More for India.

 So I am finally able to show some finished figures. All of which will be going into various "Indian" projects. All of these figures are Old Glory 25 or indeed 28mm (Yes Dudes they are the same thing for most people unless you have 3mm angst!). They come from various ranges - Indian Mutiny, North West Frontier, Crusades and Renaissance Persians.

Persian High command. These will, of course end up as Mughals.

A lovely mob. Models from the Cursade and the Indian Mutiny range . Old Glory 28mm.

Pathan Command. Lots of variants in this one- even the same bodies have head variants.

A smaller mob. These from the Old Glory Indian Mutiny range 

Another shot of the Pathan Command. The chaps with Sniders and Martini- Henry  will be for the 1897 Pathan Revolt. The chaps with Jezzails will become part of a Rohilla mercenary band for the 18th century.

So the assorted India project move on - slowly but they move. Quite chuffed at how many Old Glory models I can use to get into the earlier parts of British India . Next up are a bundle more Sikh Goracharra cavalry. 

Catching up on my Reading 6

 I don't often buy books on Naval matters but over the years I have amassed a small number of volumes about  messing about in boats- and not only by Kenneth Graham either.

 I have A.T.Mahn's Influence of Sea Power Upon History - a  portentous and now dated but still useful volume about warfare in the Age of Sail.plus a small collection of WW1 and WW2 naval books - probably less than 20 volumes all told. So when doing the supermarket chore the other week I was surprised to find Max Hastings' book OPERATION  PEDESTAL concerning the Allied 1942 attempt to get supplies through to Malta 

Now Hastings can read and write  but sometimes is a bit right wing for my taste but this one is a good un. He spares no one in the story of cock up and courage occasional cowardice and sheer bloody mindedness that was the four day battle to get supplies through to beleaguered Malta - which was only a bare few weeks from starvation . Operation Pedestal has been treated as one of those  British successes against adversity by the nationalist propagandists of WW2 and up to a point so it was but it was also a collection of balls ups- by both sides which turned- for the Axis a victory- which they trumpeted into a mere losing draw. Losses for the British were heavy- including a carrier sunk, an Admiral doing a runner  and only 5  merchant ships actually reaching their destination. Yet it was enough. Just- to enable Malta to survive . Of course if the prize was worth the cost is another matter but that does not stop the story being something of an epic in itself. Well worth purchasing especially if you can get it cheaper than list -which I did.  Nice one Max.

Complications .....

I am finding out that there is more to publishing a book than writing the thing. Currently  going through the final proof before the book goes off to the printers. Checking the 8 pages of colour plates and the captions to the Black and white illustrations and the maps and battle plans is quite a bit more arduous than I imagined when I started. Not that I begrudge such duty - far from it  but it does not half make your back ache poring over the screen for such a comparatively long period of time without a break.

 Still , no worries it is getting done.

 However what with that and getting the usual crop of orders out- not to mention a bundle of back orders  it means that other stuff- such as figure painting has been almost entirely absent for the last week or so .

 Hence no new pics in this post

 well perhaps just this one ...... 

In Helions Autumn schedule. 

So what do I do with the spare units?

 One of the very minor downsides of running a model soldier company and doing a lot of wargame shows, is that, over the years, you end up with a plethora of  ex-display case units that don't have armies to belong to. There are armies that I simply have no interest in building  and even less in playing games with. Some of these units are- to all intents and purposes "Factory Fresh" having done no more work than travel up and down the country  and then stand in a display case for a year or two's shows or have their pictures taken for magazine adverts or website pictures.. 

As I rifle through my assorted boxes I have discovered several units which fit this criteria all OLD GLORY of course as well as a bundle of stuff I simply don't use any longer. Most of these professionally painted and table ready.  It is time for them to move on to create space for more .So over the next few weeks I shall post pictures of these units as I check 'em out for"travel-dings" and make any repairs that may or may not be needed. So far I have found - all 28mm-

A bunch of about 20 or so Norman Cavalry

Some Vikings from the Somerled range- again about 20 

A unit of 10 Dark Ages Magyar cavalry 

Some Old Glory 2nd Edition Union Infantry.

A 24 figure unit of Italian Wars Swiss Pikes

A10 figure unit of Polish Winged Hussars plus  their 10 Pancerni.

So here are pics of the Poles and the Magyars. Prices? 

