Random Musings and Bridge Building

Years ago, when I was young and foolish (some would say I still possess one of those traits, and at 68, it's not "young"), there was a commercial radio station in Boston, WCRB, that had a 24 hour classical music format. My tastes in music at that time were, and as they are now, somewhat eclectic. One of the announcers, actually the general manager, presented a program called "WCRB Saturday Night". Much of the material used was from BBC comedy programs. My favorite was a long-running program called "The Goon Show", presented by several master British comedians: Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, and Spike Milligan. This was, to me anyway, radio comedy at its best.

 So what does that have to do with war gaming or playing with toy soldiers? Nothing really.

But it did inspire me to give persona to several plastic generals, aides-de-camp, and faithful servants to those august albeit imaginary characters that haunt my games and in the future, this blog.

Since the last couple of entries have dealt with the Hessians, we'll begin here with their commander, "Graf Ernst von Bloodnoch". The Graf's character was inspired by Peter Sellers character on The Goon Show, Sir Denis Bloodnok, a dashing, somewhat bumbling, and perhaps prototypical Harry Flashman.

The Graf

Finally, I was asked about the bridge. It's made of wooden coffee stirrers, basswood strips, a few twigs from a white pine tree in my yard, and brass nails.

The Hessians are Coming, or, Reinforcements Part 2

As one who has reached that point in life when the 7-Day Weekend becomes reality, I have been able to enjoy spending several hours on any given day pursuing one or more of my hobbies, at least in the winter (golf becomes far too important after that). So, when I am not gaming with my friends, I'm usually painting figures, or running my model railroad. In defense, if any be necessary, I will always quote Mr. Spock from the original Star Trek, who said: "...the more complex the mind, the greater the need for play."  One might try that response the next time one's spouse or significant other comments on one's hobbies. Mine just gently shakes her head or slightly rolls her eyes...but I suppose after 44 years, she's use to my idiosyncrasies.
So, here's a couple of photos of the Hessian Horde, currently occupying Neu Braunsweig. I will be publishing more as the month goes on. The above figures represent the Erbprinz Regiment, post 1780, when they lost their fusilier caps, darkened their facings, and became musketeers. The figures are from ATKM, although the drummer is a modification from the IMEX British Infantry Series, #3208.
This next one is also from ATKM and represents the Hessian Artillery. The gun is from another IMEX set, British Artillery set, #710. I would add here that the AIP artillery would work equally well and is somewhat more extensive.

Next time, we'll look at more Hessians, and the organization of the units.