Film Review: War Horse, 2012

Yes, it's a bit chocolate box, in its depiction of rural England, and the plot itself is a total fantasy. But we have always needed such comforting stories, and Spielberg - at his best - can really do this sort of thing superbly well. The film reeks of classic '70s/'80s Saturday afternoon matinee blockbluster entertainment, steeped in a huge dose of sloppy sentimentalism. It could be nauseating - and some reviewers clearly find it so - but I love it.

I'm a big reader of military history, albeit mostly Napoleonic and WWII, as opposed to WWI. The role of horses in the Napoleonic era, and the immense numbers killed by everything from cannonballs to overwork and starvation, or to feed starving humans - it could be pretty plausibly argued that the loss of horses during the 1812 campaign in Russia signalled the end of the Napoleonic era - has always fascinated me. I love horses, and they've been such a big part of the human story. So to see a film like this that celebrates and critiques our relationship with them is great.

I haven't read Morpugo's book, nor seen any stage versions of this. Having just watched this does make me wish I'd seen it at the cinema when it came out. I resisted it, however, 'cause I think modern mainstream cinema is, by and large, pants. Sure, this is cornball entertainment, on some levels, but it's also a moving story beautifully told. I cried like a baby at numerous points. Perhaps not seeing this in a cinema was sensible after all? So, I found it very cathartic, which is an appealing feature of a well done blockbuster.

Painting Progress: 1/72 Britannia Miniatures SS Cavalry

Pictured above are the nearly completed miniatures. But let's go back a few days first...

I was working on a whole load of stuff...

... and I decided to single out the SS cavalry.

I bought these seven Britannia Miniatures SS cavalry figures at the most recent Partizan. I really like the idea of fielding a small number of cavalry in my 1/72 WWII German army. And I love these figures. I've only got seven - I'd have liked eight, but they didn't have the panzerschrek toting fellow I wanted as #8 (he'll be a future reinforcement I think) - but that's fine. I don't want too many.

Over the recently finished half-term (damn, that went quick!) I prepped a fairly large quantity of figures, mostly in 10mm Russian Nap, 1/72 (plus a few 1/76) German WWII, and a bunch of 28mm Napoleonics (mostly Foundry Napoleon & staff sets, on foot and mounted, and sundry other oddments, inc. a small collection of Front Line French Nap drummers!). Some if which can be seen in the second  pic, near the top of this post.

I got rid of the tank commander figures on these lolly sticks; they were getting in the way.

Starting on the camo'.

Once I'd got a battalion of 10mm Russian Nap Gren done, I decided to turn to these guys, whilst also doing a little on some other stuff. And today I did very little besides work on these dudes.Having stopped for the day, they're well on their way. It's really just the horses that need attention now. There's still some shading/highlighting and detail to do as well. But I feel the end is in sight.

I think I'll base these guys individually. I envisage my WWII troops being made use of in smaller skirmish type scenarios. The larger figure size - and esp. if armour is also involved - means I'll have to be clever with space!

A fair way off being finished, but starting to look ok, I hope!?

UPDATE: Work intervened, and progress slackened, but yesterday I did a bit more. I transferred the figures to individual wine-cork 'plinths', as handling groups of them on lolly-sticks meant I kept rubbing paint off exposed areas. 

I've been constantly touching up and re-touching areas, and have added some detail to collars and caps. Overall I'm quite pleased. But I've learned from experience that acrylic on acrylic washes aren't that efficient, so I'll be gloss-varnishing these today, and then trying my first oil paint washes since returning to the hobby.

When I left off, donkeys years ago, one of my final units were some 15mm Eclaireurs, of the French Imperial Guard, and I recall that they were almost as much painted in artists oils as Humbrol enamels, a process I'd been evolving toward over a period of years. It'll be interesting to try again, now I'm older and perhaps (I hope!?) a little wiser!