Old Guy's Scale!?

"Old Guy's Scale"?

Recently in a tongue-in-cheek response to a comment from an old friend who referred to 54's as an "old guy scale", I pointed out not only the advantages of being an old guy (Dave is probably 20 years younger than I am, and I'm heading for the big 70 in a less than acouple of years). Chief among them is to be fully comfortable in your own persona. It's not likely you'll have to impress others, and it's unlikely you would anyway. Better still is that if you are fortunate enough, and many of us are, you can indulge (somewhat anyway) in most of the things you wanted to do as a kid, but couldn't afford or were legally unable.

So, what's this got to do with 54's? How many of us played with plastic army guys in our childhood? I'm not talking about the GI Joe stuff, but rather the bags you could get at most every toy and Woolworth's in America (and even unlikely ones like some general pharmacies, and news agents). They were all pretty much 54's. The cool ones even had detachable equipment. A lot of stuff wasn't "scale" but our imaginations made up for most of that shortcoming.

(Yes, I know all about Britains, but on this side of the pond, they were expensive and found only in upscale toy stores. In the Boston suburb where I grew up, only the F. A. O. Schwartz in Boston and one or two of the major downtown department stores stocked them with regularity. For me, they were a rare Christmas gift.) 

Now, they're still made of plastic, but the detail is excellent, and they paint up nicely. For those of us whose arms are no longer long enough to read a printed page in normal type without a pair of glasses, this has been a great development

It's all come full circle: from Airfix and Roco Minitanks, to Scruby's, Minifigs, Hinchcliffe, and a slew of others; from 15's and 20's, 25's and 30's, and now finescale 28's.

So I say, let us rejoice in 54's and may their great deeds on the tabletop long continue.

The British Are Coming!

In my last post, I showed some of the Hessians that I had painted up for the AWI. Today we have some British. The units are organized based on troop type and to a somewhat lesser degree, nationality. They have been used with rules such as a modified version of Charge!, All the Kings Men, and Honours of War.
 Of the three, Charge! is my favorite--it just seems right for use with 54's.
Organization is very generic. Regular line are generally 16 figures, consisting of 12 rank and file, an officer commanding, drummer, standard bearer, and the RSM (he's the gentleman "counseling" the fellows in the second rank)
Grenadiers are somewhat smaller, with fewer command figures, and usually no standard bearer. Lights and militia are 6-8 figures with an officer and one other (a musician/NCO).
Guns generally have 4-6 crew depending on the size of the gun, i. e. light, medium, or heavy.

4th Regiment of Foot

Grenadier Battalion

Troops in line, Lights out front.

Another shot of the line along with the artillery

.

The Brigadier, and his aide, Bluebottle.

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.

Reinforcements, Part 1

Reinforcements (Part 1)

In my last post, I described ongoing and imaginary campaign in post-1783 North America. Over the next couple of entries, the armies involved will make their appearance, along with some solo as well as multiple player games.
In a series of earlier posts, I looked at several manufacturers. One I omitted was the figures provided by HaT Industries, mainly because at that time, they were hard to come by. Well, apparently their production has resumed and they are much more widely available. Of particular note are the Prussian Seven Years War sets (9400, 9401, and 9402). The heads for musketeers, fusiliers, and grenadiers are included with each set. They make great Hessians/Brunswickers for the AWI.

HaT Hessian Grenadiers

 The photo above shows  most of the Grenadier Regiment von Rall (or at least my interpretation of it). A couple of grenadier figures, and the Drummer are still on the painting table almost, but not quite, done. The one below shows another from the same set, but with a fusilier cap.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Well, as the new year begins, so too does the new campaign season! In earlier posts, I described two battles, both of which ended in a victory for the United Provinces against the Royalist Forces. Like any good campaign, there has to be some background as to the whys and wherefores of the whole exercise.

The whys, of course, are less important than the wherefores, as the whole thing is an exercise in imagination. But context is important so let me briefly explain how this war between two powers and their allies came to be. With that in mind, we begin with the historical Treaty of Paris in 1783 ending the American War of Independence (AWI), recognizing the United States as an independent nation,  and setting the boundaries between the new American nation and the remains of Britain's North American empire.

But what if...

In my alternate history, things are considerably different. Britain, France, Spain, and the American provinces were both financially ruined and in a state of exhaustion. Bankruptcy loomed, so everything previously agreed upon regarding North America (going back to 1740) was up for negotiation. Another "Great Game" was afoot!

The following terms were ultimately negotiated: the original thirteen colonies, along with the Republic of Vermont, were split into a northern federation which included New England and Vermont, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware.The southern colonies of Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia became a united confederation.

The lands to the west became unincorporated territory, belonging to the indigenous peoples living there.

Spain was confirmed as sovereign over Florida and Louisiana, along with some previously owned Caribbean islands.

France received Quebec, a portion of the former Arcadia, and one or two Atlantic islands.

Britain retained its other Canadian provinces, including Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island, and Labrador.

Nova Scotia remained a British territory and became a homeland for displaced Loyalists, albeit with some local autonomy.

The German Princes of Hesse, Anhalt, and Brunswick, having placed the King's treasury in serious debt, received as payment the territory northeast of the St. Croix River. This led almost immediately to a crisis as each prince felt it should be named for his lands. Some rolls of the dice (2 out of 3), the turn of a card, and it officially was named: Neu Braunschwieg.

Now, how could this possibly lead to more conflict?

Recruiting an Army, Part 6

Recruiting a 54mm Army (Part 6), or,
Sometimes you just need to improvise!

In the last installment, I took a look at Armies in Plastic (AIP) American Revolution Cavalry. Unlike some of their other sets this one's interpretation of light cavalry in the AMR (or AWI) is problematic. There are only five figures in the set: one officer, one bugler, two swordsmen, and some fool shooting his carbine, possibly at a circled wagon train. Now, granted these are toy soldiers and not specifically designed for collecting or gaming, but carbines were rare during the AMR, at least among the Americans. As for the tricorns they are wearing, few units, militia or otherwise, wore such headgear. The only exception I am aware of was the Connecticut Light Horse.

So what to do? Slice and improvise! The pictures below show this same basic AIP unit with new headgear and arms (literally) to give a better impression of American Light Cavalry. The heads and some of the arms are extras I purchased from All the Kings Men, now sadly out of business. Other arms were just cut off and swapped, and the seams filled with modeling putty as necessary.

I did find another source, however. Irregular Miniatures (irregularminiatures.co.uk) offers an extensive line of 54mm parts, headgear, and figures. I have not done business with them, but it might be something worth looking into. As always, I welcome your comments!

This photo and the one below shows the original figures pictured in my previous posting. The heads and arms have been replaced or swapped.

And here's the new unit, ready for action in a uniform similar to the 4th Continental Dragoons (artistic license freely included).