The end of November will- all being well- see the Tantobie Warfare and Tactical Society attend the Battleground wargames show at the Middlesbrough Sports Village. Hoping desperately that the weather is better than last year, we will be taking a demo game and this year I am in the chair and so 'Shinyloo' will be on public display.
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| Hinchliffe /Foremost Marshall Ney on a Stadden 30mm horse. I wanted a proper looney of a model to lead the French cavalry and this combination fitted the bill |
In the more immediate term this means painting up additional 'Old Lead Dudes' to add to the collection. At the moment the 'Shinyloo' armies are together somewhat north of 400 models in total and still growing. 400-500 models is not a huge collection by any means (Though of course it is only one of several of mine) but neither is it a mere corporal's guard for a pub brawl on a 2 feet square table. Makers are what many refer to as 'old school' though I prefer the term 'retro'. Most were marketed as 30mmand of those ranges still available two are still marketed as 30mm. The full list of makers includes Minifigs 30mm Stadden 30mm Willie 30mm Minot 30mm Hinchliffe/Foremost and Connoisseur the two latter being originally marketed as 25mm- now called 28mm but mostly compatible with the etrlier 30mm.
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| Minotb 30mm painted as Fusilier-Grenadiers of the Guard. The drummer is a converted Stadden. |
Additions to both sides include a fifth gun and crew for the French and a fourth for the British plus more British infantry and hussars. This is now quite a distance from the original plan of 2 small armies of old 30mm models forsmall Napolonic actions using Young and Lawfords aged but still very usable 'Charge ! or How to Play Wargames' rules. This venarable set is about as far away from many modern 'games' as you can get. neither being written in inpenetrable gamsey jargon, nor assuming that the reader needs his fingers for the long words and has to be patronised to death.
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| Minifigs 30mm gun and crew with Minot British Footguards |
No, the accent is very definitely on the model soldiers and the tactics in use, though it has to be said that the rules are far from perfect especially as regards morale. so in keeping with the 'retro' style of this wargame I will be grafting Grantian style morale rules onto Charge for this outing.
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| Minifigs 30mm French Gunner. The gun is a Connoisseur item. |
Hopefuly the whole disply will look suitably 'retro' as a pastiche of and an homage to the wargaming of the 1970s-80s which I could not have produced back in those now far-off days.
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| British Hussars all Stadden 30mm, |
