Old Glory -Wars of Marlborough.

As a period I've looked at Marburian on and off for the last 25or so years. I once had a small mixed force of 20mm Higgins and Douglas Miniatures I bought second hand- sold 'em about 15 years ago. I had a load of Minifigs Marburians and painted about 6. Thought about Foundry but never really liked 'em- too stiff and samey.
Dave Allsop was sculpting the Old Glory 25mm range when he died. As a range they are a good bit smaller than most OG stuff and closer to "true" 25mm- wahtever that means. The Infantry are covered in depth with 28 different packs . Cavalry less so since Dave died before these were completedand what we had was finished by another sculptor. Artillery represented by 1 pack of crew and a couple of different guns though other useful guns are available in the ECW and Jacobite ranges- including Mortars and Gallopers.
On the OSW Yahoo group the moderator opined that these had big heads. I don't agree- especially compared to Front Rank or Dixons BUT having said that one or twop do have small bodies. The heads were sculpted separately to be added one all the body variants were done and a couple of the bodies do look a bit small. Still not bad for a range that is getting on for 20 years old.
Ilove the 40mm Drabant Marburian range and am very very slowly painting up several of those without any clear idea of what I'll do with them but I've fallen for the little Bluemoon 18mm range and now have 4 units done and another on the way- I don't paint these little fellas .
This means that on the whole I'm not sure what I'll do with the Saxon artillery in the picture- There are about 80 infantry too- needing basing same painting style no longer to my taste I'd need to "Bring 'em up" before I used them. They date from a few years back when I part owned Reiver castings and we did a GNW range. The Saxons were to be opposition for the Swedes I painted which I think are in the current owners collection but as so often happens other stuff got in the way. They have been in their box since then until this morning... when I was remined of their existance.

Getting into a period. Part 1

Of late - when I read various blogs and magazine articles I wonder how todays wargamers get into a period- especially as the history is now at the back of the queue in these "enlightened" or perhaps benighted times. It a given that ex "president" Tone and his rich mates didn't like history -except insofar as it was cool Britannia and Dave and HIS rich mates are no better(except insofar as they can get punters into the stately pile perhaps). Yet history is still popular- witness the number of "heritage" shows on the box. Nevertheless in olden tymes when ye worlde was a different place players of ye warre gaymes usually got into a particular period because of the history- at least all the ones I knew did. This didn't stop us doing fictional campaigns but we read our history books- how else were you to find out how they did stuff?.
For myself its almost always been the history that has provided the trigger for a new period. In one sense - for me at least there are no "new periods" been there, done that but, having said that there are many nuances and of course it depends on what you mean by "period". To take the "Pre-gunpowder period" for instance in my time I've had Roman Republican and Cathaginian armies. Late Byzantines and Fuedal French(both competiton armies these way way back) several Viking and Norman armies over the years as well as Crusaders, English Feudals and Ayyubid - these are the ones I can remember some at least I've done more than once. I've been through more armies than Genghis Khan
Currently the collection is much more modest and in pre gunpowder terms almost non-existant. Tastes change. I no longer compete so "killer armies" no longer exist, if they ever did.
My main periods now are the 17th century and the 18th century but with a respectable look at the Peninsular War and the ACW - both in 40mm. The ACw is one of the few periods where a figure line got me interested as I saw the origonal Dave Allsop greens for the Old Glory 25mmACW range back in 1990- some of these still survive in the OG WBS range but in their day they were simply streets ahead of all the others but the ACW was really Bruce Catton's fault. His Army of the Potomac trilogy is still my favourite ACW reading. I'm one of those chaps who has to "read himself in" to a period before I do it. The depth I read may change but yes I read myself in whatever period it is.
I suppose I've really mostly been a gunpowder man. Though there was a time when I considered that nothing of much interest has happened after 1485. Knights and longbows wwre the thing - with a few "smokie gunners" for colour. Most of my Medieval armies are gone now barring a few units but I still have the texts ... just in case and a 40mm Wars of the Roses collection which I add to a bit at a time.
Modern- that is post WW2 has always been a minor interest - currently buzzing around in my head- bushfire wars post colonial wars call 'em what you will they have a contining interest. I'm re-vamping my collection here- it use to be 20mm - Cubans Angolans etc but now will be 15mm and consist of a collection of "Battle Groups" - Mostly British but with some Danish who will fight various enemies- Pseudo Iraquis and Afghans. I bought 3 LeopardII for the Danes from QRF . They are not bad but I was just a tad dismayed by the casting quality compared to my Challengersand Warriors- which are of course OG . Mind you they'll paint up OK- better than OK but it will take effort.

The Pictures.
Top
40mm ACW Confederates. I fight regimental level battles using Featherstonian style rules.
Middle. Jose de Henradia Catellan of Ampaosta. One of my few medieval left. I ALWAYS tried to get the Heraldry right. That was the point.
Bottom.
Jim Mains 10mm Seven Years War Austrians. I love the period but won't paint this scale myself. See Jims pont though they look fine indeed en masse.