As ever these things take longer than you'd like but I now have a second release in the "Glorious Victorian Toy Soldiers" range. These new figures cover the Rifle and Fusilier regiemts of the British Army . Now I've always had a soft spot for the Green jacket- especially when it carries the red distinctions of the KRRC( my Dad was a rifleman in the early 60s in the 2nd Green Jackets - The KRRC ) or the 60th Rifles - depending upon date. Now thanks to Sean Bean and Sharpe the 95th get the glory but the 5th Bn 60th had rifles first- not by a long time its true- about 3 years or so but first nevertheless and definitely senior in the line - 60th against 95th until both regiments were taken out of the line to become the Kings Royal Rifle Corps and the Rifle Brigade respectivly. Despite the perfectly normal interegiemental rivalry both regiments and thier modern successoors- The Rifles speak for themselves and in the case of the 60th starts in the French and Indain War in the mid- 18th century and continues in Afghanistan today seeing on the way such diverse fields as Talvera , Albuhera, Delhi Ridge , Spion Kop the Somme Calais etc etc etc By Gum you may say the lads have been about a bit and just like the rst of our Armed services so they have.
So here are the rifles available in both helmet and busby - paintable as either KRRC or Rifle Brigade- and doubtless as RIR and possibly Canadians too .
In addition you can now also get the Fusilier regiements or at least the non-scottish ones- I plan Scots in the future. so the British Army marches on in toy form as by God we hope it continues to do despite the actions of its enemies- mostly those in Parliament .
Andy

High Standards from John "The Flag"

Now it has to be said I can be a tad picky.Whenever I'm building a unit or an army I do the best job I can.Not for me the "i just painted 'em quicly to get them on the table " excuse Nahh do it right or don't bother. Now this can get you into trouble in soooooo many ways - it means you spendd a small fortune on booksand your painting speed drops to something less than the speed of a government department giving out tax refunds.
But what it does mean is you look out for the best your wallet can bear. Now when I build a unit I want them to have proper and accurate flags banners ,colours and standard- which ever is appropriate to type. In the past I've painted by own - which I still do but less often, used various paper printed flags - ranging from not bad at all to bloody awful- ALL of these need a greater or lesser amount of touching up even if its just to paoint the edges - which many chaps miss- it look awful if you don't- you get a white edge round the flag yeauch!!
However I now have a fine , almost perfect solution - get 'em from John the Flag - this needs explanation. Johns lovely flags are printed on cloth and come fitted to the pole. He does lots of different ones in addition to those I have I have seen ACW AWI and more ECW as well as WSS and Napoleonic. Most of mine are fro my 40mm collection but he does them for 25/ 28/30 mm too. I've found nothing better.
The pics show - first
25mm Royal Eccossais.
40mm Napoleonic British-3rd foot
40mm ECW Sir John Gells regt(stars) and John Lampughs .
40mm Spanish Napoleonics. Leals de FernadoVII(blue coats) and a unit whose name I forget.
Contact john on jondhut@ntlworld.com .
Getting these is a bit slow- John works for a living- but the wait is well worth it.

40mm ACW Game at Derby.

My thanks to James Douglas for supplying the photos as I'd forgotten my dammed camera !!
The figures are all Sash and Saber 40mm ACW mostly from the collection of Phil Freeman an avid 40mm gamer and Collector. about 20% of the figures were mine but almost all those in the pics are Phils For the actual gaming we use a somewhat modified version of Featherstones Horse and Musket rules- a bit more period detail was piles in- Rifles Muskets - 2 types Breechloaders and rifled artillery. Since I was working most of the time(you can't get thestaff ......) the gaming was done by Phil and Peter Sleigh . One of these days I'll get to play with my own toys.
Most of scenery was mine buildings either scratchbuilt or from the Sash and Saber range of scenics- which in the UK you get from yours Truly or in the US from Chris at Sash and Saber the Walls and some of the fences too. - Though some of the latter were Phils own. Table size was 10 feet by six and was a tad crowded- with 1000 plus figures on at once the game was a bloodbath - especially for the luckless Rebs who despite an artillery superiority were shot to bits in their assaults. It just wasn't Phils day. Nevertheless the game looked fantastic and was fun to watch- not a phrase I'll use often as I've never seen our hobby as a spectator sport.
As ever Derby was a great show- often overlooked I feel its been a favorite of mine for years. Roll on next Derby.
Andy