Crann Tara/Minden Miniatures Palatine Hohenhauser Dragoons 1740s.

 The Palatine Hohenhauser Dragoons from the 1740s. The troopers come Crann Tara Miniatures and are re-purposed Savoy cavalry figures. They look like generic Dragoon types with the important aiguillettes on the right shoulder. The figures on the Command stand come out of the lead pile and are from Minden Miniatures mounted on three available standing horses. There is a little artistic license with the uniform details (black turnbacks instead of red) simply for more visual interest. I am fairly agnostic about the details being perfect.

Empress MIniatures Jazz Age/WW1 British Cavalry.

I have had these sitting on the "to do" shelf since I first purchased them at Colours, Newbury in September, 2023. Painted up as the Queen's Own Worcestershire Hussars ready for service in Egypt and Palestine between 1915 and 1918. I used this unit to experiment with a different technique for painting horses. I am pleased with the initial results but the process needed a little tweaking which, I reckon, I had cracked by the time I did the final two horses. This year at Colours, I came across the M&C Model Painting stand tucked away in a corner. They had a box full of "bin ends" of older AK Interactive paints from their Figure range (now replaced with the excellent AK Interactive 3G range of paints) at a knock down price. A few minutes of rummaging resulted in a fistfull of bottles, two of which were "Desert Uniform Base" and "Desert Uniform Lights" which have been used here on the troopers' tunics over a base coat of either VMC US Field Drab or AK3G British Uniform Base. Lots of movement in these lovely sculpts from Paul Hicks as befits a regiment involved in the last "arme blanche" charge against guns in Britsh military history at Huj, November 8, 1917.

The Charge of the Warwickshire and Worcester Yeomanry at Huj, November 8th, 1917 by Lady Elizabeth Butler, 1918.

Age of Reason Painting Guide now available to order from Caliver Books.

 

Available to order from Caliver Books....just tell Santa!

This book gives palettes for various uniform colours common to the period. Palettes that can be applied to any white uniform, mid-blue uniform, red uniform, green uniform, straw uniform etc. Do not expect this book to have sections on "Bavarian Uniforms on the War of Austrian Succession". There are simply too many nationalities to deal with! 

Click on this link Age of Reason Painting Guide

Painting Guide: The Age of Reason.

 Coming soon. My latest (and possibly final) contribution to Road Safety. Final version off to the printers today. Available through CALIVER BOOKS shortly...just in time for Christmas.

WAS/SYW Crann Tara Miniatures - French Infantry Regiment Royal-Bavière.

I have had these on the go since February this year. The first battalion of the French infantry regiment Royal-Bavière, a German regiment in French service. Figures are from Crann Tara. The rank and file are the "Generic" infantry figures,  very useful figures with minimal equipment that, with the correct paint job, can represent a wide variety of nationalities of the period. The command figures are from the Crann Tara range of French figures. The flags are digital downloads from the Kronoskaf website, printed out onto paper. These will feature in my next painting guide that covers this period which is currently under production at Partizan Press. 

 

The Battle of Lutzen, 1632. The Other Partizan, October, 2024.

A couple of weeks ago I had the great privilege of being involved, along with other members of The League, in the presentation of The Battle of Lutzen, 1632 at The Other Partizan. This brainchild of Steve Langan was over eighteen months in the planning. A huge amount of effort, paint pushing, terrain commissioning, basing and rebasing, rule writing and testing and expense of treasure went into this game and I thank Steve for inviting me to have a small part in it. I was so engrossed in the game that I took very few photographs so I will let these two video reviews do the talking. Henry Hyde's photo review carries a quite a few images of the game in the middle section.

Daimler Marienfelde Truck.

 A Daimler Marienfelde truck in 1/56 scale from the desktop and 3D printer of John Hart. Painted up here to join my 1920s Freikorps force. This is a test print before the final version is signed off. There are some modifications to be made to thicken up some of the more slender uprights to avoid warping (you can see this on the windscreen) and John is also working on a detachable canvas tilt for the rear. Joy of joys!

Daimler-Krupp Plattformwagen "Sturmkanonen" c.1919 Painted

 About a month ago I posted the test print of a German Daimler-Krupp Plattformwagen tat had been digitally designed by John Hart and then 3D printed in resin. I finally finished painting it this week having been gently doing bits of the paint job in between other things. This is really a cracking piece of kit.

Daimler-Krupp Plattformwagen "Sturmkanonen", c. 1919

 John Hart, model maker supreme, is branching out into 3D design and printing. Having contacted me to see if there was anything I wanted so that he might be able to hone his skills on a meaningful project, I asked if he could have a crack at a Daimler-Krupp Plattformwagen "Sturmkanonen". This is something that will come in very useful when the German Freikorps get an outing on the tabletop with the League of Extraordinary Kreigspielers. I sent John as many images of this beast as could find and off he went to design a 1/56 model. This weekend I received John's 3D resin printed test piece. Wow..... what the images don't reveal is the incredibly fine detail on things such as the door handles and detail inside the drivers cab. Before you shout loudly....this vehicle WAS right hand drive... just look at the photos. Pictured here with a couple of Empress Miniatures figures to allow you to judge size and scale.