 Well the Poles and the Magyars are £100.00 per unit plus shipping which will of course depend upon where they are going

 

The two units of Polish. Hussars and Pancerni .

Close up on 1 Hussar.

Pancerni 

The Pancerni unit 

Close up of the Hussars 

The Magyar Cavalry. 

More photos of more "spare units" as I sort them out. After all I need some new toys to paint ! 

Interested chaps should email me on info@oldgloryuk.com of contact me via Facebook messenger. 

Their Infantry and Guns Will Astonish You.

 One of the many reasons I have not blogged overmuch lately is that I have been finishing the above title for publication in July of this year. So am now a bit pleased as I have been given the go-ahead to let chaps know it is coming more details here.

https://www.helion.co.uk/military-history-books/their-infantry-and-guns-will-astonish-you-the-army-of-hindustan-and-european-mercenaries-in-maratha-service-1780-1803.php?

The subject is one that has fascinate me for years  and started with the question of what was going on in the rest of India  while the British were nibbling around the edges....  well here issome of it. 

 

More Shiny 30mm Men.

 So blag posts have been thin on the ground lately  but like buses(anyone remember them)  there are none for ages the 2 come along at once. 

 The photos are of my latest rather small unit for "Shinyloo" my retro Napoleonic mostly  30mm collection. These aged chaps are from Barry Minot who made a good bundle of assorted 30mm Historicals in the 70s and 80s. These days  some are a bit thin on the ground - which is why this unit is only a dozen strong. I have a couple more of the figures but they need some TLC and repair before I start painting them. 

Minot 30mm Painted as Fusilers -Grenadiers.

I do now have quite a bundle of Minot Napoleonics. Some splendid French Cuirassiers and a fair number of British Infantry and French Imperial Guard but of course most of them need painting. Earlier "Shinyloo" posts show those I have actually finished - both Minot and other makes. 

Firing line. Again Minot

Loading - an Officer and Ouch that Hurt ! 

 The "Shinyloo " collection is now in sight of 400 individual  models- not quite there yet but I can see it from here. Still  plenty to paint though. 

Catching Up On My Reading 5

 Now as a general rule I hate reading wargames rules. The deliberately difficult language supposedly designed to stop players cheating added to often silly acronyms which have nothing to do with the period in question, but make the "game designer" feel clever (what are PIP, MU's and Fast Knights anyway and why the hell should I care?), make toiling through the average set of rules only fun to those who arrange their socks in numerical order and find half a shandy the epitome of excitement. 

So  it may come as something of a surprise to see this review of a set of rules from  the Helion stable that does not follow that well worn and oft repeated path.

In Deo Veritas actually reads very well indeed.

In these strange time reading is about all I can do with them anyway  but suffice it to say - Gentle Reader- that  once you can get to a wargames table they should also play pretty well too.

For the record the rules are for large, fast playing, 17th century battles in the smaller scales- so 15mm and below- and to my mind should do that very well. To me there are a few distant echoes of a 1980s-90s big battle set called Volley and Bayonet - which back then I played quite a bit of and enjoyed. In Deo Veritas being focused on the 17th century of course have significant differences but there are still echoes in the base sizes but the writer does acknowledge his debt to that ruleset and its writer Frank Chadwick.

 Using this set it becomes possible to refight such large 17th century battles as Lutzen and Marston Moor- that latter being one of 6 historical scenarios included in the book.  The accent is on the history- although for the gamey types there is a points system if you must.

 All the appropriate troop types are there from Spanish Tercios to late 17th century regiments, concentrating on Western style forces. I suspect a supplement might be needed to cover the Ottomans and the Poles and the Muskovites for example though with a bit of thought many  if not all of their particular troops could be organised or this game system. The accent here is definitely on "big picture" rather than regimental detail but that is as it should be for a "big battle" set such as these

Physically the book is up to the usual Helion standard though I could have wished for some captions on some of the eye-candy photos. However at about half the price of some of the hardback  paving slab sized rulesbooks you see about the place this softback is good value. 

 My preferred option here would be for the 30 Years War in 10mm  and for that or the ECW or for much of the 80 Years War and a decent chunk of the various Northern Wars these would fit the bill.

 Definitely recommended .... Now all I need to do is to get Jim to paint up a bundle of 10mm TYW troops ... well I do have most of the troop types in the Old Glory 10mm range so it might be rude not to/ .....