A few more recently completed figures

All of these figures are from Bad Squiddo. Scroll down to see them all.

First, a rather sinister-looking Jester;

I wanted him to have burning red eyes, which look a bit messy on close examination on a blown-up photo but which are fine on a 28mm figure. I'm not sure that he is very full of jolly japes and witty comments. I certainly wouldn't trust him to do a children's birthday party gig.

Next, we have Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, eldest daughter of King Alfred the Great of Wessex and ruler of Mercia from 911 until her death in 920. She was buried in the now-ruined St Oswald's Priory in Gloucester. She is accompanied by a female warrior.

Her companion's shield design isn't particularly of the period, being a late Roman one but I rather like it.

The remaining four figures are from the Bad Squiddo Community Minis range. Firstly, Eleanor of Aquitaine and Harriet Tubman;

And secondly, Julie d'Aubigny and Ching Shih.

I'm sure that most people have heard of the first two, but maybe not the second pair. 

Finally got the camera and lightbox out.....

 ....so that I could photograph some completed things. Here are some tanks. First a really silly Soviet monster;

The T-35 couldn't be called a success in any meaningful way, but it has a certain WTF? quality about it. This is a 15mm Zvezda kit and I'm not sure how or when I might get it onto the table, except maybe as a broken down vehicle that could be an objective. I think I've painted it up a bit pale, the green really ought to be darker, but my excuse is that the factory that produced it only had a lighter batch of green paint available.

Now, three more sensible German AFVs;

From left to right there are: the Czech CKD LT vz. 38 which, as the Pz 38(t)  was a useful (and much needed) addition to the early war Panzer forces, the workhorse Pz Kfw III Ausf. G with the 5cm Kwk 38 L/42 and the Sd Kfz 222 with the 2cm KwK 30 autocannon.  These are also Zvezda kits and will work nicely for the invasion of the Low Countries and the Battle of France and also for Barbarossa.

Copplestone Back of Beyond British infantry

Well, I've done the officers, so here are some rank and file for them to command. There are ten figures in total.

The group above are led by an NCO (with raised arm). The following two groups make up the rest of his section of riflemen.

As with the officers, I think that their KD tropical uniforms are slightly too green, but I don't think it matters that much. One thing that I think does matter is that they are wearing shorts, which I don't think were introduced with the tropical KD service dress until the mid-1930s, so these infantrymen might be a bit of an anachronism in the period immediately after the First World War and in the 1920s. Still, these are intended for all manner of games, some of which will involve Egyptian mummies that walk, unspeakable eldritch horrors and all manner of other weird things, so nit-picking over uniform details seems a bit pointless.

I bought a blister pack of Lewis gunners to add some firepower to this rifle section, hoping that I might get two gunners and two loaders/spare magazine carriers. Sadly, the set only comes as pictured, three gunners plus one loader. I enquired from North Star as to whether it might be possible to buy two loaders alone but apparently this isn't possible, which means I have one Lewis team and two extra gunners that I doubt I'll bother painting up, which is a shame. I'm not sure what I'll do with them.

Copplestone Back of Beyond British officers

Following on from the archaeologists, here are four British officers from the excellent Back of Beyond range, available from North Star. 

These four are (obviously) fine upstanding chaps, complete with stiff upper lips, an inherent sense of fair play and are from good schools and families with military backgrounds. All of them have survived the horrors of the Great War and now serve somewhere along the southern fringes of Central Asia or the Northwest Frontier.

Clearly, they must all be named, so left to right, we have; Maj. George Huntley-Palmer (on the staff of the Surveyor General of India), Capt. Hugh Andover-Fiste (twin brother of the notable archaeologist Giles Andover-Fiste), Capt. Oliver Marchmain and Lieut. Archibald "Archie" Walton.

My next post will cover some of the rank and file infantry I have planned.

I really like these chaps, but I'm not sure that the Vallejo khaki drill colour is really right for early- to mid-20th century British Army tropical uniforms. I think it is too green. Of course, we all know about the variations between uniforms from different manufacturers and the effects of weather and wear upon fabrics, so I'm not particularly bothered about this. They'll look fine on the table.

The annual Lincombe Barn Wargames Society Tabletop Sale is approaching.

Yes, if you live in or around Bristol (or even further away) it is time to come along to our Tabletop Sale and spend money on more stuff you didn't know you needed until you saw it.

Where and when is it, you ask? 

The TTS will be on Sunday 12th May at the usual location, the Downend Folk House. The address is;

                Lincombe Barn, Overndale Road, Downend, BS16 2RW

Doors open for customers at 10:00. Entry is £3 for adults, £1.50 for under 18s and free for under 13s.

Those of you with money to burn and a desire to grab all the best stuff, you can buy an early bird ticket for £5 which lets you in at 09:30.

We have free parking and hot and cold refreshments will be available.

This year, we have sold out the entire Barn and have the biggest sale since before Covid and the lockdowns, so there will be plenty to browse and buy.

                            Please note - there is no Bring and Buy table.

Copplestone Archaeologists

Ages ago, back in 2017, I painted the female archaeologists from Mark Copplestone's excellent Back of Beyond range. Now, much later, here are the male ones, available from North Star;

These guys are quite well tooled-up compared with their female counterparts and I see the two outer figures being more as adventurers and minders than actual academics. Still, all that firepower should come in handy when the inevitable nasties and horrors turn up.

Unlike the female ones, who I gave detailed biographies, I've only got as far as giving these chaps names.  From left to right they are; Giorgi Dolidze, a Georgian soldier of fortune, Giles Andover-Fiste, a member of the MCC and a gentleman amateur archaeologist, Doctor Petros Sarkisian, a famous Armenian archaeologist working at the Sorbonne and Hans Jansson, a Swedish explorer.

They seem a suitable bunch to pitch up almost anywhere looking for rare and arcane artefacts, scruples optional, no doubt.

Clearly, these are highly suitable for Pulp, Cthulhu Mythos, eldritch horror and other similar settings. They were huge fun to paint, because they are such nice figures. 

Hurrah! Back to painting figure.

No more scenics for a while. It will be figures for the next few weeks, I think. First up, some characters for What A Cowboy;

I think that these are all Wargames Foundry minis. I was kindly given them by someone at the club because I'd mentioned that my Mexicans were a little bit outgunned. Anyway, these two have what appear to be single shot rifles or carbines, so that is an improvement.

The guy in the middle is clearly a military sort, maybe a former French officer who's wandered north to get away from the madness of the Habsburg Maximilian I imperial experiment.

I hope to see them in action on the table at some point.